Tag Archives: owl

Nov10

JK Rowling

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JK Rowling

November 1 is International Author’s Day so we decided to learn about one of the most popular authors on the planet! Our sensory groups explored boxes related to JK Rowling and her books.  The fine motor groups made simple but magical art projects and the language group made a yummy magical treat!

 

 

 

 

SENSORY GROUP

There were lots of things to discover in this box. We started with a base of shredded paper—-JK Rowling wrote BOOKS after all 🙂 There were some plush and laminated characters from her books as well.

 

 

 

 

Of course, the wizard hat, Harry Potter glasses, and “magic” wands were especially popular. We also included items such as pink beads (her favorite color), a British flag, and some play food sushi (her favorite food).

Science access point: recognize a model of a real object.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In blue and white rice were letters J and K as well as a picture of the Scottish flag at the bottom of the box.

 

 

 

 

 

We picked the rice colors to match the colors of the Scottish flag. JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter books in Edinburg Scotland.

Science access point: match objects with similar observable properties, such as shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JK Rowling came up with the idea for the Harry Potter series while on a train. We put a wooden train engine (actually a chunky puzzle piece) in some tea leaves—-we figured since JK Rowling is British she MUST drink tea 🙂

 

 

 

 

There were a couple of train pictures to find at the bottom of the box.

Science access point: recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The students sorted pompoms in the colors of the different Hogwarts houses.

 

 

 

 

 

Red for Gryffindor, blue for Ravenclaw, yellow for Hufflepuff, and green for Slytherin.

Science access point: identify objects by one observable property, such as color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since our school mascot is the owl, we HAD to dedicate a box the Harry Potter’s owl Hedwig!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two owls—-1 big and 1 small as well as a fluffy feather boa made this a very touchable box!

Math access point: recognize differences in size of objects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oobleck in JK Rowling’s favorite color became a little more magical with the addition of some shiny confetti.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The confetti was fun to watch as it swirled around or dripped down the oobleck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Science access point: track objects in motion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mermaids and sea serpents are some of the magical creatures found in JK Rowling’s books.

Two different sized measuring cups and a funnel added to the fun in our water play this week.

 

 

 

Math access point: recognize differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids.

 

 

 

 

 

Bath and Body Works vanilla sugar was as close we could get to Butterbeer, but we think it totally worked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The sweet scent left our students with yummy memories of all the fun we had!

Science access point: recognize one or more external body parts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we made some wizard hats!

First, the students identified the color BLACK and a TRIANGLE.

Science access point:  identify objects by one observable property, such as color.

Math access point: recognize objects with two-dimensional shapes.

 

 

 

 

 

Then, the students used paper cutters or switch operated scissors to cut a triangle out of black paper.

Science access point: recognize a change in the appearance of an object.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, they stamped golden swirls on to their hats.

 

 

 

 

 

Math access point: recognize a movement that reflects a spatial relationship, such as up and down.

 

 

 

 

 

TA DA!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What cute little wizards!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday, we made magic wands out of sticks.

First, the students chose a wand and identified  the color of their chenille stem.

Science access point: identify objects by one observable property, such as color.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, they wrapped the chenille stem around the stick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Math access point: recognize a movement that reflects a spatial relationship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tip of the wand was dipped into glue and then some gold glitter.

Science access point: recognize a change in the appearance of an object.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TA DA!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time for a little magic…..

……our wizards are ready for work 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LANGUAGE GROUP

We had lots of fun making cute little edible owls this week!  Here’s the recipe we used: Let’s Make An Edible Owl

The students first had to indicate that they WANTED a rice cake.  Then they had to locate PEANUT BUTTER to request it.

Students were given the small container of peanut butter.  If they were unable to open it, they had to request HELP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Students then had to SPREAD the peanut butter on the rice cake.  Again, if this task was challenging, they had to request HELP.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, each student got 2 slices of banana and 2 blueberries to serve as the eyes.  They counted out each fruit as they received them.  They had to PUT the bananas and blueberries at the TOP of the rice cake.

Then, they had to request 2 apple slices and PUT them on the SIDES of the rice cake.  We compared these “wings” to our arms.

 

 

Students got to PUT 1 dried cranberry beak on their owl, making sure to put it UNDER the eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, they added some Cheerios as feathers.  Each student was given only 1 or 2 Cheerios at first and had to request MORE.

These turned out so cute…..

 

 

 

 

…….and yummy!

 

 

 

Join us again next time for more fun and learning—–Group by Group!

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Dec19

Week 15—Christmas and Letter O

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Week 15—Christmas and Letter O

Christmas was the theme for our Sensory and Fine Motor groups. Our Language group’s theme was the letter O.

