Tag Archives: visual spatial skills

Oct6

3 Little Pigs

Posted on October 6, 2013 by jd785

This week we had so much fun exploring this traditional fairy tale! We made our wolf by adding some white felt teeth to a plush dog—-who admittedly looks more like a dog in need of an orthodontist rather than a big bad wolf……

Well, you have to work with what you’ve got after all, and our students didn’t see to mind a bit 🙂

SENSORY GROUP

Our students had so much fun exploring the first box filled with rafia (straw), popsicle sticks (wood), and duplo blocks (bricks) for the 3 little pigs houses! There were 3 different pigs to find—a laminated picture symbol, a plush one, and a sound producing one (found in Target’s $ section). Brown pom poms and pieces of yarn reminded us of the wolf’s fur.

You need tools to build a house so we put in a ruler and some toy tools. And finally, the word “home”. This was a really great box and our students LOVED exploring all the different items.

So many access points were addressed with this box including the science access points of recognizing common objects in the natural world through observation, and recognizing a model of a real object.

We stamped bricks in our red moon sand with a duplo block—it made the perfect brick impression!

Of course, it was also fun to grab and squeeze a handful—making it a great activity for hand strengthening also!

Applying a push or pull to move an object and recognizing the appearance of an object or material has changed are the science access points addressed here.

Our pink rice seemed perfect for a story about 3 little PINK pigs 🙂 Hidden in the rice was the letter P and the number 3. Our students always get a kick out of finding “hidden” things .

Tactile and visual discrimination are addressed here.

Continuing with our exploration of the color pink we put in BIG and LITTLE pink beads. In addition to the hard beads we put some soft pink pom poms.

Great for texture and size comparisons! Recognizing similarities and differences in size of common objects is a math access point.

Recognizing two objects that are the same size or color is also a math access point.

We had to include a wolf box! We put in some brown “wolf” fur, a nice soft texture to rub and touch. A stretchy wolf (actually a stretchy dog that we gave some felt teeth). Excellent for working on bilateral coordination! Tracking the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled is a science access point.

That wolf sure likes to huff and puff! We used our little hand held fan to get some air blowing like that wolf—-and it also addresses the science access point of indicating awareness of air moving.

We added some chocolate cake mix to our shaving cream to make some “mud”, we figured our students would like to play in it just as much as those 3 little piggies——–and they did 🙂

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

Of course as the shaving cream is smooshed around, our students also explored the science access point of applying a push to move an object.

The little pigs lived in the woods so Twilight Woods from Bath and Body Works seemed the perfect scent for this week. Of course, by the time a few little hands rinsed the shaving cream off, it smelled like CHOCOLATE woods lol.

We put 2 different size measuring cups for scooping and pouring fun addressing the math access point of recognizing the different sizes of containers that hold liquids.

Its also a FUN way to practice eye hand coordination 🙂

The Twilight Woods scent was a hit with all the students and they so loved having the lotion rubbed on their hands or arms or necks to help them remember the story of the 3 little pigs!

It also encourages some nice social exchanges and the opportunity to communicate preferences and the desire for “more” of an action which is a math access point.

FINE MOTOR GROUP

On Tuesday we built a brick house for our 3 pigs. We started by stamping red bricks on a square piece of paper.

We’ve used this stamper before, made from a dish scrubber, its knobbed top makes it easier for our students to use. The stamp itself was made from thick craft foam.

Recognizing 2 dimensional shapes is a math access point.

Recognizing a repeated pattern of stimuli is also a math access point.

Then we glued a big triangle to the TOP of the square.

We counted 3 small rectangles which made up the windows and door and after they were glued down we put 3 pigs safely into their house!

More opportunities to address the math access point of recognizing 2 dimensional shapes!

TaDA

We get pretty excited about our art work—-can you tell 🙂

On Thursday, Joy drew a Big Bad Wolf for our students to color. First we wrote our names on our rectangle paper then used pipsqueak markers to color the wolf brown.

We completed our wolf by adding a googlie eye—OF COURSE 🙂

TADA—all ready to blow your house down!

