This week we explored things we imagine might be out there to scare us when its dark at night! It seemed an appropriate topic for this time of year 🙂 Our sensory items had a really high contrast of light and dark which was very visually appealing to our students. The fine motor group had a great time making some spooky art projects. The language group students used adjectives to compare items. We also made it fun by turning off the lights while reading our book in all our groups.
SENSORY GROUP
This first box was filled with black paper shred and assorted creepy crawlies! Some of the critters were black so they were hidden really well. Others were brightly colored and could be easily spotted. We also threw in some fun fur for an added textural component.
Our students explored the box in different ways, some sifted through the paper while others……..
had a different approach…….. 🙂
The most popular item in the box was the little vibrating spider toy. Pulling it’s string was perfect for addressing bilateral coordination!
Visual and tactile discrimination skills are also addressed here.
The science access point of recognizing common objects related to science by name was addressed.
Battery operated orange lights (found at Walmart) made for perfect glowing eyes peeking out from garland. We kept these in the box to add to the effect—our students were fascinated!
Recognizing sources of light is the science access point addressed here.
We used our green Floam and some Mr. Potato Head features to make our own aliens. This purchased Floam has a wonderful easily moldable texture that made it perfect for making silly alien creatures while working on bilateral coordination and hand intrinsic functions!
The science access point recognizing external body parts is addressed with this activity.
The letters B O O could be found in our black bean and orange rice box. This is one of our favorite rice boxes—-so colorful and eye catching! So much fun to sift and run fingers through.
For added interest, we taped a picture of a jack o lantern to the bottom of the box.
Visual and tactile discrimination is again addressed as well as literacy skills.
Black shadows can certainly make you jump! We made ours by bringing back our pirate playdough from a few weeks ago along with bat and cat cookie cutters. The black glitter we added to the playdough gave it an added shimmer which we loved and it really contrasted with the bright orange cookie cutters. Again, a terrific substance to squish and pound.
Recognizing that the appearance of an object or material has changed is the science access point addressed here.
Glowing purple ooze (oobleck with purple tinted tonic water) looked pretty fabulous under our black light!
We added some pop rocks candy (we were inspired by the folks on the Growing a Jeweled Rose blog who added it to finger paint) and our ooze became pretty spectacular—-think rice krispie cereal on steroids! Not sure who was more impressed, the students or the adults 🙂
Recognizing that pulling or pushing an object makes it move is the science access point addressed in this activity.
We used Bath and Bodyworks Twilight woods scent to finish. In our water play we had 2 different size measuring cups for scooping and pouring fun—-and addressing the math access point of recognizing differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids.
The lotion has a light soft scent—not scary at all 🙂 and our students really liked it.
The science access point recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli is addressed with both these activities.
FINE MOTOR
On Tuesday we made some mummies! We started by talking about the color of out mummy (black) and the color of our paint (white). All of our students correctly picked the colors we asked them to identify. Oh yes we were proud!!
The science access point recognizing common objects by one observable property, such as color is addressed here.
The language access point communicating information about objects using non-verbal expressions, gestures/signs, pictures, symbols, or words is also addressed.
To begin our art activity we put our mummy IN a clear lidded  box. Then we scooped out marbles covered in white paint, counting as we dropped them 1 at a time into the box.
This is a fun way to work on eye hand coordination and scooping skills!
This also addresses the math access points of associating quantities with number names AND recognizing common three-dimensional objects, such as balls (spheres).
Then we closed the lid and…..shake shake shake!
Totally fun way to address the science access points of applying a push or pull to move an object and tracking objects in motion.
We opened the lid and took our mummy OUT of the box and added 2 googlie eyes—giving us a chance to practice pincer grasp skills.
This activity addresses the math access point associating quantities 1 and 2 with number names.
It also addresses the science access point recognizing a change in the appearance of an object or material.
Hmm, lets check this out——-
—yep, he’s pretty cool!
For our art activity on Thursday we made great big eyeballs! We started by comparing the different size circles and asked our students to show us the big one.
Recognizing common objects with 2 dimensional shapes, such as a circle is a math access point.
Recognizing the larger of two objects is a science access point.
We used assorted markers to color red veins on the big circle (dessert size paper plates). Of course we counted the plates and discussed their size and color as we passed them out.
Our students  then chose which color they wanted their eye to be using our communication symbols. Some of our students touch the symbols, while others used eye gaze.
Using body movement or nonverbal expression to communicate desires or preferences is the language access point addressed here.
Next we used a circle punch to cut out a small black circle.
The science access point applying a push or pull to move an object is addressed here.
We compared the different sized circles again and began assembling our eyeballs.
This activity works on eye hand coordination and graded motor control—you don’t want to crumple up your circles!
The math access point of recognizing the next step in a sequence of activities is also addressed.
Somebody is watching you….
…..spooky!
LANGUAGE GROUP
After we finished Cara’s book we stayed with the spooky theme using the iPad app Spooky Box (it was free)—just for fun! Our students enjoyed listening to the different sounds and we had fun watching their reactions 🙂  We do need to note that some of the sounds are a little intense, so be sure to prescreen them!
For our ACTUAL learning activity—– we focused on using adjectives to describe two different objects. The students used Boardmaker pictures and put the adjectives in the appropriate column to describe the objects. They did need a little bit of help with this, but over all, they did well.
Communicating information about familiar objects using pictures or symbols is a language access point.
The first object we explored was some mystery green play dough that Joy had made using a recipe from the Growing a Jeweled Rose blog (this is a great site filled with all sorts of ideas and recipes, we love it!).
The other object was a yellow and blue ball with fringes all over it.
Identifying objects by one observable property and recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli are science access points addressed with this activity.
Some of the adjectives used were: hard/soft, heavy/light, cold/warm. Mrs. Robin got out a scale for us to use when working on heavy/light so the students could see which one was heavier.
So neat!
Recognizing objects as warm or cold and sorting objects by weight (heavy and light) are science access points.
We also used vinegar and sprayed each of the objects. We smelled the vinegar first.
Some of students found the aroma intriguing—-others let us know by their gestures, not so much 🙂
Communicating preferences for objects is a language access point.
The play dough reacted with the vinegar because of the baking soda in it and that made it bubble up, while the vinegar made the ball wet (and STINKY!). We then asked the students to choose an adjective (bubbly/wet) to describe the objects after vinegar had been sprayed on them.
Recognizing a change in an object and assisting with investigations with a partner are science access points addressed here.
Hope your week was as great as ours—- filled with treats not tricks 🙂
Join us again next week for more fun and learning—-Group by Group!