Tag Archives: pre-writing

Oct22

Space and Letter H

Posted on October 22, 2012 by jd785

This week we blasted off into space with our Sensory and Fine Motor groups. Our Language Group looked at the letter H. It was an extra-special week for us with visitors who came from Jackson County to tour our school and see our groups.

Sensory Group—Space

We practiced throwing and catching our planet spheres in the sensory room. These soft balls came from a science kit and were wonderful fun for throwing around as well as comparing sizes.

After coming back to the classroom we read Cara’s book about space and got started on our sensory boxes.

We brought back our black playdough with additional blue and silver glitter to make our galaxy. It was sooo cool looking. The picture just doesn’t do it justice!

We cut crescent and star shapes with our cookie cutters.

This addresses the math access point of recognizing objects with two dimensional shapes.

This box was filled with black beans which looked just like deep dark space. We put in an astronaut, spaceship puzzle piece, a strand of tinsel stars, star cookie cutters and a small globe. For some zodiac symbols we included a toy goat, little plush crab, bull puzzle piece—well ok, a cow, but it had horns 🙂

And how about the big footprint—almost like Neil Armstrong’s!

This box gave us lots of things to discuss, addressing the language arts access point of responding to new vocabulary.

These battery operated lights looked just like twinkling little stars and students were really fascinated.

This addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to one type of stimuli.

Our galaxy in a bottle was also intriguing to our students. We borrowed it from Ms. Bennett.

She made it with karo syrup, food coloring, glitter and beads. The beads move around as the bottle is tilted back and forth giving opportunities for visual tracking, addressing the science access point of tracking objects in motion.

Planets are sphere shaped and that’s what we explored in this box. The beads are cube shaped so it gave us a chance to contrast them with our sphere shaped pom poms. Also the beads are hard and the pompoms are soft—other properties to compare and identify by one observable property.

Red and yellow food coloring was added to shaving cream to make it look just like the flames from rocket ships.

One nice benefit of the foam is that it will

stick to vertical surfaces while

practicing pre-writing patterns!

Astronaut food! Who can forget that weird dehydrated stuff in the foil packets 🙂 We thought our Bubber looked just like it. Bubber is REALLY cool stuff, crumbly but moldable but sticky.

We’re not sure who liked it better—the students or the staff 🙂

If you look closely you can see a picture of the planet Mars we taped to the bottom of our box.

We used lavender scent in our water and lotion this week. Since the best time to see space is late at night when its time for bed, we thought it was appropriate 🙂

Lavender is a fairly strong distinctive scent and was especially aromatic in the lotion.

Our students really responded to it.

Thanks Ms. Jen for the donation!

Our blue rice and green split peas represented our planet earth—- for lots of scooping and sifting fun.!

There are some number 8 (there are 8 planets in our solar system) puzzles pieces hidden in there also.

Fine Motor Group—Space

On Tuesday, after reading Cara’s book we passed out our pre-made rocket bases (made with poster board feet placed into slits in the bottom of a toilet paper roll). Besides counting them out, as we usually do, we pointed out that their shape was a cylinder addressing the math access point of recognizing a 3 dimensional shape.

Next we counted out our cones and asked our students to “put the cone on top of the cylinder”.

EVERYBODY did such a fantastic job, we were so proud of them!

This activity addresses the math access point of recognizing a movement that reflects a spatial relationship.

We put on our paint shirts while an adult hot glued the rocket pieces together.

Then we chose which color to paint the rocket.

We gave our students 3 choices to give them practice making choices in the format of our alternate assessment.

Everyone had a great time painting their rockets, giving them practice controlling writing utensils.

As the students hold onto the rocket, bilateral skills are also addressed.

images Our rocket needs a captain! A little

glue in just the right spot…

their picture added……

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,………..

……………..Blast off!!!

To infinity and beyond 🙂

On Thursday we looked at this really

cool lighted moon while we

listened to Cara’s book and then

made our own full moon!

First we poured glue into shaving

cream ……

and took turns stirring it…….

………until it was all

mixed together.

Then we counted out a

round paper plate for

each student making sure

to point out the shape of the plate.

We used our hands to paint our mixture onto the paper plates.

Our students loved this stuff, its so wonderfully goopy!

TA DA—-our full moon.

The glue and shaving cream mixture dries just like puffy paint–

—-so COOL!

The science access point of recognizing

a change in an object is

addressed here.

Language Group—Letter H

We switched things up a bit this week and STARTED with Cara’s sound game. Lots of fun sounds to listen for!

Then we Harpooned some sea creatures.

Our Harpoon was a little Heavy, so some of our students needed Help to Hoist their catch.

We found lots of animals—- but no Hammerhead sharks.

This activity is great for building shoulder stability and eye hand coordination.

Next we used our Hands to hold some

Halloween finger puppets.

When placed on fingers, these puppets help address finger individuation.

We finished by cutting some strips

of brown construction paper.

We drew some lines as a guide

to cut along.

Some students used scissors and

others used our paper cutters.

Our strips became spikes for our

Happy Hedgehog.

Placing the strips addresses eye hand coordination in addition to spatial

relations.

A lot of fun H words!

Between our visitors and

our groups—

what a fabulous week!

Hope you come back,

Group by Group 🙂

On a final note, please take a look at our comments section. Peggy Hundley Spitz OTR has offered a discount if you mention Group by Group when you place an order at her site OTtoGo.

Oct14

Italian Heritage Month and the Letter G

Posted on October 14, 2012 by jd785

Italian Heritage Month and the Letter G

It was all about red, white, and green—the colors of the Italian flag— in our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups! In our Language Group we looked at words that start with the letter G.

Sensory Group—Italian Heritage

Cara’s book helped us learn about Italian heritage. Our students did such a great job activating the voice output device to read the repetitive line. With the switch we are working on timing of the hit and activating it just one time.

This addresses the access point of responding to familiar print media.

Our color boxes were filled with assorted red things Joy collected around the OT room.

We included beads (large ones to avoid choking hazards, of course), chenille stems, pom poms, a big bow from a valentine wreath, package ties, finger puppets etc.

You name it—if it was the right color, it went into the box 🙂

Hmmm—-this looks interesting 🙂

The main idea of these boxes is to encourage exploration to compare and contrast the differing properties of materials and our students were definitely intrigued!

Most students dove into every box exploring the contents with equal enthusiasm. A few students, however, either did not engage or became overly excited with one of the color boxes. It appeared that the particular color was either over or under stimulating to them.

