Tag Archives: spring

Apr30

Spring Fun book

Posted on April 30, 2017 by jd785

The weather is so nice right now and there are lots of things to do that keep us busy this last little part of the school year, so we decided to have our theme be about all of the different things that we do during the spring. The book talks about different things like spring break (did that even happen??), the talent show, and graduation, just to name a few. There are so many more things that go on, though, so make sure to check out the book!

Here is a link to the book: What Happens During the Spring?

Apr30

Spring Fun

Posted on April 30, 2017 by jd785

Spring Fun

Spring brings lots of exciting events both in school and in the community. This made for a really fun theme this week! Our sensory groups explored boxes related to different events. The fine motor groups made decorations for the biggest spring event—–graduation! The language group led a fantastic spring parade and then had a party, with sweet treats 🙂

SENSORY GROUP

Spring break often means BEACH time around here! We put a little shovel and a measuring scoop in our play sand. The students had fun making sandcastles and finding shells in it.

Since the sandcastles could be counted, the math access point associate quantities with number names can be addressed here.

The Rough Riders visit our school the day before the city’s Springtime parade. Not only do they wear cool costumes but they pass out beads and teddy bears to all the students—-how cool is that! There were some HARD beads and a SOFT teddy bear for the students to explore in this box.

Match objects with similar observable properties, such as size, shape, color, or texture is a science access point.

The FSU marching chiefs visit is another spring highlight for our school. We filled this FSU box with shaker pompoms, beads, garland etc. all in the school’s colors. We also included a toy saxophone which was a big hit with the students!

Recognize a model of a real object is a science access point.

The school talent show is always so much fun—-we have some pretty talented students and staff! To help get our students in the show biz spirit, we put in a variety of costume props but the feather boa and glasses were the hits here!

While trying on the props, the students can identify one or more external body parts—-a science access point.

Graduation is THE event in spring. This box contained rice in our school colors along with our school initials. There was also a picture of our soon to be graduates at the bottom of the box. Lots of opportunities for visual and tactile discrimination in this box!

The science access point apply a push to move an object can be addressed here.

Memorial Day brings about the end of school and the beginning of summer. We put blue and red glitter to make our patriotic oobleck. The swirling glitter looked pretty cool!

Track objects in motion is a science access point.

Our students love participating in all of the sports activities in Special Olympics and SportsAbility events. We put our paddle wheel toy in our water play as a nod to the ever popular paddle boat ride at SportsAbility. As usual, lots of splashy fun here!

The science access point recognize that when an activity is repeated, it has the same result, can be addressed here.

A lot of our spring events happen outside and outside events mean sunscreen! we went with coconut scented bath gel and body lotion this week. Coconut is a pretty strong scent, leaving the students smelling like a day at the beach!

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

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday the students made a garland to decorate the graduation festivities. We used craft foam stars purchased at the dollar store.

First the students used communication symbols to identify the color of the stars.

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

Then they squeezed glue onto the stars and added either a letter or number to their star—-either our school initials or 2-0-1-7!

Since they had to put these DOWN onto their stars, the math access point recognize a movement that reflects a spatial relationship is addressed.

Next the students added some sparkly blue glitter!

Recognize a change in an object is a science access point.

The students practiced their pincer grasp skills as they threaded some yarn through holes in the tops of the stars.

Recognize pushing and pulling an object makes it move, is a science access point.

TA Da!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations class of 2017!

On Wednesday the students made decorations that highlighted each of our seniors. This time we used starts cut from yellow poster board.

First the students counted out 3 craft foam star stickers.

Associate quantities with number names is a math access point.

Peeling the backs off the stickers was a great opportunity to work on pincer grasp skills. They had to put their LITTLE stars onto their BIG star.

Recognize differences in size of objects is a math access point.

Then they added a picture of one of the graduates to their stars.

Recognize when 1 item has been added to sets of objects to 3, is a math access point.

To finish, the students pulled some shiny curling ribbon through a hole in the top of their stars.

