Tag Archives: sensory box

Mar2

The Colors of my Country

Posted on March 2, 2014 by jd785

We celebrated the colors of our country this week—–between the Winter Olympics and Presidents Day we were in a patriotic frame of mind and thought this theme would be a fun way to finish out the month! Our sensory group boxes were filled with items that were either red, white, or blue. The fine motor group combined the colors to make fun art projects. The language group had fun sorting the colors.

SENSORY GROUP

So many fabulous things to discover in our red box! All sorts of shapes, textures, and things that made NOISE—-especially important for our students with visual impairments. There was paper shred, chenille ribbon, accordion tubes, stuffed animals, and a squeaky toy that was by far the favorite!

As with all our color boxes our students are engaging in the practice of science by exploring, observing, and recognizing common objects in the natural world. They are also exploring properties of matter and addressing the science access point identify common objects by one observable property, such as color.

Our white box had some wonderful textures including feathers, a dusting mitt, and some imitation sheepskin. A lovely soft box to run fingers through. We also put in some pompom yarn that was perfect for shaking and draping!

The practice of science is again addressed as the access point use senses to recognize objects.

This blue box was also filled with more wonderful textures and items to explore. We included some shiny curling ribbon, basket filler, some kitchen scrubbers, and an accordion tube.

As students pulled the accordion tube apart and pushed it back together they worked on bilateral coordination.

Forces and changes in motion were explored while addressing the science access point recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move.

LOOK at the concentration on the students faces—–fabulous!!!!!!

This red moon sand had a great tactile feel and is very moldable. A melon baller helped make it even more fun to explore. Discussing the little spheres that were made addresses the math access point recognize 3 dimensional shapes. Of course, even though it looked like a ball it didn’t quite act the same way——some of the students were quite intrigued when the balls didn’t bounce when dropped!

Exploring, observing, and recognizing common objects in the natural world is an access point related to the practice of science.

White flour filled our next box and it is pretty messy stuff—–we LOVE it! Spoons and scoops of different sizes were included for filling and measuring.

Develop understandings of addition and subtraction strategies are addressed as students solve problems involving small quantities of objects or actions using language, such as enough, too much, or more.

We dyed some navy beans blue for our next box and they turned out really cool! We found the instructions on the Fun and Home with Kids website. Everyone, including the adults, was pretty fascinated by the blue hue! To also go along with this weeks theme, the letters U S A were hidden in the box for our students to find.

Finding the hidden letters addresses visual and tactile discrimination skills.

Forces and changes in motion are explored and the science access point recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move was addressed when playing with the white shaving cream. Since the shaving cream is naturally white, we had to include it as part of this unit!

As usual, our students made a mess and had a blast 🙂

We rinsed our hands in cherry scented water—-cherries are RED after all 🙂 We also put 2 foam puzzle dinosaurs in the water. Since one dinosaur was blue and one was red, colors could be discussed and the science access point identify objects by one observable property is again addressed.

Our students also enjoyed exploring our discovery bottles. One was filled with blue beads and glitter while the other was filled with assorted red, white and blue beads.

As the bottles are turned the motion of objects is explored as the science access point track objects in motion is addressed.

We finished our session with some cherry scented lotion—-yummy! Our students loved the aroma and loved when it was applied to hands, arms, or ears 🙂

Concepts related to the organization and development of living organisms are explored while addressing the science access points recognize and respond to one type of sensory stimuli AND recognize one or more external body parts.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we started by counting out some grey rectangular paper—–counting the pieces of course! We always ask to the students to sign their names by first identifying theirs from a choice of two. Our students are emergent writers and we encourage them to “write” as we say the letters of their names out loud. Some of them are starting to say their letters along with us and stop writing after we say the last letter!

Using pictures, symbols, gestures/signs, or words to communicate meaning is a language access point related to the writing process.

Next we counted out 3 shapes, asking the students to point to the number 3 using our communication symbols. Then we asked them to point to or touch the circle (all our shapes came from a shape sorter toy).

Recognizing a common object with a two dimensional shape is a math access point. Recognize quantities 1 to 3 using sets of objects or number names is also a math access point.

To complete our art project we stamped blue squares, red circles, and white triangles. We asked our students to identify the paint colors we were using, again using our communication symbols.

The students did a great job stamping the shapes, showing really nice eye hand coordination!

As they stamped, we counted to 3 aloud. We were really excited when some of them stopped stamping when we got to the number 3!

TaDa!!!!

On Thursday we made a color collage. We love doing collages——they are so much fun AND a great way to use up all those odds and ends hanging around the art closet!

In addition to eye hand coordination, pincer grasp skills are also addressed in this activity.

As items are added to the collage changes in matter are explored addressing the science access point recognize a change in an object.

Here’s to the RED, WHITE and BLUE!

TA DA!!!!!!

LANGUAGE GROUP

For our language group, we focused on sorting and answering the question, “what color is it?” Each of our students had a turn putting their hand inside the bag of goodies Joy put together.

There was a lot of reinforcement to not peek 🙂

Once an object had been pulled out, the student had to say what color it was——either red, white, or blue. They could do this either verbally or by pointing to a communication symbol with the different colors.

Communicating information that tells about an object is a language access point related writing applications.

After labeling the color, the student then had to put it in the matching colored basket.

For some of our visually impaired students, we talked about how the object felt. We used adjectives such as bumpy, smooth, soft, and hard.

Our students did a pretty great job with the sorting and identification of colors. They sure do know the colors of their country!

Thanks for joining us again this week, it’s been a lot of fun—–hope you smiled along with us! Join us again next week for more fun and learning Group by Group.

Feb23

Famous African Americans at my School

Posted on February 23, 2014 by jd785

Famous African Americans at my School

We celebrated Black History month by spotlighting some very special members of our staff. Our students loved reading Cara’s book about some of the special people in their lives. In our sensory group each of the boxes were filled with items representing a staff member. Our fine motor and language groups honored staff members in their classes with special treats. Here is what we did:

SENSORY GROUP

Ms. Regina is one of our newest owls and when she is not helping keep our school clean, taking care of her children, OR studying she likes to go on nature walks.

We filled her box with leaves, flowers, vines, and spanish moss—–things you always see on a walk in Florida. We put in some wildlife you might see including ducks, butterflies, birds, frogs, lizards. Bird sounds were also recorded on a voice output device to add to that outdoors feeling. It was a very attractive box which definitely invited exploration!

The science access point distinguishing between a plant and an animal is addressed here, helping our students learn about the organization and development of living organisms.

Recognize and respond to common sounds is the science access point related to the understanding of forms of energy.

Coach Brown helps our owls gain new athletic skills. In this blue and yellow rice (our school colors) we put in 3 different sport ball erasers. Since the erasers were a little small we encased them in some photo pockets sealed with packing tape. That kept them visible and able to be handled but avoided any safety issues. It worked really well and our students enjoyed discovering them in the rice—-and of course, burying them back in it 🙂

2 of the balls were round and 1 was oval shaped. Recognizing a common object with a 2 dimensional shape is a math access point.

Ms. Frankie loves the Denver Broncos! Her box had 3 pompom shakers in the Bronco colors of blue, orange, and white. We also put in a “bronco” that neighed when it’s button was pushed.

Our students love the shakers. Not only do they love shaking and waving them around but they also love the rustling sound they make.

Identifying objects by one observable property, such as color is the science access point related to learning properties of matter. Applying a push to move an object is related to learning about forces and changes in motion.

Ms. Jackie loves the colors hot pink and black. We filled her box with colorful hard beads and soft pompoms in different sizes. A great way to explore the properties of matter and the access point match objects by one observable property such as size or color. Working on the concepts “same” and “different” addresses the math access point recognizing similarities and differences in sizes of common objects. This relates to the understanding of geometry and measurement.

Of course, it’s also a great way to work on the science access point identify of external body parts—–as in, let’s put the beads over our heads 🙂

Ms. Metra likes to ride motorcycles with her husband. We put in 2 different motorcycles (one a toy and the other a puzzle piece) on our black bean highway.