Beads are always a favorite……and, of course, if beads are in a box—you have to put them on!

These boxes address a number of science access points, including identifying objects by one observable property and recognizing objects as the same.

We practiced scooping with our mix of red, white, and green beans. They were so pretty and colorful.

As the cup is filled, the math access point of recognizing the differences in the capacity of containers is addressed.

A large letter I was placed in our rice mix —-more red, white, and green of course!

We also taped an Italian flag to the bottom of the box—a little

surprise to find.

We added red pepper flakes and green oregano to our playdough to continue our colorful theme. It also had the added bonus of adding an interesting aroma.

We used our heart shaped cookie cutter—-because we LOVE Italy 🙂

This addresses the math access point of recognizing two-dimensional shapes.

Red and green glitter made our oobleck sparkle!

We practiced our pre-writing designs making

vertical strokes.

Most excellently done in

this picture, as you can see 🙂

We rinsed our hands in grape scented lotion. They grow lots of yummy grapes in Italy!

Then we finished with some vanilla sugar lotion so we could leave the group smelling like delicious cannolis—yum yum 🙂

This activity addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli.

Fine Motor Group—Italian Heritage

We rode on some “gondolas” in the sensory room.

Our bolster swing is a huge favorite with our students and a really fun way to work on sitting balance!

After the sensory room we returned to the classroom to read Cara’s book and begin our art project.

We counted out 8 pieces of paper and wrote our names on the back.

Each time we count out our pieces of paper we are working on the math access point of identifying quantities.

Today we are doing spaghetti (well actually string, ha ha) painting.

We asked our students to choose which color they wanted to paint with first…..

…..sometimes its hard to make that choice 🙂

Then we dipped our strings into the paint

and got to work!

This activity addresses eye hand

coordination.

Ta Da!

…….Red,

……………white,

…………………and green!

Gotta love that smile 🙂

On Thursday we made some pizza pies!

We counted out our paper plates and then used red markers to color some

red pizza sauce. A variety of markers were used including these

pipsqueak markers from Crayola.

Our students are spending more time engaged with scribbling and

we are very excited about their progress!

Time to add the cheese—-some shredded yellow paper which looked pretty realistic so we did have to remind some of them that it was paper :).

Eye hand coordination skills are addressed during this activity. Also, strengthening is addressed while squeezing the glue onto the plate.

The math access point of indicating a desire for more of an object is addressed.

Can’t forget the pepperoni!

Our circle cutters work great for making perfect pepperoni pieces and our students really like using them.

Identifying a 2-dimensional shape is a math access point.

Each student counted how many pieces of pepperoni they put on their pizza.

This addressed the math access point of showing one-to-one correspondence.

Time for some pizza.

YUM! YUM!

Language Group—-Letter G

We used our thumbs to Guide our dog.

Go dog Go!

Then we Gathered some Green Grapes using our tongs to

Grab them.

Got to count them as well, to address math access

points:)

Next we Glued 2 black foam circle eyes and 1 black oval mouth on a paper plate.

The texture of the foam was very helpful for our student with a visual impairment.

Then we tore some paper streamers,

Glued them on to the back of the plate to make a……

Ghost!

Good job!

We played Cara’s sound game and listened for some G sounds.

Great fun!

And we finished by looking at some of the

G words we found today.

What an awesome week! Please come

back again, Group by Group.

Sep18

Paralympics and Letter C

Posted on September 18, 2012 by jd785

Paralympics and Letter C

This week the theme for our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups was the London Paralympics and our Language Group looked at words starting with the letter C.

Sensory Group—London Paralympics

We started as usual by reading Cara’s lastest book and using our voice output device to read the repetitive line.

You have to get on an airplane to travel to London!

When we got to the page in Cara’s book about riding in an airplane, we all took turns with the massager to simulate the vibration you would feel on the plane. Some of our students really like the feel of vibration, others not so much.

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

Our first box contained so many cool things. We included a double decker bus and british mailbox, wheelchair, a bag with the british flag, an athletic medal, strips of black fake fur (the soldiers guarding Buckingham Palace wear bearskin hats), some miniature sport balls, and a keychain with the 2012 logo among the rose petals (the british national flower).

We are addressing the access point of responding to new vocabulary that is introduced and taught directly. We are also addressing the social studies access point of recognizing the cultural characteristics of a population.

The British flag banner was so much fun to drape around our students or to grasp and wave around. It also gave a chance to talk about the different colors. This box also included some British coins we placed in an old spice container—-fun to shake and listen to them rattle.

Reach and grasp skills in addition to visual tracking as the objects move are addressed here. We are also targeting the science access points of pushing and pulling an object to make it move and tracking objects in motion as well as the social studies access point of recognizing coins as money.

More red, white and blue with our rice but with a hidden surprise of the Olympic 2012 logo at the bottom. We also put the number 4—the Paralympics happens every 4 years!

Look at this colorful collection— our next box filled with pompoms, yarn and ribbons in the colors of the Olympic flag. A great opportunity to work on color identification as comparing and contrasting shape, color and texture.

The pompoms have such a nice soft texture and are easy to grasp. Picking up the ribbon and yarn strands encourages pincer grasp skills.

This targets the access point of identifying objects by one observable property.

The British love their tea and our students loved exploring the aromatic tea leaves.Wonderful tactile input as hands slide around and sift through it. We put in some circular puzzle pieces, again in the Olympic colors. We are working on the access point of recognizing objects with 2 dimensional shapes.

We added red and yellow food coloring to our shaving cream—to make the olympic flame! So much fun practicing pre-writing strokes.

Gold medals—-thats what all the athletes want to win. We made some terrific sparkly gold playdough and used circle cookie cutters to make our own medals.

We finished with some rose scented lotion to help us remember all the wonderful things we learned about the London Paralympics.

Fine Motor Group—London Paralympics

After reading Cara’s book and taking turns reading the repetitive line on our voice output device we began our art project—we’re going to make an olympic flag!

We counted out 6 pieces of white rectangular paper addressing one to one correspondence and the math access point of recognizing common objects with 2 dimensional shapes.

Then we took a toilet paper roll and stamped a ring. We emphasized stamping just 1 time before passing to the next student.

After we stamped a ring with all 5 of the olympic flag colors we glued a strip with the 2012 logo at the bottom. We helped our students place glue in an “across” fashion addressing pre-writing patterns.

This also addresses the math access point of recognizing a movement that reflects a spatial relationship, such as up and down.

