We are celebrating National Book Month by looking at some of our favorite book characters. Our sensory groups explored boxes dedicated to the characters featured in our book. The fine motor groups turned book characters into art projects and the language group made a yummy Very Hungry Caterpillar inspired treat.
SENSORY GROUP
There was a lot of dress up fun and giggles in our Fancy Nancy box. There was a fabulous feather boa, beads, and a variety of “fancy” sunglasses.
Science access point: recognize one or more external body parts.
Yep, our students totally rocked this look 🙂
and way too cool for school  🙂
Our Pinkalicious rice had some letter P’s to find, a large pink scoop, small pink spoon, as well as a picture of the character herself to find at the bottom of the box.
The students found the pretty rice very eye catching and as usual, loved running their fingers through it.
Science access point: track the movement of objects that are pushed or pulled.
Green Floam was used for our Babar box. We picked green to match the suit he wore. The students could make their own elephants or press an elephant shaped cookie cutter in to it.
Unfortunately, the cookie cutter didn’t work to cut out elephants like we had hoped but the students still had fun exploring the Floam 🙂
Science access point: recognize that objects can stick together.
There was a hungry caterpillar and some play food to find in this colorful box of pasta. The bright green caterpillars and red butterflies were very eye catching!
Science access point: recognize that animals eat food.
Cheerleader pompoms made great Truffula trees in this box dedicated to The Lorax. Bright, colorful and SO much fun to shake—–these are always a favorite with our students!
Lots of future school cheerleaders here!
Science access point: recognize the change in the motion of an object.
Amelia Bedelia may not have been a very good maid, but she made fantastic pies!
The students had fun exploring the shaving cream “meringue”.
There were also a few giggles along the way 🙂
Science access point: apply a push to move an object.
Foam letters that spelled R E A D were scooped out of our water this week.
Since one of our favorite book characters is Goodnight Gorilla, we used banana scented bubble bath from Walmart to scent the water.
Science access point: recognize that an object can move in different directions.
We used our World Market banana scented lotion this week.
They loved the yummy way is smelled when rubbed on hands, arms, or behind ears!
Science access point: recognize one or more external body parts.
FINE MOTOR GROUP
On Wednesday we made Where the Wild Things Are monster puppets using this: monster
First, we identified the shape of our monster face using communication symbols.
Math access point: recognize objects with two-dimensional shapes.
The students used scissors to snip around the circle to make monster “fur”. They used regular or adaptive scissors.
Science access point: recognize a change in the appearance of an object.
Time to add some MONSTER features—-nose, eyes, teeth, and horns!
Math access point: recognize when an object is added to a situation.
On Thursday the students made Babar crowns!
We started by squeezing white and black paint into a container.
Math access point: solve problems involving small quantities of objects or actions using language such as enough, too much, or more.
The students mixed the paint together and saw that black and white mixed together make GREY.
Science access point: recognize a change in an object.
Next, using communication symbols, they chose how many elephants to stamp on their crown.
Math access point: associate quantities with number names.
We adapted a foam elephant stamp by hot gluing a plastic thread spool to it which made it easier for our students to use. The students stamped UP and DOWN on their paper strip.
A tiny gold crown was put on the head of one of the elephants to make him Babar!
Math access point: recognize a movement that reflects a spatial relationship, such as up and down.
The students loved their Babar crowns!
LANGUAGE GROUP
We’re back to making a delicious treat this week in the language group. We were inspired by one of the foods that the Very Hungry Caterpillar ate: cherry pie. We made our own rendition of it, though. Here is the recipe that we used: Let_s Make Very Hungry Caterpillar Cherry Cheesecake
**Words that are capitalized were targeted on our recipe communication boards**
We started by PUTTING the cheesecake pudding mix into a BOWL. The student who wanted to HELP PUT the mix in had to indicate HELP on their board.
Once the mix was in the bowl, we got some milk out. Each student touched the milk and located COLD to describe how the milk felt. 2 students got to HELP measure the milk out. After we PUT 1 milk carton into the measuring cup, we saw that it wasn’t enough milk and we needed MORE. We PUT 1 more milk carton in and now saw that it was enough and we were ALL DONE with the milk.
Science access point: recognize the temperature of items, such as food, as cool or warm.
Math access point: solve problems involving small quantities of objects or actions, using language, such as enough, too much, or more.
After a student poured the milk into the BOWL it was time to use the MIXER. Each student had a TURN to press the switch to TURN on the mixer.
Science access point: recognize that electrical systems must be turned on in order to work.
Once the pudding was ALL DONE, we got the pie crust ready. Students HELPed PUT the pudding into the pie crust.
Math access point: recognize when an object is added to a situation.
One of our students helped open our can of cherry pie filling then each student got to taste a little bit of it. Â They indicated on their board whether it tasted SWEET or SOUR.
We found that our students are not huge fans of cherry pie filling by itself 🙂
We topped the pie with the cherry pie filling and voila!
Each student had to indicate WANT EAT on their boards so they could have a piece of their pie.
Hope you enjoyed our post this week. Join us again for more fun and learning——-Group by Group!
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