It was all about Thanksgiving in our Fine and Sensory Groups this week. In our Language Group we looked at words that started with Letter L.
Sensory Group—Thanksgiving
We filled this box with play food (squash and other vegetables), turkeys and corn (popcorn kernels)—things you might find at your Thanksgiving feast. We also put in some crochet squares—like the blanket you might snuggle under after the feast!
Of course there is always a game on TV, so we had to put in a small football!
Some pilgrim and native american stickers, and feathers to remind us of the first Thanksgiving. A gift card and small box reminded us of all the shopping we might do after the big day 🙂
And finally, the words Home and Family to remind us what the holiday is all about.
We just loved the different ways our students interacted with the items in the box. In this picture, this little girl is making her turkey eat the corn—-so CUTE!!!
This student, after examining the other items,
became really intrigued by the words
—-working on his literacy, gotta love it 🙂
This box addresses a variety of access
points related to language including
attending to print materials by looking
and touching, and
communicating recognition of familiar
objects.
Our brown feather boa looked just like turkey feathers. As we discuss the fact that birds (like turkeys) have feathers, we address the science access point related to sorting animals by observable characteristics.
Of course, we are also addressing the science access point of responding to sensory stimuli! Our students love to touch and rub the feathers or watch them move about.
Draping the feathers around your neck is kind of fun also 🙂
We thought of pilgrims with our black and white box.
Big soft pompoms and small, hard beads gave us
materials to contrast, compare and count.
This addresses the science access point of
identifying objects by observable properties.
It also addresses the math access points of
recognizing a three-dimensional object (sphere),
differences in size of objects, recognizing two
objects that are the same size and/or color and
as seen in this picture—comparing quantities to 3.
The two discovery bottles reminded us of the first Thanksgiving participants. Beads for the native americans (Wampanoag) and a blue one like the ocean the pilgrims sailed across.
As the students interact with the bottles they are exploring the science access points of applying a push or pull to move an object and tracking objects as they move.
Some of our students loved shaking the bead bottle really hard to hear them rattle, others (as seen in this picture) turned them slowly, watching the beads move around.
Wrist rotation is addressed while turning the bottles in this manner.
Our next box reminded us of more yummy Thanksgiving
food! We filled it with some potato flakes.
A turkey was taped to the bottom of our next box and
could be seen when the potato flakes were
pushed aside.
We also put in the letter T for Thanksgiving—
and turkeys!
The potato flakes have an interesting texture—
soft yet slightly crunchy—-very intriguing.
Locating the letters amongst the flakes
addresses tactile discrimination.
We pushed a turkey cookie cutter into ooey gooey cranberry sauce in our next box.
And just like the response “what is this stuff” given at the Thanksgiving table to canned cranberry sauce—our students weren’t quite sure what to make of it 🙂
Interacting with the cranberry sauce addresses the science access point of responding to sensory stimuli.
Handling and manipulating the cookie cutter addresses grasp skills.
Hands were cleaned in Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin
from Bath and Body Works.
And then we rubbed the lotion on our hands to
leave the group smelling like delicious
pumpkin pies.
Rubbing the lotion on the different extremities
helps build body awareness. Of course, the
lovely aroma is there to help them build
memories of all the wonderful things we
learned today!
Fine Motor Group—Thanksgiving
On Tuesday, after reading Cara’s awesome book, we passed out these cute craft foam turkeys we found in the dollar section at target—10 for a dollar, thats a pretty good deal!
We counted our turkeys as we passed them out, addressing math access points.
Then our students picked out  “gobble” sticker from a choice of 3 colors. It will be alternate assessment time before we know it so we are really trying to get as much practice as we can, choosing from an array of 3.
We decorated the turkeys with foam stickers.
Foam stickers are a little thicker than
paper ones, making them easier to grasp
for our students.
We further adapted the activity by
partially peeling off the backing. This
allowed them to work on their pincer
grasp skills.
A few feathers and a fun googlie eye completes a rather fabulous turkey….
TA DA!!!
These turkeys are almost as cute as our students 🙂
On Thursday, for our art activity we made
some pilgrim hats!
We started by cutting a small rectangle
off a strip of paper using our
adaptive scissors.
This addresses the math access point of
recognizing a 2 dimensional shape.
Then we cut out a yellow rectangle—bigger than the white one!
We glued the small rectangle onto the large rectangle.
This addresses the math access point of recognizing similarities and differences in size of common objects.
It also addresses grasp and release skills in addition to spatial relationships.
This was then glued onto the white paper strip.
Placing the pieces addresses spatial
relationships and eye hand coordination.
It always helpful to get a second opinion on
placement—to make sure you got it just
right 🙂
We set aside our paper strips and then counted out our paper plates and after writing our names, turned them over and painted them black.
The shape of the paper plates was discussed addressing the math access point of recognizing a 2 dimensional shape.
While the students were painting, their paper strips
were taped to some black cups (found in a
Halloween clearance section).
An adult made a circle of colored glue on the
plate and asked the students to put the cup on
“top” of it.
This addresses spatial concepts and eye hand
coordination.
This cute little pilgrim hat deserves a pretty big…..
TA DA!!!!!!
Language Group—Letter L
We started by Listening for L words in Cara’s sound game.
It was Lots of fun.
Then we Listened to a Little Lion roar. This toy was found
in Target’s dollar section—our favorite part of
the store 🙂
It has a button on the stomach that you push so
it is also great for addressing finger individuation
skills.
Then we strung some Large beads…a great activity for promoting bilateral skills.
For our students who are more physically impaired, we adapted the activity by putting the bead on the string and letting them pull the string “up”—-addressing spatial concepts.
After the beads were all strung we counted them, targeting math skills.
Of course we also talked about the different colors of the beads—so much learning in one little activity 🙂
Next we Lit some Lights using our  Powerlink and a
switch to enable all our students to participate.
We Loved Looking at the Lights!
This activity addresses the science access
point of recognizing and responding to
sensory stimuli and the access point of
recognizing a change in an object—the lights
come on when the switch is pressed.
After Listening and Looking, we moved to smell and touch with some Lavender Lotion.
Most of our students really Loved it!
This activity also addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to sensory stimuli.
We finished by stamping some spots on a Leopard!
Our stamper was made by wrapping a dish
scrubber with bubble wrap (using a twist tie to
secure it).
This activity addresses eye hand coordination
and visual discrimination as students stamp
on the leopard—not the table 🙂
He’s so cute you just have to roar—Loudly!
That was our Last activity, we did a Lot more than usual today!
There was a Lot of fun and Laughter in our Language group today! Here are some of
the L words we found.
We had a great week and hope you join us again after Thanksgiving for more fun, Group by Group!
Gobble gobble 🙂