Placing the strip onto the glue encourages bilateral skills, eye hand coordination, and graded motor control.

Perfectly done as you can see here 🙂

Ta Da—our olympic flag

Awesome!!!

OnThursday we had our own mini paralympics in the sensory room then came back to the classroom to read Cara’s book before making an Olympic torch.

We passed around 7 pieces of rectangle paper—bright neon!

We always practice writing our names.

Then we glued on a grey rectangle.

Again working on the math access point of recognizing a common object with a 2 dimensional shape.

Next we tore pieces of red, yellow, and orange tissue paper. Tearing paper is a great pre-scissor skill activity.

We dipped the pieces into glue and placed them onto the top of the triangle.

Look at that concentration—-love it 🙂

Wow look at those flames—

let the games begin!

Language Group—letter C

First we Cleared the Clutter—a Comb, Card, Cup, Chip Clip, Car, Coin, Clock, Cord. The students got to Choose which item they wanted to put in the Container.

then we Closed the top—using both hands and squeezing

tightly!

Next we Clapped to make the Crab Crawl around the table. Our students just really loved this wiggly little guy and they all had to take turns holding it 🙂

We Colored aCardboard C using Crayons. Then Continued decorating it with Cotton balls working on our pincer grasp skills.

So darn Cute

—-and Creative!

Sssh—its time to listen to Cara’s sound

game.

We found some really Cool C words today.

“C” you next time—Group by Group!

Sep9

Labor Day and the Letter B

Posted on September 9, 2012 by jd785

Labor Day and the Letter B

This week our theme for our Sensory and Fine Motor groups was Labor Day which tied in nicely to the Unique Curriculum unit on community workers. Our Language group looked at words starting with the letter B.

Sensory Group—Labor Day

After reading Cara’s book “We Celebrate Workers on Labor Day” we began exploring our boxes. Our first box was filled with green paper shred and play money—thats why people work after all 🙂

We put in a variety of items representing different jobs, such as doctors, firefighters, a computer cord. We also put in other labor day related items such as a plastic hamburger (lots of people cook out on labor day). The burger made a squeaking sound when squeezed—-and it got squeezed ALOT!

Digging around for different items in the paper shred encourages figure ground perception skills and eye hand coordination.

Our next box was filled with white cotton balls and wooden tongue depressors—well, actually popsicle sticks since we didn’t have tongue depressors but we were going for the same texture and they look pretty similar 🙂 This, of course, reminded us of doctors and nurses.

The popsicle sticks were quite the hit with some of our students. This box allows addresses the science access points comparing the different properties (hard/soft) of the materials.

Our mixed beans looked just like a construction site, complete with a bulldozer. So much fun to bury hands into getting some nice proprioceptive feedback.

Shaving foam made a great stand in for the foam the firefighters use to put out fires. Its fun to practice prewriting patterns such as drawing up/down/across. It also allows our students to explore and respond to a “wet” texture which is different from the previous “dry” texture.

This addresses the science access point of recognizing

and responding to different types of sensory stimuli.

We used our lighted toys while talking about police officers and ambulance drivers. The lights are fun to look at and pressing the button addresses fine motor skills.

Since Labor Day is a holiday, some people go to the beach.

We used our soft sand and looked for the large letter L.

The shell made a great scoop, allowing our students to practice scooping skills or hold out their hands as the soft sand sprinkled down.

We ended the group with vanilla sugar scented water and lotion reminding us of ice-cream cones that we might have eaten on the beach.

Fine Motor Group—Labor Day

Our students loved Cara’s book this week, community helpers are always a big hit—especially the firefighters! As our students look at and touch the different pages they are learning concepts of print which is one of their access points.

On Tuesday we made a firefighter hat out of a paper plate with a precut slit and added brim (we got the idea on Crayola website).

We started by talking about the color we were going to paint the hat and asked our students to show us the color “red”.

…….let the painting begin!

Our firefighter emblem was added. Squeezing the glue

addresses hand strengthening and putting the

emblem onto the hat, eye hand coordination.

Aren’t they super cute!

On Thursday after reading our book, we continued with the firefighter theme and made a fire engine.

We counted out 7 big red rectangles, learning to recognize 2 dimensional shapes—-one of our math access points.

Then we used our paper cutter to cut 2 strips of yellow paper.

We glued them down on the paper horizontally, telling the students to put the pieces in an across direction addressing spatial concepts. Recognizing a movement that reflects a spatial relationship is a math access point.

After cutting a bunch of smaller yellow strips we glued them

in an “up and down” direction to make the rungs of the

ladder. We made sure to have some additional precut

strips for those students who were ready to move onto the

next step.

The fire engine was finished with 2 black circle wheels and 1 small yellow rectangle—with we counted, of course 🙂

Doesn’t it look fantastic! Our students loved gluing their own photos in the drivers seat. We used a cartoon picture for this photo, but you get the idea.

Language Group—Letter B

We started By Blowing Bubbles. For our students who couldn’t blow, they practiced Bilateral coordination Bursting the Bubbles Between their hands. Our student with a visual impairment enjoyed the feel of them on his Bare arms:)

Then we put some felt Balloons on a Button (Joy made this with

a large button, some ribbon and felt—found from the

crafty stash). What a fun way to practice fasteners!

Next we made some Binoculars. We cut along a line to make 1 piece of paper into 2 pieces (fitting in those math access points). We got the paper from a wallpaper sample book. Our students used a variety of adaptive scissors and paper cutters to complete this step.

We taped the paper around toilet paper rolls and

stapled them together.

The students LOVED their Binoculars and were so cute holding them up to their eyes

……..as they looked for Blue Birds, Bison, Butterflies, Bees, Billy goats, Boxers, Black Bears, Bunnies, Bats, Bulls, Bullfrogs, and Boars.

We knew all those Beanie Babies we had saved would come in handy one day 🙂

We finished with Cara’s sound game

And, of course, looking again at all the B words we found today. Oh Boy, did we have a great time. Be sure and join us next week Group by Group.

Sep3

Back to School and Letter A

Posted on September 3, 2012 by jd785

Back to School and Letter A

We are so excited to be back at school and starting our groups! We have some changes—new students, different classes—-the usual for a new school year but the fun and learning factor remains the same 🙂 To start the new year our theme for our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups was Back to School. The theme for our Language Group is letter A.

Sensory Group—Back to School

We read Cara’s new book using our voice output device for the repetitive line. Responding to a familiar person reading a book aloud is an access point related to print concepts.

