Tag Archives: voice output device

Apr1

Week 26—Butterflies and the Letter Z

Posted on by
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

Book for Week 25

Posted on by
Book for Week 25

Get ready to wear some green!  We’re talking about St. Patrick’s day this week.  The book covers different symbols that are seen or read about on St. Patrick’s day.  Instead of us asking the students a question, we decided to have the students ask US a question.  The repetitive line this week was “What do we see on St. Patrick’s day?”.  While going through the book, we counted the leaves on the 4-leaf clover, looked for our shoes since leprechauns enjoy making shoes, and looked around the room to see if anyone was wearing green.  One of the students even brought a clover in from outside to compare to the picture.  We’re hoping to find the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow someday!

Here is the link for the book:

Symbols of st patricks day

Mar18

Week 25—St.Patricks Day and the Letter Y

Posted on by
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!

Mar4

Week 23—Florida and Letter W

Posted on by
Week 23—Florida and Letter W

Our theme for our Sensory and Fine Motor groups was Florida and our theme for our Language group was Letter W.

Sensory Group—Florida

The Unique Curriculum topic this month explored home, family and where you live, so we we chose our home state as our theme this week. We hope you enjoy exploring our wonderful state with us 🙂

We started our session by looking at a map of Florida. We pointed out where we live and where we might like to visit.

Then we read Cara’s book. Our students took turns activating the voice output device to comment on things we might see in Florida. We were quite excited when one of our students started kicking his feet (he activates the switch with his foot) as soon as we told him it was his turn.

Looking at maps and identifying places on maps is a social studies access point. Reaching for the map, since we held it vertically, helps strengthen shoulder stability.

 

 

 

 

Florida is the Sunshine State!

Our box of sunshine contained  soft, round, yellow pom poms and some hard, rayed yellow shapes (from a set of manipulatives).

These bright and cheery items let us compare properties of  materials: a science access point.

 

 

 

 

 

The next box contained some dried moss, just like the spanish moss that hangs from oak trees in Florida. It had a dry crinkly texture which was very different from the soft black bear “fur”. Again, exploring contrasting properties of materials is a science access point.

We put in a plastic orange and orange slice. This let us compare part to whole concepts which is a math access point.

There were lots of other cool Florida symbols that our students enjoyed pulling out which gave us lots of opportunities to explore language and literacy skills!

 

 

 

Seminole Indians are native to Florida.

They are known for the  bead work on their clothing. We put our colorful beads in some sealed bottles.

We also put in a few shells to encourage  visual discrimination as the bottles are turned.

Of course they are also lots of fun to shake, adding an auditory component!

 

 

 

 

In our next box we learned about alligators—we have lots of them in Florida!

Our alligator puppet had a zipper mouth which gave our students the opportunity to practice some activities of daily living skills.  Feeling the open zipper  was a safe way to touch a gators sharp teeth 🙂

We found a toy that  reminded us of an alligators  bumpy, rough skin.  Also included was in the box, was a gator puzzle piece and a little rubber one. Comparing the sizes of the large gator puppet and a small rubber alligator targets a math access point.

 

 

 

Cape Canaveral, where men were first  launched into space!

Black beans look like the dark night sky and are so nice to scoop or pick up with fingers to practice pincer grasp skills. Lots of tactile input is given when burying/digging out the astronaut and moon.

We also put in a small star shaped cookie cutter, can you find it?

Discussing the star shape and the sphere shaped moon addresses math access points.

 

 

 

Yikes, we are also known for hurricanes! Put a hair dryer on a high, cool setting and you have WIND.

Lots of giggles and smiles erupted as hair was blown or the wind touched their hands. Our students loved this so much, we ended up bringing the “wind” into the Fine Motor and Language groups also!

Exploring the effects of wind/weather is a science access point and the tactile effects increase body awareness.

 

 

 

Ok, we finally got to the beach! We have miles of it here to walk along barefoot (we found this plastic foot on a halloween clearance rack). The foot was a HUGE hit—no pun intended 🙂

We looked for the letter F and made seashell impressions in the sand.

 

 

 

 

 

Other students enjoyed trying to catch the sand as it as it was spilled from the shell—-so much fun in one little box!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we practiced our prewriting strokes in “key lime pie”, our state pie. Its actually vanilla pudding but its a similar color to REAL  key lime pie—and a lot cheaper 🙂

The tactile aspect of finger painting helps reinforce motor memory patterns and is a great way to encourage hand and arm movements.