The toy was a lot of fun because it was one of the kind that could be pulled back and released to drive along the table. Our students also enjoyed both submerging the motorcycles and their hands/arms in the beans—-they really do have a wonderful tactile feel.

Forces and changes in motion are explored as the science access point apply a push to move an object is addressed.

Grandma Daisy loves to eat sherbet ice cream! We made sherbet play dough by mixing lime gelatin and cornstarch then putting it in the refrigerator. Find the recipe here: http://blogmemom.com. It really looked like the real thing especially when it was scooped. Since it had been refrigerated it was a little hard and some force needed to be applied!

We discussed whether the sherbet was “warm” or “cold” which is a science access point related to properties of matter.

Ms. Shakelia’s favorite color is blue! We mixed blue food coloring with our oobleck this week AND added some blue glitter—–we thought she would appreciate that 🙂 The glitter also adds a nice visual element as it get swirled around with the oobleck as it moves.

As the oobleck goes from a solid to a liquid and back again our students explore changes in matter: addressing the science access point recognize that the appearance of a material has changed.

Ms. Sonya loves when things AND her students are sparkly clean 🙂 so to clean up after our messy play we used Crystal Waters scent that we found at the local pharmacy. Ms. Sonya also loves to cook so we thought an apple shaped sponge would be a fun addition and give the students an opportunity to work on hand strengthening by squeezing water out of the sponge.

Recognizing the water as a liquid is a science access point related to learning properties of matter.

The matching lotion had a light pleasant aroma which our students liked. Recognize and respond to one type of sensory stimuli (in this case olfactory) is a science access point related to the understanding of the organization and development of living organisms.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we made a handprint peace dove. We started by showing the students the different colors of paper we had available and then asking them which color paper they would like to use for today’s project. They used communication symbols to make their choices.

The students either used eye gaze or pointed to the symbol to indicate their preference.

As we passed out the paper, we discussed its shape (rectangle) and how many sides it had. This addresses the math access point recognize common objects with 2 dimensional shapes.

Then we painted one of their hands with white paint. None of these students are particularly tactile defensive so this was not a problem. In the past we have had students with tactile issues and we adapted the activity by letting them paint a staff members hand instead.

Then we pressed our hands down onto the paper. Some of the students were able to do this part independently but most of them needed a little assistance.

The students were pretty excited to see their hand print appear on the paper! Recognizing a change in an object is a science access point related to the understanding of changes in matter.

Adults added a beak, legs and eye with a permanent marker and our dove was ready to carry its olive branch!

TA DA!

On Thursday we painted a picture frame for Ms. Celeste! She can use it to frame the beautiful picture she took for out book this week. We decided to paint it with her favorite colors of brown and rust!

We started by showing the students the brown paint bottle. We presented the communication symbols and asked them “which one says brown”. Almost all the students answered correctly!

Identifying objects by one observable property such as color—–yep, we’ve got that one!

Then we got out the paint brushes and started painting. They all manipulated their painting tools well! The students did a great job but the hole in the middle of the frame was a little confusing for them and so they needed a little redirection at times.

As the frame is painted, the students track the movement of the brush as it is pushed or pulled——this is a science access point related to the understanding of forces and changes in motion.

The we shook on some rust colored glitter for a little additional sparkle 🙂

As the glitter was applied, it changed the appearance of the frame. Recognizing a change in an object is a science access point related to the understanding of changes in matter.

It turned out really fabulous and Ms. Celeste loved her picture frame!

LANGUAGE GROUP

Since Grandma Daisy works in the room where we do our language group, we based our activity on her favorite food: SHERBET ICE CREAM! In her honor, we decided to make sherbet sundaes.

The focus for the group today was requesting and informing. The students were provided with visuals of the numbers 1-5. They had to tell us how many scoops they wanted in their bowl. As Cara scooped the sherbet out, we all counted.

Counting from 1 to 5 using objects of pictures is a math access point related to geometry and measurement.

Because we were making sundaes, of COURSE we needed some toppings. First we discussed the different toppings and discovered that one of them made NOISE!

Our students with visual impairments were very good at recognizing that the items were nearby—–a science access point related to the understanding of earth in space and time.

Cara made a board that showed the pictures of each topping that was provided: magic shell sauce, whipped cream, and sprinkles. The student whose turn it was would point to the picture of the topping they wanted, verbalizing what it was if they were able to. Cara then put just a little bit of the topping in the bowl.

The PIXON pictures “more” and “all done” were located on the page as well. Our students were able to convey if they wanted more of the topping or if they were all done with it. For the most part, they wanted MORE!

In addition to language/communication aspects of indicating “more” and “all done”, these concepts are also math access points related to representation of quantities.

Everyone seemed to really enjoy their sundae!

YUM!!!

Another great week—-thanks to all the staff members who allowed us to put their photograph in our book! And a great big thank you for all they do to make our school such a great place to be.

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

Feb16

Valentine’s Day

Posted on February 16, 2014 by jd785

Valentine’s Day

Love was in the air this week as we celebrated Valentine’s Day. It was all hearts, flowers, and chocolate in our sensory group! Our fine motor group made valentines and a box to put them in. A MadLib valentine was a fun project in the language group.

Throughout our groups we addressed the social studies access point associate an object with an event. Read along to see all activities.

SENSORY GROUP

Our first box was filled with a variety of red and white valentine themed objects. We had red paper shred, paper valentines, ribbons, garland, teddy bears, and a variety of hearts of all different textures and sizes. There were even some little valentine rubber duckies—-so cute!

Lots of things to look at, feel, and explore—-it was hard to pick a favorite item!

The science access point recognize common objects in the natural world through observation is addressed here.

Hearts are EVERYWHERE this time of year and we had a whole string of them! Ms. Kim found these fabulous felt hearts at Target and they were an instant hit with the students. They were so pretty and colorful. The hearts were strung on the string in such a fashion that they could be slid back and forth, which was pretty cool.

The science access point track the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled is addressed here in addition to the science access point identify objects by one observable property, such as color.

Some people give their valentines roses and jewelry. Our next box was filled with red silk rose petals and beads of gold, silver, and pearls. Of course the beads were popular but we had great fun picking up handfuls of petals and watching them drop to the ground.

The science access points recognizing two objects that are identical to each other and track objects that fall to the ground are both addressed here.

Other people like to give their valentines chocolate! Our chocolate scented play dough looked and smelled like the real thing—–VERY tempting not only for our students but also the adults 🙂

Fortunately most of our “tasters” have learned all that salt in the recipe makes for a particularly yucky morsel!

We included some hugs and kisses cookie cutters which gave the students the opportunity to recognize differences in the shapes of objects and also to recognize objects as the same which are science access points.

Of course, the shapes can also be counted addressing math access points.

This box was filled with red and white beans. It was a really pretty box with a nice contrast between the colors, the photo doesn’t really do it justice! We included two fun heart shaped spoons in different sizes. As scooping skills were practiced the math access points recognize when an object is added to a situation and associate quantities with language, such as many, a lot, or a little are addressed.

Putting your whole arm in instead, addresses the science access point apply a push to move an object 🙂

We used a package of red velvet cake mix to make one ingredient cloud dough and it works quite well. There were 2 different sized heart cookie cutters with which to stamp impressions and to address the math access point recognize differences in size of objects.

Of course what our students really enjoyed doing was grabbing handfuls and squeezing—-it is kind of irresistible 🙂

In case you were wondering, YES that powder IS messy—–fortunately we had some cinnamon candy scented water with which to rinse it off! We got this scented bath gel at Target a couple of years ago and it is a great scent that smells just like cinnamon red hots!

Recognizing when something has been taken away from a situation—–in this case, the red powder—-is a math access point.

We used 2 discovery bottles with our group this week. One was filled with gold glitter and jewels and the other with a collection of hearts and beads in valentine colors.

Some of our students were able to turn the bottles around themselves—-addressing the science access point recognize that pushing or pulling an object makes it move.