The science access point recognize pushing and pulling and object makes it move is addressed here.

TA DA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We love our seniors!!!!

LANGUAGE GROUP

We had such a great time celebrating spring this week during our language group! During the spring, we have a spring parade here in town, so we decided to mimic it with our OWN spring parade.

The language group dressed up in hats, tutus, and beads and we made our own parade floats using poster board that we attached to the front of the students in wheelchairs.

We had a special bubble blowing Grand Marshall, who was here for “Take your Child to work Day”, to lead the parade!

While we paraded through the elementary building, we handed out beads and bears to the parade goers.

Lots of fun and excitement!

Everybody LOVED their teddy bears!

They were a hit!

Once we made it through the parade route it was time for refreshments and socialization.

Each student had to use the symbol sentence strips provided in order to request what they wanted. There were different sentence strips for each of the items: ice cream, chocolate sauce, sprinkles, and punch. Our students had to indicate “I want ___” in order to receive the food/drink items.

Food is super motivating so everyone did a great job using their symbols!

The ice-cream was REALLY yummy 🙂

We had music on to dance to and what a dance it was!

Everybody showed off their best moves 🙂

There were lots of opportunities for communicating as students asked a partner to dance with them!

We LOVE to dance!!!

Of course, we can’t have a party here without the photo booth! Our students got to choose what they wanted to wear for the camera.

So many great pictures come from the photo booth!

Everyone had such a great time and we can’t wait to do it again 🙂

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

Apr5

Plants book

Posted on April 5, 2015 by jd785

Plants book

Spring is in the air as plants and flowers are in full bloom—–at least down here in Florida, they are 🙂 Our book specifically tells how flowers grow and worked as a step by step guide for our language group activity. We are loving all of the beautiful colors that we get to see each day because of the flowers that are in bloom! Now if only this pollen would go away…

Here is a link to the book: This is How Flowers Grow

Apr6

Springtime in Tallahassee

Posted on April 6, 2014 by jd785

Springtime in Tallahassee

Flowers, birds, butterflies, eggs—-its springtime in Tallahassee! Spring is a really special time in our hometown and we had a great time celebrating the season this week. Our sensory group boxes were filled with bright colors and textures. The fine motor group made some fabulous butterfly and bird art projects. The language group dyed eggs in different ways and decided which way was the best!

SENSORY GROUP

We used some bright yellow basket filler as the base for this box. Then we put in a variety of flowers, carrots, eggs, bunnies, chicks—-all symbols of spring! There was also a little toy clock to remind us that daylight savings time happens around this time of year. We also included a pair of silly glasses with a flower motif, just for fun 🙂

Distinguishing between a plant and animal, which is part of learning about the organization and development of living organisms, is a science access point addressed in this activity.

Colorful beans—-what would we DO without food coloring!—-looked like tiny eggs scattered on our green rice lawn. Ok, this may totally be our new favorite rice box!

Visual and tactile discrimination skills are addressed as students find the letter S hidden amongst the beans and rice.

Springtime in Tallahassee means the Rough Riders are coming to visit our school before marching in the Springtime Tallahassee parade. These people are really wonderful as they bedeck everyone at the school with beads and give a teddy bear to each of our students—-how cool is that! In their honor, this box is filled with colorful beads and teddy bears. There were 2 bears in the box, 1 little and 1 big one to compare and contrast.

The access point recognize differences in size of objects, related to ordering objects by measurable attributes, is the math access point addressed in this activity. Another math access point addressed is recognize length of real objects, such as big, little, long, or short.

This lovely spring weather we are having, makes everyone think about planting gardens. Our garden box contained coffee ground dirt and some “carrot seeds” (actually brown beans) to plant. We also included some toy carrots and a little scoop. Our students had a great time with this box, they especially loved scooping up the dirt and filling the tops of the carrots!

Recognize that plants grow is a science access point addressed in this activity.

The math access point associate quantities with number names can also be addressed.

