This week our Fine Motor and Sensory Groups learned about Winter Holidays around the world. Our Language Group looked at words starting with the letter N. Sensory Group—-Winter Holidays Our first box was about Hanukkah. We put in a variety of blue and white items with different shapes and textures such as soft pom poms, […]
October is Native American Heritage month and we enjoyed learning about a lot of different tribes in our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups. Our Language Group looked at words starting with the letter M.
Sensory Group—Native American Heritage
We started by reading Cara’s book and used the voice output device for the repetitive line. Our students really enjoyed all the pictures she found this week and they are getting so good at activating the voice output device.
This activity addresses the language access points of attending to familiar print forms and responding to a technology resource.
…..perfectly illustrated in this awesome picture—don’t you think!
Our Native American unit addresses the American History access point of recognizing characteristics of early native americans.
Different kinds of beans were a part of the diet of
the Apalachee, Cheyenne, and Cherokee tribes.
We used our mixed beans to represent some of
the different beans they ate.
We also put in the letters N and A.
Some of our students spent time examining
the letters—others dived in with both hands 🙂
Tactile discrimination skills are addressed
when sifting through the beans.
We learned that not all native american tribes wore feathers but the Sioux, Omaha, Comanchee, and Arapaho tribes are known for wearing them.
This box of colorful feathers was great fun to sift through. Our students also enjoyed picking them up and watching them drift down. Some also loved the feel of them stroking their face.
We had so much fun with this box….how can you go wrong with a box full of feathers after all! We have to admit they were a little messy and we did manage to leave a bunch of little pieces behind in each class 🙂
This box addresses the science access point of tracking a falling object. It also addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to sensory stimuli.
Animals were very important for many native
americans. The Comanchee tribe hunted
buffalo. The Navaho raised sheep.
The Arapaho wore buckskin clothing.
We used our pieces of fake fur, sheepskin
and deerskin to represent these animals.
This addresses American History access
point of identifying practices of Native
Americans. It also addresses the
science access point of using senses
(touch) to recognize objects.
Lots of different tribes were represented in our next box. We put in some corn and play food squash which the Apalachee and Ponca ate. A piece of turquoise like Zuni jewelry was also included.
Some raffia became our “swamp grass” like baskets made by the Chinook. We put in some picture cards of sheep that the Navaho raised and horses that the Comanche rode.
There was a toy buffalo–they were hunted by the Blackfoot and Cheyenne tribes. We found a little tipi like the ones the Sioux and Arapaho used (and we learned that not all native americans lived in tipis). The Seminoles are known for their beautiful patchwork so we had to include a piece of patchwork fabric that resembled their work.
We loved watching our students reactions and
preferences to the different items. We were
really excited when the student in the above
picture correctly oriented the word “family”
demonstrating his awareness of the concept
of print and how it is organized.
Other students, such as the one on the right
loved the native american music we
recorded on a voice output device placed in
the box.
Our red playdough (made using cherry koolaid) looked just like the adobe that the Pueblo made into houses. There were some cookie cutters available but a lot of our students just loved to feel the playdough squish between their fingers 🙂
Playing with the playdough is great for strengthening hand intrinsics.
As we discuss the adobe houses of the Pueblo we are addressing the american history access point of recognizing that people live together in the same location (settlement).
The discovery bottles were filled with acorn
(eaten by the Yokuts) and beads (used by
the Wampanoag, Cherokee, and Kiowa
tribes).
Of course these were fun to shake and
roll around!
By comparing the different sounds the
bottles made when shaken we
addressed the science access point of
recognizing and responding to
common sounds.
Native americans have rich oral tradition and many of their tales are still told around campfires. By adding red and yellow food coloring to our shaving cream we made colors that looked like the flames in a campfire.
So much fun to squish around!
Looking at how the shaving cream changed as the colors are mixed addresses the science access point of recognizing that the appearance of an object or material has changed.
Nature is so important to Native American culture
that we thought the Juniper Breeze scent from
Bath and Body Works was the appropriate
scent in which to rinse our hands.
As students wash the shaving cream from
their hands and apply the lotion, they are building body
awareness and improving bilateral functions.
Fine Motor Group—Native American Heritage
On Tuesday, after reading Cara’s book and learning about Native American heritage, we discussed how drums are often used in native american music. So today, for our art project, we are going to make our own drums.
First we counted out 6 tan rectangles. We ran fingers down and counted each side to help reinforce the concept of the 4 sides of the rectangle.
This addresses the math access point of recognizing the sides of a rectangle.
Then we stamped a variety of animals and plants onto our rectangles, addressing eye hand coordination.
The paper was then taped, with help, around an
oatmeal container.
Hand intrinsic functions are addressed when
applying tape to the paper.
When the project was finished, Cara placed a short video of a native american drum circle—the students LOVED it!!! They couldn’t wait to start drumming their own drums!
So cute!
This was a GREAT activity!
On Thursday, after reading Cara’s book again we made totem poles, like the Tlinglit tribe.
We had a selection of prewrapped empty cereal boxes and
students made their choice from a selection 3 colors.
Our picture cards are so helpful for reinforcing color
concepts and also for building communication
of preferences.
After the boxes were passed around (and counted, of course, to address math access points) we decorated them with a variety of markers.
This is great for practicing manipulating writing utensils by scribbling or drawing (depending on skill level) with markers.
Then we began attaching premade eyes, noses, mouths and wings. We emphasized the placement of the different parts ex. the eyes go on top, the mouth at the bottom.
We helped our students squeeze the glue and encouraged them to place their pieces on the glue. This activity addresses eye hand coordination and spatial relations.
It also addresses the math access point of matching objects to a designated space to show one to one correspondence.
Ta Da!! Our students were so proud of their
totems.
We think they look awesome 🙂
And here is our totem all put together—doesn’t it just look amazing!!!
We had so much fun counting the boxes as we stacked them (using double stick tape). Everyone got excited as it got higher and
higher!
It really looks great outside of Jeannie’s classroom.
Language Group—Letter M
We started by playing with this cute little Monkey. He laughed and rolled around when our students made noise so it was perfect for everyone including our students with physical or visual impairments.