LANGUAGE GROUP

For this group, we wanted to see if certain objects were able to be huffed, puffed, and blown away. We put together several different items such as feathers, straw, a weighted ball, twigs, paper, a Beanie Baby wolf, and a rock.

For each of the items, we had a corresponding real picture of them. Each student got to choose which item they wanted to “blow”.

Effectively communicating wants using referent objects, gestures/signs, pictures, symbols, or words is a science access point.

The students enjoyed holding and touching the different objects. We encouraged them to make predications about what might happen when we turned the hair dryer on.

Exploring, observing, and selecting an object or picture to respond to a question about the natural consequence is a science access point.

The students really got a kick out of using the hair dryer to huff, puff, and BLOW the items to see if they would move.

They especially liked watching the objects that were light enough to be blown away—-addressing the science access point of tracking objects in motion!

Indicating awareness of air moving is also a science access point.

After each attempt, we put the picture of the object on a chart showing if that object was “light” or “heavy”. Charting really helped our students better visualize how things are grouped by weight.

Sorting objects by physical properties such as weight is a science access point.

Communicating about a selected object using nonverbal expression, gestures/signs, pictures, symbols, or words is a literacy access point.

We had a blast this week and hope you did too! Join us again for more fun next week—-Group by Group.

May27

Memorial Day

Posted on May 27, 2013 by jd785

Memorial Day

It was all about the red, white and blue as we learned about Memorial Day this week. Cara wrote a wonderful book that really helped our students understand the meaning behind the holiday.

Our Sensory Group had lots of exciting boxes to discover—and we got lots of adorable pictures of our students in sunglasses 🙂

The Fine Motor Group made 2 patriotic art projects, learning about shapes in the process.

And finally, our Language Group had fun playing a game and learning some action words.

All in all, a great week!

SENSORY GROUP—

As we said, it was all about the red, white, and blue this week. This first box was filled with soft red and white pompoms to contrast with hard blue beads. Our students loved sorting the items and its always interesting watching which items the students prefer—some love the pom poms while others always go for the bling beads 🙂

This activity addresses the science access points of recognizing common objects as the same and recognizing objects by one observable property such as color.

Our discovery bottle continued our red, white, and blue theme. A little corn syrup was added to our water to slow down the movement of the beads as the bottle was tilted back and forth. The colorful beads were very eye catching and the bottle was a hit!

This addresses the science access point of tracking objects in motion.

We also brought some auditory input with a recording of “America the Beautiful” on our voice output device (we found the music on Youtube). Our students are really drawn to music and the recording was no exception.

We love how this student is creating his own multi-sensory experience 🙂

These items address the science access point of recognizing and responding to common sounds.

We love the texture of our homemade playdough but we made it extra special this week by adding cherry koolaid to the mixture! Some of our students enjoyed the aroma while others had fun cutting out big and little stars with the cookie cutters.

For some extra fun, we used a patriotic themed placemat—thanks Ms. Kim!

This addresses the math access point of recognizing differences in sizes of objects and the science access point recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli.

We also used big and little star shaped cookie cutters with the blue moonsand. It has a different texture than the playdough—soft but much drier and more crumbly.

We found the cookie cutters were better used to make impressions on the surface—of course it was also fun to just grab handfuls and squish between fingers 🙂

Our students looked for the letters U S A and a hidden flag picture taped to the bottom of our red, white, and blue box. Not only bright and colorful, the rice has a wonderful tactile feel which is an important feature as some of our students are also visually impaired.

This box addresses both visual and tactile discrimination.

It also addresses the social studies access point of recognizing the american flag.

Our next box was a HUGE hit!

We filled it with bright blue foil paper shred (thanks again Ms. Kim!), toy soldiers, chenille stems, beads, sunglasses, star garland, flags, and other assorted red, white, and blue items.

This box addresses the social studies access points of recognizing the american flag and recognizing a symbol or event that represents America.

Red and blue glitter made our oobleck super sparkly and pretty this week! Our students had fun practicing prewriting patterns, watching it drip off fingers…..

or just enjoying the FEEL of it 🙂

The science access point of recognizing a change in an object is addressed as the oobleck changes from solid to liquid and back again as it is touched.

Just wonderful, wonderful stuff!