Sensory Group—Christmas

We finished our holiday unit by learning about Christmas this week starting with Cara’s book.  We have our props and sensory boxes ready, so let the merry making begin 🙂

We let our students wear finger puppets while we read our book.Finger puppets are so fun and great for working on finger individuation. For other students, they are helpful for calling attention to and increasing visual regard for their hands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After finishing the story, we turned off the lights so we could turn on our battery operated ones! Our students were entranced and loved looking (addressing visual functions) and touching them.

In addition, they were able to strengthen finger intrinsic skills turning them on/off.

We found these lights at Target.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we finally turned the lights back on we opened our first sensory box in which we placed a variety of items related to our theme. We had large jingle bells, some green garland, fat chenille stems, pompoms, mardi gras beads, and yarn in the colors of red and green. We also put in a little doll Christmas sweater, snowman ornament, felt Santa and Christmas cut outs, a tiny stocking, package bows and some assorted theme related toys.

Whew! What a lot to explore and discuss the different properties of!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We cut our candy cane, reindeer and star (all symbols of Christmas) shapes in our gingerbread scented playdough. Some of our students needed reminders that the playdough was “not to eat”. We generally know which of them have a tendency to want to sample things and so make sure to redirect them when needed.

Playdough is great for working on hand strengthening when squishing and squeezing. When pinching small pieces or rolling between fingers, you address finger individuation skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garland is everywhere at Christmas, so we had to have some to explore! Its soft, shiny and easy to grasp. Its also visually very appealing to our students.

They had so much fun holding and shaking it, or—

having it draped around them 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We looked for the letter C hidden among

the red and green beans (Christmas

colors). Also an opportunity to practice

scooping and pouring skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We practiced pre writing patterns in oobleck, which we scented with peppermint extract to remind us of candy canes.

Peppermint aroma has been associated with increased attention and alertness

We also added some red and green glitter for visual interest and to encourage tracking.

We finished by rinsing our hands in gingerbread scented warm water and rubbed on some of the  lotion to help us think about Christmas the rest of the day 🙂

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Group—Christmas

On Tuesday we began by reading Cara’s “Merry Christmas” book and had lots of fun with the finger puppets. Then we made a reindeer!

We started by passing (counting as we did so, of course) out one large floor puzzle piece for each student and painting it brown.

Painting is a fun way to gain practice grasping and using writing utensils.

On an additional note, putting paint shirts on and off helps work on dressing skills—got to fit those ADL’s in where we can!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we passed out 2 slightly smaller floor

puzzlepieces to each student. This time we

counted by 2’s as we passed them out—

math access points!

These pieces were painted black.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then glued the antlers to the head, added 2 googlie eyes and 1 red pom pom nose—working on math access points and pincer grasp skills!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here he is—-Rudolph the red

nosed reindeer!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday after reading Cara’s book again, we made some snowflake ornaments. Thanks to Alice W. for this great idea!

We started with a snowflake made from puzzle pieces that had been pre-glued together. These were regular size puzzle pieces.

The reason for our puzzle mania this week?  Well, they were FREE —-and we LOVE free!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We painted them with a mixture of white

paint and a little glue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we sprinkled them with fake snow while the paint was still wet. Jeannie put the snow it a sugar shaker to make it easier for our students.

You could put the snow in a bowl and have your students pick it up and sprinkle using their fingers to work on translation movements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look at this lovely little flurry of snowflakes!

Just so sparkly and pretty. They are going to look lovely hanging on a tree or window.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Language Group—Letter O

First we took Orange beads Out Of the bowl and strung them Onto Orange string!

This activity addresses bilateral coordination and pincer grasp skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our students with more significant physical differences used  plastic tubing and larger beads.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we pulled apart Our stretchy tubes and joined the ends to make an O.

The tubes help work on upper extremity strengthening (pulling apart) and eye hand coordination (joining the ends).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we took a paper plate (from which Joy had precut a little section) and began making an Owl.

Our students chose which color markers they wanted to use—-they didn’t have to choose Orange 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After they had finished coloring the plate they cut the Orange wings. Some of our students practiced cutting straight lines with the adaptive tabletop scissors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other students practiced cutting curved lines with

either an adaptive or regular scissors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The wings were then glued On to the plate. Then we added 2 eyes and 1 beak (math access points) and made sure to put them in the right Order—the beak goes under the eyes (directionality concepts).

We taped a loop of Orange yarn to the back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ta Da—Our Orange winged Owl

Ornament!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finished the session with Cara’s sound game and looking at all the O words we found this week—Oh so much fun.

Wow, what a week! Well its about time for Winter Break so we will not be doing any more groups until the new year.  We have some great stuff planned so please join us again in 2012 for more fun Group by Group.