Our first box included school related items such as paper shred (we use a lot of paper at school), straws, a little hat (we get new clothes), a school bus, a plastic combination lock, a mini backpack, a play food milk carton, a spoon, a ball and the word “Friends” as well as some little people.

Lots of things to talk about to help vocabulary development!

Pincer grasp skills and visual figure ground skills are addressed while picking up small pieces of paper and straws.

The big yellow school bus is the ultimate symbol for back to school. This box contains a variety of yellow items to compare and contrast for science access points related to properties of matter.

Items in the box included pom poms, curling ribbon, school bus puzzle pieces, plastic shapes, and easter grass.

We can also count the items addressing math access points.

Our school mascot is the owl and this feather boa looks just like owl feathers. So soft to touch and great for calling awareness to various body parts.

Interacting with with the feathers targets the science access point of recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli.

Back to school also means time for art class with Ms. Judy!

Every year she does some fabulous clay projects with the students. So we made some playdough with sparkly sequins. We used our ABC cookie cutters to go along with our back to school theme. We wanted a darker brown more clay like color for our playdough but as you can see, it didn’t turn out that way—-still lots of fun anyway 🙂

Music class with Ms Jen and Ms Brenda is always a favorite place and our shakers helped us make some music during group.

Comparing and contrasting the differing sounds of the jingle bells and dried peas addresses science access points related to properties of matter.

In addition, as the bottles are moved they can be visually tracked which is a science access point related to motion of objects. As our student push or bat at the bottles they are exploring access points related to forces and changes in motion.

Our rice is in our school colors of yellow and blue. We tucked in an owl puzzle piece to uncover, as well as the letter S.

Scooping the rice also lets us practicing scooping skills. Our students love the rice box, its always one of their favorite things to explore.

And OOBLECK—because back to school means time for Sensory Group again!!! We could write sonnets about this stuff, we just love it 🙂

Finally, we rinsed our hands in apple scented water and rubbed with apple scented lotion—apples for the teacher!

So much fun to be back at school 🙂

Fine Motor Group—Back to School

We read Cara’s book and enjoyed seeing students faces light up as they recognized various classrooms.

After we put on paint shirts (working on dressing skills), we passed out rectangular pieces of paper (recognizing 2 dimensional shapes is a math access point) with painters tape initials . As we passed the papers to the students, we discussed these were the first letters of their name—learning the first letter of your name is an important literacy skill related to the access point of responding to names of familiar persons!

The students chose which color paint they wanted to use.

Using the communication board gives a chance to practice color identification in addition to making choices.

We used foam brushes to paint all over the paper.

Then we pulled the tape off—a great opportunity to practice pincer grasp

skills.

Ta Da—-look how cool all the letters look!

On Thursday, after reading our book it was time to get on the bus!.

We started with a strip of yellow paper and asked each student to cut 3 pieces, counting out loud as each piece was cut. This addresses color identification and math access points. We used our number strip to point to number 3.

Ms.Melissa signs for our student who is hearing impaired.

Then the pieces were dipped in glue and placed on the bus.

This activity promotes pincer grasp skills and eye hand

coordination.

We added 2 black wheels….

circles of course!

With the school bus colored we needed to add some riders of course!

We held up staff pictures and asked “who is this?”, then glued them onto the bus. Repeating this with the student’s pictures.

We finished with a chorus of “The Wheels on the Bus”

Language Group—Letter A

We started by using our Animal tongs to pick up some red Apples (pompoms) to put in Assorted bowls

We also used a number chart to count the Apples, addressing one to one correspondence (math access point).

Then we Added An Animal to the String.

We made Aliens by using shapes with Angles. The black lines seen in the picture are the cutting lines.

We Added googlie eyes

And Antennae.

Note, the fabulous pincer grasp 🙂

They looked

Awesome!!!

Cara’s sound game was lots of fun.

We wrote a lot of sticky notes today—–what a lot of A words we found!!!

Please join us again next week, Group by Group 🙂

Apr30

Week 29—Earth Day

Posted on April 30, 2012 by jd785

Week 29—Earth Day

This week out theme was Earth Day for our Fine Motor and Sensory Groups. Unfortunately we had to cancel our Language group this week.

Sensory Group—Earth Day

Cara’s latest book gave us lots of ideas on how to save the earth. We passed around a stuffed globe as a prop while reading the repetitive line.

We filled our first box with shredded paper (something we can recycle!). Scattered about were some toy cans and bottles, cardboard, and plastic toys—-all things we can recycle. We also put in the word “home” to remind us that earth is our home and we need to keep it clean. A little energy saver sign, reminding us to turn out the lights when we leave the room. We put little people in the box to discuss that it is people who are responsible for keeping our earth clean.

As you can imagine, our students loved the paper shred, so much fun to shake and wave around!

From space, our planet looks like a big blue and green ball. In our next box we put a variety of green and blue items. From hard beads and blocks to soft pompoms and chenille strings.

Lots to material properties to contrast addressing science access points.

Our next box continued our blue and green theme. We recycled our playdough from our under the sea week!

We added some green glitter which gave it a nice sparkle and had car and tree cookie cutters to remind us to plant trees and combine car trips to save gas.

We love using playdoh to improve fine motor skills but math access points can also be addressed when counting the shapes cut out. In addition, prewriting skills can be addressed when making letters with the playdough.

More blue and green! We added some green split peas to our blue rice and it turned out so pretty and eye catching. Our students looked for big and little letter E’s hidden in the rice.

How about a box of aluminum foil!

Something we can recycle and ever so much fun to crumple and wave around.

It also makes noise as it is played with, adding a nice auditory component!

Our sensory bottles helped us discuss global warming. One bottle was filled with clear hair gel and some foam shapes. The foam shapes don’t move around the gel—it looks just like solid ice, and thats how we want our ice caps to remain! The other bottle was filled with hand sanitizer, clear marbles, and some more foam shapes. The foam shapes and marbles move around in the hand sanitizer, just like melting ice.

They made a really cool visual comparison.

Next we made some clean mud. We tore up a roll of toilet paper (from the dollar store) and sprinkled in a bar of grated soap (from the dollar store). Tearing up the paper help address bilateral coordination.

We added a cup of warm water—eye hand coordination and measurement!

Then squished and squeezed until we ended up with mud! Its got a really cool consistency which some of our students

liked—-and

others absolutely did not!

Fortunately, we had a bowl of Juniper Breeze (from Bath and Body Works) scented water in which to wash hands 🙂

We finished with our Juniper

Breeze lotion to remind us of

our beautiful earth.