We loved seeing our students reactions, everyone ended up with a smile on their face 🙂
This activity addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to sensory stimuli.
Then we put some Money in our piggy bank.
Eye hand coordination is addressed as
the students place the coins in the slot.
Math concepts are addressed as the
coins are counted.
Next we played Cara’s sound game.
Lots of cool sounds starting with the letter M!
We finished by having a party to say goodbye to
Ms. Thea who has finished her internship
in Robins room.
Of course we Munched on some yummy food,
including these crackers that have letters
of the alphabet—-so cool!
Goodbye Ms. Thea!
We will really Miss you 🙁
We had so Much fun today!
Join us again next time,
for lots more fun
Group by Group 🙂
It was all about Thanksgiving in our Fine and Sensory Groups this week. In our Language Group we looked at words that started with Letter L.
Sensory Group—Thanksgiving
We filled this box with play food (squash and other vegetables), turkeys and corn (popcorn kernels)—things you might find at your Thanksgiving feast. We also put in some crochet squares—like the blanket you might snuggle under after the feast!
Of course there is always a game on TV, so we had to put in a small football!
Some pilgrim and native american stickers, and feathers to remind us of the first Thanksgiving. A gift card and small box reminded us of all the shopping we might do after the big day 🙂
And finally, the words Home and Family to remind us what the holiday is all about.
We just loved the different ways our students interacted with the items in the box. In this picture, this little girl is making her turkey eat the corn—-so CUTE!!!
This student, after examining the other items,
became really intrigued by the words
—-working on his literacy, gotta love it 🙂
This box addresses a variety of access
points related to language including
attending to print materials by looking
and touching, and
communicating recognition of familiar
objects.
Our brown feather boa looked just like turkey feathers. As we discuss the fact that birds (like turkeys) have feathers, we address the science access point related to sorting animals by observable characteristics.
Of course, we are also addressing the science access point of responding to sensory stimuli! Our students love to touch and rub the feathers or watch them move about.
Draping the feathers around your neck is kind of fun also 🙂
We thought of pilgrims with our black and white box.
Big soft pompoms and small, hard beads gave us
materials to contrast, compare and count.
This addresses the science access point of
identifying objects by observable properties.
It also addresses the math access points of
recognizing a three-dimensional object (sphere),
differences in size of objects, recognizing two
objects that are the same size and/or color and
as seen in this picture—comparing quantities to 3.
The two discovery bottles reminded us of the first Thanksgiving participants. Beads for the native americans (Wampanoag) and a blue one like the ocean the pilgrims sailed across.
As the students interact with the bottles they are exploring the science access points of applying a push or pull to move an object and tracking objects as they move.
Some of our students loved shaking the bead bottle really hard to hear them rattle, others (as seen in this picture) turned them slowly, watching the beads move around.
Wrist rotation is addressed while turning the bottles in this manner.
Our next box reminded us of more yummy Thanksgiving
food! We filled it with some potato flakes.
A turkey was taped to the bottom of our next box and
could be seen when the potato flakes were
pushed aside.
We also put in the letter T for Thanksgiving—
and turkeys!
The potato flakes have an interesting texture—
soft yet slightly crunchy—-very intriguing.
Locating the letters amongst the flakes
addresses tactile discrimination.
We pushed a turkey cookie cutter into ooey gooey cranberry sauce in our next box.
And just like the response “what is this stuff” given at the Thanksgiving table to canned cranberry sauce—our students weren’t quite sure what to make of it 🙂
Interacting with the cranberry sauce addresses the science access point of responding to sensory stimuli.
Handling and manipulating the cookie cutter addresses grasp skills.
Hands were cleaned in Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin
from Bath and Body Works.
And then we rubbed the lotion on our hands to
leave the group smelling like delicious
pumpkin pies.
Rubbing the lotion on the different extremities
helps build body awareness. Of course, the
lovely aroma is there to help them build
memories of all the wonderful things we
learned today!
Fine Motor Group—Thanksgiving
On Tuesday, after reading Cara’s awesome book, we passed out these cute craft foam turkeys we found in the dollar section at target—10 for a dollar, thats a pretty good deal!
We counted our turkeys as we passed them out, addressing math access points.
Then our students picked out “gobble” sticker from a choice of 3 colors. It will be alternate assessment time before we know it so we are really trying to get as much practice as we can, choosing from an array of 3.
We decorated the turkeys with foam stickers.
Foam stickers are a little thicker than
paper ones, making them easier to grasp
for our students.
We further adapted the activity by
partially peeling off the backing. This
allowed them to work on their pincer
grasp skills.
A few feathers and a fun googlie eye completes a rather fabulous turkey….
TA DA!!!
These turkeys are almost as cute as our students 🙂
On Thursday, for our art activity we made
some pilgrim hats!
We started by cutting a small rectangle
off a strip of paper using our
adaptive scissors.
This addresses the math access point of
recognizing a 2 dimensional shape.
Then we cut out a yellow rectangle—bigger than the white one!
We glued the small rectangle onto the large rectangle.
This addresses the math access point of recognizing similarities and differences in size of common objects.
It also addresses grasp and release skills in addition to spatial relationships.
This was then glued onto the white paper strip.
Placing the pieces addresses spatial
relationships and eye hand coordination.
It always helpful to get a second opinion on
placement—to make sure you got it just
right 🙂
We set aside our paper strips and then counted out our paper plates and after writing our names, turned them over and painted them black.
The shape of the paper plates was discussed addressing the math access point of recognizing a 2 dimensional shape.
While the students were painting, their paper strips
were taped to some black cups (found in a
Halloween clearance section).
An adult made a circle of colored glue on the
plate and asked the students to put the cup on
“top” of it.
This addresses spatial concepts and eye hand
coordination.
This cute little pilgrim hat deserves a pretty big…..
TA DA!!!!!!
Language Group—Letter L
We started by Listening for L words in Cara’s sound game.
It was Lots of fun.
Then we Listened to a Little Lion roar. This toy was found
in Target’s dollar section—our favorite part of
the store 🙂
It has a button on the stomach that you push so
it is also great for addressing finger individuation
skills.