 

 

 

 

We rinsed our hands in orange scented water and took a little time out for some fishing, sometimes with a little help from our friends 🙂

Using the fishing pole to catch the fish promotes shoulder stability and eye hand coordination. The opening in the fish tails also makes them easy to grasp with hands.

Counting the fish as they are caught  addresses math access points.

 

 

We had some other fish that were squirters! Fun to squeeze, working on grasp skills. Also fun to have the water squirt on your hand! We were really excited to see this student actively moving her fingers and smiling during this activity.

After drying our hands, we rubbed on some orange scented lotion. A wonderful citrus scent to help us remember all the things we learned about our state today!

Thank you Ms. Metra for donating that yummy scent!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Group—Florida

On Tuesday, we read Cara’s book about Florida. The students got excited as they recognized some of the familiar places and things pictured.

Talking about the different things they point out allows for lots of language and literacy opportunities.

 

 

 

 

Then we proceeded to make a palm tree—one of the most recognizable symbols of Florida!

We started by counting out rectangular pieces of white paper, working on math access points, of course!

Then we made a “down” stroke using a foam brush and brown paint.

We helped our students with the initiation point but they did a really nice job of completing the stroke. we were so proud!

 

 

Then we painted one of their hands with green paint and counted as we pressed it at the top of the brown line 2 times.

We told you we were making a “palm” tree 🙂

Some of our students could do this step independently but most of them needed some assistance.

 

 

 

 

WOW, doesn’t this make

you think of Florida 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday we read Cara’s book again. Once again our students did a great job helping us read the repeating line. We didn’t talk about them in our book but Manatees are some of the wonderful animals that are native to Florida and we wanted to do a project that included them.

To get started on our activity, we counted out rectangular pieces of blue paper (addressing math access points).

Then we tore pieces of blue and green tissue paper. Tearing the paper helps promote bilateral coordination and fine motor skills.

We are making an underwater habitat for a manatee!

 

 

 

 

Our students dipped the tissue into glue and glued it onto the paper. Crumpling the paper was encouraged!

Grasping the paper encourages pincer grasp skills and eye hand coordination.

This student needed a lot of help with his pincer grasp skills last year, but look at him now! Joy (the OT) is very pleased.

 

 

 

Then we painted our manatee. Joy drew the outline on some white craft foam. Its texture really resembles that of a manatee, just perfect for our project!

 

 

 

 

We added a googlie eye, OF COURSE, and glued our manatee into its habitat.

TA-DA!

Jeannie’s hallway looks so cute with the palm trees and manatees hanging on the wall!

 

 

 

Language Group—Letter W

We started by Wadding up some scrap paper.

This activity is great for encouraging bilateral coordination and palmer arching.

And its really fun!

 

 

 

 

 

Then We took out the hair dryer again and made some Wind!

The students had so much fun Watching the hair dryer blow the paper Wads down the  table. It was also fun to Watch our post-its Wave.

Most of the students could hardly Wait for their turn with the hair dryer 🙂

This activity addresses shoulder stability and eye hand coordination.

Discussing the effects of Wind addresses science access points.

 

 

 

 

 

Next We Wiped out a W on the dry erase board.

Following the strokes promotes Motor Memory for letter formation and Working on a vertical surface promotes shoulder stability.

We also made it big enough to sneak in a crossing midline component.

 

 

 

 

Now We are going to make a Walrus!

For our project, some of our students cut strips of White  paper using our paper cutters.

These are going to be some Walrus tusks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other students practiced cutting on curved lines (this is going to be the muzzle). They needed a little help but really did a nice job.

As usual, we had a variety of scissors, both adaptive and regular on hand to suit our students needs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We used our hole punches to cut 2 large White circles and 2 small black circles using our hole punches. We love these because they make it easy for our students to cut circles and they help with hand strengthening.

Comparing the relative sizes and counting the circles addresses math access points.

 

 

 

 

We glued all the pieces onto a brown paper lunch bag.

Assembling this addresses following directions, fine motor skills and visual spatial concepts.

 

 

 

 

 

Wow! A Wonderful Walrus!

Isn’t he just so super cute 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What fun to play Cara’s latest sound game. Lots of cool W sounds to listen for this Week.