Others enjoyed just watching the contents swirl around—- addressing the science access point track objects in motion.

We finished our session with a yummy chocolate scent to remember all the fun things we learned about Valentines Day. We used a chocolate scented lip balm (thanks for the donation Ms. Elaine )to apply the scent to wrists and hands—-letting the students smell the sweet aroma. For obvious reasons, it was not applied to lips 🙂

Some visitors from E.H.Miller school gave us the idea to use lip balm because it comes in such a variety of flavors—-genius!

Recognize and respond to one type of sensory stimuli is a science access point.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we made some fabulous valentines. This project has been all over Pinterest and we knew it would be perfect for our students.

We started by talking about the heart shape of our paper and its color. Then we asked our students to show us the color “red” using our communication symbols.

Identify objects by one observable property, such as color, is a science access point.

Then we glued puzzle pieces onto the heart—-a great way to work on pincer grasp skills and eye hand coordination!

We also glued a sentence strip with the words “I love you to pieces” onto the heart.

This addresses the science access point recognize a change in an object.

It also addresses the math access point recognize quantities 1 to 3 using sets of objects.

TA DA!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

On Thursday the students decorated coffee containers to hold all the valentines they received from their friends. We started by giving the students a choice of 3 paper colors. After they had chosen their paper, we asked them to identify the color using communication symbols.

Identifying an object by one observable property, in this case color, is a science access point.

We used our paper cutters to trim the strips of paper to fit the container. After the paper was trimmed we noted that we had turned the strip into a rectangle and a square. The students were asked to show us the “square” and they did a pretty good job!

Recognizing a change in an object (as the paper is cut) is a science access point.

Recognizing objects with 2 dimensional shapes is a math access point.

The rectangle was taped to the coffee container and then decorated with all sorts of heart shaped foam stickers. Holding onto those stickers is a great activity for promoting pincer grasp skills!

Before given another sticker, the students were asked if they wanted “more”. Indicating a desire for “more” or “no more” of an object is a math access point.

The students really loved their boxes!

We are ready for the big day 🙂

LANGUAGE GROUP

Since we were celebrating Valentine’s day, we decided to make make a Valentine for someone we love. To make it even more personal, we did them in a Mad Libs fashion!

Cara created a letter with some words missing. Here is the document: My Valentine mad lib. For each word missing, the students had the option of using 2 or 3 different words in place. Here are the words from which the students chose: My Valentine mad lib 2. Our students chose a piece of construction paper and then glued their letter template down.

Communicating a preference for an object is a language access point.

We then started choosing words to put in our Valentines. When going through the letter, we talked about what an adjective is, what a verb is, what kind of feelings people have.

Our students were given a choice of 3 words which we read to them and then asked to indicate which word they wanted. The students have a variety of ways they communicate, including eye gaze, pointing, and vocalizing. Our student with a visual impairment made his choice by pressing a voice output device to say “that’s the one I want” as we read his choices.

Using pictures, symbols, gestures/signs, or words to communicate meaning is a language access point.

Using technology resources to support learning is also a language access point.

The students then cut their chosen words using tabletop scissors and glued them onto their papers. It may be a language focused group but we never pass up an opportunity to incorporate some fine motor skill building 🙂

Using pictures, symbols, gestures/signs, or words to communicate meaning is a language access point.

Using the scissors addresses the science access point recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move.

When the students completed their Valentine, they each signed their name at the bottom.

For privacy we blurred this students signature but take it from us, he did an excellent job!

They were so proud——and rightly so 🙂

We loved all our activities this week and hope your Valentine’s Day was just as fun filled as ours was! Join us again next week for more smiles, fun, and learning.

Hugs and kisses from Group by Group xoxoxo

Feb9

Winter Olympics

Posted on February 9, 2014 by jd785

Winter Olympics

It was all about the Sochi Winter Olympic Games this week! We learned about the Winter Olympics, the country of Russia, and had fun competing in some games of our own.

Our students are learning about maps as part of their Unique Curriculum unit this month so our theme reinforced some of the concepts they were learning about. Read along to see all our activities.

SENSORY GROUP

We looked at a map and traced the way east from the USA to Russia. It is a long way and to get there you have to ride on an airplane. We used a vibrating massager to get the feeling of the engine vibrations. The massager had 2 different speeds which made for a lot of fun—-higher speed if you are flying on a super jet! Most of our students really liked the massager but for those who were more tactile averse, we turned it off completely and let them just touch the soft velvety covering.

Recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli is a science access point.

Recognizing a map is a social studies access point.

The colors of the Russian flag are red, white and blue—-just like ours! Hidden underneath our rice was a map of Russia and the letter S to find (we hid 3 in the rice).

We really enjoy watching the progress of our students as we see some of them begin to realize that there is something to discover as they brush the rice aside.

Associating a picture with a place is a social studies access point.

The Olympic flag has 5 colorful rings. Our next box had big, fluffy chenille stems in the colors of the rings. Our students practiced making circles and linking them together. Most of our students needed help forming the circles but they ALL had fun trying 🙂

The social studies access point recognizing important events in artifacts is a social studies access point.

Recognizing 2 dimensional shapes is a math access point.

Identifying objects by one observable property such a color is a science access point.

One of the most popular olympic sports is ice hockey. Our students used a circle cutter to cut hockey pucks out of the black play dough. This is the same play dough we made for our pirate unit. It was kept in the fridge and has lasted quite nicely!

Recognizing 2 dimensional shapes is a math access point.

Recognizing the appearance of an object or material has changed is a science access point.

Ice skating is another super popular sport. Our discovery bottle was filled with sparkly glitter, beads and sequins—-like the costumes the athletes wear. The familiar Olympic fanfare theme could be heard when the voice output device was pressed. Our students really enjoyed both of these items!

The science access point of tracking objects in motion is addressed here.

Apply a push to move an object is another science access point addressed.

The next box was filled with leaves and flowers like the bouquets winners receive. Our students loved picking them up, tossing them into the air and watching them drop back down. They also loved finding the medals and quickly putting them around their necks……… BUT the most popular item was the little Sochi bear. He came all the way from Russia and was donated by one of our followers, Gena—-thanks so much!

Indicating that an object has fallen is a science access point.

Explore, observe, and recognize common objects in the natural world is another science access point addressed.

We are learning about the WINTER games so we had to include some snow—-the shaving cream version this week! It was perfect for tracing the letter S for snow and SOCHI!

Apply a push or pull to move an object is the science access point addressed here.

Hands were rinsed in Bath and Bodyworks Candy Apple scent. We got it on clearance and decided it worked for our unit—-who wouldn’t want to eat candy apples and watch the Olympics!

Measuring cups were included for scooping fun and to address the math access point recognizing differences is sizes of containers that hold liquids.

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

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday for our art project we made bobsleds. In preparation, toilet paper rolls were pinched and one end stapled together. For safety, we put masking tape over the staples.

Then we gave our students the option of painting their sled red, white, or blue. They used the communication symbols to choose their color and then pointed to the paint that matched the color they chose—-they did a really good job!

The science access point identify objects by one observable property is addressed here.

The language access point communicating a preference for familiar objects is also addressed.

The students then painted their bobsleds, addressing the science access point recognizing that the appearance of an object has changed.

After they bobsleds were painted, adults hot glued popsicle sticks to the bottom.

With the addition of some USA flag stickers—-our bobsleds are ready for competition.

Go Team USA!

On Thursday we made a Russian flag. We started by counting the sides of a white rectangle and also counting the rectangles as they were passed out. The math access points recognizing common objects with 2 dimensional shapes and recognizing the sides of a square or rectangle are addressed here.

Then we used our paper cutter to cut strips of red and blue paper—–making 2 more rectangles!

The science access point apply a push or pull to move an object is addressed when using the paper cutter. It is also excellent for promoting a pincer grasp!

The blue strip was glued to the bottom of the white paper and the red strip on top of that. Sochi 2014 was then glued into the middle.

Recognizing a movement that reflects a spatial relationship is a math access point addressed.

