Tag Archives: native american

Oct5

Native Americans book

Posted on October 5, 2014 by jd785

We are following the Unique theme this week and focusing on learning about Native Americans. All of the pictures (found using google images) and information relate to Native Americans from long ago. On each page there is a piece of information about Native Americans. After the information is read to the students, we asked them, “what are we learning about?” The repetitive line answers, “The life of a Native American.” We hope you enjoy!

Here is a link to the book: The Life of a Native American

Oct5

Native Americans

Posted on October 5, 2014 by jd785

Native Americans

Some of our students are learning about Native Americans as part of their Unique Curriculum unit this month. We did a Native American unit a couple of years ago so figured it would be fun to revisit the activities with a few updates here and there. There were some fantastic boxes for our sensory group to explore while they learned some fun facts about Native Americans. Our fine motor group made drums and an awesome totem pole. The language group made comparisons between Native American lives in the past and what lives are like today.

SENSORY GROUP

This box was filled with items important for many tribes. Corn was an important food source for the Apalachee and Ponca tribes so corn kernels were a perfect base for this box. This was a “something for everyone” box with lots of fun things to discover.

We included other play food such as a corn cob, squash and fish—-types of food many tribes enjoyed. Strands of raffia represented “swamp grass” which the Chinook used to make baskets.

Animals like sheep, which the Navaho raised and horses that the Comanche rode could be found hidden in the kernels. Sioux and Arapaho lived in tipis like the one in our box! Finally we included the word “Family”.

The social studies access points recognize differences in food or clothing from other cultures is addressed with this box and recognize a characteristic of early Native Americans.

The Sioux, Omaha, Comanchee, and Arapaho tribes are known for wearing feathers. We filled this box with variety of feathers of all shapes and sizes. Full of ticklish fun, while a little messy—-feathers ended up everywhere—–this really was a great box for our students 🙂

The feathers have a wonderful tactile feel but they are also fun to toss up and watch drift down addressed the science access point track objects in motion.

We had an awesome jam session listening to some Native American music we recorded on the voice output device. Even some of our students who often need help to press the switches responded to the music—-we were pretty excited! Our students also enjoyed making their own music with shaker bottles made with acorns which the Yokuts ate and beads used by the Wampanoag, Cherokee, and Kiowa tribes.

The science access point recognize and respond to common sounds was addressed here.

The Pueblo play dough was made using Black Cherry and Orange koolaid. We thought the color turned out pretty perfect! Whether trying to make their own “pots” like the famous Pueblo pottery or using the deer cookie cutter—-the students had a great time exploring!

The math access point associate quantities with number names can be addressed as the deer are counted.

The science access point apply a push to move an object is also addressed.

The Zuni are famous for their beautiful turquoise jewelry. We thought our box of turquoise beans looked pretty beautiful also! Neon blue food coloring was used to achieve the color and while it is a great effect, get ready for some “blue” fingers!

Besides the wonderful feel as they sift through fingers, there were also 4 letter Z’s to find hidden among the beans.

Track objects in motion is a science access point that can be addressed here.

Of course that can be hard to do when your teacher is distracting you with kisses 🙂

Buffalo and deer were very important to many Native American tribes. The Comanchee hunted buffalo and the Arapaho wore buckskin clothing. This box contained some fake fur “buffalo” hide and ultra suede “buckskin” invited touch. We also included some matching beanie babies for our students to cuddle.

The social studies access point identify practices of Native American is addressed again here.

Many Native Americans gathered around campfires to celebrate special occasions. Our campfire was made by mixing yellow and red food coloring with shaving cream to make orange campfire “flames”.

As always, our messy play was a huge hit 🙂

Looking at how the shaving cream changes as the colors are mixed addresses the science access point of recognizing that the appearance of an object or material has changed.

We thought that juniper breeze scent from Bath and Body works was the perfect scent to represent the importance of nature to Native Americans. All the shaving cream we used was rinsed off with water scented with this nice outdoorsy aroma—–perfect.

Two different sized measuring cups were added to the water dish. They were great for rinsing and addressing the science access point recognize differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids!

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday after listening to some Native American drum music we made our own really cool drums! We started by cutting 2 squares into 4 triangles using our paper cutter.

Recognize common objects with 2 dimensional shapes and recognize parts of whole objects are math access points that can be addressed here.

Then we glued them onto a piece of rectangular paper. We started with a blue triangle then placed a red one.

Next we asked our students which color came next in the pattern—–this addresses the math access point recognize the next step in a simple pattern or sequence of activities!