Then we strung some Large beads…a great activity for promoting bilateral skills.
For our students who are more physically impaired, we adapted the activity by putting the bead on the string and letting them pull the string “up”—-addressing spatial concepts.
After the beads were all strung we counted them, targeting math skills.
Of course we also talked about the different colors of the beads—so much learning in one little activity 🙂
Next we Lit some Lights using our Powerlink and a
switch to enable all our students to participate.
We Loved Looking at the Lights!
This activity addresses the science access
point of recognizing and responding to
sensory stimuli and the access point of
recognizing a change in an object—the lights
come on when the switch is pressed.
After Listening and Looking, we moved to smell and touch with some Lavender Lotion.
Most of our students really Loved it!
This activity also addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to sensory stimuli.
We finished by stamping some spots on a Leopard!
Our stamper was made by wrapping a dish
scrubber with bubble wrap (using a twist tie to
secure it).
This activity addresses eye hand coordination
and visual discrimination as students stamp
on the leopard—not the table 🙂
He’s so cute you just have to roar—Loudly!
That was our Last activity, we did a Lot more than usual today!
There was a Lot of fun and Laughter in our Language group today! Here are some of
the L words we found.
We had a great week and hope you join us again after Thanksgiving for more fun, Group by Group!
Gobble gobble 🙂
It got a little chilly this week, perfect for talking about Fall in our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups! In our Language Group we learned about words starting with Ms. Joy’s favorite letter—J. We hope you are enjoying seeing our students—we think they are awfully cute 🙂 One of our teachers, Ms. Bennett, has been projecting the blog onto a big screen and her students have been having so much fun looking for their pictures.
Sensory Group—Fall
Jumping into a pile of leaves…….AKA the sensory room ball pit!
Is this fun or what!
Our students love both jumping into and burying themselves in the colorful balls. So much wonderful vestibular and proprioceptive input to help build body awareness!
This also helps address the science access point of recognizing one or more external body parts as we discuss which parts of their body are covered by the balls.
Now, back to the classroom…..
We started with Cara’s book, as usual, and
when we got to the page about the wind
blowing the leaves we turned on the hair
dryer (on “cool” setting of course). Each
student got a chance to hold the leaves
and feel the “wind”. They all loved it!
Lots of smiles all around 🙂
This activity addresses the science
access point of indicating awareness of
air moving.
More leaves in our next box, along with a variety of fall related items. We put in a small football, scarecrows, squirrels, playfood apples and hamburgers (for tailgating at those football games), pine cones, pieces of yarn in fall colors, and LOTS of silk leaves. A lovely assortment of textures to feel and examine.
Finding objects in the box involves both visual and tactile discrimination skills.
This box also addresses the science access point of recognizing that plants have leaves.
Our colorful pom pom yarn was so much fun.
It reminds us of nice warm sweaters that we
wear when it starts to get chilly outside!
We found this yarn at Michaels.
Its wonderfully soft and fun to pull apart
addressing bilateral skills.
It also addresses the science access point
of recognizing clothing worn by humans
in different weather (seasons)
Of course, its so great for draping over
and around you like a scarf or hat.
This, of course, addresses the access point of giggling at least once daily 🙂
A box of assorted dried beans made us think
of some yummy warm soup on a cool
autumn evening. Our students love to bury
their hands into the beans as well as
empty and fill the different containers.
You have to love the two fisted approach
shown here 🙂
This addresses the math access point of
recognizing differences in sizes of
containers (capacity).
Here in the south, fall means FOOTBALL! We put in some pom poms, mardi gras beads and shakers in the colors of our favorite teams. Our students LOVED the shakers—they were a huge hit.
Most of them even ignored the mardi gras beads in favor of the the shakers—and the beads are usually a favorite!
This box addresses the science access point of recognizing an action as fast or slow.
Our cornflakes sounded just like dried leaves.
Wonderfully noisy, our students had a great
time with this box.
A few did try to sample
the “leaves’ but for the most part they just
enjoyed smashing and crunching them.
This activity addresses the science access
point of recognizing and responding to
common sounds.
Cool weather means warm breakfasts…like oatmeal!
We searched for the letter F as we sifted through it. A delightful tactile experience.
You can’t really see it in this picture, but a piece of paper with leaves was taped to the bottom of the box to be found as the oatmeal is cleared away. With these boxes being clear, we can tape pictures to the bottom of the box thus being seen without getting torn up as students explore the contents.
Our own little genius moment 🙂
Fall means camping and campfires—and
that means s’mores! Yum Yum!
Our oobleck looks
just like melted marshmallow don’t
you think?
As the oobleck changes from a solid
to a liquid this addresses the science
access point of recognizing that the
appearance of an object or material
has changed.
Always fascinating!
Fall is also apple picking time and our Country Apple scent from Bath, and Body Works was the perfect scent to help us remember all the wonderful things we did today.
Smell is an important memory trigger, so we always end our group with some aromatic water and lotion activities.
Fine Motor Group—Fall
Fall is our theme so OF COURSE on Tuesday
we had to make a colorful tree! First we
passed our our rectangular pieces of paper
and practiced writing our names on the
back. Then we used our assorted
adaptive scissors to snip colorful pieces
of paper. What a great way to practice our
emergent cutting skills.
This also addresses the math access point
of recognizing a common object with a
two-dimensional shape.
The colorful paper pieces were dipped into glue and placed onto the tree.
Those tiny pieces of paper are just perfect for facilitating a pincer grasp. In addition, eye hand coordination and spatial relationships are addressed in this activity.
What a fabulous colorful fall tree!
TA DA!!!
Love how the artist added his
own touch by crumpling
some of the pieces to add
more dimension.
Pure genius!
On Thursday, after reading Cara’s book again, we made some cute little scarecrows.
First we used our adaptive scissors or paper cutters to cut 4 strips of yellow paper.
This addresses the math access point of using quantities to 4.
As the paper cutters are shared with classmates, the students address the science access point of sharing objects with a partner—-sharing and taking turns is a very important skill!
We said we needed 4 strips…
Here is 1!
They need to look just
like this 🙂
The science access
point of recognizing a
change in an object is
addressed here.