Another math access point is recognize when an object is added to a situation.

Ta Da……. a fabulous Russian Flag!

Hurray for Sochi 2014!!!

LANGUAGE GROUP

We decided to have a Winter Olympics event during our language group this week. It’s always so nice to be able to reiterate something we have talked about before, and since we had recently gone over FIRST, SECOND, and THIRD, having an event just seemed appropriate. Recognizing the next step in a simple sequence is a math access point.

We made our bobsleds from some toy boats we found on the give away table—–they were perfect! There were even slots so we could add little people. We cut out some cardboard and made each of our students a bobsled teammate by adhering their picture to a small piece of cardboard. They always love to see their picture and it makes the activity so much more personal.

Identify picture of self is a language access point.

We placed the teammates face down and our students got to pick 3 teammates to race each other randomly. Putting the racers in their bobsled was a great fine motor activity!

Once the racers were placed in their bobsled, it was time to race. A long, skinny cardboard box covered in white paper made a perfect bobsled run—-very authentic looking 🙂

On your mark…get set…GO!

The students had to wait until they heard “go!” which appeared to be harder than it sounds, but they did a great job. They had so much fun watching the bobsleds go down, cheering for their friends, and seeing who won FIRST, SECOND, and THIRD place.

Tracking moving objects is a science access point.

After a few races, we had the awards ceremony. We used a voice out device to play the Olympic fanfare as we handed out the medals—-donated by Jimmy the intern. Thanks Jimmy!

Obviously the medals were a huge hit 🙂

We had a great time learning about the Winter Olympics this week. Join us again next week for more fun and learning Group by Group!

Feb2

Islam

Posted on February 2, 2014 by jd785

Islam

Our regular followers will notice that we do not have a separate book post this week. The reason for this is that we have been wanting to do a unit on Islam for a long time but had difficulty coming up with a meaningful approach for our students. At our last school book fair, we came across the book Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns a Muslim book of colors by Hena Khan. It is a beautiful book that was perfect for our unit. We contacted Ms. Khan and she graciously gave us permission to use the book in any way we chose—-how cool is that!

We hope you enjoy seeing some of the things we learned about the Muslim faith AND please consider adding Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns to your own library collection.

SENSORY GROUP

The first sentence of each of our color boxes is a paraphrase of Ms. Khan’s poetry, and the reason behind the contents choices.

Silver is a glowing fanoos (lantern). We made our lantern by putting some battery operated lights and silver garland in a clear shoebox.

Our students love looking at lights and so this box was both pretty and fascinating for our students—-and for some of the adults also 🙂

This addresses the science access point recognizing sources of light.

Red is the color of the rug that is kneeled upon to pray to Mecca each day. We filled our first box with an assortment of yarn, wool, and chenille strands—–the kinds of materials that might be used to make rugs. Pompoms were also included to compare/contrast component: the pompoms are soft like the yarn strands but round rather than long and thin.

Our students really loved all the differing textures in this box! They love pulling the yarn apart, shaking it around, and……seeing how far it would stretch!

The science access point identify objects by one observable property, such as color—-in this case red—-is addressed in this activity.

The math access point identify 3 dimensional objects (sphere) is also addressed.

Gold is the color of dome of the mosque. For this box we put in a mixture of hard gold beads and soft gold garland. Our students love shiny things that they can shake and move so this box was a definite favorite! It was also fun seeing which textures different students preferred, for most of them the beads were a clear favorite 🙂

Exploring the materials using vision and touch addressed the science access point explore, observe, and recognize common objects in the natural world. Applying a push or pull to move an object can be addressed 🙂

The math access point recognize length of real objects, such as long or short is also addressed.

White is the color of a round, flat kufi hat. The illustration in Ms. Khan’s book shows a group of men drinking tea so we used tea leaves as a base for this box. While we have used our tea leaves for other themes, it has been fairly infrequently so it is still a novel substance for our students. They were definitely intrigued by it’s texture and aroma. We also added 3 round, white foam core circles to represent the kufi hats.

We discussed where hats were worn and asked students to touch their heads addressing the science access point recognize external body parts.

The math access points identify 2 dimensional objects and solve problems involving joining or separating sets of objects to 3 are also addressed in this activity.

Purple is the color of Eid (an Islamic holiday) gifts. We put a variety of purple paper shred and ribbons in this box along with 3 small purple toys. Our students had a lot of fun discovering the hidden treasures and some of the toys had moving parts—–perfect for practicing fine motor skills!

Identifying objects by one observable property is the science access point again addressed in this activity.

Yellow is the color of the box filled with zakat for those in need. Our box was filled with yellow rice and 3 plastic coins for our students to find. There was also a picture of 2 children in traditional muslim attire hidden underneath the rice. The students really enjoyed discovering the items in this box—-especially the coins!

The social studies access points recognize differences in clothing from other cultures and recognize coins as money are addressed here.

Orange is the color of henna used to draw designs on hands. Orange oobleck became our henna this week. We made it a little thin ——-perfect for dripping designs on to hands!

The science access points track objects in motion and recognizing external body parts are addressed here.

Brown is the color of sweet dates eaten at Ramadan. While we wanted to reference the scent of dates in our lotion and water play it was a little challenging since dates are not an item found readily in our area or a scent found on bath product shelves. We went through our collection and the consensus was that our plumeria scent was the closest to the scent of dates! So while not perfect, the point is to give our students an olfactory component to help them remember the information they learned—-so it still works.

Our students used the date/plumeria scented water to rinse the “henna” off of their hands—-addressing the science access point recognize one way people use water.

We used our sense of smell to explore the lotion and the science access point recognize and respond to one type of sensory stimuli and well as the science access point recognize external body parts as it was applied to hands, necks, and arms.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we made our own orange henna hands! We started by tracing each students hands on white paper. Then our students were asked to identify the color orange using our communication symbols.

This addresses the science access point identify an object by one observable property, such as color.

Next we used a variety of orange markers to decorate the hands. The bright orange color really contrasted nicely with the white paper—–addressing the science access point recognize a change in an object.

Adults cut out the paper hands as our students cutting skills are still at the emergent level. The students then glued their henna hands down onto blue rectangular paper.

Spatial relations, hand strengthening, and eye hand coordination are addressed with this activity.

The math access points recognize 2 dimensional shapes and recognize a movement that reflects a spatial relationship, such as up and down are also addressed.

TADA—-look at our henna hands! They are fabulous!!!!

On Thursday for our art project we made fanoos! We started with folded rectangles of gilded wallpaper. This paper was perfect for our project and best of all—–free 🙂 Discussing the shape of the paper addresses the math access point recognize 2 dimensional shapes.

As the students chose which paper they wanted for their lantern they are communicating their preferences—–a language access point!

We used our adaptive tabletop scissors to cut slits in the paper—–counting as we snipped, of course!

As the slits are cut into the paper it is changed, addressing the science access point recognize a change in an object.

We really wanted to get the affect of a twinkling lantern so we put some battery operated lights in a clear plastic cup. Once our fanoos were put together (using double stick tape) we slipped them over the cup.

Pretty darn magical—–if we do say so ourselves 🙂

LANGUAGE GROUP

To reinforce all the new words we have been learning, we played Bingo! Everyone got a different Bingo sheet with pictures from Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns.

One of our students acted as the “caller” and was put in charge of pushing the All-Turn-It switch to determine which picture to find. We reviewed the Muslim vocabulary words that were associated with each picture, such as “zakat,” “Eid,” and “kufi.”

Responding to new vocabulary that is introduced and taught directly is a language access point.

Our students did a great job of finding the same picture on their board. They also did well with asking for help (either by vocalization or using their Pixon boards) if they could not find the picture.

Picking up the tokens and placing them on a picture reinforces lots of fine motor skills including pincer grasp and eye hand coordination. It also addresses the math access point match one object to a designated space to show one-to-one correspondence.

Seek assistance to clarify the meaning of pictures, symbols, or words in classroom activities is a language access point.