Watch out for that Wasp!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whew—what a lot of W words we found today. There were so many and scattered all around the table—-here are just a few of them!

 

 

 

 

 

It was just an awesome week, we had a blast! We hope you join us again for more fun Group by Group.

Feb25

Week 22—Mardi Gras and the Letter V

Posted on by
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.

Feb20

Week 21—Black History, Presidents Day and the Letter U

Posted on by
Week 21—Black History, Presidents Day and the Letter U

This week the theme for our Sensory Group was Black History, the theme for our Fine Motor Group was Presidents Day, and the theme for our Language Group was the letter U.

Sensory Group—Black History 

We started by reading Cara’s book and learning about some African American inventors. Then we began exploring our sensory boxes inspired by their inventions.

We turned off the lights and shone a flashlight through some plexiglass panels.

We chose red, green and yellow—traffic light colors! The lights really caught our students attention and there were lots of smiles when the light landed on them.

We didn’t have a green panel so we used a yellow and blue one put together, giving us the chance to explore a science access point. This activity also addresses color identification and visual tracking skills.

Thank you Garrett Morgan  for inventing the traffic light!

 

 

 

 

 

After turning the lights back on we voted on what color to make our shaving cream. We presented three circles (red, yellow, green) and our students  communicated their choice by vocalizing, eye gaze, or pointing to a circle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We counted the votes and discussed which color got the most votes, addressing math access points.

It was fun seeing what colors the different classes chose!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to add the food coloring and mix it up!

The shaving cream has a nice tactile feel and is a great sensory medium to practice making pre-writing strokes (after you get tired of squishing it between your fingers of course).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We rinsed hands in grape scented water  (to remind us of the grape jelly that would go with the peanut butter we’ll discuss later).

A large syringe makes a great stand in for a super soaker, which was invented by Lonnie Johnson. Operating the syringe addresses bilateral coordination and is lots of fun! Our students also loved it when we squirted the water on their hands to rinse off the shaving cream.

After hands were dried we rubbed our hands with some Cool Citrus Basil scented lotion. The scent reminded us of George Standard who invented the refrigerator  to keep our citrus cool.

 

Now, more things to explore….

 

 

We scooped handfuls of potato chips (actually corn flakes) and crunched them up. Squeezing the chips addresses grasp skills. There is also an auditory component with that satisfying crunch and of course the rough texture adds a strong tactile sensation to this activity, increasing body awareness.

Thank you George Crumb for inventing yummy potato chips!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next box was filled with “freshly mown” green easter grass. We added other items related to our inventors including hair curlers, play refrigerator items, red/green/yellow circles, lawn mower and clock puzzle pieces, and a comb. We named the inventors as we discussed each of the items.

We also recorded the sound of a lawn mower (invented by John Burr) on our voice output device and placed it in the box. Our students thought it was a lot of fun to reach it to “start” the mower.

This box had a variety of textures, shapes, and colors to discover and explore—addressing the science access point: differing properties of materials. Reaching for and grasping the different objects addresses fine motor skills. Naming the objects improves language skills.

 

 

 

We scooped some popcorn kernels  and searched for the letter B—for Henry Blair who invented a corn planter.

Our students loved burying their hands in the corn and also watching the kernels as they were dropped from the scoop.

Lots of opportunities for visual tracking, eye hand coordination and finger intrinsic skills with this activity.

 

 

 

 

We made patterns in cornmeal with a comb (we found this idea on the preschool rainbow website) encouraging visual tracking.

The hair comb was invented by W.H. Sam.

The cornmeal also has a wonderful silky feel that we have explored before, its really hard to resist playing in it.

 

 

 

 

 

Then we played with some peanut butter play dough (we made sure to check that no one had a peanut allergy before we made it). This was wonderful stuff and smelled just like a peanut butter cookie—it was really hard to resist sampling 🙂

Using the cookie cutters or pulling the play dough apart helps strengthen hand and finger intrinsic functions.

Thank you so much George Washington Carver, we love peanut butter and jelly sandwiches—YUM!!!

 

 

 

Still one more box! This one contained red, yellow, and green pom poms (traffic light colors). We kept the box simple, with the items all having the same shape and texture, to highlight their similarities and differences.

Reaching for the soft pompoms gives our students opportunities to work on grasping skills and eye hand coordination. Discussing the differing colors helps improve language skills and color identification. Counting the pompoms helps work on one to one correspondence.