Our water play scent is always a favorite with our students. This week we added the scent Country Apple from Bath and Bodyworks. We also vary the temperature from cold to warm (never hot, of course) each week.

Our measuring cups help address the science access point of recognizing different containers that hold liquids.

This activity also addresses the science access points of recognizing water as a liquid and recognizing the different ways people use water……

……in our case for FUN 🙂

The matching Country Apple lotion was rubbed on hand, arms or necks and left our students smelling like yummy apple pies—-and what could be more american than that!

The science access points of recognizing external body parts and recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli are addressed here.

It also provides an opportunity to address the math access point of indicating a desire for more of an action or object.

FINE MOTOR GROUP—

On Tuesday we decorated some great big stars! We divided our markers into trays by color (red and blue) and asked the students to tell us what color was in each tray using communication symbols.

Our students are getting better and better at identifying their colors!

This addresses the science access point of recognizing objects by one observable property such as color.

It also addresses the language access point of identifying obvious differences between referent objects.

Then, of course, we used the markers to color our stars!

First we colored with blue markers—then with the red ones. There were a variety of markers to choose from. Some had rounded tops (from RoseArt) that are particularly easy for our students to hold and manipulate. We also really like the smaller Pipsqueak markers from Crayola. Some of our students are working on increasing the time they spend scribbling while others are working on making directional strokes.

They have all made such good progress this year!

This activity also addresses the math access point of recognizing objects with 2 dimensional shapes.

We finished with some gold glitter—-we never pass up the opportunity to add a little sparkle to our projects 🙂

TA DA!!!!

Didn’t they turn out cute!

On Thursday we continued our patriotic theme by making flags!

We started by cutting 4 strips of red paper with our paper cutter—-counting aloud as each strip was cut.

Applying a push or pull to move an object is a science access point and associating quantities with number names is a math access point.

Then we glued the strips to a large white rectangle piece of paper.

We used our colored glue (food coloring added to white glue) to help our students position their strips in a horizontal manner—

some students, of course, had their own artistic vision 🙂

This activity addresses spatial relations and eye hand coordination. Squeezing the glue helps hand strengthening.

It also addresses the math access point of recognizing objects with 2 dimensional shapes.

Then we stamped white stars onto a small blue rectangle. We made the stamp by cutting out stars from thick craft foam and using double stick tape to adhere them to a kitchen scrubber (our always handy adaptive art tool).

Instead of ink, we used white paint—-mixed with gold glitter 🙂

Our students really enjoyed this part of the activity and had a lot of fun stamping their stars

This activity addresses eye hand coordination and the math access points of recognizing objects with 2 dimensional shapes and recognizing differences in the size of objects.

It also addresses the science access point of recognizing objects by one observable property, in this case color.

TA DA!!!!

Our flags turned out super CUTE!

LANGUAGE GROUP—

To get the students into the spirit of Memorial Day, we had them following some patriotic directions. We got this idea from the Carrots are Orange blog. The directions we used were: flag waving, drum beating, bell ringing, stars twinkling, eagle soaring, and legs marching.

We put the directions on an All Turn It spinner which is operated by a switch. Our students used PIXON symbols to convey the message, “it’s my turn” before they pressed the switch to see what direction they had to carry out. They really seemed to like watching it spin. After it stopped, the students used PIXON symbols to convey the message, “I do it”.

This activity addresses the language access point of associating information or wants and needs with pictures, symbols, or words.

For “flag waving”, the students waved a flag, for “drum beating” the students beat on bongo drums, for “bell ringing” they shook a bell, for “stars twinkling” we turned on battery operated christmas lights, for “eagle soaring” they outstretched their arms to mimic a bird in flight, and for “legs marching” they marched their feet.

The students totally got into the activity and loved playing with our different props!

All sorts of access points are addressed while performing the various movements including the language access point of exploring and interacting with the functions of a selected object and the science access point of recognizing external body parts!

Well that is it for the week and our last group post of the school year! We plan to be back for more fun and learning in the fall. We hope you will be joining us—Group by Group!

For now we are “too cool for school” and ready for summer 🙂

Dec8

Winter Holidays and Letter N

Posted on December 8, 2012 by jd785

Winter Holidays and Letter N

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, […]

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!