While some people plant vegetable gardens, other plant flowers in hopes of attracting butterflies! We have used our colorful pasta box before and we really love it——pink butterflies and green spiral pasta, just so pretty. A laminated butterfly picture and wooden caterpillar were also tucked into this box.

Students were encouraged to match the different pastas which addresses the math access point recognize two objects that are the same size or color.

Store shelves are filled with yummy spring treats including marshmallow peeps in a rainbow of colors. We mixed shaving cream, cornstarch, and some yellow food coloring to make our peeps. This mixture really does end up with a marshmallow consistency. It is light, soft, and moldable—–completely cool!

This is a totally fun and messy way to explore the science access point apply a push to move an object. Most of our students LOVED this gooey mess………others not so much 🙂

Well, that marshmallow mixture is quite messy so we rinsed our hands off in sun-ripened raspberry bath gel from Bath and Bodyworks! We thought a fruity scent was perfect since it reminded us again of spring gardens. Along with 2 different sized measuring scoops, we included a little carrot shaped container for more scooping fun.

Recognize differences in sizes of containers that hold liquids is a science access point addressed. Another one is recognize one way people use water.

We finished with the matching lotion—-leaving our students smelling like yummy little raspberries! The students liked the scent this week, it was quite a hit. Some of our students really anticipate this part of the group and immediately start putting out their hands when they see us bring out the bottle. Rubbing lotion on different body parts is a fun way to promote body awareness.

Recognize one or more external body parts is a science access point addressed in this activity.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

Our Tuesday art project evolved from an idea we got from Mr. Chris (thanks again!). We started with these cute and colorful butterfly placemats we got 2 for a dollar at Target—-we may have mentioned how much we love the dollar section before 🙂 We cut a butterfly stencil out of some black poster board (a freebie on the giveaway table—–another score!) using one of the placemats as a pattern.

Each student got a placemat and when it was their turn, we put the stencil on their placemat while they colored their butterfly with Crayola Pipsqueak markers. We like making our stencil black because we thought it helped reinforce where we wanted the color to go. The markers were used for 2 reasons. First, we like their size which works well for our students little hands. Second, markers have low friction and bright color—-as opposed to crayons—- which is more visually appealing to our students.

We also used our communication cards to work on color recognition as the markers were passed around the table.

This activity worked on lots of science access points including share objects with a partner, recognize a change in an object, identify objects by one observable property, and recognize a change in an object.

TA DA—-

our artists were just so proud!

For our Thursday art project we made little bird nests! We saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it fit perfectly with our springtime theme. Our students started by gluing green paper shred onto a small paper plate. Squeezing the glue works on hand strengthening and eye hand coordination is addressed as the paper is put onto the glue.

Next we used our adaptive scissors to cut 1 diamond shape into 2 triangles—–perfect little wings! Then we did it again because we are making 2 birds!

Recognize an object with a 2 dimensional shape is a math access point. In addition, associate quantities 1 and 2 with number names is another math access point addressed in this activity.

The wings were attached (with tape and a little help) to the 2 halves of a plastic egg that had been pre-decorated with googlie eyes and a beak.

Ta da, our little birdies are now tucked into their nests looking quite adorable!

Just like our students 🙂

LANGUAGE GROUP

We decided to have a little spring experiment! Since people dye eggs during the spring, we decided to find out which way is the best way to dye eggs. We used the colors pink and purple for our experiment. To obtain those colors, we used PAAS Egg Decorating Kit, McCormick’s Neon food coloring, and Kool-Aid.

We used small, clear, plastic cups so our students were able to see the eggs change color. Each cup had a label on it to show us which dye we were using.

We started by taking out a boiled egg which had been in the refrigerator and letting each student feel it. They were asked if it was WARM or COLD and also if it was HARD or SOFT. Then we brought out a plastic egg—-in some ways it was the SAME as the real egg but it was DIFFERENT in other ways!

Recognize the temperature of items as cool or warm is a science access point addressed by this activity.