 

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Group—Presidents Day

This Tuesday we learned about some of our presidents by reading Cara’s latest book. After we finished the book we started our project.

First some of our students cut out some squares with a circle penny (math access points).

We used our mounted table top adaptive scissors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Others cut out orange rectangles

—-with a little help from their

friends 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And still others cut out some brown triangles (yet more math access points!)

We did go ahead and  precut some triangles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We set all these shapes aside and counted out rectangular pieces of paper. A small rectangle was drawn on the paper to help our students see where to place their glue.

Of course, squeezing the glue helps increase hand strength and eye hand coordination.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we placed stacked popsicle sticks on the glue and put the brown triangle on top…

can you tell what we are making yet?

We have a couple more pieces to add 🙂

This activity promotes eye hand coordination, following directions and spatial concepts. Counting the popsicle sticks can also add a math component.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here it is, Lincoln’s Log Cabin

…we think its move in ready!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday we read Cara’s book again and started our next presidential project. First we put on paint shirts (old t-shirts) which gave our students an opportunity to work on dressing skills (Joy, the OT, really likes this!).

We used 2 different colors of blue to paint a large poster board. Since our students have emerging skills we have a variety of tools for them to use.

This student is using a kitchen scrub brush which has a handle which works perfectly for him.  And, incidentally, adds great texture!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also had a variety of other brushes for our students to use. Since we were trying

to cover a large area, these foam brushes (or surgical scrub brushes)  work perfectly!

The large area also allows for larger arm movements addressing shoulder stability. Working together on the same project also encourages social skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

Our student with a visual impairment added some fluffy cotton ball clouds.He really enjoyed pulling them apart and patting them down onto the glue.

Hmm, looks like we need to add a little something…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How about George Washington crossing the Delaware, with Jeannie’s

class!

Joy drew the figures and cut them out of poster board, adding photo faces of the students and staff. Our students took turns putting glue onto the back of the boat and patting it down.

We have to protect our students privacy, so for this  picture we covered our students faces—- but they are so cute!!!  The staff members are really quite good looking the bunch also 🙂

The students had so much fun finding their pictures and also pointing to the staff members.

 

 

 

Language Group—Letter U

We started by pulling some Unusual animals out of a shopping bag. Each student’s animal was Unique.

The words Up and Under were written on an index card and when presented with the word, the students had to follow the directions.

Either by holding their animal Up or Under the table!

Look at us, working on shoulder stability, fine motor, language and literacy skills at the same time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we guessed which cup the Unicorn was Under. We found that  Unmatched cups do not work well for this game 🙂

This was so much fun and all the students had to have a turn moving the cups around (addressing bilateral coordination and visual tracking and spatial skills). This was also a really good activity for practicing turn taking and following directions.

The Unicorn was made by placing a sticker on a bottle cap.

 

 

 

 

 

Moving on to our next activity, we cut out 3 Ugly bugs! The bugs were just clip are pictures we put on a grid.

As Usual, our students Used a variety of scissors according to their skill levels. We really like these adaptive squeeze scissors as they are relatively inexpensive, durable, and available from a variety of catalogs.

 

 

 

 

Then we crumpled some scrap paper and put it into an Utterly plain brown paper lunch bag to make a rock. We just rolled it closed.

This activity helps to work on bilateral coordination and strengthening hand

intrinsics, as well as eye hand coordination—-and its so much fun to crumple paper!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then glued our 3  bugs to the bottom of our rock.

Be careful when you pick up that rock—-UH-OH Ugly bugs!!!!

Our students (all boys in this class) thought it was great fun to pick up the rocks and “scare” the adults. Needless to say, lots of eeks and laughs ensued 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

We did stop playing with the bugs long enough to

play Cara’s sound game. Some pretty Unusual

sounds today!

 

 

 

 

 

And, of course, we looked at the U words we found today.

What a great week! We hope you are enjoying the activities as much as we are, and please join us again Group by Group.

Dec11

Week 14—Hanukkah and letter N

Posted on by
Week 14—Hanukkah and letter N

The themes this week were Hanukkah for our Sensory and Fine Motor Groups and the Letter N for our Language Group.

Sensory Group—Hanukkah

We learned about Hanukkah by reading Cara’s “Happy Hanukkah” book and then started our explorations!