Apr16

Week 28—Under the Sea and the Sun

Posted on April 16, 2012 by jd785

Week 28—Under the Sea and the Sun

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

Sensory Group—Under the Sea

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

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

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

The students really loved watching the bubbles drift around.

Visual tracking is addressed in this activity.

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

We used cookie cutters shaped like starfish or round bubbles.

Comparing the different shapes addresses math access points.

Fine motor skills are addressed when manipulating the cookie cutters.

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

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

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

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

Isn’t our blue play dough awesome!

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

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

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

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

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

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

just like ocean waters!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fine Motor Group—Under the Sea

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

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

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

Then we squeezed glue into a tennis ball

container.

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

Bilateral and grasp skills are addressed.

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

TaDa!!!

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

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

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

Then we brushed the glue to make

sure the strip was fully covered.

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

Picking up the gravel promotes pincer grasp skills.

We set this aside to dry.

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

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

Then we put our jelly fish into his habitat!

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

Wrist rotation is addressed when tightening the lid—-

make sure its really tight!

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

You really have to try this!

Language Group—The Sun

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

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

This activity addresses math and science access points!

We used our tongs to pick up yellow pompoms.

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

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

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

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

The students chose either a light or dark blue sky.

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

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

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

Lining up the rays with the sun addresses spatial relationships.

We also counted the rays….

never passing up an opportunity to address math access points!

But wait—there’s more!

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

Awesome!

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

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

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

Apr9

Week 27—Easter Time

Posted on April 9, 2012 by jd785

Week 27—Easter Time

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

Sensory Group—Easter Time

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It doesn’t get much messier than this!

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

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

Fine Motor Group—Easter Time

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

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

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

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

Of course they have to “sign” their names!

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

Squeezing the hole punch helps with hand strengthening.

We squeezed glue onto our blue paper.

Also great for hand strengthening and bilateral coordination.

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

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

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

Spatial relationships are also addressed.

Our little chick is starting to come together!

We added a yellow feather—the finishing touch 🙂

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

Ta-Da—a cute little chick

complete with googlie eye!

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

Love it! Love it!

On Thursday, we read Cara’s book again

and all had fun pointing to our

favorite candy—although it was kind of

hard to make a choice 🙂

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

We discussed their oval shape addressing math access points.

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

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

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

Then we counted the stickers, addressing math access points.

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

Super cute!

What a colorful bright egg!

Hippity Hoppity!

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

Apr1

Week 26—Butterflies and the Letter Z

Posted on April 1, 2012 by jd785

Week 26—Butterflies and the Letter Z

This week are theme was Butterflies for our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups. We are finishing the alphabet with Letter Z in our Language Group.

Sensory Group—Butterflies

Cara’s book explored the life cycle of the butterfly with our students asking the question “what happens next” using the voice output device.

In addition to literacy and math access points, we are going to be addressing science access points today!

Our first sensory box was filled with colorful flowers, leaves, a variety of butterflies, caterpillars made from chenille stems and a body scrubber—its that long pink and white thing in the picture—doesn’t it look like a giant caterpillar :).

This box was so colorful with lots of contrasting colors and textures.

Discussing how these items relate to each other in the life cycle of the butterfly addresses science access points.

Our next box was filled with caterpillar eggs, AKA lentils. Our students hunted for the letter C and found a cute little caterpillar peeking out as well.

The students grasped these lentils by the handfuls—they loved them! Even our students who are quite tactile sensitive, couldn’t resist these tiny beans 🙂

This box addresses visual and tactile discrimination skills.

We used a cookie cutter to cut letter B’s in our purple Bubber (available from Amazon in addition to a variety of catalogs).

We chose the Bubber because its soft powdery texture reminded us of butterfly wings. Its pretty purple color also a lot like that of a butterfly.

Of course, we also just love the way it feels–not just our students but the adults couldn’t put it down 🙂

The white fiberfil in our next box reminded us of the silky strands of the butterfly cocoon.

Its just so much fun to grab this stuff and shake it around or pull it apart!

Pulling apart the strands addresses bilateral and fine motor skills.

