This week has been lots of fun while we’ve talked about the different animals that can be seen at the zoo. Our book features one student per page who is dressed up like the different animals that you can see, such as lions, tigers, and bears (oh my!).
Check the book out to see all of the animals that we included in our trip to the zoo!
Here is a link to the book: Let_s Go To The Zoo!
The weather is beautiful so what better time to take a trip to the zoo! The students had a blast dressing up as different animals for our book and the rest of our activities were just as much fun! The sensory group explored boxes with lots of animals. The fine motor groups made animal art projects and the language group made a tasty treat.
SENSORY GROUP
This box was FILLED with zoo related items including plush and plastic animals. There were some sunglasses and an elephant visor—-in case of a sunny day! Other items included a little zookeeper, the word ZOO, a toy camera, some faux snake skin fabric, and some play food—-WOW so much to discover!
Recognize a model of a real object is a science access point. Recognize objects related to science by name is also a science access point that can be addressed here.
The students totally rocked those sunglasses 🙂
The students sorted these really eye catching pompoms into ZEBRA and TIGER piles. We included plastic animal figures by the respective dishes to provide an additional cue.
Match objects with similar observable properties is a science access point.
There was more matching going on in this box. This time the students matched the fake fun pieces to a little plush animal. The fake fur pieces were a real hit with the students!
Again, the science access point match objects with similar observable properties is addressed.
We thought that birdseed was pretty fitting for a unit on the zoo—-it is certainly something you might see there or even feed to some of the animals. There were letters to find that spelled the word ZOO. We also included a measuring cup and spoon for scooping fun!
Recognize that animals eat food is a science access point that can be addressed here.
The students cut bears and lions out of yellow play dough using cookie cutters. The bright yellow color was very eye catching!
Recognize a change in the appearance of an object is a science access point.
An ice cream snack might be the perfect treat while exploring the zoo on a hot day! To make our shaving cream look a little more like the real thing and add a bit of color, we added some candy sprinkles. As usual, the students had a blast!
Recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move is a science access point.
Messy hands were rinsed in banana scented water filled with some fun animal bath toys (both the bubble bath and toys were found at Walmart). The students had lots of fun here!
Recognize different containers that hold liquids is a science access point.
Banana scented lotion—-found at World Market but no longer carried by them 🙂 This was a really strong scent that left our students smelling really YUMMY!
Recognize one or more external body parts is a science access point.
FINE MOTOR GROUP
On Tuesday the students made giraffes using this: giraffe
First, we identified the color of our paper using communication symbols.
Identify objects by one observable property, such as color, is a science access point.
Then they gave their giraffe its spots using a rolling pin covered with sticky backed foam circles!
We just put some brown paint on the circles and let the student go to town 🙂
Recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move is a science access point.
We added 2 googlie eyes! Most of the students needed a little help with this part.
Associate quantities with number names is a math access point.
The giraffe was glued to a wooden paint stirrer and…….
TA DA!!!!!
On Wednesday the students made tigers using this: tiger
First we identified the color of our paper using communication symbols.
Identify objects by one observable property, such as color, is a science access point.
Then they gave the tiger its strips using a rolling pin—-this time covered in rubber bands! Thank you Pinterest 🙂
The students had fun with this part!
Recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move is a science access point.
The tiger was glued to a piece of green paper by the adults —-to make sure the paint wasn’t smeared—-but the students identified its shape first!
Recognize objects with two-dimensional shapes is a math access point.
We added 2 googlie eyes—–colorful ones we found at Dollar Tree!
Associate quantities with number names is a math access point.
TA DA!!!!!!!
Let’s go to the zoo!
LANGUAGE GROUP
We had a sweet treat that we think went right along with our zoo theme. Here is the recipe we used: Let_s Make Zebra Mousse
We started out by having our students indicate MAKE on their communication boards to indicate that we were making a recipe.
Our first ingredient was heavy whipping cream. Since we had to PUT in 2 cups of it, 2 students got to HELP. After one cup was put into the bowl, our students had to indicate that we needed MORE.
Solve problems involving small quantities of objects or actions using language such as enough, too much, or more is a math access point.
Next, we PUT some powdered sugar in the bowl. Â Again, the student who wanted to help had to raise their hand and also indicate HELP on their board.
Each student got to press the wireless switch to turn on the mixer. It took a while for the ingredients to get firm so our students had to indicate MORE each time the switch was passed along to indicate that we had more mixing to do.
Indicate desire for more of an action or object is a math access point.
We added 3 tbsp of cocoa powder next, so we had 3 different students HELP put it into the bowl.
Recognize when an object is added to a situation is a math access point.
We counted out how many cups we needed. Each student indicated the number 6.
Associate quantities with number names is a math access point.
The chocolate mousse and whipped cream was layered in cups to resemble zebra stripes.
This snack was definitely a hit with all of our students. Even the picky eaters!
We all enjoyed our virtual trip to the zoo!
Join us again next time for more fun and learning—–Group by Group!
Our groups went on Safari this week! Cara’s sister, who lives in Africa, sent us her actual safari pictures for our book—-how cool is that!
Sensory Group
If you are going on safari you are probably going to have to ride on an airplane to get there and when you ride on an airplane you can hear engine sounds and feel the engine vibrate.
Our vibrating tube gave us those same sensations. The tube is bendable and soft—-nice to cuddle with or wrap around your neck!
Our students loved it!
This addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli.
When you are on safari you want to SEE the animals, not have them see you—-that’s why you might want to wear camo clothing!
We mixed brown, green, red and white dried beans and peas to make our camo box. It turned out pretty cool! Â Beans are always popular with our students, they particularly like burying and uncovering things in them. This week we put in a large letter S for “safari” for them to find.
2 different sized scoops were also included to add to the fun.