Recognize similarities and differences in size of common objects is a math access point addressed.

After touching the eggs, the students each picked which color they wanted their real egg to become. Identify classroom objects by one observable property such as color is a science access point.

Very CAREFULLY, and without a lot of adult assistance, the students put their egg in the dye. Yes, we do like to live life on the edge 🙂

We used small, clear, plastic cups so our students could see the eggs as they changed color. Every few seconds, we used a spoon to stir the egg around.

After a few minutes, we lifted the eggs out of the dye and put them in the egg carton. They all came out so differently and SO colorful!

The students told us which egg they liked the BEST. After the eggs dried a little bit, the students put a sticker on the egg they liked the best to decorate it.

It was a neat experiment! The boldest colors came from the PAAS and the neon food coloring, while the Kool-Aid eggs had texture on them. It was lots of fun to see the differences!

As with all our groups this week, we finished by doing the chicken dance along with our dancing chicken 🙂

Fun! Fun! Fun!

Join us again next week for more fun, learning, and occasional dancing——Group by Group!

Oct27

Seasons

Posted on October 27, 2013 by jd785

Seasons

This week our theme followed the Unique Curriculum unit some of our classes were learning about this month. Lets dive right in and explore all our fun activities……

SENSORY GROUP

We started with winter—and a wish for snow! We don’t get a lot of that stuff down here in Florida but we can still dream…..

Assorted snowflakes (paper, ornaments, etc), white pompom yarn, white and silver beads along with twist ties and clear packing tape turned a clear umbrella into a winter wonderland—-pretty darn magical, if we do say so ourselves 🙂

This really was a great experience for our students, they really loved it!

Exploring, observing, and recognizing objects in the natural world is the science access point addressed in this activity.

No winter wonderland is complete without snow! We made ours using cornstarch and shaving cream. Adding the cornstarch gave the shaving cream some texture and allowed it to be shaped into small “snowballs” if desired.

This was totally fun messy play, with MESSY being the operative word—–our students dived in and this stuff got everywhere 🙂

Bilateral coordination is addressed when making snowballs.

Applying a push to move an object and recognizing and responding to different stimuli are the science access points addressed with this activity.

Spring is such a colorful time of year with plants growing and flowers blooming. In this box, we sprinkled some dried bean “seeds” into our colorful green rice—and taped a hidden surprise of pictures of colorful plants just waiting to bloom as the rice was swept away. The picture was actually a piece of wallpaper from one of those wallpaper sample books that someone always seems to be giving away

We also put in the letters W (winter), F (fall), and S (spring, summer)

This box helps address visual and tactile discrimination as well as fine motor skills for picking up the little “seeds”.

Recognizing that pushing or pulling an object to make it move is a science access point addressed here. In addition, the science access points of recognizing the leaf and flower of a plant and recognizing that plants grow can be addressed.

Our second box was filled with our caterpillar and butterfly pasta—-now this is one COLORFUL box! It’s also a wonderful box for sorting concepts of same/different and counting activities—-lots of math access points covered, including:

Solving problems involving small quantities of objects using language such as “more”, recognizing objects that are identical to each other, recognizing when an object is added to (addition) or taken away (subtraction) from a situation, recognizing two objects that are the same size or color……

It’s amazing all the learning you can fit into one little box!

Fall has so many pretty colors with the changing leaves and colorful gourds and pumpkins that are seen everywhere.

Our students loved picking up and shaking the leaves as well as watching handfuls of them drift down. Others found a couple of scarecrow friends.

This was another great box for visual and tactile discrimination, so many things to explore!

The science access point of exploring, observing, and recognizing common objects in the natural world is addressed here.

Recognizing models of real objects is another science access point addressed.

Fall also means colorful warm sweaters and blankets—at least to look at in the stores, NO WAY is it cold enough to need them here yet 🙂

This soft pompom yarn has such pretty fall colors and is just so touchable—-wouldn’t it make a fabulous blanket or poncho!?