Contrasting smaller pieces from larger pieces addresses math access points.

Our next box contained some colorful red butterflies (bow tie pasta) and green caterpillars (celletani pasta). Very eye catching with the bright colors. You dye it in basically the same way you do rice but it takes a LOT longer—so be patient!

Pincer grasp skills are promoted when picking up individual pieces. Counting them and comparing the contrasting shapes addresses math access points.

Making one of the caterpillars crawl up a students arm promotes giggles 🙂

These fuzzy colorful caterpillars (some pencil covers!) filled our next box. Very eye catching also and our students dived in. They loved grabbing handfuls and watching as they dropped back into the box—or the floor 🙂

Tracking falling objects is a science access point.

Counting caterpillars is an opportunity to work on math access points.

We mixed shaving cream and cornstarch which turned into this really cool texture—sort of a cross between playdough and Bubber. It was so much fun to squeeze and mold into cocoons.

We just loved this stuff, its just really hard to resist!

Science access points are addressed in addition to fine motor skills during this fun activity!

We rinsed our hands in plumeria scented water and then rubbed on the lotion, its floral scent reminding us of the flowers the butterflies go to for their food.

Recognizing water as a liquid and whether it is warm or cold addresses science access points.

Fine Motor Group—Butterflies

On Tuesday we started by reading Cara’s book. We also practiced making the butterfly sign with our hands.

Butterflies start out as caterpillars and that is what we made in our art activity. We started by dipping pom pom’s into glue then placing them on a clothespin.

This is a great activity for practicing pincer grasp skills and eye hand coordination.

We counted the pom pom’s using our multi-message voice output device, addressing math access points.

We finished by adding some chenille stem antenna and googlie eyes.

Aren’t these caterpillars just so cute 🙂

On Thursday after we read our book again—- we turned our caterpillar into a butterfly!

First we placed a 3 dimensional butterfly (found in one of the schools science kits) on a light board for our student with a visual impairment.

Of course, all the students enjoyed running their hands over the contours.

Then we began our art activity by counting out our coffee filters (addressing math access points).

Then we colored them using markers. Some of our students made just a few marks but others enjoyed using a variety of colors.

After they were finished coloring, we sprayed the coffee filters with water.The water makes the colors run, kind of like tie dye—pretty cool.

Squeezing the spray bottle is great for hand strengthening and spraying water is always fun!

We let them dry for a few minutes and then scrunched them up—working on thumb/finger grasping patterns.

We placed it between the clothespin from Tuesday and…….

Ta Da—the caterpillar has turned into a butterfly!

This student really enjoyed making hers “flutter” around—so cute!

Our butterflies look so beautiful clipped to these branches…..

aren’t they just fabulous!

Language Group—Letter Z

We started by unZipping bags and taking Zoo animals out (we used Beanie Babies).

The students had fun seeing what animal ended up coming out of their bags.

A chenille stem loop made a great

adaptive Zipper pull for some of

our students.

Then we squeeZed scrap paper to make matZo balls to “feed” our animals a Zesty meal.

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

Then we tore black paper into strips—some of them in a Zig Zag pattern.

We glued them onto a white lunch bag.

Tearing the paper addresses bilateral hand functions.

Squeezing the glue addresses hand strengthening

Placing the black paper on the bag addresses visual spatial skills.

We adapted this for our students with physical challenges by letting them color their Zebra instead. Our students love pressing the switch to make the airplane color their picture.

Then we glued on 2 ears and a snout.

And added some googlie eyes—we love googlie eyes 🙂

Look another Zany Zebra!

Our students had so much fun playing with their puppets.

Everybody had a turn playing Cara’s

sound game.

And we looked at all the fun Z words we found today.

Whew! We made it to the end of the alphabet but there is still more fun ahead so join us again next week Group by Group!

Mar18

Week 25—St.Patricks Day and the Letter Y

Posted on March 18, 2012 by jd785

Week 25—St.Patricks Day and the Letter Y

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

Sensory Group—St. Patricks Day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Everyone had to be touched by rainbow!

Visual attending and tracking are addressed during this activity.

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

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

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

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

Visual discrimination and social studies access points are addressed.

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

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

Very eye catching and fun to draw prewriting patterns in.