Fine Motor Group—Earth Day

We read Cara’s book, again using the stuffed globe as a prop.

Then we counted out 8 large blue construction paper blue circles and used a communication board to find the number 8.

Green paint was added to a mixture of glue and shaving cream and we asked our students to guess what was going to happen.

Everybody got a chance to stir the mixture—-and we watched as the glue and shaving cream mixture turned green!

A fun way to address science access points.

We put the mixture on one hand and counted out loud as we printed on the paper 2 times.

For our students who were unable to tolerate the paint on their palms (tactile defensiveness), Joy adapted the activity by painting her own hand and placed the students hand on top to help make the print.

Ta Da! Doesn’t this just like the earth!

It will be even cooler when it dries because our mixture dries just like puffy paint. The raised texture will also make it perfect for our student with a visual impairment to explore.

On Thursday, after reading Cara’s book again, we made Recycle Man!

We used an aluminum pie plate for the head and counted out 2 bottle cap eyes. 1 yogurt container became a nose and can tabs made teeth.

Of course we counted everything as we put it on but we also described the position (ex. on top, under) to address more access points and spatial relationships.

As our Recycle Man is on a vertical surface, shoulder stability is addressed items are placed.

We chose which cap to use as a

belly button…

….and added it to our aluminum roasting pan body!

Perfect!

Then we counted out 8 cans (1 for

each student.

And used them to make arms and legs

for…..

Recycle Man!!!

Isn’t he awesome!

Hope you had fun celebrating Earth Day with us this week. Join us again Group by Group!.

Apr16

Week 28—Under the Sea and the Sun

Posted on April 16, 2012 by jd785

Week 28—Under the Sea and the Sun

This week our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups explored the ocean Under the Sea. Our Language Group learned about the Sun.

Sensory Group—Under the Sea

We started by reading Cara’s book and answering questions about whether different animals are found in the ocean.

Our students used a yes/ no visual support or verbalized their responses.

While we read the story, Ms. Bennet blew some bubbles around to help give the effect of being underwater.

The students really loved watching the bubbles drift around.

Visual tracking is addressed in this activity.

Then we began exploring our sensory boxes starting with our moon sand box. Just like the bottom of the ocean!

We used cookie cutters shaped like starfish or round bubbles.

Comparing the different shapes addresses math access points.

Fine motor skills are addressed when manipulating the cookie cutters.

Our ocean sensory box turned out really great, although our picture doesn’t do it justice.

We put in some blue easter grass and some green chenille stems that reminded us of seaweed. We also included a variety of beads—white like the pearls that you might find, green and blue like the ocean colors. Green and blue pompoms added a contrasting textural component. Different koosh balls and kitchen scrubbers reminded us of sea urchin and other marine life. There were also some plastic fish and sea shells to discover.

We placed some blue aloe lotion in a freezer bag along with some sea shells. It was SO pretty!

…. and great fun to run fingers across to “squish” the gel in different directions practicing prewriting patterns.

Isn’t our blue play dough awesome!

We love the way it turned out, perfect for our fish shaped cookie cutter.

Counting the fish as they were cut addresses math access points.

Fine motor skills are also addressed when using the cookie cutter.

This adorable vibrating fish, purchased from the Special Needs Toys catalog, was great for body awareness.

Vibration can be a pretty intense input and we made sure to respect our students responses to it.

Our pompom yarn has a variety of shades of blue—-

just like ocean waters!

This yarn is soft and easy to grasp, our students just love the way it feels.

We filled a plastic bottle with water, dishwashing liquid and blue food coloring.

When shaken you get foam—just like waves in the ocean—so much fun!

We discussed the photo luminescent animals at the bottom of the ocean. Mixing our cornstarch with tonic water to make it glow under the black light—very cool stuff!

Really, oobleck that glows in the dark—-how could you possibly make exploring science access points more fun 🙂

We rinsed our hands in Bath and Body Works Ocean scent.

The outdoorsy scent reminding us of a day at the ocean.

Fine Motor Group—Under the Sea

After reading Cara’s book, we began our art activity.

We used our paper cutters to cut out fish. Counting the fish addresses math access points.

The fish were set aside and a staff member taped short strands of fishing line to them and to the inside of a tennis ball container lid.

Then we squeezed glue into a tennis ball

container.

We tore blue tissue paper into little pieces (saved from birthday presents past, of course!), crumpled them and dropped them into the tennis ball container.

Bilateral and grasp skills are addressed.

We put the lid on and our little fish aquarium is finished—

TaDa!!!

On Thursday we made an aquarium for a jelly fish! We got the idea from bhoomplay.wordpress.com just brilliant!

First we cut strips of some scrap bulletin board trim. Then squeezed on some glue.

Squeezing the glue along the strip addresses visual spatial skills and hand strengthening.

Then we brushed the glue to make

sure the strip was fully covered.

Colorful aquarium gravel was sprinkled on top—Jeannie had some lying around 🙂

Picking up the gravel promotes pincer grasp skills.

We set this aside to dry.

Blue food coloring was squeezed into a gatorade bottle filled with water— practicing those pincer grasp skills again!

We had pre-made the jelly fish by cutting a square from a plastic grocery bag, gathering it up in the middle, and wrapping a rubber band about 1 inch from the middle–making a head. We snipped some “legs” along the bottom part. Then we held the “head” open under a faucet, leaving room for a little bit of air.

Then we put our jelly fish into his habitat!

Eye hand coordination is addressed when placing the the jelly fish into the bottle.

Wrist rotation is addressed when tightening the lid—-

make sure its really tight!

Isn’t this just awesome! When shaken the jelly fish moves around and looks just like the real thing. Our students LOVED watching it…. well not just the students 🙂

You really have to try this!

Language Group—The Sun

Now that we have finished the alphabet, we are trying some new things with our Language Group so things may change from week to week—but always fun 🙂

We first looked at a stuffed sun and talked about what it looked like: what color it was, what shape it was, how it felt (hot or cold). Then we took turns making it rise and set.

This activity addresses math and science access points!

We used our tongs to pick up yellow pompoms.

Counting the pompoms and comparing their shape and size to our stuffed sun addressed math access points.

Next we play Cara’s latest language game. We went over things we do when the sun is out during the day and things we do during the night. Then we categorized them. Each student looked at a picture like “eat breakfast” and pointed to a picture of day or night.

We glued on the pictures and discussed that we do more things during the day when the sun is out than at night.