Our students had a great time with this yarn, draping it around themselves or just shaking it. Pulling it apart is a great way to work on bilateral coordination!

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

The science access point of recognizing clothing worn by humans in different seasons can also be addressed.

In the same box, we also included a shaker bottle filled with acorns. Our students love shaker bottles—-it’s always fun to make noise!

The science access points recognizing and responding to common sounds, recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli AND applying a push to move an object are all addressed here.

Discussing that acorns turn into oak trees also helps relate to the science access point recognizing that plants grow.

That’s a lot of science in one bottle!!!

Summer means going to the beach! We put in 3 seashells and 1 starfish for our students to find in our summer fun sand box. We used fine soft play sand that our students really loved touching.

Whether addressing the science access point of tracking objects in motion or the math access point of associating quantities with number names—–this is a great box!

Other access points addressed include for math: recognizing objects that are the same size or color and for science: recognizing common objects related to science by name.

Finishing up summer, our scent this week was Bath and Bodyworks aruba coconut. It was a wonderful summer aroma for our warm water play which included 2 colorful squirter fish. You would be hard pressed to find a more fun way to work on strengthening grip skills 🙂

Identifying objects by one observable property such as color and recognizing materials as warm or cold are science access points addressed here.

We finished with a little lotion, addressing the science access point of recognizing external body parts. This scent was a real favorite with the students and they left smelling like they had spent a day at the beach!

FINE MOTOR GROUP

For our art activity this week we made seasonal trees using torn tissue paper (our usual stash from presents past). Our tree trunk came from a reproducible in the book Apples, Apples Everywhere by Peggy Hundley Spitz OTR which can be purchased from Flaghouse.

On Tuesday we made our spring and summer trees. We used pink and purple paper for spring and green paper for our summer trees. On Thursday we used brown and orange for the fall trees and white paper with silver swirls for the winter trees.

We started by asking the students to match the communication symbols with the different paper colors. You may have observed that the literacy component for this student might have been improved if we had actually presented the words right side up 🙂

Recognizing two objects that are the same color is a science access point.

Responding accurately and consistently to referent objects or pictures used in routines is a language access point.

For each tree, we tore and crumpled up the paper. This is a great activity for addressing bilateral coordination and the students really had fun with it!

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

The crumpled paper pieces were then dipped in glue………

and placed on the tree. This activity addresses pincer grasp skills and eye hand coordination.

We also counted the pieces as they were applied—-of course!

Recognizing that the appearance of some plants in the environment changes throughout the year is a science access point.

TA DA!!!!

Our students were pretty pleased with the way their trees turned out—–can you tell 🙂

LANGUAGE GROUP

We started off the group by reading Cara’s book and asking the students to point to the picture of their favorite season.

Communicating preferences using non-verbal gestures is a language access point.

After the students had indicated their favorite season, we used some of the boxes and objects from the sensory group as props.

For summer we used the sand, autumn we used the box of leaves, spring we used the green rice, and for winter we used the umbrella. What a hit!

This activity addresses the language access point of exploring and interacting with the functions of selected objects.

Next we played a memory game. We made cards using Boardmaker symbols and laminated them.

The pictures on the cards were: summer, autumn, winter, spring, beach, rake, mittens, and bird. They were presented with 4 pictures at a time which were turned over, face down. Each student took a turn and flipped over 2 cards at a time.

Using referent objects or pictures from a familiar read-aloud story is a language access point.

PIXON picture symbols for “same” and “different” were presented to the students and they were asked if the cards they flipped over were the same or different. Some of our students required some assistance figuring it out, but for the most part, they did pretty well.

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

This week turned out to be so much fun! We hope you enjoy seeing what we did as much as we enjoyed experiencing it! Please join us again, Group by Group.