And of course, the best part of Bingo is when you can yell “BINGO!” You could tell our students have played this game before because no prompting was needed 🙂

This was so much fun and needless to say, we played quite a few more rounds before our time was up.

Using language and nonverbal expression for specific purposes is a language access point.

We had a great time this week despite the polar blast that left icy roads and classes cancelled. We really enjoyed Ms. Khan’s book and again thank her so much for allowing us to use it.

Please join us again next week at Group by Group——-the Winter Olympics are coming to our school!

Jan27

Winter

Posted on January 27, 2014 by jd785

Winter

It is pretty chilly out there—-even in our part of the country 🙂 Perfect timing for this weeks winter theme! We explored a variety of wintery textures and scents in our sensory group. Our art projects were all about snowmen in our fine motor group, and in the language group we explored the concepts of warm and cold.

We also brought back our snowflake umbrella which was a hit in all the groups.

SENSORY GROUP

We made our snowflake umbrella by using packing tape to attach a variety of dollar store snowflakes to a clear umbrella. Then we strung silver and white beads, snowflake ornaments and white pompom yarn from the spokes and around the edge. It looks pretty fabulous—–if we do say so ourselves 🙂

Our students were quite entranced and loved watching the dancing snowflakes when the umbrella was slowly twisted back and forth.

The science access point tracking objects in motion is addressed here.

This artificial snow (a purchased powder with added water) is pretty fantastic, it looks and feels like the real thing—-especially when put into the fridge for a few minutes! It certainly had our students quite fascinated, they were not quite sure what to make of this interesting texture.

Just like the real thing, we were able to make small snowballs by grabbing a handful and squeezing it together—-FUN!

The science access point explore, observe, and recognize common objects in the natural world is addressed here.

We made more snowballs with our white Floam. This stuff with its’ slightly tacky texture is perfect for making snowballs because it molds and sticks together easily.

Of course, some of our students got even more creative 🙂

The science access point recognize a change in an object is addressed and the math access point recognize 3 dimensional shapes (sphere) are addressed in this activity.

More snow fun with our shaving cream and cornstarch mixture—-equal parts of both. This stuff is really just so COOL! It is squishy but can be molded and has such an interesting texture.

Recognizing that pushing an pulling an object makes it move is the science access point addressed here.

All that snow sure looks like fun BUT we don’t get many white winters around here. So as a nod to our Florida winters we HAD to include a box with sand!

We used our moonsand for this box. It is more dense than sandbox sand and more like the sand you would find on a beach. A round cookie cutter was included. Our students had fun using the cookie cutter to make circles in the sand. Some of them also went ahead and made some Florida “snowballs” 🙂

The science access point recognize a change in an object is addressed here. The math access points recognize a 2 and 3 dimensional objects is also addressed.

Brrr—-time to warm up by the fire! We made our “fire” by attaching colorful shiny ribbon strips to our switch operated fan. It was fun watching the smiles and giggles of our students as the ribbons fluttered and the breeze hit their faces.

Indicating awareness of air moving is the science access point addressed here.

We used the “chimney” scent from our Follow Your Nose Game to add to the sensory experience of this activity. We started by holding it near our students noses but then got the idea (thanks to Jimmy our new OT intern) to hold it behind the fan so the aroma really wafted around the room!

Recognize and respond to different types of sensory stimuli is another science access point addressed in this activity.

This pompom yarn would make a wonderful warm afghan to snuggle under on a cold winters day! Our students love its’ soft texture. Some of them like to drape it around their shoulders or heads while others just love to pull it apart or shake it around.

Then you have those who like to do BOTH 🙂

The science access points addressed here are use senses to recognize objects and recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes if move.

We made this discovery bottle by mixing a little bit of glitter glue, glitter, and snowflake confetti—-we were really pleased with the way it turned out. The snowflakes looked so pretty as they swirled and drifted around with the glitter.

Tracking objects in motion is the science access point addressed with this bottle.

Twisted peppermint from Bath and Bodyworks was our scent this week. Whether scooping water with our measuring cups (and addressing the math access point recognize differences in containers that hold liquids) or indicating which body part to rub the lotion on (addressing the science access point recognize external body parts)——it was the perfect cool aroma to help us remember our winter theme!

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we started our group by talking about snow globes. We brought out our snowflake umbrella so our students could experience what it felt like to be in a snow globe.

They really got so excited when it was their turn to be under the umbrella and were very good about just touching (rather than pulling at) the dangling items.

Our students got to work on the art project by using a small circle punch to cut out pictures of their faces. This was a little tricky and they did need some help with alignment. To make it easier to use the punch, we had the students push down on the lever rather than try to pinch it. Either the way, it is still a great hand strengthening activity.

After punching out their faces, they glued them onto a snowman. The snowman was made using heavy card stock and glued to a card stock circle—–thanks again to Jimmy the intern!

In addition to eye hand coordination, the math access point recognize a 2 dimensional shape (in this case circle) is addressed.

Then we instructed the students to scoop 3 spoonfuls of artificial snow into a small clear plastic cup. We used our number chart to help our students identify the number 3. Most of our students still need help in this area.

The math access points recognize quantities 1 to 3 using objects, pictures, or number names and solve problems involving joining or separating sets of objects to 3 are addressed in this activity.

The adults hot glued the cup to the snow man base and VOILA—–a snow globe!

Our students were pretty fascinated with their creations and kept turning them around to watch the snow move about. Tracking the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled is the science access point addressed here.

Such cute little snowmen!

On Thursday we made melted snowman pictures. We have seen this art project all over Pinterest and thought it would be perfect for our students.

We started by discussing the colors (blue and white) in our project and asking our students to point to the color using our communication symbols.

Identify common objects by one observable property, such as color is the science access point addressed here.

Recognizing a 2 dimensional shape—-the rectangle paper—-is a math access point.

Then we used paint sponges to paint our mixture of glue, shaving cream, and fake snow onto the paper. We saw the idea for adding the fake snow on the Growing a Jeweled Rose blog—-such a great blog with so many creative ideas!

Applying a push or pull to move an object is a science access point addressed.

Recognizing a change in an object is another science access point addressed.

Next we added paper hats, scarves, triangle noses, and googlie eyes onto our mixture. The beauty of this project is that is doesn’t matter where they go as long as they are on the glue! Thanks to our volunteer Courtney for cutting out all the little pieces!

We also added the words “my melted snowman” to increase the literacy component.

The math access point recognize when an object is added to a situation is addressed in this activity.

TA DA!

These pictures are super cute—-and when dry the shaving cream and glue mixture will feel just like puffy paint!

LANGUAGE GROUP

Today our focus was on teaching the concept of cold versus warm. We had 5 different objects that were found around the room, such as metal spoons, scissors, and jars. We used 2 of each object. One of the objects was left out and the other object was put in the freezer or the refrigerator (i.e., one spoon in the freezer, one left out and so on).

We made a small board with the Boardmaker symbols for “cold” and “warm” on it. Each student got to feel an object and indicate if it was cold or warm using either their words or indicating the picture symbol.If the student had difficulty correctly indicating, we would place a warm object and a cold object on their cheeks and ask them to show which one was cold/warm. This helped them to decipher the difference a little easier.

The science access point recognize the temperature of items as cool or warm is addressed in this activity.

The language access point communicate about a selected object using nonverbal expression, gestures/signs, pictures, symbols, or words is also addressed.

After going through each object, we decided it was time to warm up with some hot chocolate—-of course for safety it will actually be “warm” chocolate! First we opened the package and let our students smell the chocolaty goodness!

This addresses the science access point recognize and respond to one type of sensory stimuli. They definitely recognized and responded to this scent 🙂

We emptied the chocolate powder into a cup and added water. This addresses the math access point recognize when an object is added to a situation.

Each of the students took turns stirring the mixture, addressing the science access points apply a push or pull to move an object and sharing objects with a partner.

And what good is warm chocolate without marshmallows! We drew out a number board with 1, 2, and 3 written on it along with dots under the numbers. The students chose how many marshmallows they wanted in their drink and we counted them out as they were put on the number line. We counted them again as they were dropped into the student’s cups.