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

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

Fine Motor Group—St. Patricks Day

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

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

We discussed the square shape, addressing math access points.

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

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

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

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

It looks like a belt but its not 🙂

We set it aside and began our next step.

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

Then we turned the plate over and painted it green.

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

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

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

This activity addresses eye hand coordination and bilateral functions.

Have you guessed what we are making yet?

Why some fabulous green

hats, of course!

Just waiting for

some leprechauns:)

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

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

Everyone did a great job!

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

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

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

This activity addresses math access points and communication skills.

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

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

Language Group—Letter Y

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

This activity helps bilateral coordination and fine motor skills.

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

We also used larger beads which are easier to grasp.

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

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

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

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

Here is Ms. Garland taking her turn!

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

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

As You can imagine, everyone had a definite opinion 🙂

Then we started on our project—making Yachts!

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

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

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

This is a great hand strengthening activity.

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

Our Yacht is starting to come together!

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

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

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

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

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

Did we have good time?

YEAH!!!!

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

Mar12

Week 24—Money and the Letter X

Posted on March 12, 2012 by jd785

Week 24—Money and the Letter X

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

Sensory Group—Money

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

We also included the letter P to address literacy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The other bottle contained some brightly colored princess jewels.

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

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

We finished by using some rose scented lotion—

to remind us our future looks “rosy” 🙂

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

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

Fine Motor Group—Money

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

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

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

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

Hmm, I think we need 1 more circle!

Working on math access points 🙂

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

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

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

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

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

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

We glued the piggy on a piggy bank.

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

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

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

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

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

This activity addresses eye hand coordination and visual tracking.

Time to color the money, green of course!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Those little hands are just so cute!

Language Group—Letter X

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

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

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

This is going to be eXciting!!!

At our first stop we found 2 stretchy tubes.

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

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

We used our stretchy tubes to make an eXtreme X!

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

We found this boX at the neXt spot.

Looks like we are in for some bubble fun!

Instead of blowing the bubbles, you have to squeeze!

How eXtraordinary!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Time to make our

eXit.

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

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

Feb25

Week 22—Mardi Gras and the Letter V

Posted on February 25, 2012 by jd785

Week 22—Mardi Gras and the Letter V

This week the theme for our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups was Mardi Gras. Letter V was the theme for our Language Group.

Sensory Group—Mardi Gras

Cara’s book “At the Mardi Gras Parade” had such bright colorful pictures that our students loved. We continue to encourage them to press the voice output device to help read the story.

Our first box focused on the Mardi Gras colors of purple, yellow, and green. We included yarn, garland, curling ribbon, feathers, beads, small toys, and crowns. We also included a little toy baby because of the Mardi Gras tradition of luck coming to the person who finds it in their piece of King Cake.

This box helps work on color identification skills. All the different textures explored properties of materials (science access point). Fine motor skills are addressed while reaching for, grasping, and releasing the different objects. And, of course, talking about all the different objects addresses language skills.

This was such a colorful box and we all loved it!

We continued exploring textures and colors

with our next box. Easter grass made a great stand-in for cotton candy that you might buy some from a street vendor while watching the Mardi Gras parade!

Its light and easy to grasp and Pulling the it apart encourages bilateral coordination.

There are lots of lights on the floats at the Mardi Gras parade so course we had to have some! We included some of our spinning light up toys as well as these battery operated lights we found at Target.

Our students had fun touching them or having them draped around their shoulders.

Looking at the lights encourages visual attending and tracking.

Our next box contained some purple“macaroons” that you might find at the French Quarter! Well, actually, its a substance called “Bubber” which can be purchased from a variety of catalogs. It has the most amazing feel—light and silky just like a macaroon! The adults loved it as much as the students —-you just can’t stop touching this stuff!

BEADS! BEADS!! BEADS!!!

Of course we had to have beads, its Mardi Gras! We filled a box with them and to say our students loved them would be an understatement. Everyone had to grab one or two or a handful 🙂

The beads are excellent for addressing color identification and size comparisons. Their shiny texture makes them very eye catching when shaken and an auditory component is included when rolling across a table.