We had to have an art activity 🙂 so we made our own sun picture!

The students chose either a light or dark blue sky.

We then passed out a yellow circle to each student and discussed its shape, then glued it to the paper.

Of course, we counted them as they were passed out— addressing math access points.

Then we passed out a strip of yellow paper and cut them along lines to make sun rays.

Lining up the rays with the sun addresses spatial relationships.

We also counted the rays….

never passing up an opportunity to address math access points!

But wait—there’s more!

We counted out 4 cotton balls (our non-verbal students used a voice output device) and added some clouds to our sky.

Awesome!

And to finish off—some of the fantastic sun related words we found today!

Wow, this week was fantastic—we had so much fun!

Come back next week for more fun and learning Group by Group!

Apr9

Week 27—Easter Time

Posted on April 9, 2012 by jd785

Week 27—Easter Time

This week the theme for our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups was Easter. We did not have a Language Group this week because the class went on a field trip.

Sensory Group—Easter Time

We read Cara’s book and used our voice output device to read the repetitive line.

Some of our students use their hands or their heads and a few even use their feet!

Then we started exploring our sensory boxes. Our first box had a variety of easter related items including easter grass, plastic eggs and carrots, easter cookie cutters, purple/pink/yellow pompom’s, a little plush chick and duck.

The Easter grass was a huge hit and pulling apart the strands promotes bilateral coordination in addition to fine motor skills.

Counting pompoms or carrots addresses math access points. Discussing size, shape, color and texture addresses science points.

It’s amazing how much you can fit into one little box!

Next we explored bright yellow feathers and big white pompoms—-our version of chicks and bunnies! These items let us compare and contrast the various properties of these materials, addressing science access points.

We loved these fluffy feathers. It was so much fun to pick up a handful and watch as they drifted down. There were so many feathers, that some of the students ended up looking a little like Big Bird 🙂

Visual tracking is addressed as the feathers drift down and pincer grasp skills are addressed as the students pick up the feathers. Tactile discrimination is also addressed.

We also had fun with our easter garland. We draped on or wrapped it around our students. It was also fun to grab it and shake it.

The little egg decorations really fluttered around, very visually interesting and soft to the touch.

We looked for the letter E in our green rice. Its bright green color looked just like grass with tiny little white easter eggs (navy beans). We also taped some easter egg pictures to the bottom of our box which could be found as the rice was brushed aside.

It was really eye catching and our students loved sifting it through their fingers.

This activity addresses visual and tactile discrimination in addition to literacy.

We also addressed visual skills with our sensory bottle filled with jelly beans. Our students loved shaking it and listening to the rattle as it was shook.

We did have to carefully watch the bottle as a few of the staff really wanted a sample 🙂

Our bunny and sheep fake fur was fun to rub and touch. Soft and cuddly just like little bunnies and lambs.

While it was the same color the textures were different (science access points).

We made our own version of marshmallow peeps by mixing cornstarch, shaving cream and yellow food coloring.

Soft and squishy just like marshmallows! This is the same stuff we made last week (minus the food coloring) and it was just as much fun this week—awesome stuff you HAVE to try it 🙂

We discussed how the materials changed as we mixed them, addressing science access points.

Finger painting in chocolate pudding, practicing prewriting strokes and the letter E.

It doesn’t get much messier than this!

Our students were pretty good about not sampling but as you can see in the picture, our hands needed to stay pretty close!

We rinsed off in vanilla sugar scented water and rubbed our hands in vanilla sugar scented lotion—to remind us of all the yummy candy we hope to find in our easter baskets, YUM!!!

Fine Motor Group—Easter Time

We read Cara’s book and students took turns using our bunny puppet.

It was so cute to watch as they waved it around or made it hop.

For our art activity we started by passing out 8 pieces of blue paper.

We counted the papers as we handed them out and discussed their rectangular shape addressing math access points.

Of course they have to “sign” their names!

Then we used our hole punches to cut out circle shapes and compared them to larger circles we had previously cut on the ellison machine addressing more math access points.

Squeezing the hole punch helps with hand strengthening.

We squeezed glue onto our blue paper.

Also great for hand strengthening and bilateral coordination.

We put some green easter grass and the big yellow circle onto the glue.

We found we probably should have put the easter grass on last instead of this early in the process—it was very entrancing to our students, making it hard to move onto the next step 🙂

Then we glued on our small circle and a precut orange triangle—more math access points 🙂

Spatial relationships are also addressed.

Our little chick is starting to come together!

We added a yellow feather—the finishing touch 🙂

Spatial relations and fine motor skills are addressed when completing this activity.

Ta-Da—a cute little chick

complete with googlie eye!

Don’t they look awesome hanging outside Jeannie’s classroom!

Love it! Love it!

On Thursday, we read Cara’s book again

and all had fun pointing to our

favorite candy—although it was kind of

hard to make a choice 🙂

Then we gave our students a choice of 3 craft foam eggs.

We discussed their oval shape addressing math access points.

We got these eggs (10 in a package) in the dollar section at Target—we love a bargain!

We decorated the eggs using craft foam stickers—so cute.

We helped the students peel the backing off of the stickers, practicing pincer grasp skills.

Then we counted the stickers, addressing math access points.

Our students are also working on being able to identify numerals.

Super cute!

What a colorful bright egg!

Hippity Hoppity!

We had a great time this week, join us again next week —-our Language Group will be back—for more fun and learning Group by Group!

Mar18

Week 25—St.Patricks Day and the Letter Y

Posted on March 18, 2012 by jd785

Week 25—St.Patricks Day and the Letter Y

This week we had fun learning about St.Patricks Day in our Sensory and Fine Motor groups. Letter Y was the theme in our Language Group.

Sensory Group—St. Patricks Day

We read Cara’s book and learned all about symbols associated with the holiday. Our students used the voice output device to ask “what do we see on St. Patricks Day”.

Our first box was filled with a variety of green items such as silk shamrock leaves, silk leaves, easter grass, shamrock beads, manipulatives, chenille stems, mini kitchen scrubber and toys. We also included play food—some vegi’s you might use for irish stew and a couple of rubber snakes St. Patrick missed when he was driving them out of Ireland 🙂

Lots of different textures to explore and compare (addressing science access points). Lots of interesting items to look at and talk about.

Legend has it there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and we found some! We used some gold mardi gras beads and green pom poms in our treasure box.

This box let us address science access points when contrasting properties of materials and address math access points when counting the items.

We looked for the letter P, for Patrick, in our rainbow rice. Its just so bright and colorful!