Apr1

Spring book

Posted on April 1, 2013 by jd785

Spring book

The sun is shining, birds are chirping, and spring has sprung! It is always so nice to see more color after a winter of cold days and bare trees. The book touches on some of the different things that spring brings with it, like flowers blooming and birds laying eggs. After reading about what we can see, we asked the students “why?” to which they responded (activating a voice output device) “spring has sprung”. The pictures in the book are so colorful this week and the students did such a great job taking turns activating the voice output device and more and more of the students are focusing on the book while it’s being read.

Here is a link to the book: Spring Has Sprung

Update: The link above was actually the book I wrote LAST year, apparently with the same title! The books are different, with the exception of the title and the repetitive line. I felt like I should put this one in the blog as well since this is the one we really read 🙂

Here is a link to another Spring Has Sprung book: Spring Has Sprung!(2)

Apr1

Spring and Letter Z

Posted on April 1, 2013 by jd785

Spring and Letter Z

This week we enjoyed talking about Spring in our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups. We finished up the alphabet with letter Z in our Language Group.

Sensory Group—Spring

So many things associated with spring in our first box! Scattered about in our colorful yellow grass were plastic eggs, a variety of bunnies, chicks and ducks (plush, felt, cookie cutters etc.), a little basket, play food, and some fun funky flower glasses. We also included a little clock to remind us about daylight savings time. Some of our students are really fascinated by clocks and had fun turning the hands on it! Others enjoyed finding the eggs and putting them into the little basket.

This box addresses the language access point of attending to informational materials.

As the colorful eggs are placed in the basket, math access points of solving problems involving small quantities of objects using language such as enough, too much, or more and associating quantities of 1,2 or 3 with number names are addressed.

Spring means colorful flowers everywhere and this box was filled with them. All different sizes and colors. We loved picking them up in handfuls, watching as they drifted back down and scattered on the table or on the students 🙂

This box addresses the math access point of recognizing differences in sizes of objects. It also addresses the science access points of tracking objects in motion and identifying objects by one observable property.

Spring also means cute little caterpillars that turn into pretty butterflies. Corkscrew and bowtie pasta dyed with food coloring made for such a pretty box. This was a perfect box for sorting and discussing things that were the “same” and things that were “different”.

Recognizing objects that are the same is a science access point.

A favorite thing to do in the spring is to plant a garden—we planted 3 little carrots in our coffee ground “soil”. This was a super fun box and our students had a great time planting their carrots. They were so cute, sticking the carrots into the soil and then using the scoop to cover them up—we have quite the group of little gardeners here 🙂

This box definitely addresses the science access points of recognizing a model of a real object and recognizing that plants grow.

Some of us might go hunting for eggs to celebrate Easter. Our pretty green rice with dried lima beans looked just like a lawn scattered with tiny eggs—–isn’t it just so cute! There were 3 more colorful egg pictures to find at the bottom of the box as well as a giant letter E.

More math access points here: associating quantities with number names and recognizing 2 dimensional shapes (the egg pictures were oval shaped).

Who doesn’t love those cute and colorful marshmallow Peeps that you see everywhere in the spring! Shaving cream, cornstarch and yellow food coloring gave us a very similar texture. As the white cornstarch and shaving cream mixture turned yellow the students were able to recognize a change in an object—one of their science access points.

Its been fun to watch over the year as some of our students who were quite hesitant at first are now starting to interact with our messy play materials.

We rinsed our hands in Sweet Pea scented water and rubbed the lotion on our hands and arms. As always, we include our olfactory sense to help our students remember the things they learned today. The soft floral scent was perfect for our spring time theme.

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

We found some fun spring themed temporary tattoos and thought that they would a fun finish to our group. The students got to pick which tattoo they wanted—-communicating a preference addressing language access points AND where they wanted the tattoo—addressing the science access point of identifying body parts.

In addition we addressed the math access point of rote counting as we applied the tattoos.

Everyone had to check out how they looked 🙂

Fine Motor Group—Spring

On Tuesday we made some beautiful spring flowers using these fun bunny and egg shaped chalks. They were perfect for our students little hands!