We looked for the letter M in our Mardi Gras rice—green, yellow, and purple of course! We loved the way it turned out, reminding us of a box of confetti.

Scooping, pouring, sifting—FUN!

King Cake is always served at Mardi Gras. Its yummy and topped with a sweet white sugar glaze that was easy to imitate with our oobleck!

Playing with the oobleck improves tactile awareness and provides a medium for practicing prewriting strokes—or you can have fun just watching it drip off fingers.

After playing with the oobleck, our students rinsed their hands in vanilla sugar scented water and then rubbed on some hand lotion.

Everybody left smelling like sweet yummy King Cakes to remind them of all our Mardi Gras fun!

Fine Motor Group—Mardi Gras

On Tuesday, we read Cara’s book and learned about all the things we might see at the Mardi Gras parade. Then we decided to make some masks.

First we let our students choose whether they wanted a green or purple mask. We found these foam masks at Michaels on clearance after Halloween.

We counted the masks to work on one to one correspondence.

Then we added some

glue. Squeezing the

glue helps improve

hand strength

and eye hand

coordination.

Now for the fun part —decorating! We decorated the masks with feathers, glitter, sequins!

Our students had fun choosing which items to include on their masks. This student especially LOVED the glitter 🙂

A variety of fine motor skills are addressed during this activity from a pincer grasp to pick up feather to shoulder stability needed to shake the glitter.

Jeannie got some great pictures of her students holding their masks in front of their faces. They are going to look so cute in the yearbook.

Aren’t they just so bright and colorful!

Snack time comes after our fine motor activity and we just had to include a picture of this students spontaneous food art.

Isn’t it just fabulous—he was just so proud 🙂

On Thursday we read our Mardi Gras book again and then made some jester hats.

We started by letting our students choose which color to use for their hat band. After they made their choice, they practiced writing their names on their bands.

We made sure to reinforce color identification skills by naming the colors and encouraging our students to vocalize the color names when possible.

Then we used our paper cutters to cut out purple and green triangles. We really like using these paper cutters. They make it so easy for the students to cut straight lines and they really enjoy using them.

Identifying the triangle shapes addresses math access points.

We cut out yellow circles with our hole punches.

By either squeezing or pushing down on the hold punch our students are working on strengthening their hands.

Counting and identifying the circle shapes—more math access points!

Next, we taped the triangles to the band in an alternating pattern.

After 3 triangles, we asked the students to pick which color in the pattern came next.

Sequencing is another math access point. Putting the triangle beside the previous one addresses spatial relationships.

We added a yellow circle to the point of each triangle. Picking up the circle promotes a pincer grasp and placing it on the glue promotes visual spatial skills.

Its starting to come together!

Our hats are all done!

Time for the Mardi Gras parade 🙂

Language Group—Letter V

We started our group by talking about the letter of the week and we practiced forming the letter V with our fingers.

Making letters and other signs gives our students an opportunity to practice finger individuation skills.

Then we made Vertical

lines on the magna

doodle to practice

pre-writing strokes.

We Voted on

which line was the longest!

We opened the Velvety bag by pulling apart the Velcro.

Then we reached in and pulled out one of the Vehicle beads.

Reaching into the bag and pulling out a bead without seeing it helps address tactile discrimination.

We purchased the bead set at Target.

He put a vibrant Van on

the string—Vroom Vroom!

After everyone had a turn, we counted the beads, working on one to one correspondence.

We really like this bead set because the end is a wooden dowel which makes it easier for our students.

We started our next activity with a Vulture that Joy drew—thanks for the inspiration Ms. Cathie 🙂

Our students tore black paper into Very small pieces to make “feathers”.

Tearing the paper helps improve bilateral coordination and pincer grasp.

The feathers were glued onto the Vulture working on eye hand coordination and visual spatial skills.

We like this View of the Varmint 🙂

We played Cara’s latest sound game.

This game addresses listening and language skills.

We finished by looking at our V words. The post -its work so well in our group. Sometimes it hard to write down the words fast enough! Another advantage of them is that they are easy to move around and stick to different objects. They are also easy for our students to pick up and point to.

What an awesome week, we really enjoyed it! Please join us again next time for more fun Group by Group.