We glued them to a round white paper plate and……
…..added a precut brown hat.
This addresses the math access point of recognizing common objects with two-dimensional shapes.
Next came an orange triangle nose and 2 googlie eyes!
More math access points!
TA DA—done without any assistance…..
pure AWESOMENESS!!!!!!!!
These little scarecrows are ready for duty….
…..you crows out there better watch out 🙂
Language Group—-Letter J
We started with Cara’s sound game.
It had some really cute sounds this week.
This activity addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to common sounds.
We helped Tigger…..
Jump!
This addresses the
math access point of
recognizing a
movement that reflects
a spatial relationship.
Then we unscrewed a Jar…….
……to find a Jungle animal.
Unscrewing the jar addresses bilateral coordination and wrist rotation.
We finished by making Jingle bell Jewelry!
Threading the pipe cleaner through the bell addresses bilateral skills.
Counting the bells also allows for the opportunity to address more math access points—-and we love that.
Jazzy and Jingly….totally fun don’t you think! These were a total hit with our students, they really loved shaking their arms and listening to the bells.
We loved finding all those cool J words today!
Join us again next week for more fun and learning—–Group by Group 🙂
Pumpkin Time was the theme for this weeks Sensory and Fine Motor Groups. Our Language Group learned about words starting with the letter I.
Sensory Group—Pumpkin Time
Our orange themed box was a huge hit, our students loved it!
We filled it with a variety of textures such as yarn, tulle, and fabric scraps. We also put in some play food oranges, carrots, and a variety of pumpkins including bean bag and kitchen scrubber ones.!
Shiny beads, soft pompoms and chenille stems added some more contrasting textures. Plastic stretchy tubes were fun to pull apart and added a fun auditory component. And finally some beads, puzzle pieces, toys—
——all with that lovely bright ORANGE color.
So much fun to grab and shake!
Did we say our students LOVED this box? 🙂
‘
This box addresses the Language access
point of responding to familiar objects
and the science access point of
comparing and contrasting
properties of materials.
This little fish shoots puffs of air
when squeezed—–fun 🙂
Of course if you have an orange box, you have to contrast it with a black one. Lots of textured items from headbands, toy bats and furry fabric to window screening and Mr. Potato Head pieces (like his black hat and mustache).
There were a lot of opportunities for promoting bilateral coordination with our stretchy tubes and slinky spirals.
When pulling these items, the science access point of recognizing that pushing or pulling an object makes it move is addressed.
These boxes also address the science access point of exploring, observing, and recognizing common objects in the natural world.
And, of course, if there are sunglasses and
beads in a box, they HAVE to be put on!
Our students can totally rock a
pair of glasses, don’t you think 🙂
As students place objects on and off
themselves they are building body
awareness and spatial concepts.
Continuing our orange and black theme we brought back our black playdoh for one more time!
Its just so sparkly and squishable.
Our cat cookie cutter let us make a bunch of cute black cats.
In addition to addressing the fine motor skills playing with playdough also addresses the science access point of of recognizing a change in an object.
Pumpkin pie spice was added to our orange playdough
and made it smell wonderful.
It was perfect for our pumpkin cookie cutter.
We had a few students who tried to sample the
playdough but for the most part, everyone played
with it appropriately.
The shapes cut out can also be counted as
addressing math access points.
Our orange rice with black beans is just so eye catching—you can’t help putting your hands into it! Fun to practice scooping and also to search for the letter P…..
and a little wooden pumpkin.
Scooping and filling using measuring cups and spoons helps address the math access point of recognizing differences in sizes of containers (capacity).
Fine motor skills of grasp and eye hand coordination are also addressed.
We filled our discovery bottles with karo syrup,
orange food coloring, orange beads, black
glitter and some black cat confetti. Hot
glue does a great job of making sure
they can’t be opened—-some of the
students have very busy little hands 🙂
Following the moving objects addresses
the science access point of tracking
objects in motion.
Finger painting in canned pumpkin puree (decorated with black icing)—what could be more gooey, squishy fun in which to practice prewriting patterns 🙂
Still, it was also wet and a little cold so some of our students who are more tactile defensive dove in a little more slowly.
We rinsed our hands and finished with pumpkin
scented lotion from Bath and Bodyworks.
Everybody left smelling just like yummy
pumpkin pies!
A nice strong scent to help everyone
remember all the wonderful things we
learned today.
Fine Motor Group—Pumpkin Time
Body Sox in the sensory room—-OR an alien visitor? Hmmm
The body sox are so much fun and great for getting some nice proprioceptive input from their stretchy resistance.
On Tuesday after returning to the classroom and listening to Cara’s book we let our students choose a mask. Joy found the masks in a $2 grab bag at Michaels—what a deal! Our students chose from a selection of 3 masks—giving them an opportunity to make choices out of a array of 3 which compares to the format of our state alternate assessment.
Taking the markers out of the bags gave us an opportunity to practice working with zippers. A chenille stem (sturdier than a piece of yarn) makes it easier for some of our students to pull.
Putting the markers in and out of the bag addresses the math access point of recognizing a movement that reflects a spatial relationship.
We used markers to color the masks. Scribbling and coloring are important steps in the prewriting continuum. During the activity we made sure to discuss the colors students chose and the different facial features.
Then we tried them on for size….
On Thursday we read Cara’s book again. Our students had just worn costumes and gone trick or treating at our community health department so it was a real opportunity to address the language access point of communicating recognition of familiar objects.
On to our art project!
We counted out 7 pieces of rectangular, black paper and then 7 potatoes carved to look like little jack-o-lanterns. Each time we count out our materials we are helping develop one to one correspondence.
We took time to look at the potatoes and discuss the face carved into them.
This activity helps build hand grasp skills and eye hand coordination. This potatoes have a little weight to them which gives some nice additional proprioceptive feedback.
How many pumpkins did you stamp? We used our number flip chart to help our students address the math access point of one to one correspondence.
Ta-Da!
Language Group—Letter I
We listened for some I words in
Cara’s sound game.
Next we Inserted legs………Into our Insect.
We used the little bugs from the Cootie game for this activity.
This is a great activity for building bilateral coordination!
Our little Insect Isn’t Icky at all…..