Our first box contained an assortment of Hanukkah goodies. We used smooth gold mardi gras beads for the “gelt”, soft big chenille stems in the colors of blue and white, small rough gold chenille stems, curly white and blue ribbons—all these allowed us to compare properties of materials (science access points).

Other Hanukkah symbols included the Star of David and dreidel cookie cutters,  play food donut, and wooden driedels.

Our students loved exploring this box, the curly ribbons being a particular hit!

 

 

 

 

In this box, our students looked for the letter H (for Hanukkah) and the number 8 (for the 8 candles on the menorah) in blue and white rice.

Either scooping or sifting—so much

fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next box contained some potato flakes (to remind us of latkes).

They have a soft, yet crunchy feel which our students really enjoyed.

A plastic “latke” was fun to find and also use as a scoop. Visual tracking was addressed as the light flakes drifted down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our students also enjoyed our pompom yarn in shades of blue. One of the Hanukkah colors.

So soft and nice to grab a hold of, shake or drape over shoulders.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

White (another Hanukkah color) shaving cream, nice and fluffy like the filling of yummy doughnut.

Such fun to swirl around and practice pre writing patterns and letters.

So proud of this young lady, her writing is really improving—look at those perfect letters 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finished by rinsing hands in vanilla sugar

scented water and then rubbing vanilla sugar

scented lotion—leaving the yummy aroma of

doughnuts wafting through the room.

Happy Hanukkah!

 

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Group—Hanukkah

On Tuesday we started by reading Cara’s book, using our voice output devices for the repetitive line then proceeded to make a handprint menorah.

First, our students chose the color of their paper. To  help increase literacy, the color choice cards also have the color names written on them.We discussed its rectangular shape and counted them as we passed them out.

Then we applied paint to both hands.  

Some of our students pressed their

hands into the paint tray, for others

we painted their hands using a foam

brush.

 

 

 

 

Candles have to have flames and glitter glue is perfect for the task!

Squeezing the glue is great for hand strengthening but glitter glue is really hard to squeeze! For some of our students, we used brushes instead.

Asking the students to place the glue “on top” of the fingers addresses directionality concepts.

 

 

 

 

 

We glued on a stand and Ta Da—our

finished menorah.

Such cute little hands!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And don’t you just love this Modernistic approach to the classic menorah!

Adorable!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday, we read Cara’s book and again used the voice output device for the repetitive line. We love how much more readily our students are reaching out and anticipating their turn.

After reading the book we began our project—dreidels!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeannie saved and cleaned juice cartons. Then inserted a small colorful dowel through the middle.

Cara printed the symbols on blue paper.

We found this idea on a number of websites (some people are so creative!) and adapted it to fit our needs.

 

 

 

 

 

We used paper cutters to cut our strip into 4

squares (math access points are just

everywhere!).

These paper cutters work well for cutting

straight lines and our students really have

fun using them.

 

 

 

 

 

The symbols were glued to each side—working on hand strengthening and eye hand coordination again!

We also discussed the meaning of each symbol and how the game is played.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here it is–a fabulous, fun dreidel! 

Happy Hanukkah 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Language Group—letter N

We played with Nuts and bolts. This activity addresses so many hand function skills—–bilateral coordination, grasp patterns, wrist rotation!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we practiced finger isolation            

turning on and off the switch to the

Neck massager.

The students loved draping this

around their Neck and shoulders.

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we used scissors to snip yarn—Nice cutting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We glued them onto the bottom of a rectangular (oh yes we slipped that math access point in!) piece of paper.

Picking up the  yarn works on pincer grasp skills.

We didn’t have to be Neat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, more cutting! We cut along the lines of a paint sample. We made sure to Not go off the road.

Paint samples are of a heavier weight card stock that make them easier for beginning cutters.  Its also nice that they come in varying widths and pre printed lines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We used our 3 strips to make a letter N

and used our electric stapler to hold it

together—Nice.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We glued the N into its Nest—Now how about that 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had fun playing Cara’s sound game.              

There are is always a New sound to listen for. Some of them are Noisy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, we looked at some of the N words we found today.

Fun, fun, fun this week! Please join us next week as we finish up our holiday unit and learn about the letter M—-Group by Group 🙂

Dec5

Week 13—Kwanzaa and the Letter M

Posted on by
Week 13—Kwanzaa and the Letter M

Kwanzaa was the theme for our Fine Motor and Sensory groups this week. Our Language group is on the letter M.