After the students finished coloring their flowers, they sprayed them with water to blend the colors. We were going for a watercolor effect but found out that the process works better on construction paper rather than the cardstock we used 🙁

Despite that, we had a great time and the students LOVED spraying the water and were so excited when their turn came. As the water made the picture look different the science access point of recognizing a change in an object is addressed. They also addressed the science access point of recognizing one way people use water 🙂

After we finished spraying our flower we glued it to a rectangular piece of paper. We pointed out that the rectangle had 4 sides addressing the math access point of recognizing the sides of a rectangle

Ta Da—

—-ready for spring!

On Thursday, after reading Cara’s book again we began our art project (we found this idea on Pinterest)—cute bunny noses!

Earlier in the day we pre-glued 2 white chenille stems to each craft stick—-we wanted to make sure the glue was dry before going to the next step.

After we counted (of course) the chenille stems we grabbed both ends and twisted them together. We adapted this activity by inserting the craft stick in a pool noodle to help stabilize it which worked out pretty well.

This activity addresses bilateral coordination and crossing midline.

Can’t help but notice the little photo bomb action by the students classmate 🙂

Then we added a little pink pom pom nose—perfect pincer grasp practice!

Identifying the pom pom as a sphere addresses the math access point of recognizing 3 dimensional shapes.

Identifying the color of the pom pom addresses the science access point of identifying objects by one observable property.

This activity also addresses eye hand coordination and spatial relations.

Hippity Hoppity 🙂

What cute little bunnies!

Language Group—Letter Z

Well we have really Zoomed through the alphabet this year!

We started our last letter of the week group by playing Cara’s sound game—working on recognizing and responding to common sounds, a science access point.

Next we unZipped a back pack and pulled out some Zoo animals—including Zebras!

Manipulating the zipper is a great bilateral coordination activity and discussing the animals addresses the language access point of communicating recognition of familiar objects.

The science access point of identifying external body parts was addressed in a fun way as we played with the beannie babies.

Then we got into a meditation groove with our Zen garden. The students had fun trying to draw Z’s in the sand.

To make it easier to manipulate, we adapted one of our sticks by taping it to a small ruler—worked like a charm 🙂

As the stick is manipulated the students are applying a push or pull to move an object which is a science access point.

We finished by decorating a letter Z with Zig Zag lines.

TA DA!

Another week done and we might be finished with the alphabet but there is more fun yet to come.

Join us next week, Group by Group!

Apr23

Book for Week 29

Posted on April 23, 2012 by jd785

Book for Week 29

Spring is in the air! There are so many things to enjoy now that the weather is more permitting. The book this week covers different things that we see during Spring such as colorful flowers, leaves growing back on the trees, and baby animals. While Cara read the story, Joy used some of the objects we had to show the students when they were being talked about such as big leaf placemats when we mentioned the leaves on the trees growing back, and also a mist bottle which was used to emulate the April showers we experience.

Here is a link to the book–

Spring Has Sprung

Apr23

Week 29—Spring and Summer Safety

Posted on April 23, 2012 by jd785

Week 29—Spring and Summer Safety

The theme for our Fine Motor and Sensory Groups was Spring. Our Language Group learned about Summer Safety.

Sensory Group—Spring

We read Cara’s book “Spring has Sprung” and looked at all the colorful pictures while using the voice output device to read the repetitive line. When we got to the page discussing rain, we told the students to get ready for the rain and we used our spray bottle to spray water into the air. As the fine mist came down we loved watching the students reactions!

The leaf placemats we put on the table were give aways (we do love free!) and perfect for our theme.

Our boxes this week focused on things we

see growing in the spring.We looked for seeds (dry beans) in our dirt (coffee grounds). There were 2 wormsto find and we discussed how helpful they are for the soil.

We also put in pictures of some vegetables that might grow from the seeds (science access points).

Our next box was filled with silk flower petals and leaves, toy and felt vegetables and some yarn “roots”. We also included a wooden sun (plants need sun to grow) and some craft foam bees (to help pollinate our plants).

Lots of opportunities for building language skills in this box!