Is he 🙂
We picked up Iguanas with our tongs and put them In a bowl.
Manipulating tongs helps build graded motor control which is necessary to manipulate scissors.
In addition, placing the objects into the bowl addresses eye hand coordination and spatial relationships.
Ivan helped out our students who were unable to manipulate
the tongs.
We adapted him using velcro and a shower curtain ring!
We finished by making down lines (just like the
initial stroke of a letter I) on our Iglo0.
We used our adapted toy for our students who
needed switch access
to participate.
It wasn’t so easy finding I words today but we managed to come up with quite a few of them, didn’t we?
Join us again next week its going to be fun…..
Group by Group 🙂
This week we blasted off into space with our Sensory and Fine Motor groups. Our Language Group looked at the letter H. It was an extra-special week for us with visitors who came from Jackson County to tour our school and see our groups.
Sensory Group—Space
We practiced throwing and catching our planet spheres in the sensory room. These soft balls came from a science kit and were wonderful fun for throwing around as well as comparing sizes.
After coming back to the classroom we read Cara’s book about space and got started on our sensory boxes.
We brought back our black playdough with additional blue and silver glitter to make our galaxy. It was sooo cool looking. The picture just doesn’t do it justice!
We cut crescent and star shapes with our cookie cutters.
This addresses the math access point of recognizing objects with two dimensional shapes.
This box was filled with black beans which looked just like deep dark space. We put in an astronaut, spaceship puzzle piece, a strand of tinsel stars, star cookie cutters and a small globe. For some zodiac symbols we included a toy goat, little plush crab, bull puzzle piece—well ok, a cow, but it had horns 🙂
And how about the big footprint—almost like Neil Armstrong’s!
This box gave us lots of things to discuss, addressing the language arts access point of responding to new vocabulary.
These battery operated lights looked just like twinkling little stars and students were really fascinated.
This addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to one type of stimuli.
Our galaxy in a bottle was also intriguing to our students. We borrowed it from Ms. Bennett.
She made it with karo syrup, food coloring, glitter and beads. The beads move around as the bottle is tilted back and forth giving opportunities for visual tracking, addressing the science access point of tracking objects in motion.
Planets are sphere shaped and that’s what we explored in this box. The beads are cube shaped so it gave us a chance to contrast them with our sphere shaped pom poms. Also the beads are hard and the pompoms are soft—other properties to compare and identify by one observable property.
Red and yellow food coloring was added to shaving cream to make it look just like the flames from rocket ships.
One nice benefit of the foam is that it will
stick to vertical surfaces while
practicing pre-writing patterns!
Astronaut food! Who can forget that weird dehydrated stuff in the foil packets 🙂 We thought our Bubber looked just like it. Bubber is REALLY cool stuff, crumbly but moldable but sticky.
We’re not sure who liked it better—the students or the staff 🙂
If you look closely you can see a picture of the planet Mars we taped to the bottom of our box.
We used lavender scent in our water and lotion this week. Since the best time to see space is late at night when its time for bed, we thought it was appropriate 🙂
Lavender is a fairly strong distinctive scent and was especially aromatic in the lotion.
Our students really responded to it.
Thanks Ms. Jen for the donation!
Our blue rice and green split peas represented our planet earth—- for lots of scooping and sifting fun.!
There are some number 8 (there are 8 planets in our solar system) puzzles pieces hidden in there also.
Fine Motor Group—Space
On Tuesday, after reading Cara’s book we passed out our pre-made rocket bases (made with poster board feet placed into slits in the bottom of a toilet paper roll). Besides counting them out, as we usually do, we pointed out that their shape was a cylinder addressing the math access point of recognizing a 3 dimensional shape.
Next we counted out our cones and asked our students to “put the cone on top of the cylinder”.
EVERYBODY did such a fantastic job, we were so proud of them!
This activity addresses the math access point of recognizing a movement that reflects a spatial relationship.
We put on our paint shirts while an adult hot glued the rocket pieces together.
Then we chose which color to paint the rocket.
We gave our students 3 choices to give them practice making choices in the format of our alternate assessment.
Everyone had a great time painting their rockets, giving them practice controlling writing utensils.
As the students hold onto the rocket, bilateral skills are also addressed.
Our rocket needs a captain! A little
glue in just the right spot…
their picture added……
10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,………..
……………..Blast off!!!
To infinity and beyond 🙂
On Thursday we looked at this really
cool lighted moon while we
listened to Cara’s book and then
made our own full moon!
First we poured glue into shaving
cream ……
and took turns stirring it…….
………until it was all
mixed together.
Then we counted out a
round paper plate for
each student making sure
to point out the shape of the plate.
We used our hands to paint our mixture onto the paper plates.
Our students loved this stuff, its so wonderfully goopy!
TA DA—-our full moon.
The glue and shaving cream mixture dries just like puffy paint–
—-so COOL!
The science access point of recognizing
a change in an object is
addressed here.
Language Group—Letter H
We switched things up a bit this week and STARTED with Cara’s sound game. Lots of fun sounds to listen for!
Then we Harpooned some sea creatures.
Our Harpoon was a little Heavy, so some of our students needed Help to Hoist their catch.
We found lots of animals—- but no Hammerhead sharks.
This activity is great for building shoulder stability and eye hand coordination.
Next we used our Hands to hold some
Halloween finger puppets.
When placed on fingers, these puppets help address finger individuation.
We finished by cutting some strips
of brown construction paper.
We drew some lines as a guide
to cut along.
Some students used scissors and
others used our paper cutters.
Our strips became spikes for our
Happy Hedgehog.
Placing the strips addresses eye hand coordination in addition to spatial
relations.
A lot of fun H words!
Between our visitors and
our groups—
what a fabulous week!
Hope you come back,
Group by Group 🙂
On a final note, please take a look at our comments section. Peggy Hundley Spitz OTR has offered a discount if you mention Group by Group when you place an order at her site OTtoGo.
It was all about red, white, and green—the colors of the Italian flag— in our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups! In our Language Group we looked at words that start with the letter G.