Sensory Group—Kwanzaa

Cara’s book helped us learn more about this special holiday and we used the voice output device to wish each other “Happy Kwanzaa”!

Our first box was filled with some of the symbols of Kwanzaa. First, we put in some straw for the woven mats that are used and often made from straw. We also added some plastic fruits and vegetables, some ribbon printed with fruit, a metal cup, red and green blocks, and a little happy family.

In addition to looking at the symbols, our students were able to explore the differing properties of the various materials (a  science access point).

 

 

 

 

 

Such lovely soft textures in our next box!

Red, black, and green pompoms—Kwanzaa colors.

We also added huge fat chenille stems (found at Joann Fabrics) in the same colors.

The differing shapes and colors but similar textures enabled us to discuss the concepts of same and different which are math access points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Cara’s book, we learned about the 7 candles of the Kinara. Since we are not allowed to bring candles to school, we used Wikki Stix (available from a variety of catalogs). It was interesting to watch the different reactions of our students.

Their waxy feel is a very interesting texture and they will also stick to themselves. We again used the colors of Kwanzaa which allowed for some sorting opportunities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grains are another symbol of Kwanzaa, and 

we couldn’t decide which we preferred so we used

both corn…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and oatmeal for our scooping boxes. Our students had fun scooping (strengthening shoulder stability, eye hand coordination, wrist rotation) and finding the letter K—-for Kwanzaa!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We practiced prewriting strokes in applesauce

(one of the fruits of the harvest).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We rinsed our hands in pomegranate and apple scented water and then used similarly scented lotion. A delicious fruity scent to remind us of a happy Kwanzaa!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Group—Kwanzaa

We read Cara’s book to learn about Kwanzaa, our students especially enjoyed the pages discussing the different foods! Then we began our activity.

Joy printed the capital letter O at 48 point size on yellow paper. She then cut the paper in half and trimmed all but one side.

On the untrimmed side a green cutting line was drawn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our students used the adaptive scissors

to cut along the line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we flipped the paper over and squeezed some glue along each end.

Squeezing the glue (as usual, we colored our own with food coloring to make it easier for our students to see) works on hand strengthening and eye hand coordination.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We put a toilet paper tube on one end

and rolled it to the other end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we tore pieces of tissue paper (a nice pre-scissor activity). They were crumpled into balls—or an approximation of a ball 🙂 These were then dipped into glue and affixed to our creation. Have you guessed what we are making?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ta Da—a corn cob! A vegetable from our

Kwanzaa harvest 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday, after reading “Happy Kwanzaa” again, we proceeded to make a woven mat which is one of the symbols of Kwanzaa.

We bought 2 vinyl placemats at the dollar store and cut each into 4 pieces to make mini mats. 3 slits were made down the length of the middle.

We found some fabric ribbon at a thrift store. There were a variety of fruits printed on it which went along with our Kwanzaa harvest theme. We pre-wove most of the ribbon and let our students finish pulling the strands through which they really enjoyed.

Grasping the ribbon helps work on pincer grasp skills and following the ribbon as it is pulled through addresses visual tracking. We also discussed the rectangle shape of the placemat and number of ribbons addressing math access points.

 

 

 

 

After we had finished weaving the ribbon

we trimmed the edges using our adaptive

scissors.

We then used double stick tape to secure

the edges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here is our completed Kwanzaa mat, pretty cool!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Language Group—letter M

We started by Making a Magnet Motor Car. Inserting wheels into openings addresses eye hand coordination. Counting the wheels addresses math access points.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Start your Motor—-Make it go!                      

Pushing the car to friends encourages

social skills and is so much fun 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we used tongs to pick up bananas to feed the Monkey.

Tongs are useful for working on graded motor control and eye hand coordination.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had our students choose how many

bananas to pick up. This addresses math

skills in addition to practicing making

choices out of group of 3.

For our students with motor issues, we adapted a softie by hot gluing a shower curtain ring to its back and velcro to its mouth. We  added velcro to some of the bananas. It works really well!

 

 

 

 

 

Next we used Markers to color

Money.

We our so proud of this student,

who used to avoid handling all

writing utensils. Now look at

him 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

After coloring, our students cut out their Money and counted it to see how Much they had Made!