Pompom’s come in a variety of colors just like flowers.

We discussed the texture (soft) and shape (round). Counting and matching address math access points. Grasp skills are addressed while reaching for and holding them.

We searched for the letter S in our rainbow rice box. We picked the rainbow rice for all the different colors, just like flowers. Great for practicing scooping as well!

For olfactory stimulation we brought out our

“Follow your Nose” game. We had fun

smelling the flower, fruit and plant

scents.

Ms Metra really liked this one!

Plants and flowers all come from seeds (our box of mixed beans). We also placed some puzzle pieces with pictures of flowers.

The beans make a very busy background for the puzzle pieces, challenging some figure-ground discrimination.

As usual we adapted our sensory items for

some of our students by placing them in

ziplock bags. We were really excited to

see this student start visually attending

to and exploring these bags, something

he has not been doing!

Our pink cloud dough(made with flour, oil, strawberry koolaid, and glitter) was perfect for making shapes with our flower cookie cutters.

Holding the edges of the cookie cutters and pushing them down into the cloud dough helps build palmer arches.

We scented our water with sweet pea body

wash!

And finished by giving the students a choice to 2 different scented lotions (one citrus and one floral). The student pictured was able to independently squeeze the lotion onto his own hands but most of our students need assistance.

After everyone had made their choice and gotten their lotion, we counted the votes for each one and discussed which one received more votes—addressing math access points.

Fine Motor Group—Spring

On Tuesday we read Cara’s book and used our spray bottle to make it “rain”. This group loved the rain and asked for more, lots of smiles all around! For our art activity we made flowers using a variety of plastic bottles—we saw this idea on Pinterest.

First we counted out our paper (addressing math access points). Our students practice writing their names. This student is working on connecting dots to form the first letter of her name. For others, their name might just be a scribble.

After turning their papers over, the students used markers to make

“down” lines. They all really did a great job, of course some of

them needed a little help but we are still really excited to see

their progress.

Then we dipped the bottom of our bottles into paint and stamped onto the paper.

On a cute note, this student added “ooh’s” every time she stamped her flour—-adorable!

We counted the flowers and helped our students find the number on

the communication board.

Ta Da!

For our student with a visual impairment, the vision teacher added some

pompom’s to the centers of the flowers.

On Thursday, after reading Cara’s book again, we did another stamping activity—but this time with fresh vegetables!

Before starting, we put on “paint shirts”.

A great opportunity to practice dressing skills.

We passed out our paper and discussed its

shape as we counted it out—we never

forget our math access points!

Then the fun began!

We used potatoes…

And carrots!

and…..

…………………………..corn!

This was totally one of our best activities! Our

students had so much fun and nobody ate the

vegetables 🙂

Here this our first TaDa!

Love it!!!

And one more Ta Da

we just couldn’t

resist!

Language Group—Summer Safety

We started by making our pledge for Summer Safety. Cara wrote out the pledge with fill in the blank sentences. Then the students were asked to choose the correct answer (made with BoardMaker symbols) from a selection of 3 (alternate assessment format).

Some of the students need fewer choices and we adapted the activity accordingly.

Gluing the squares onto the poster addresses fine motor and visual

spatial skills.

After completing the poster, we read all the sentences aloud.

We are going to be safe this summer!

Going along with our summer safety theme, we started making a sun hat. It gets quite sunny here in Florida and a hat can come in pretty handy on a summer day!

We started by placing a large piece of colored paper (you could also use wrapping or newspaper) over the students head and taping it around brow level.

Not all our students could tolerate this part of the activity but fortunately we had others who were glad to help out 🙂

Then we rolled up the sides all around.

This was a lot of fun and everyone was able to participate.

Crumpling and rolling the paper addresses finger and

wrist movements.

What a fabulous hat!

We went outside to see if the hats work

—-and they do!

We finished up by looking at some of the Summer Safety words we found today.

This week was so awesome, we hope you come back next time to share more fun Group by Group!