Sensory Group—Italian Heritage
Cara’s book helped us learn about Italian heritage. Our students did such a great job activating the voice output device to read the repetitive line. With the switch we are working on timing of the hit and activating it just one time.
This addresses the access point of responding to familiar print media.
Our color boxes were filled with assorted red things Joy collected around the OT room.
We included beads (large ones to avoid choking hazards, of course), chenille stems, pom poms, a big bow from a valentine wreath, package ties, finger puppets etc.
You name it—if it was the right color, it went into the box 🙂
Hmmm—-this looks interesting 🙂
The main idea of these boxes is to encourage exploration to compare and contrast the differing properties of materials and our students were definitely intrigued!
Most students dove into every box exploring the contents with equal enthusiasm. A few students, however, either did not engage or became overly excited with one of the color boxes. It appeared that the particular color was either over or under stimulating to them.
Beads are always a favorite……and, of course, if beads are in a box—you have to put them on!
These boxes address a number of science access points, including identifying objects by one observable property and recognizing objects as the same.
We practiced scooping with our mix of red, white, and green beans. They were so pretty and colorful.
As the cup is filled, the math access point of recognizing the differences in the capacity of containers is addressed.
A large letter I was placed in our rice mix —-more red, white, and green of course!
We also taped an Italian flag to the bottom of the box—a little
surprise to find.
We added red pepper flakes and green oregano to our playdough to continue our colorful theme. It also had the added bonus of adding an interesting aroma.
We used our heart shaped cookie cutter—-because we LOVE Italy 🙂
This addresses the math access point of recognizing two-dimensional shapes.
Red and green glitter made our oobleck sparkle!
We practiced our pre-writing designs making
vertical strokes.
Most excellently done in
this picture, as you can see 🙂
We rinsed our hands in grape scented lotion. They grow lots of yummy grapes in Italy!
Then we finished with some vanilla sugar lotion so we could leave the group smelling like delicious cannolis—yum yum 🙂
This activity addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to different types of sensory stimuli.
Fine Motor Group—Italian Heritage
We rode on some “gondolas” in the sensory room.
Our bolster swing is a huge favorite with our students and a really fun way to work on sitting balance!
After the sensory room we returned to the classroom to read Cara’s book and begin our art project.
We counted out 8 pieces of paper and wrote our names on the back.
Each time we count out our pieces of paper we are working on the math access point of identifying quantities.
Today we are doing spaghetti (well actually string, ha ha) painting.
We asked our students to choose which color they wanted to paint with first…..
…..sometimes its hard to make that choice 🙂
Then we dipped our strings into the paint
and got to work!
This activity addresses eye hand
coordination.
Ta Da!
…….Red,
……………white,
…………………and green!
Gotta love that smile 🙂
On Thursday we made some pizza pies!
We counted out our paper plates and then used red markers to color some
red pizza sauce. A variety of markers were used including these
pipsqueak markers from Crayola.
Our students are spending more time engaged with scribbling and
we are very excited about their progress!
Time to add the cheese—-some shredded yellow paper which looked pretty realistic so we did have to remind some of them that it was paper :).
Eye hand coordination skills are addressed during this activity. Also, strengthening is addressed while squeezing the glue onto the plate.
The math access point of indicating a desire for more of an object is addressed.
Can’t forget the pepperoni!
Our circle cutters work great for making perfect pepperoni pieces and our students really like using them.
Identifying a 2-dimensional shape is a math access point.
Each student counted how many pieces of pepperoni they put on their pizza.
This addressed the math access point of showing one-to-one correspondence.
Time for some pizza.
YUM! YUM!
Language Group—-Letter G
We used our thumbs to Guide our dog.
Go dog Go!
Then we Gathered some Green Grapes using our tongs to
Grab them.
Got to count them as well, to address math access
points:)
Next we Glued 2 black foam circle eyes and 1 black oval mouth on a paper plate.
The texture of the foam was very helpful for our student with a visual impairment.
Then we tore some paper streamers,
Glued them on to the back of the plate to make a……
Ghost!
Good job!
We played Cara’s sound game and listened for some G sounds.
Great fun!
And we finished by looking at some of the
G words we found today.
What an awesome week! Please come
back again, Group by Group.
This week our Language Group looked at words that start with the letter F. Our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups learned about animal habitats which tied into this month’s Unique Curriculum theme.
Sensory Group—Animal Habitats
We started out in the rainforest. Joy twist tied some green garland, curling ribbon, and twisted paper strips to a black umbrella to make the rainforest “canopy”. We added jungle sounds to a voice output device, a water mister, and a stuffed monkey.
Simple idea but very effective—our students were enchanted! We prompted them to activate the voice output device then brought the rainforest over their heads. They got soooo excited when it was their turn!
Pressing the voice output device after cessation of the sounds addresses the math access point of indicating a desire for more of an action or object.
Had to put another picture in…. our students are just so cute!
We couldn’t get the shot but she was using the monkey to
activate the voice output device—could that be any
more adorable 🙂
From the rainforest to the arctic tundra!
We used about 5 boxes of instant tapioca granules which look just like snow crystals. They have an interesting, slightly coarse feel. We put in a polar bear and some white felt bunnies which blended into the background—just like they do in the arctic! Our letter A’s being different colors really contrasted well.
This box addresses visual discrimination skills. It also addresses the math access point of one to one correspondence—counting 2 bunnies and 1 polar bear.
Our desert box had the letter D, sand, rocks, snakes,
scorpions, and lizards.
Again lots of opportunities to count things and to
compare the different properties of the
soft sand and hard rocks.
The forest/woodland box was filled with pine cones,leaves and moss. Since it was a larger box we put in a large letters F and W, along with a variety of little animals to find hidden in it.
Using the finger puppets addresses bilateral coordination as the student places them on their fingers and also finger individuation as they animate the animals.
Comparing the differing colors of the leaves and differing textures the other materials addresses the science access point of comparing objects by observable properties.
We looked at a soil habitat next (using our coffee grounds for the dirt).
Its strong aroma immediately engages the students! It contained
some spiders, bugs, worms, and centipedes.
Our students loved running their fingers through the soil
and glimpsing the word “soil” taped to the bottom of the box.