As always, lots of fun to sift through and scoop.

Looking for the letters addresses visual and tactile discrimination skills, in addition to literacy.

We turned the light off and had more rainbow fun with our rainbow light.

Everyone had to be touched by rainbow!

Visual attending and tracking are addressed during this activity.

We turned the lights back on and made shamrocks out of our green sparkly play dough. Joy used lemon-lime Koolade and LOTS of green glitter, it looks fabulous!

Play dough activities are great for working on hand strengthening. We counted 3 leaves on each shamrock, addressing math access points.

Next, we practiced scooping with our potato flakes. Potatoes are popular in Irish cooking and play an important role in Irish history.

We also taped a surprise to the bottom of the box—a little leprechaun peeking out!

Visual discrimination and social studies access points are addressed.

Some chunky bright orange yarn made a great leprechaun bread. Soft and stringy, its so much fun to reach and grab, working on shoulder strengthening.

Green oobleck with gold glitter. So pretty and sparkly. Green to remind us of Ireland and gold to remind us of the leprechaun’s gold.

Very eye catching and fun to draw prewriting patterns in.

We finished by rinsing our hands in Bath and Body works Juniper Breeze scented water and then rubbed the scented lotion on our hands.

This lovely outdoor scent reminded us of the Irish countryside and will help us remember all the fun we had learning about the symbols of St. Patricks Day.

Fine Motor Group—St. Patricks Day

We read Cara’s book “Symbols of St. Patricks Day”. Our students did an excellent job activating the voice output device to participate in reading the book.

We started our project by using our adaptive table top scissors to cut some yellow squares.

We discussed the square shape, addressing math access points.

What a great job our students are doing, they are really visually attending to the scissors.

We glued a small black square on top of the big yellow square.

This addresses math access points and spatial concepts. In addition, pincer skills are practiced.

The yellow square was then glued to a strip of black paper.

It looks like a belt but its not 🙂

We set it aside and began our next step.

Then we practiced writing our names on a small paper plate. Our students are given a model to copy. Our students have varying skill levels in this area. Most are working on scribbling.

Then we turned the plate over and painted it green.

Our students are getting lots of practice using classroom tools. We get very excited when they start scribbling or painting independently.

We glued a green solo cup onto the paper plate. We used just regular old elmers glue and it held pretty well.

We then wrapped the black paper strip around the cup and taped it.

This activity addresses eye hand coordination and bilateral functions.

Have you guessed what we are making yet?

Why some fabulous green

hats, of course!

Just waiting for

some leprechauns:)

On Thursday we read Cara’s book again and then started our next activity. We are going to make a leprechaun beard.

We started by asking each student to cut 3 pieces of orange yarn. We counted outloud while each student took their turn.

Everyone did a great job!

We then squeezed a bunch of glue (Jeannie colors it with food coloring to make it easier for her students to see) on a strip cut from a large paper plate. Then we practiced our pincer grasps by picking up the yarn and dropping it on the plate.

The darker orange strings are actually pipe cleaners threaded through holes to make ear hangers.

When everyone had put their 3 pieces of yarn on the plate we used a voice output device to ask our students if we were finished or needed more yarn. Those students who chose “more”, got to add additional yarn to the beard. Most of the students chose “finished”—it was time for snack 🙂

This activity addresses math access points and communication skills.

Here is Ms. Martha (the OT intern), our leprechaun model for the day!

Jeannie (classroom teacher) also took lots of pictures of her cute little leprechauns for her yearbook.

Language Group—Letter Y

We started by stringing some Yellow beads. Some of our students were able to manipulate standard beads and laces.

This activity helps bilateral coordination and fine motor skills.

Some of our students needed the activity to be modified by using pipe cleaners which are stiffer than regular laces.

We also used larger beads which are easier to grasp.

Other students strung beads on aquarium tubing which is even easier.

After stringing their beads, our students practiced one to one correspondence by counting how many Yellow beads were on their string. For our students who are non-verbal, we used a step-by-step voice output device.

Love how the voice output device matches our Yellow theme—we planned that 🙂

Next, we tasted some sour apple spray candy! We checked with nursing and they said it was ok for our students who are tube fed in this classroom (some students are completely NPO, so we always check with the nurses before any tastings).

Here is Ms. Garland taking her turn!

For our students who were hesitant to have something sprayed in their mouth, we sprayed a spot on their hands so they could lick it instead.

Everyone got a chance to communicate whether it was Yummy or Yucky!

As You can imagine, everyone had a definite opinion 🙂

Then we started on our project—making Yachts!

First our students used scissors to trim a Yellow triangle (math access points). Some of the students in this class are able to manipulate regular scissors, others use adaptive ones.

We also modified this activity for the individual students by changing the amount of lines they had to cut. For example, this student only had to trim one side. Other students had to cut along 2 lines or even the complete shape.

Then we cut 2 holes with a hole punch. Some of our students really enjoyed the hole punch so they cut a few more 🙂

This is a great hand strengthening activity.

A straw (with the bendy part cut off) was treaded through the holes to make a mast.

Our Yacht is starting to come together!

We stuck the straw into a slice of pool noodle and tested the Yacht’s sea-worthiness— it floats!

Our students were so excited watching their Yachts float on the water. We wished we had gotten a bigger container but the smaller one gave the students an opportunity to take turns and also do some math problem solving—how many Yachts can fit into the container.

We came back to the table to play Cara’s sound game.

A Yellow Jacket—Yikes! If it stung, You might Yelp!

Then we finished by looking at some of the Y words we found today.

Did we have good time?

YEAH!!!!

We are off on spring break for the next week but we’ll be back soon with more fun Group by Group!

Mar12

Week 24—Money and the Letter X

Posted on March 12, 2012 by jd785

Week 24—Money and the Letter X

This week our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups learned about money. We picked the theme to relate to the schools Unique Curriculum theme of economics. The Letter X was the theme for our Language Group.

Sensory Group—Money

We read Cara’s book “There are Many Different Kinds of Jobs”. We chose careers that children often say they want to be when they grow up and related each of our boxes to the different jobs.

Our first box was related to money. It had green paper shred because our money is made of paper and dyed green. We also put in some paper money and coin replicas. Our coins were larger than real life to avoid any choking hazards. We put in beads with dollar signs (we found these at Target in their St. Patricks Day section!) and some gift/credit cards. We also put in a money clip, car key (you often drive to work), and a piece of leather (purses and wallets are often made of leather).