After the paper was taped around a coffee can it was time for our drum circle! We put on some Native American music and the students joined in. They LOVED making their own music——so much fun!!!

On Thursday we made a super awesome totem pole! We covered some cereal boxes with art paper and let our students choose which box they wanted to decorate.

Use body movement or nonverbal expression to communicate preferences is a language access point.

Then we discussed body parts and asked the students to point out their eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.

Recognize one or more body parts is a science access point.

We also counted the pieces—–1 nose and 1 mouth, 2 eyes and 2 ears. The students used communication symbols to indicate their understanding of associate quantities 1 and 2 with number names.

They totally rocked this—–our students are so awesome!

Our wonderful volunteers had made a selection of stylized facial features for our students to choose from to decorate their totems. We placed glue on the boxes to reinforce the concept of one to one correspondence and eye hand coordination.

Match one object to a designated space to show one to one correspondence is a math access point.

TA DA!!! Our students were so excited about their totems and they loved when we stacked—–while counting, of course 🙂 them on top of each other to made a totem pole.

This is going to look SOOOO cool outside Jeannie’s classroom!

LANGUAGE GROUP

This week was all about comprehension for our language group. Before reading the book, we reminded our students to pay close attention to what was being read. We also reminded them to look closely at the pictures included.

After the book, we went around and asked our students a yes/no question, one-by-one. We printed out the pictures that were included in the book, along with modern items seen today that would contrast things Native Americans might have used a long time ago. For instance, with the canoe we put a car, with the headdress we put a baseball cap, with the breechcloth we put jeans, etc.

Use technology resources to support learning is a language access point.

We presented one picture at a time to each student and asked if it was something a Native American from long ago would have used. They had to indicate YES or NO using a pre-programmed voice output device with the Boardmaker symbols for yes/no located on it. If they answered incorrectly, we referenced the book to check our answers.

Listen and respond to stories and information text is a language access point.

After the comprehension check, we got the voice output used in the sensory group with Native American music on it and turned it on. We passed out the shakers used in the sensory group as well as drums and bells.

Our students played along to the music——so much fun!

It was another great week of fun and learning—–join us again Group by Group!

Nov24

Thanksgiving

Posted on November 24, 2013 by jd785

Thanksgiving

It’s turkey time around here! Cara’s book explored directional concepts and our students had fun putting a stuffed turkey in the different positions from the book. We explored a variety of Thanksgiving related items in our sensory groups. We made cute little turkeys in the fine motor group and our language group went on a turkey hunt!

The social studies access points recognizing a past event and recognizing an activity associated with a national celebration are both addressed in all our groups this week.

Sensory Group

This first box was filled with Thanksgiving related items nestled in the silk fall leaves, gourds and pine cones. There were some dimensional felt pilgrims and a discovery bottle with beads to remind us of the Wampanoag tribe of native americans who feasted at the first Thanksgiving.

A toy car and toy airplane remind us that some people travel to their Thanksgiving feasts. A toy Tweety Bird and clown puzzle piece are like the big balloons and people on parade floats. A little football was included because that’s something people like to watch on tv after the big feast. It’s usually chilly this time of year so there was a tiny scarf and pieces of yarn!

Speaking of feasts—we had to include some play food and a grocery store “gift card”! And finally a cute plush turkey—-the symbol of Thanksgiving, along with the words HOME and FAMILY.

This box was filled with opportunities to address the language access point respond to new vocabulary that is introduced and taught directly. It also addresses the science access point recognizing a model of a real object.

Corn was one of the items on the first Thanksgiving menu! We put in some play food to find and hide again in the popcorn kernels. One of the cobs actually could be broken apart into 2 pieces and then put back together—-great for bilateral coordination!

Whether running fingers through it or exploring the play food, our students really enjoyed exploring the contents of this box.

The math access point recognizing parts of whole objects and parts of sets of objects is addressed here. Solving simple problems involving putting together and taking apart small quantities of objects is another math access point addressed.

Our next box contained turkey feathers (a brown feather boa). This was fun to wrap around, wave in the air or just TOUCH—oh so soft!

Using senses to recognize objects is a science access point addressed here.

Of course, some of our students got quite creative—deciding our little stuffed turkey needed some more feathers 🙂

Just too cute!!!

The science access point: explore, observe, and recognize common objects in the natural world is addressed with this activity.

There are lots of big football games coming up around Thanksgiving and we have lots of fans around here! We included a variety of colors in this pom pom shaker box so everyone could cheer for their favorite team!

Our students LOVE the pom pom shakers and had the best time with them as you can see!