This activity helps build tactile discrimination and visual figure ground skills. Â It also addresses the math access point of recognizing differences in the sizes of containers.
I
t is especially fun if you are also wearing a camo hat 🙂
Our jungle box was filled with green shredded paper, raffia, chenille yarn vines, and green silk leaves. We put in a globe, wooden sun cut out, a little jeep, a variety of toy zoo animals you might see on safari and an old camera—-perfect for taking pictures of all those cool animals.
So much to talk about and vocabulary to learn!
Speaking of animals, some of them had buttons that when pushed made the animals growl. We have used these before and they are always very popular—-great for promoting finger individuation!
For our students who have significant physical disabilities—its always great to have a friend help you out 🙂
This activity addresses the language access point of responding to new vocabulary that is introduced and taught directly.
It also addresses the science access point of recognizing and responding to common sounds AND the science access point of sharing objects with a partner—-so sweet!
Our tiger pom poms are so bright and so very eye catching. Different colors and sizes—perfect for comparing and contrasting!
Lots of access points can be addressed with these colorful spheres including the science access point of recognizing 2 objects that are identical to each other …..and the math access points recognizing a common 3 dimensional objects and recognizing similarities and differences in the size of objects.
Is this a great box or what!!!!!
Colorful feathered birds are always a part of any safari! This box contained a variety of feather boas—-perfect for wrapping around you or shaking—-so soft and fluffy! We got these at the dollar store around halloween and totally got our money’s worth of fun out of them 🙂
The science access point of identifying common objects by one observable property—in this case color.
Uh oh—-beware of quick sand!!!!!
We added water to some cornmeal mix to make our quick sand and were pretty happy with the results.
As you can tell by our students expressions, this was some weird feeling concoction but they couldn’t resist sticking their hands right back in again and again—trying to figure it out—what inquisitive little scientists we have!
This activity addresses the science access point of exploring, observing and recognizing objects in the natural world.
The language access point of using body movement or nonverbal expressions to communicate preferences—-NAILED 🙂
We finished by rinsing our hands using Into the Wild by Bath and Body Works scented water—it had a really nice aroma but we suspect nothing like what the “wild” actually smells like ha ha.
Banana scented lotion that we found at World Market was the perfect finishing touch to help us remember our safari fun!
This activity addresses the science access points of recognizing one way people use water and recognizing and responding to one type of sensory stimuli.
Fine Motor Group
On Tuesday for our art activity we made tiger masks!
We started by cutting, using our adaptive scissors, 3 strips of paper in half—to make 6 tiger stripes.
Cutting the paper addresses the science access point of recognizing a change in an object.
The stripes were glued onto our tiger mask. Prior to the activity, staff cut out eye holes in an orange paper plate (found on clearance after halloween—-score!) and glued a paint stick to the back. As we passed the masks out, we discussed their circular shape, of course 🙂
We asked the students to touch their noses and then gave them 1 black triangle nose to glue onto their masks. Then 2 orange ears were glued onto the head.
Eye hand coordination and spatial relations are addressed with this activity. Lots of math access points are addressed including recognizing common objects with 2 dimensional shapes and associating quantities with number names.
The science access point of recognizing one or more external body parts was also addressed.
Better watch out for tigers—-
GRRRRRR!!!!
On Thursday we read Cara’s book again, practicing passing the voice output to our neighbor for their turn. This addresses the science access point of sharing objects with a partner. For our art project, we continued our safari theme by making some monkey puppets.
First we passed 1 large brown circle to each student. They used our paper cutters to cut them in half—making semi circles!
These were then glued onto a paper lunch bag.
This activity addresses the science access point of recognizing a change in an object. It also addresses the math access points of recognizing a 2 dimensional shape and recognizing parts of whole objects.
Of course, it also promotes eye hand coordination and spatial relations.
We used our large hole punch to cut 2 brown circles for our monkey ears, which were glued to the top of the bag.
Then the finishing touch—2 big googlie eyes!
This activity addresses the science access point of recognizing a change in an object (as the circles are punched) and recognizing external body parts.
It also addresses math access points including matching one object to a designated space to show one to one correspondence and associating quantities 1 and 2 with number names.
Putting on those little googlie eyes also gives our students an opportunity to practice their pincer grasp skills.
Ta Da—-what cute little monkey puppets!
Language Group
We started out this week with Cara’s book. Although reading the book is new to this group, our students have been doing an EXCELLENT job of pressing the voice output device and sharing it with their friends.
As we read the book and use the voice output device (in all our groups) we address the language access point of listening for informative purposes (ex. following prompts, cues).
The book led us into our own safari. Â We put 7 different animals (a combination of plush and plastic ones) on the table. Â We asked the students to use their binoculars to find the different animals—-while wearing a super cool safari hat!
This activity addresses the science access point of recognizing a familiar objects enlarged by magnification.
It also addresses the language access point of responding to new vocabulary that is introduced and taught directly.
After finding an animal, they had to match the animal up with a picture symbol of the animal. We used the carrier phrase “I see a ___” so the students could fill in the blank with the animal that they had seen. We used the PIXON communication board symbols for “I” and “see” to work on identifying different PIXON picture symbols.
This addresses the language access point of communicating about a selected object using pictures/symbols/words.
    Pretty cool!
With our safari over, it was feeding time to feed the monkeys 🙂
We gave each student 3 bananas and counted as they were put into the monkey’s mouth one at a time—physically assisting our students as needed.
The activity promotes grasp skills and eye hand coordination.
In addition the math access points of recognizing when an object is added to a situation and recognizing quantities 1 to 3 using sets of objects.
What a great week, we had so much fun going on safari! Join us again next week—-we promise to bring lots to discover plus smiles, fun and learning—-Group by Group!
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. Â 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!