Our students had a lot of fun with this box—some of them really enjoyed collecting the money. Which, of course, gave us an opportunity to work on math access points!

The next box had a construction theme—what fun to drive a dump truck! We used assorted beans for our gravel and put in a couple of toy trucks and the letter C. We also hid a little surprise at the bottom—a picture of a dump truck was taped to the bottom of the box!

In addition to practicing scooping skills, uncovering the truck addresses visual and tactile discrimination skills.

How about becoming President! We filled our next box with the patriotic colors of red, white and blue.

Soft pompoms and hard beads allow us to contrast properties of materials which is a science access point. Sorting and counting the different colored pompoms relates to math access points.

We also included a letter P for President to address literacy skills.

Pink and white rice, a crown—yes, its a princess sensory box!

Nancy made this bracelet we by wrapping strips of tulle around a rubber band. This was a huge hit with some of the students. Very visually interesting to watch the tulle move as a hand was waved.

Concepts of same and different are addressed—the 2 crowns are the “same” and the spoon is “different”.

We also included the letter P to address literacy.

Another exciting job would be a circus performer which is the theme of our next box. We filled it with some colorful packing peanuts, puzzle pieces depicting different circus performers, and the letter C.

The packing peanuts can be sorted by color and allow opportunities to practice pincer grasp skills.

We talked about being a firefighter while finger painting in shaving cream. It looks just like the foam used to douse fires!

We practiced prewriting patterns and letters by finger painting in the foam.

Encouraging students to interact with the foam helps address tactile sensitivity issues.

When finished finger painting, hands were rinsed in water. Our students always enjoy the opportunity to play in water. Its fun but can also be very calming and relaxing for our students.

We also included some theme related items to encourage visual tracking. A glittery baton—just like a circus performer—was a great tool to practice forearm rotation movements. Watching the movements of the glitter as it moved in the water water from one end of the tube to the other related to science access points.

One of our I-spy bottles (made from some plastic juice bottles with lids tape shut) contained some toy coins (along with rice and beans for contrast).

Fun to roll and watch the coins sift through the rice.

The other bottle contained some brightly colored princess jewels.

Both of these bottles could be rotated to encourage visual tracking or shaken for auditory input.

Coin and color identification skills can be addressed using these bottles.

We finished by using some rose scented lotion—

to remind us our future looks “rosy” 🙂

It had a very distinct aroma that all our students reacted to.

Rubbing the lotion on our hands promotes bilateral coordination. For those students who tend to put their hands in their mouths, we rub lotion on their upper arms or the back of their necks.

Fine Motor Group—Money

We read “There are Many Different Kinds of Jobs” which our students loved. They recognized the different professions and all seemed to have a favorite.

After reading the book we made some piggy banks. We started by using an electronic cutting machine. Our students were SO excited and could hardly wait for their turn to press the button– their eyes were glued on the machine 🙂

Listening skills, following directions, turn taking and finger individuation skills are addressed while operating the machine. Watching the mat board move as the machine cuts encourages visual tracking.

We counted out the 7 pink circles that we cut, then we counted 8 students.

Hmm, I think we need 1 more circle!

Working on math access points 🙂

We cut out some smaller circles and some triangles—getting lots more turns to press that button and make the machine go!

Counting the circles, and comparing their sizes addresses math access points. We also worked on shape identification and the concept of same and different with the circles and triangles.

Now to assemble our little piggy! We glued 2 triangles to the big circle to make ears. Then we glued the small circle on top of the big circle.

We used our food coloring enhanced glue to give the students additional visual cues for placement.

Picking up those small pieces really works on precision grasping skills! Squeezing the glue helps strengthen grasp.

Comparing all the sizes and shapes, in addition to counting different items addresses math access points.

We glued the piggy on a piggy bank.

The bank was made by wrapping paper around some different containers, such as mixed nuts or icing, and cutting a slit in the top.

Here is a cute little piggy bank—just waiting to be filled on Thursday!

On Thursday, we read Cara’s book again. It was fun seeing which jobs the students became excited about —construction worker and princess were some of the top choices 🙂

Lets start filling up the piggy bank! We printed some dollar bills (we found these on the Activity Village website).

Our students used the paper cutters to cut along lines that we highlighted—“follow the yellow brick road”!

This activity addresses eye hand coordination and visual tracking.

Time to color the money, green of course!

We used a variety of markers. We like these Crayola pipsqueaks that are perfect for little hands.

We really like how this student is demonstrating some nice bilateral coordination skills—stabilizing her money with her right hand while coloring with the left! She has not always been able to do this, so we were pretty excited.

We also like these Crayola tripod markers that are easy for little hands to grasp. Talk about Universal Design!

This is a fun way to practice using writing tools and coloring in a designated area.

Some of our students knew exactly what to do with the money. After all, its never too early to start saving 🙂

This student folded her money up to fit in the designated space, performing some algebraic functions——related to math access points!

We did save some of the dollars to buy snacks—a great opportunity to reinforce what money can be used for.

This student just handed his dollar to Jeannie and is signing “more”. He knows the value of a dollar 🙂

Those little hands are just so cute!

Language Group—Letter X

We did something a little different (Ms Garland came up with this awesome idea) in our language group this week, a scavenger hunt—X marks the spot!

First we eXmined our map, looking for treasure all around the school.

Using maps addresses social studies access points, sequencing and following directions.

This is going to be eXciting!!!

At our first stop we found 2 stretchy tubes.

Pulling the tubes apart—using maXimum effort—works on upper extremity strengthening and bilateral coordination.

They also have a very satisfying sound as they are pulled apart.

We used our stretchy tubes to make an eXtreme X!

Crossing the tubes to make the X and laying it on top of the tape addresses visual spatial skills.

We found this boX at the neXt spot.

Looks like we are in for some bubble fun!

Instead of blowing the bubbles, you have to squeeze!

How eXtraordinary!

Dipping the wand into the bubble mix addresses eye hand coordination. Squeezing the blower works on grip strength. Visual tracking skills are also addressed while following the bubbles.

Discussing the effect of wind of the bubbles addresses science access points.

We followed the map to this spot were we had to imitate an X.

This student did an eXcellent job, don’t you think!

We finally reached the treasure—cookies iced with an X—eXactly what we were looking for!

Needless to say, we all wanted to eXamine them pretty closely 🙂

Time to make our

eXit.

Here are some of the X words we found today— we may have lost a post-it or two on our trek today 🙂

Please join us again next time for lots more fun and learning Group by Group.