In addition to working on pincer grasp skills, the math access point match objects to marked spaces to show one-to-one correspondence for quantities 1 to 3.

And, of course, it also addresses the language access point communicate a preference for familiar objects.

After tasting its yummy goodness, our students again used the Boardmaker symbols to indicate if the chocolate was warm or cold.

That is all for this week, join us again for more fun and learning—–Group by Group!

Jan19

The Places I Go Around School

Posted on January 19, 2014 by jd785

The Places I Go Around School

It was literacy week at our school and the general theme was “all the places you go”. We decided to focus on the all the places you go around school. Cara’s book was a huge hit—-our students loved seeing themselves or their friends faces in the book. Our sensory boxes were a lot of fun to put together, the fine motor art projects turned out so well, and our language group scavenger hunt was a blast!

SENSORY GROUP

The cafeteria is one of the favorite places around school—-that’s where all the food is after all 🙂 We filled the cafeteria box with paper shred and then added lunch related items including straws, play food, an ID card, and little tray.

The students had a lot of fun picking out their favorite food items and of course this led to lots of language opportunities. The straws we included turned out to be quite popular also—-placed into the milk carton or just waved about, our students loved them!

The science access point recognizing a model of a real object is addressed here. As with all our activities and boxes this week, the social studies access point associating a place with an activity in the classroom or school is also addressed.

We are so lucky to have a large sensory room at our school and needless to say it is one of the most popular places at school. Our students LOVE the sensory room and one of the favorite pieces of the equipment is the colorful ball pit!

Our colorful pompoms are round spheres just like the balls. We included 2 different sized pompoms in this box to compare or match. The plan was to address the math access point recognizing similarities and differences in size of common objects and the science access point to identify objects by one observable property, such as color…..

BUT kids being kids, the science access point of tracking falling objects was usually the one that was addressed 🙂

Music is another area that our students love to visit. We recorded a music clip on our voice output device and gave the students a shaker bottle instrument to jam along with the beat. We made the shaker bottle using a plastic soda bottle, adding some colorful beads AND hot gluing the lid on—-to at least slow down busy little hands 🙂

The science access points to recognize and respond to different types of sensory stimuli and apply a push or pull to move an object are addressed with this activity.

One of the most exciting places to go at school is the bus ramp BECAUSE that means it is time to go out for community based instruction. Like kids everywhere, our students enjoy riding the bus to exciting places.

For this box we added 2 different colored school buses to drive along black bean roads. We asked our students to find the bus that was the same color as the buses they ride, addressing the science access point to identify objects by one observable property.

Our students love making clay projects in art. Instead of clay, we brought back our green play dough from a few weeks ago. It still had the wonderful peppermint scent we had added and our students really enjoyed the aroma. We included 2 letter A (A for Art) cookie cutters.

The science access points recognizing an object by one observable property, applying a push or pull to move an object, and recognizing a change in an object are all addressed in this activity.

There are 3 playgrounds at our school—-how cool is that! Going to the playground is probably the number one favorite place of most of our students. So many fun things to do from climbing, to swinging to digging in the sandbox!

For our mini sandbox we taped a picture of a play ground (cut from a catalog) to the bottom of the box for the students to find as the sand was pushed aside. We also included a small measuring cup and spoon to practice scooping skills, bilateral skills and eye hand coordination.

The math access point solving problems involving small quantities of objects or actions using language such as enough, too much, or more are explored in this activity. Another math access point, recognizing differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids (capacity) is also addressed.

Probably THE most favorite place at our school is the pool! Our PE teachers do such a great job and it is such a therapeutic place for our students.

We used Bath and Bodyworks Dancing Waters scent in our water—-it is kind of hard to find chlorine scented bath products 🙂 We also included 4 foam swim noodle pieces and a measuring spoon. The students practiced their scooping and eye hand coordination skills again as they tried to scoop water into the noodle holes.

Math access points addressed here include recognizing two dimensional shapes such as a circle and using one to one correspondence to identify sets of objects with the same amount to 2 can be addressed in this activity.

We finished with the Dancing Waters lotion to help us remember all the fun we had! Our students really liked the soft aroma of this scent and enjoyed indicating where they wanted the lotion on their bodies.

As usual this activity addresses the science access points of recognizing one or more external body parts and recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli. It also addresses the language access point of adjusting body movements of nonverbal expressions to communicate desires or preferences.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

The playground was the theme for our Tuesday art project. We started by counting out rectangle shaped paper and using a sponge brush to paint on some glue.

The math access point recognizing a 2 dimensional shape is addressed. The science access point recognizing a change in an object is also addressed.

Then we scooped crushed yellow cereal “sand” onto the glue. This activity promotes scooping skills and eye hand coordination. We also counted how many scoops each student put on their paper.

The science access point recognize a change in an object is again addressed. The math access point solve problems involving small quantities of objects or actions using language, such as enough, too much, or more is also addressed.

We precut a bunch of playground pictures from some old catalogs and let our students choose which one they wanted to add to their pictures.

Our students with physical challenges used eye gaze to indicate their preferences.

This activity addresses the language access points of responding to informational materials and using body movement or nonverbal expression to communicate preferences.

We love the way these turned out—–and so did our students!

TA DA!!!!!!!

On Thursday we chose the cafeteria as the theme for our art project.

We counted out rectangle pieces of paper and discussed the paint colors, red and yellow, that we were going to use with our big apple and small corn cob. A fork was stuck into the apple to make it easier for our students to handle—-it worked really well!

We started by stamping 1 red apple print.

Next 1 yellow corn cob print.

The math access point recognizing differences in sizes of objects is addressed, in addition to the math access point recognizing 2 dimensional shapes.

Then we asked our students ” what color comes next?”.

After we stamped another apple print, we again asked “what comes next?”.

We thought the students would need a lot of assistance with this BUT they did really well—-our students ROCK!

The math access point recognizing the next step in a simple pattern or sequence of activities is addressed in this activity.

TA Da!

So proud—-and rightly so!

LANGUAGE GROUP

Since we are talking about all the different places you go, we decided to have a scavenger hunt and find 3 different places around our school.

After reading Cara’s book, we looked at the directions for the scavenger hunt. We went over what we had to find FIRST, NEXT, and LAST. The directions had a picture of the places that we had to find.

The math access point to indicate the next step in a sequence of activities is addressed.

The social studies access point recognizing a picture of a location is also addressed.

FIRST we had to find the music room. On the way, we would stop and ask the students to show us the way to go. They would point in the direction we had to go.

NEXT we had to find the art room. Since our students go to art and music once a week, they were easily able to locate these rooms.

LAST we had to find the playground. Our students DEFINITELY know where the playground is! Once we got to the playground, we looked at the directions again and went over what places we had just found.

All done and time to play!

Another great week! Join us again, there is more fun and learning to come—-Group by Group.

Jan13

New Years Around the World

Posted on January 13, 2014 by jd785

New Years Around the World

Happy New Year! We all had a wonderful and restful winter break, coming back ready to greet the new year with some exciting and new group activities. For our first week back, we thought it would be fun to look at New Years traditions around the world—-there sure are a lot of different ones 🙂 Hope you enjoy seeing all the fun we had learning about them!

SENSORY GROUP

At the stroke of midnight around the world, confetti is tossed into the air! Our first box was filled with paper confetti, a clock, crazy glasses, and noise makers. We also included a glitter tube—-we thought the glitter looked like falling confetti. The voice output device in the box contained a clip of the countdown and people singing Auld Lang Syne. A peace sign was included to remind us that world peace is one of the things people hope for in the new year.

Also in the box was a toy suitcase because in Mexico people take a piece of luggage and run around the block; round play fruit—people in the Philippines eat round fruit for luck, and a toy plate because people throw plates at doors in Denmark—-all fun new years traditions!