Of course, it was also so much fun to pick up and examine all the different bugs to be found hidden in the soil.
Pincer grasps are promoted when picking up the small animals and math access points are addressed when counting them.
Green jello made an excellent swamp habitat for our frogs
and gators!
The cold jello added another sensory dimension and
allowed us to discuss the science access point of
recognizing materials as warm or cold and also the
science access point of recognizing objects that are
identical to each other when counting the frogs.
Some students were a little hesitant to touch this cold and wet material….
…..but others dived right in 🙂
Hands were rinsed in our pond habitat. We used
“Into the Wild” body wash from Bath and
Bodyworks—it seemed perfect for our habitat
theme!
Grasping skills were promoted while
reaching for the floating fish or ducks.
In addition, one to one correspondence and the
concepts of large and small which are math
access points.
We finished with some banana scented lotion (yes banana scented lotion, can you believe it!) we found at World Market.
Our students loved the aroma and feeling it rubbed on their arms—or back of the neck, for students who do a lot of hand exploration.
A lovely scent to help us remember all the wonderful animal habitats we visited today.
Fine Motor Group—Animal Habitats
We started as usual by reading Cara’s book and using the voice output device to help read the repetitive line.
On Tuesday we jumped like rainforest monkeys in the sensory room.
What a fun way to get some proprioceptive and vestibular input which is so important for our students to help build body awareness and gross motor skills.
Then we came back to the classroom and began our
art project—-paper plate fish!
We counted out our plates as they were handed out
and we discussed the plates color (white) and
circular shape.
Then we cut out a triangle shape using our adaptive
scissors. Discussing the different shapes addresses
the math access point of recognizing
two-dimensional shapes.
Joy twist tied some bubble wrap to handled pot scrubbers (these things make the best adaptive art tools) and we stamped our fish—lots of fun!
Then we added one great big googlie eye!
Pincer grasp, finger isolation skills are
addressed here in addition to visual
spatial relations and math concepts.
TA DA! Ok, we realize you don’t really see the fish but this was such a great picture we had to put it in. Their TA DA moment if very important to our students as you can see 🙂
On Thursday we made some turtles.
We started by counting out our poster board turtles and then our
egg carton shells—working on the math access point of rote
counting yet again 🙂
We asked our students to put the shells ON TOP of the turtles,
addressing spatial concepts and eye hand
coordination.
While the adults hot glued the shells to the bodies, our students put on their paint shirts—working on dressing skills.
Then we painted the little turtles. Using the brushes
gives our students practice with writing tools and
addresses eye hand coordination.
They really got into this!
Isn’t this awesome, our own little pond habitat—
we LOVE it!
Language Group—Letter F
First we used our Fingers to operate the Fan—-
which blew air into our Faces.
Can you see that dimple, just too cute 🙂
Then we Found Five Fish with different Features.
YIKES, we didn’t get a picture of all the fish but to give you an idea: a Fantail one from a Fishing game, a Fat ball shaped one, a Felt one, a water squirter that blew Fresh air.
We dropped them into a Fishbowl, addressing eye hand coordination and the math access point of rote counting.
Our Favorite was the Fidgity Fish —it vibrated!
Lots of sounds were Found while playing
Cara’s latest sound game.
We had a Fiesta to say Farewell to
Ms. Robin’s Fabulous intern Julie.
And Finished by using a Funnel to help
get the salsa back in the jar.
Some of the F words we Found today!
Join us again for more fun and learning next week, Group by Group.
Our theme was Pirates for our Sensory and Fine Motor groups and our Language Group looked at the letter D. We had so much fun with the pirate theme and everyone got into the action—even Jeannie
Our own pirate queen 🙂
Sensory Group—Pirates
Ahoy matey’s there be pirates, arrgg 🙂 After reading Cara’s book we looked at our first box. It was filled with so much fun pirate stuff. We put in a bunch of “parrot” feathers,
an eye patch, hook, black pompoms, a shipwreck……
(left from a long gone aquarium), spanish moss,
and a variety of pirate figures including
Winnie the Pooh!
And one more super cute picture
—-how could we possibly resist 🙂
X marks the spot in our moon sand!
The moon sand is quite dense and you have to press fairly hard to get an impression, work on hand intrinsic strengthening.
A weighted ball made a great stand in for a cannon
ball (and was fairly close to life size). Lots of rope
on pirate ships so we had to add some of course!
Concepts of heavy and light were explored in this
box. This addresses math access points including
recognizing common 3 dimensional objects
(spheres) and comparing the weight of objects.
We taped a treasure map and some gold coins to the bottom of this box then filled it with some black beans. This addresses cause/effect—as the beans are moved, the coins appear.
In addition, numeric concepts are addressed as the coins are counted.
We continued to talk about the color black with our
pirate playdough. We used lots of black food
coloring to get the color right, then added some
sparkly pirate gold glitter. It was just so COOL
looking! Pressing the bone shaped cookie cutter
addresses hand strengthening.
Treasure found (gold mardi gras beads)! We found this old “treasure chest” that was perfect. The gold beads were so eye catching and so much fun to grab one— or a handful, arggg 🙂
We put some tonic water and a little green food
coloring into our oobleck to make some
swamp water.
Then we turned the lights out, brought out
the black light—-GLOWING swamp water!
This addresses the science access point of
recognizing that the appearance of an object
or material has changed.
Then we rinsed our hands in some Bath and Body Works Ocean scented water and rubbed our hands with the lotion.
Fine Motor Group—Pirates
On Tuesday we read Cara’s book and then made some pirate hats! We used our paper cutters to cut out white squares. We discussed that we had to cut 4 sides.
This activity addresses the math access point of recognizing a common object with a two dimensional shape.
We stamped a pirate symbol onto the square. Joy
made the stamp by cutting a skull and cross
bones out of thick craft foam. She used double
stick tape to attach it to a pot scrubber from the
dollar store. It makes a great adaptive art tool!
We counted out our pre-made hats (simply drawn and cut out of craft paper then stapled together). Adults drew glue squares onto the hats and asked the students to put their pirate emblem on top of it.
This addresses eye hand coordination and the math access point of matching one object to a designated space to show one-to-one correspondence.