The science access points recognizing that pushing and pulling an object makes it move and identifying objects by one observable property, such as color are addressed here.

We made some pumpkin pie scented playdough this week. Hmmm, it had such a wonderful aroma!

This turkey cookie cutter is very versatile—for either cutting out shapes in the playdough…….

OR being stuffed with it 🙂

This is a great activity for addressing hand intrinsic functions—strengthening, finger individuation, pincer grasp etc.

The math access point solving simple problems involving putting together and taking apart small quantities of objects is addressed in this activity.

The science access point recognizing that the appearance of an object or material has changed is also addressed.

Pumpkin pie needs some whipped cream! Shaving cream made a perfect stand in and as usual, our students had a great time squishing, smooshing—technical terms 🙂 —it about.

Recognizing that pushing or pulling an object makes it move is the science access point addressed in this activity.

Cinnamon pumpkin scented bath gel from Bath and Bodyworks made our rinsing water smell just delicious! Our students had fun playing with the different sized measuring cups.

Recognizing differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids (capacity) is the science access point addressed here.

The cinnamon pumpkin scented lotion left our students smelling like yummy pumpkin pies!

Recognizing one or more external body parts is the science access point addressed with this activity.

Recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli is another science access point addressed.

Fine Motor Group

On Tuesday we made some cute little turkeys. We started by discussing how we cut a circle plate into 2 pieces to make semi-circles.

Then we decorated the feathers using a variety of colorful markers. These fat markers are nice because they can be gripped at the top which is easier for some of our students. For our students with physical disabilities we used Joy’s adapted switch toy—-always a huge hit!

The science access points recognizing that the appearance of an object has changed and sharing objects with a partner are addressed with this activity.

The switch toy addresses the science access points tracking objects in motion and applying a push or pull to move an object. It also addresses the math access point of indicating a desire for more of an action.

Next we glued down a toilet paper roll…..

and attached a pre-made turkey face with googlie eyes. We discussed the different parts of the turkeys face and pointed out those parts on ourselves—-recognizing external body parts is a science access point!

TA gobble, gobble DA!

Our Thursday art project was a pilgrim ship! This was constructed with cardboard, paper, and a wooden dowel—a true trash to treasure project!

We started by showing our students a bottle of brown paint and asking them to show us the color brown on the communication board. They did a great job!

Identifying an object by one observable property, such a color is a science access point.

Then we proceeded to paint the ship. We mostly used a variety of fat handled brushes to get the job done. A brush taped to a paint stick made for an excellent adaptation.

The science access points recognizing that pushing or pulling moves an object and recognizing a change in an object are addressed in this activity.

When the ship was painted we added a sail and some pilgrims and native americans (thanks to Sarah, our volunteer, for making them for us)! We added both students and staff faces to the figures—our students were pretty tickled with them.

For our Ta Da shot, our plan was to take a group shot of all our happy little pilgrims…..

Yes, lets try to get 5 little kids ALL looking at the camera and smiling at the same time—-yep, GOOD PLAN lol 🙂

Language Group

After reading Cara’s book we had our own turkey hunt! Cara made clues and hid laminated pictures of turkeys around the room.

Our students acted like pilgrims on the first Thanksgiving and searched for the turkeys using the clues they were given. Some examples of the clues were, “look UNDER the table; look ON the chair; look IN the box”. Our pilgrims did well with following the clues to find the turkeys. Way to go!

The last turkey was outside the door and BESIDE a tree located in the hallway. Lo and behold, the turkey brought a snack with him so that he wouldn’t be eaten!

This activity addressed the language access point respond purposefully to referent objects or pictures of objects or actions in a familiar read-aloud text.

The students enjoyed the cheeseballs and didn’t seem to mind that they weren’t getting a turkey dinner. We let the students request how many they wanted to eat by indicating on a number board if they wanted 1, 2, or 3. Our student with a visual impairment used a number stick to select his choice.

This addresses the language access point of effectively communicating wants, and needs using referent objects, gestures, signs, pictures, symbols, or words.

Yum! Even our turkey joined the feast 🙂

We won’t be having groups next week because of the holiday. We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Dec2

Native American book

Posted on December 2, 2012 by jd785

Native American book

November is Native American Heritage month so we are celebrating different tribes of Native Americans. The repetitive line is not necessarily an answer to a question so the focus was more on turn taking and practicing having the students pass the voice output device to their peers once they had “read” the repetitive line. The book also went very well with the sensory group since I tried to put something from each box in the book. I hope you enjoy!

Here is a link to the book: There Are Many Different Tribes of Native Americans