There were so many different items to discover! It was fun seeing which items turned out to be favorites as little hands dug in and pulled out contents—-leaving trails of confetti across the table….and laps….and floor. We like to leave memories of our visit 🙂

Our students loved trying on the glasses, grabbing handfuls of confetti, and OF COURSE the noise makers! This was a really fun box!

The social studies access point of associating a celebration with an event is addressed in this and all our other boxes.

The science access point of applying a push or pull to move an object is also addressed.

Here in the South, eating black eyed peas on New Years day is an annual tradition. Our students loved running their hands through the peas or seeing how many scoops it took to fill their hands.

In addition to practicing scooping skills, the math access point recognizing when an object is added is addressed.

The math access point of solving problems involving small quantities of objects or action using language, such as enough, too much, or more is also addressed.

Don’t you just love the intent look of concentration on this students face 🙂

Our soft, crumbly cloud dough reminded us of the Armenian bread that is baked for good luck. Now that sounds like a very yummy tradition!

Cookie cutters with the numbers 2014 were included for the students to stamp impressions into the cloud dough.

In addition to number recognition, the science access point recognizing a change in an object is addressed.

In Spain they eat 12 grapes to celebrate the new year—one for each stroke of the clock at midnight.

We filled our “grape” box with big, soft, purple pom poms and small, hard purple beads. This box was so vibrant and colorful, really quite pretty!

The science access point of recognizing 2 objects that are identical to each other can be addressed with this box—-that is if you can pull the students attention away from those fabulous purple beads 🙂

Our light up toys flashed bright colorful lights just like fireworks that light up the skies during new year celebrations. We included 2 different kinds of light toys. Some of them were activated when struck, others when a button was pushed.

Some of our students preferred one toy over the other, others like this student here demonstrated some nice bilateral coordination using both at the same time!

Applying a push to move an object and recognizing sources of light are science access points addressed in this activity.

Speaking of fireworks—what could be more fun than firecracker oobleck! We added pop rocks to our oobleck for super popping fun. Ok, this is totally cool and fascinating—-a must try!

Tracking the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled is a science access point addressed here.

The science access point recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli is also addressed.

In Scotland they waft the scent of juniper around the house to rid it of any germs! Lucky for us we found some Juniper Breeze bath gel at Bath and Bodyworks! Made it pretty easy to decide the scent for this week 🙂

We included a couple of measuring cups with our water play to address the math access point recognizing differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids.

The Juniper Breeze scent had a nice soft aroma and our students all seemed to really like it. They all anticipated their turn to smell the lotion and the students are getting very good at indicating on which body part they want the lotion.

The science access points recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli and recognizing one or more external body parts are addressed with this activity.

We finished the group with fireworks—-of the bubble wrap kind that is! This is a great time of year to find scraps of bubble wrap and our coworkers gave us plenty of donations. We just laid pieces on the floor and had our students run, stomp, or roll over it. It really does sound like firecrackers, especially when the wheelchairs rolled over it.

The kids totally had a blast and yes——- so did the adults 🙂

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we made fireworks pictures! We started by discussing the different colors of paint we were going to use and asked the students to identify the colors using the communication symbols. The students have been doing so well when given a choice of 2, that we decided to make it a little harder by giving them 3 choices. This also helps prepare them for the alternate assessment which is in a 3 answer choice format.

Identifying objects by one observable property, such as color, is a science access point.

We counted out pieces of black paper, noting that it was a rectangle and also counting how many sides it had. Recognizing objects with 2 dimensional shapes and identifying the sides of a rectangle are math access points.

Then we began stamping our fireworks. The stamper is a toilet paper roll with slits cut into it (we saw this idea on Pinterest). The paint colors popped on the black paper and our students really got into it!

Applying a push or pull to move an object is a science access point.

LANGUAGE GROUP

After reading Cara’s book, we worked on putting the months of the year in the correct order. The chart that we used had a picture for each month in case the student needed a visual prompt to match the word to.

Each student was given 3 different months to choose from when it was their turn. The months presented were read aloud to the student and they chose which month was the correct month. If they were unable to find the correct month with just auditory feedback, they could use the picture signifying the month as a visual prompt.

We had such a high success rate with this activity! The students in Mrs. Robin’s class know their months of the year well. Rote learning had taught them the order of the months and since Mrs. Robin goes over the months of the year each day in her class, these students were able to put the months in order with minimal prompting. So cool!

After putting the months of the year together, we got the number chart out and began the New Years countdown. We gave our students noise makers, crazy glasses, party hats and…..of course we pulled out the bubble wrap again!!!!

10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

This week was so much fun, keep following us, there are so many more exciting things to learn and discover—-Group by Group!

Dec15

Christmas Traditions

Posted on December 15, 2013 by jd785

Christmas Traditions

It was a busy week with a special program affecting our group schedule a little but we still had fun exploring our Christmas Traditions theme! Cara used pictures submitted by staff members for her book and our students really enjoyed looking at the pictures and labeling things they saw—-such as the Christmas tree and Santa Claus. Our sensory boxes were bright and colorful with lots of Christmas related items to explore. The fine motor group had two cute projects and the language group went on a Christmas parade!

Sensory Group

Colorful lights are a Christmas tradition that we find decorating trees and houses. We put 2 sets of colorful battery operated lights and some shiny garland in this box. The garland reflected the lights and made the box even more eye catching—–and mesmerizing 🙂

This one was a favorite!

This addresses the science access point recognizing sources of light.

This box was filled with plastic pine branches and holly leaves. We also put in some red garland, shiny beads, and a little Christmas stocking. All sorts of fun textures and items to explore! Of course, we had to include a couple of Santas, a little elf, a wrapped present, a nutcracker, and some jingle bells—all traditional Christmas symbols.

We also included a voice output device with the song Jingle Bells—-it got played ALOT 🙂

Science access points addressed include recognizing common objects related to science by name, such as plant and recognizing a model of a real object.

This activity also addresses the social studies access point, associating a celebration with an event, such as a holiday.

Red and green are considered Christmas colors. We put shiny, hard beads and soft, round pom poms in this box.

Lots of opportunities to compare and contrast materials. It addresses the science access point identifying common objects by one observable property, such as color. It also addresses the science access point recognizing two objects that are identical to each other.

The math access point recognizing a 3 dimensional object (sphere) is also addressed.

Red and green are also the colors of our rice box—-red rice and green split peas! Wow, this was such a pretty box—so eye catching! Hidden in the box were 3 letter C’s to find. We also taped some Christmas tree wrapping paper to the bottom of the box—-a fun picture to find as the rice was pushed aside.

In addition to tactile and visual discrimination skills, the science access point of applying a push to move an object is addressed.

A giant Christmas tree cookie cutter was used with our peppermint scented green playdough. Although is smelled pretty yummy, our students did a really good job of refraining from tasting it!

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

As more than 1 tree is formed, the science access point recognizing two objects that are identical to each other is also addressed.

We swirled red food coloring into our “candy cane” oobleck. It turned out pretty cool—starting out with swirling color and ending up a delightful pink!

As usual, our students loved playing with it—oobleck is simply amazing stuff 🙂

The science access points recognizing a change in an object and recognizing that pushing and pulling an object makes it move are addressed here.

This week, we found our scent at Joann’s—-Gingerbread!

We used the water to rinse the oobleck off our hands AND address the science access point recognizing water as a liquid.

As well as the science access point observing and recognizing that people need water —to clean off oobeck, of course 🙂

The matching lotion smelled very yummy and after the students had smelled the lotion, we asked them which body part they wanted the lotion rubbed on. This scent was a real hit, ALL our students loved it!

This activity addresses the science access point recognizing external body parts and the language access point communicating a preference for a familiar action.

Fine Motor Group

On Tuesday we made some super cool reindeer using floor puzzle pieces. We have done this before and we liked them so much, we decided to do it again! Our super volunteer, Sarah, glued the pieces together for us.

We started by using our sponge brushes to paint the reindeer brown.

Recognizing a change in a object is addressed as the white puzzle pieces become brown.

Next we asked our students to find their eyes, then put 2 round googlie eyes on their reindeer. Placing the googlie eyes helps to promote pincer grasp skills.