One of our students got quite creative and cut his in half to Make More—if only it could be that easy 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We finished our session by playing Cara’s

sound game and looking at some of the

M words we found.

Please join us again next week with more fun Group by Group!

Nov13

Week 11—Weather and the letter K

Posted on by
Week 11—Weather and the letter K

Our theme for the Sensory and Fine Motor groups was Weather. Our Language Groups theme was the letter K.

Sensory Group—Weather

We started by reading Cara’s latest book “What is the Weather?”  In addition to our voice output device with the  repetitive line, we recorded the sounds of rain and thunder on some of the other devices which our students enjoyed.

Our music department let us borrow a rain stick and a drum that rumbles just like thunder when you shake it! Between using those instruments and turning the room lights on and off quickly, we had quite the thunder storm going on in the room 🙂

Not pictured but also used, were a hair dryer for wind and water spritzed into the air to softly rain down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the storm—-out came the rainbow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our students loved holding their hands out to “catch” the rainbow. As we moved the light around they were also able to work on visual tracking.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back came the lights and on to our sensory boxes— we looked for the letter R in rainbow rice. It was so colorful and fun to scoop up with hands or spoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We explored the concepts of hard hail (white mardi gras beads) and soft snow (cotton balls). Properties of materials is a science access point.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, we took dry sand and then used our spray bottle to make it wet—science access points again! Our students loved finger painting in the sand, practicing directional pre writing strokes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Group—Weather

We read Cara’s book about the weather and had an awesome thunder storm! Then it was time to make some clouds.

We started by mixing glue and shaving cream.

Some of our students were very enthusiastic about the mixing part 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we used sponge brushes to paint with the mixture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ta Da—-clouds! They dry like puffy paint with the coolest spongy texture—wonderful for our visually impaired students.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday, we read Cara’s book and had yet another thunderstorm. So fun! Then, we proceeded make windsocks.

We started with a rectangle (math access point) of wallpaper—we just love those wallpaper sample books!

The paper was inserted into a 3 hole punch and our students really enjoyed operating the lever. Actually, only 2 holes are needed but this hole punch is easier for our students to use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, our students chose how many crepe paper streamers to add. Some of them chose 1 and then realized they wanted more which gave us the opportunity to work on addition!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The streamers were then glued to back of the paper.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While the adults taped the rectangle into a tube, our students chose the color of yarn they wanted to use as a hanger.

Once again, we are giving our students an opportunity to practice choosing from an array of 3 which is the format used on the alternate assessment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our students got the opportunity to practice lacing skills by pulling the yarn through 2 of the holes. To make it easier, we wrapped tape around the ends of the yarn.

Lacing addresses bilateral coordination and eye hand coordination.

For even more fun, we brought out the hairdryer and watched them flutter around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Language Group—letter K

We pulled apart two love bugs and let go so they could Kiss. This toy helps work on shoulder stability, grasp and release skills.

These  bugs were the bees Knees!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we worked with a shape sorter. We had to match the right Key to unlock the shape. This activity addressed visual spatial skills, wrist rotation and lateral pinch grasp.

It was really Kind of fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we cut out a Kangaroos that Joy drew onto index cards.

For our more advanced cutters, the outline was highlighted in yellow. Our students with more emergent skills simply snipped straight lines along the sides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Joy drew two tiny Kites as visual cues for the hole punch (great for strengthening hand intrinsics).

Insert two fingers into the holes…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and your Kooky Kangaroo can Kick a ball with Knobs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This activity works on separation of the sides of the hand and finger individuation. And, of course, the fun factor is pretty high 🙂

 

 

 

We finished by playing Cara’s latest listening game…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and looking at all the K words we found today!

We all had so much fun this week, please join us again for more excitement Group by Group!

Oct16

Week 7—Bugs and the letter G

Posted on by
Week 7—Bugs and the letter G

Our themes this week were Bugs for our sensory and fine motor groups and the letter G for our alphabet group.

Sensory Group—Bugs

We started our group by reading Cara’s book “Bugs are Everywhere” using our voice output devices to answer the question “where can we find bugs?” We also passed around a canister of mushroom scent from the Follow your Nose game. That unusual scent really fit our theme.

Nancy found this cool black light flashlight which we used to make the centipedes glow in our bin of spaghetti worms. It was very eye catching in addition to targeting some of the science access points.