Ta Da—3 really cute pirates!
Aren’t they just ADORABLE:)
On Thursday we practiced walking the plank in the sensory room. Our plank has a lot of different textures to increase tactile discrimination in addition to addressing gait and balance, of course.
Then we took out a big poster board. We discussed its
rectangular shape and that we were going to paint
it blue.
Then we got to work! Since the poster board was so big, more than one student could paint at the same time—so much fun.
We addressed the math access point of solving problems involving quantities of action using the language “have we used ENOUGH paint?”
While the paint was drying, we took some cotton batting
and tore it apart. The addresses
bilateral coordination and grasp skills.
Next, we took each student and teachers picture and put it on a paper pirate which was then put on a pirate ship (all drawn by Joy).
We counted 10 pirates!
Now the paint has dried its time for The Owl to
set sail. Ahoy matey’s 🙂
Language Group—Letter D
First we played some finger Drums—great for practicing finger isolation!
Next our Dog Devoured some Donuts—-Delicious!!!
We hot glued a plastic shower curtain ring to a
plush dog to make him easy to grasp. Velcro on
the dog and donut (actually a wooden stacking
toy ring) allows the donut to be picked up.
Then we Decorated a Dinosaur! We used markers because they glide easily across the paper and have such vibrant eye catching colors. Our picture was placed on a light box for our student with a visual impairment.
We used a printable from the book Learn to Move, Move to Learn by Jenny Clark Brack (its a great book with so many great ideas for group activities).
TaDa—just Delightful!
Is this a great
picture or what 🙂
Our students did an awesome job with Cara’s sound game—way to go!!
Just a few of the great D words we found today.
Whew what a fun week!
Join us again….
Group by Group
This week the theme for our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups was the London Paralympics and our Language Group looked at words starting with the letter C.
Sensory Group—London Paralympics
We started as usual by reading Cara’s lastest book and using our voice output device to read the repetitive line.
You have to get on an airplane to travel to London!
When we got to the page in Cara’s book about riding in an airplane, we all took turns with the massager to simulate the vibration you would feel on the plane. Some of our students really like the feel of vibration, others not so much.
Recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli is a science access point.
Our first box contained so many cool things. We included a double decker bus and british mailbox, wheelchair, a bag with the british flag, an athletic medal, strips of black fake fur (the soldiers guarding Buckingham Palace wear bearskin hats), some miniature sport balls, and a keychain with the 2012 logo among the rose petals (the british national flower).
We are addressing the access point of responding to new vocabulary that is introduced and taught directly. We are also addressing the social studies access point of recognizing the cultural characteristics of a population.
The British flag banner was so much fun to drape around our students or to grasp and wave around. It also gave a chance to talk about the different colors. This box also included some British coins we placed in an old spice container—-fun to shake and listen to them rattle.
Reach and grasp skills in addition to visual tracking as the objects move are addressed here. We are also targeting the science access points of pushing and pulling an object to make it move and tracking objects in motion as well as the social studies access point of recognizing coins as money.
More red, white and blue with our rice but with a hidden surprise of the Olympic 2012 logo at the bottom. We also put the number 4—the Paralympics happens every 4 years!
Look at this colorful collection— our next box filled with pompoms, yarn and ribbons in the colors of the Olympic flag. A great opportunity to work on color identification as comparing and contrasting shape, color and texture.
The pompoms have such a nice soft texture and are easy to grasp. Picking up the ribbon and yarn strands encourages pincer grasp skills.
This targets the access point of identifying objects by one observable property.
The British love their tea and our students loved exploring the aromatic tea leaves.Wonderful tactile input as hands slide around and sift through it. We put in some circular puzzle pieces, again in the Olympic colors. We are working on the access point of recognizing objects with 2 dimensional shapes.
We added red and yellow food coloring to our shaving cream—to make the olympic flame! So much fun practicing pre-writing strokes.
Gold medals—-thats what all the athletes want to win. We made some terrific sparkly gold playdough and used circle cookie cutters to make our own medals.
We finished with some rose scented lotion to help us remember all the wonderful things we learned about the London Paralympics.
Fine Motor Group—London Paralympics
After reading Cara’s book and taking turns reading the repetitive line on our voice output device we began our art project—we’re going to make an olympic flag!
We counted out 6 pieces of white rectangular paper addressing one to one correspondence and the math access point of recognizing common objects with 2 dimensional shapes.
Then we took a toilet paper roll and stamped a ring. We emphasized stamping just 1 time before passing to the next student.
After we stamped a ring with all 5 of the olympic flag colors we glued a strip with the 2012 logo at the bottom. We helped our students place glue in an “across” fashion addressing pre-writing patterns.
This also addresses the math access point of recognizing a movement that reflects a spatial relationship, such as up and down.
Placing the strip onto the glue encourages bilateral skills, eye hand coordination, and graded motor control.
Perfectly done as you can see here 🙂
Ta Da—our olympic flag
Awesome!!!
OnThursday we had our own mini paralympics in the sensory room then came back to the classroom to read Cara’s book before making an Olympic torch.
We passed around 7 pieces of rectangle paper—bright neon!
We always practice writing our names.
Then we glued on a grey rectangle.
Again working on the math access point of recognizing a common object with a 2 dimensional shape.
Next we tore pieces of red, yellow, and orange tissue paper. Tearing paper is a great pre-scissor skill activity.
We dipped the pieces into glue and placed them onto the top of the triangle.
Look at that concentration—-love it 🙂
Wow look at those flames—
let the games begin!
Language Group—letter C
First we Cleared the Clutter—a Comb, Card, Cup, Chip Clip, Car, Coin, Clock, Cord. The students got to Choose which item they wanted to put in the Container.
then we Closed the top—using both hands and squeezing
tightly!
Next we Clapped to make the Crab Crawl around the table. Our students just really loved this wiggly little guy and they all had to take turns holding it 🙂
We Colored aCardboard C using Crayons. Then Continued decorating it with Cotton balls working on our pincer grasp skills.
So darn Cute
—-and Creative!
Sssh—its time to listen to Cara’s sound
game.
We found some really Cool C words today.
“C” you next time—Group by Group!