It also addresses the science access point recognizing external body parts.

Rudolph needs a bright shiny red nose, of course! We added a cute pompom noses after asking the students to find their own nose.

Again, this activity addresses pincer grasp skills and identifying external body parts.

Our students were thrilled with their reindeer!

Time to run, run Rudolph—-

TaDA!

On Thursday, our students turned into little elves!

We started by discussing the color of the paper we were going to use. Our students did a great job of finding the color green. We were so excited when we realized that everyone had answered correctly!

Identifying classroom objects by one observable property, such as color is a science access point addressed here.

Then we used our paper cutters and electric scissors to turn our green rectangles into triangles!

The science access point recognizing a change in an object is addressed here.

The math access point recognizing 2 dimensional shapes is also addressed.

Time to add some decorations—working on pincer grasp and eye hand coordination skills!

Of course, we counted each decoration as it was added to the hat.

We glued the hat onto our pre-made faces, made from paper plates (thanks again Sarah!).

Elves ready and reporting to work 🙂

HO HO HO

Language Group

After reading Cara’s book, we made Christmas cards for the other elementary classes. The students got to pick what they wanted on the front of the cards by activating the All-Turn-It spinner. The pictures on the spinner were: Christmas tree, Santa Claus, bells, angel, reindeer, snowman, and an elf.

Our students did so well watching the spinner and they are also learning not to hit the switch but to push it to activate it.

The language access point, use technology resources to support learning is addressed here.

After finishing up the cards, we dressed our students up with different Christmas props. We let them look in the mirror to see themselves which is always fun to do. The different props we had coincided with the different pictures that were on the spinner. We talked about putting things “on” and trying not to take them “off”.

Responding to specific information about familiar objects and routines is a language access point addressed here.

We also made sure everyone had some jingle bells 🙂

Time for a Christmas parade! We went over who was “first” and who was “last” then we turned on some Christmas music, rang bells, and paraded through the halls to deliver the cards. SO FUN!

Surprisingly, the props stayed on our students the entire time! The students in the other classrooms loved watching our language group parade around their room!

The math access point, recognizing the next step in a simple pattern or sequence of activities is addressed here.

Responding to familiar persons is a language access point addressed.

It’s been a great celebration these past 2 weeks, but now we’re all ready for a break! Since next week there are only 2 full days of school, we decided not to have groups. We’ll see you in 2014 with some more fun Group by Group!

Dec8

Hanukkah

Posted on December 8, 2013 by jd785

Hanukkah

This month the Unique Curriculum unit looks at some different holidays celebrated in the winter. Hanukkah is one of the holidays that our students are learning about so we chose it for our theme this week and Cara wrote another great book that all the groups enjoyed! The social studies access point addressed in this unit is recognizing that people from diverse backgrounds make contributions.

SENSORY GROUP

Our first box was filled with blue and silver basket filler, curling ribbon, garland, and chenille strands. In it we placed some dreidels, pictures of Hanukkah related items, and stars. We included some gold bead gelt and some play food donuts! Lots of wonderful textures and shapes to explore!

Some of our students had fun trying to make the dreidels spin, while others loved shaking the colorful textured strands.

They all had fun listening and dancing to the dreidel song that played when the voice output device we had included in the box was pressed!

This box addresses the language access point responding to new vocabulary that is introduced and taught directly.

It also addresses the social studies access point associating a celebration with an event, such as a holiday.

And finally, it also addresses the science access point recognizing and responding to common sounds.

We put 2 different size stars and a dreidel cookie cutter in our blue moon sand. This moon sand has a great texture, it’s easy to push the cookie cutters into but still firm enough to hold the shape.

This box addresses the science access point recognizing that pushing and pulling an object makes it move.

It also addresses the math access points of recognizing differences in size of objects and associating quantities with number names.

Since Hanukkah takes place in the winter, we had to include our blue cuddly pom pom yarn in our next box! So much fun to drape or shake…..

some of our students really had a blast with it 🙂

It addresses the science access points identifying common objects by one observable property, in this case the color blue and tracking objects in motion!

Our waxy Wikki Stix feel just like candles, which are lit for 8 nights during Hanukkah. Our students had fun twisting and bending them into different shapes.

We also included a discovery bottle filled with cooking oil and gold glitter, like little flames dancing around.

This bottle turned out so fabulous with all the gold glitter swirling around—- seriously COOL!

The science access points addressed are applying a push to move an object and recognize the change in the motion of an object.

Potato latkes are often served during Hanukkah celebrations. We just love the interesting soft, crunchy texture that is kind of irresistible. We hid the letter H and the number 8 in the potato flakes for our students to find.

Explore, observe, and recognize common objects in the natural world is a science access point addressed in this activity.

Donuts are another treat eaten during Hanukkah—- so we used shaving cream which is KIND OF like the cream inside of a real donut 🙂

The science access point recognizing that pushing and pulling an object makes it move is addressed as our students push and smush the cream around.

We rinsed our hands in some vanilla sugar scented water and used different size spoons to practice scooping….of course, taking some time out to do a little splashing around also 🙂

Using the different size scoops in the water addresses the math access point recognizing differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids.

Then we used the vanilla sugar scented lotion to leave the group smelling like yummy donuts! The science access point recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli is addressed with the lotion.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we learned about dreidels and made one for our art project! We started by using our paper cutters and switch adapted electric scissors to cut out the 4 symbols used on a dreidel. We found the symbols online and enlarged them on our copier.

We counted the symbols as they were cut, addressing the math access point associating quantities with number names.

Then we glued 1 symbol on each side of our blue cube. Thanks again to our wonderful volunteer Sarah who covered and assembled these boxes. We also want to thank Noah who cut the dowels for us—-couldn’t have done it without them!

We discussed the shape of the boxes and the paper color.

Recognizing common 3 dimensional objects, such as cubes, is a math access point addressed here. A science access point addressed is recognizing objects by one observable property such as color.

Ta Da—check out these GIANT dreidels—— AWESOME?!!!!!

On Thursday, we continued with a dreidel theme, decorating a dreidel shape cut from cereal boxes (thanks to our volunteer Mackenzie!)

We started by discussing the paint colors we were going to use and used our communication symbols to see if our students could identify the color blue.

Identifying common objects by one observable property, such as color……

NAILED!!!!! 🙂

Next we used a textured roller to paint our dreidel. Using the roller is a fun way to work on bilateral coordination!

It also addresses the science access point of applying a push to move an object.

Then we continued to decorate the dreidel using some sponge stamps dipped in blue paint.

Painting the dreidel addresses the science access point recognizing a change in an object.

We finished by adding some glitter—-for a little bit of sparkle 🙂

TA DA!

Another fabulous dreidel….

AND some fabulous smiles!

LANGUAGE GROUP

As with all the groups, we started off by reading Cara’s book. Our students are getting so good at attending to the book and activating the voice output when it’s their turn! Responding to a technology resource is a language access point.

For our activity, we decided to play dreidel with our students. Of course, they had to start with some chocolate gelt so we counted out 3 pieces for each student. Then we asked students to put one piece of gelt into the pot to start the game.

Since it can be pretty hard to get the dreidel spinning, we adapted it for our students by printing out pictures of each side of the dreidel and taping 2 of each onto an All Turn It spinner.

The students took turns pressing the switch to activate the spinner. It was exciting for them to see what they got! The sides and meanings are: Shin-put one more token in the pot, Nun-do nothing, Gimmel-take all the tokens from the pot, and Hay-take half of the tokens in the pot. This was a great game for following directions and turn taking!

It was so much fun and the gelt was very yummy!

It also addresses the language access point of attending to pictures or informational materials. It also addresses the science access points recognizing when objects have been added to or taken away from a situation.

The students had several chances to use their counting skills as well—-addressing the math access point associating quantities with number names.

After the game, we decided to put on some music—– since this class has so many talented dancers 🙂

Join us again next week and we will continue learning about winter celebrations, Group by Group!