The cold spaghetti worms had an interesting texture. Some of our students reveled in the texture while others were very hesitant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The black light also made our green spider web glow. Our students had fun pulling apart the web to find the spiders. Pulling apart the spider web promotes bilateral coordination and strengthening while picking out the spiders helps the students work on their pincer grasp.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made dirt out of dried coffee grounds (thank you Joi B and other teachers for saving yours for us). Our students looked for the letters B U G and all sorts of bugs. Identifying the bugs addresses science access points while counting the number of bugs found addresses math access points.

The coffee grounds have a soft, dry feel and were very popular. The grounds do retain their coffee aroma but it is not very strong or overwhelming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we finger painted directional lines in our green and glittery oobleck. Practicing the motor movements of lines, letters, and numbers in the oobleck  helps build motor memory.

The glitter was also very eye catching as it got swirled around the oobleck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our vibrating ladybug pillow (purchased from the Beyond Play catalog) was a huge hit. By squeezing or pushing down on the pillow, our students could activate the vibration component. We targeted more math access points by describing the lady bugs shape (round) and size (big).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For our water play and lotion we used the Juniper Breeze scent. Its woodsy kind of scent reminded us of the outdoors—-where we might see lots of bugs. We also used the mushroom scent from the Follow you Nose game (from Flaghouse catalog). It also reminded us of places we might find bugs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fine Motor Group—Bugs

We read Cara’s book “Bugs are Everywhere” and used our voice output device to answer the question “where are bugs?” Our students loved identifying their favorites!

Before we started our fine motor activity, we used some 3 dimensional overlays of bugs with our light box. These were in our schools science kit. These were especially useful for our students with visual impairments, but all the students enjoyed them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now to begin making our own spider web! Our students began by scooping 3 marbles out of black paint and placing them on a piece of white paper we had placed in a plastic box with a lid. A nice eye hand coordination activity.

We also discussed what color paint we used and counted the marbles (one to one correspondence, a math access point).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our next step was to close the lid and SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE! Students were so excited when it was their turn to shake the box—great for bilateral coordination and improving shoulder stability.

We feel that the clear box made the activity especially engaging.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we added some glitter! Bilateral skills are called for to turn the container so the holes are on the bottom. Holding and shaking the glitter addresses grasp skills and shoulder stability.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the final touch—a black foam spider sticker to crawl around the web!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday we read Cara’s book again and began making some more bugs!

We started by giving our students their choice of tissue paper— saved from presents past 🙂

The brightly colored paper was very engaging for our students and it was fun to see their choices.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, we tore the tissue into small pieces. This is a great bilateral coordination activity.

Our vision teacher helped her student learn to crumple his paper by cupping her hands around his.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we got out the pre-made bug skeleton. Notice the indentation at one end.

We were able to count six legs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After crumpling their paper, our students dipped the pieces in glue and placed them onto the paper roll (working on eye hand coordination and following directions).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With the addition of googlie eyes and antenna (great for working on pincer grasp skills) our bugs came alive.

Wow—-look at this bunch of colorful bugs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alphabet Group—letter G

We started this Great day by stringing Gigantic beads. The super large openings and long tip make this bilateral coordination activity much easier for our students.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we used our Green Grabbers to Gobble Green Globs! Manipulating the trigger of the grabber calls for the same hand movements used to manipulate scissors. While picking up the pompoms and placing them in the bowl works on shoulder stabilization and eye hand coordination. Counting how many pompoms are gobbled addresses math skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We started our next activity by snipping Green paper Grass. We had to Go slowly along the line and remember to stop at the dot. In the photo, the student is using an adaptive squeeze scissors. These are available from a variety of catalogs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After setting the Grass aside, our students colored a billy Goat Gruff head that Joy drew. In this photo you can see how this student has nicely progressed to coloring the details of his picture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Glued down the Goats head and Grass (working on finger intrinsics to manipulate the glue stick, visual spatial skills and following directions) on to a lunch bag.

And here is our billy Goat Gruff Grazing on his Green Grass. Isn’t he Gorgeous!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ended our session by playing our Guess the sound Game. Our students always look forward to seeing what Cara has come up with this week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of G words this week. We do go through quite a lot of post-its but our students really love picking up the individual words and its so easy for us to pick up the word while we are speaking or attach it to an object

Hope you join us again next week for more fun Group by Group!