Snowmen and Sand

I hope everyone has enjoyed their extra day off for a long three day weekend!  We ended last week with some fun activities on Thursday and Friday. 

On Thursday, Mrs. Frazee and Ms. Weston had another fun social work lesson planned for us!  The students first participated in an activity that required them to put them their listening skills to use.  Each student was given a small toy and then Ms. Weston called out various directives for them to follow.  For example: "Put your toy on your head."  "Put your toy on the ground."  Many of the students in the class have goals to work on following directions without multiple prompts.  It was a fun way to practice this important skill!

Then, we acted out a rhyme similar to "5 Little Monkeys (jumping on the bed)."

5 Little Snowmen riding in a sled,
1 fell out and bumped her head!
Frosty called the doctor and the doctor said,
"No more snowmen riding in a sled!"

 

Here is a video:

On Friday afternoon, we rotated through some fun (and messy!) centers.  Take a look at some of our fun centers in action.

Here is a video of a few students having a blast with Mr. Bob:

**Reminder - Wednesday, January 30th:  2 Hour Delayed Start.

Your child's bus will pick them up two hours from their regular pick-up time.  We will begin our day at 10:10am.  Lunch and Dismissal will stay on schedule with a regular day.

Catching Up

My apologies for taking such a long break since our last classroom post!  Between our long Christmas break, readjusting to our school routine, and adding a new friend to our classroom - it has been a very busy time in our classroom.  Here is a look at some of the things we have been working on at school.

The Gingerbread Man
Before Christmas break we had some fun reading the story of The Gingerbread Man.  We talked about all the different characters in the story and also did some sequencing of events as the gingerbread man travels through the story.  Mrs. Frazee planned a group speech activity where the children each were a different character and acted out the story.  Everyone's favorite part seemed to be, "Run, Run, as Fast as you can!"

Our social skills group also included our work on the story by allowing the students to decorate their own gingerbread cookies.  The students had to appropriately request the different toppings and frostings from their peers and adults.

Christmas Tree:
The students created their own ornaments for our Christmas tree this year.  Some students even enjoyed helping to set up the tree.  They showed a great amount of responsibility in respecting the classroom tree this year.  (It can be so tempting to pull on!)

Word Study

This week we began a new set of words for our word study time.  Our word family words end in -ick.  You can always find the current words in the box on the right hand side of the blog.  Currently we are working on sick, lick, kick, stick, like, he, she.  

The Mitten

Since returning from break we have been working with the story The Mitten by Jan Brett.  In the story the little boy Nicki loses his white mitten in the snow.  Several animals make the mitten their home causing it to stretch bigger and bigger until finally the bear sneezes and the mitten goes flying into the sky for Nicki to find.

We have used the story during our Reader's Workshop time to work on the concept of characters and to practice some sequencing and retelling.  Mrs. Frazee also incorporated the story into her speech centers.  You can listen to the story on youtube by searching for "The Mitten by Jan Brett".  There are several different versions of it being read aloud.  

For our social work group on Thursday of this week, Mrs. Frazee and Ms. Weston brought a GIANT mitten (two sleeping bags zipped together) and we acted out the story.  It may be my favorite activity we have done so far this year!  The kids had so much fun acting out the story.  Since so many of the students have goals to work on using question words, before each animal could enter the mitten they had to request "May I come in?  I'm cold!"  To which the animals already in the mitten would respond, "No, there's no room." The animal would then say or sign, "Please??" and the animals in the mitten finally say, "okay!"  A few students were hesitant about climbing into the mitten and also did a great job playing Nicki and his grandmother, Baba, who makes the mitten.  We had so much fun acting out the story that we did it again on Friday afternoon - here are some photos!  

Nicki is walking along and looses his mitten.

Baba gives Nicki the mitten.

The rabbit comes hopping along and finds the mitten.

The owl comes along and asks to come inside the mitten.

The rabbit telling the owl she can come in!

The fox asking to come inside the mitten.

The animals squeezing into the mitten.

The bear sneezes and all the animals come rushing out of the mitten!

 Functional Skill

We are currently working on scissor skills during our functional skills time.  The students are practicing the correct way to hold scissors in their hands.  And we are also learning that scissors ONLY touch paper.  On Friday, we used our scissors skills to cut out several different colors of paper to decorate mittens.  The goal is that the students become more comfortable with scissors (right now, many treat them like objects that are very foreign to them), and to be able to cut things out more accurately.  The students are beginning to get a little more comfortable with the scissors in their hands, but we will continue to practice how to hold them and also become more familiar with holding the paper with their other hand.

November Fun

As we are finishing up the month of November, here is a look at some special things we have enjoyed in the classroom recently.

Reader's Workshop:
The focus of the lessons for our Reader's Workshop unit the past few weeks have been about reading with a friend.  I've found that for our classroom, the skills the children are learning from these lessons are actually functional skills.  It has been challenging for the students to learn to sit beside a classmate (Elbow to Elbow, Knee to Knee) and to share one book.  They are continuing to make progress, but this is something they have had to work extra hard to accomplish!

Social Skills Group:
In preparation for Thanksgiving, our social skills group with Ms. Weston (School Social Worker) and Mrs. Frazee (Speech and Language Therapist) focused on table manners.  The students practiced saying "please" and "thank you" as well as asking for items on the table ("please pass the potatoes").  We continued to practice this skill throughout the week.  We also talked about the importance of using utensils for eating, and waiting our turn.  Mrs. Frazee even brought some cranberry sauce for brave students to try!

Pumpkin Pie:
As a group we followed a recipe to bake a pumpkin pie.  The students were practicing taking turns, stirring, saying the names of different ingredients, and most of all having fun!  Later in the day, students had a chance to have a slice of their pie.  The pie smelled delicious, but among the students the Cool-Whip on top was loved the most!  :)

 

 

 

Turkey Art:
Miss Minto planned a fun turkey art project for art class last week too.  Each feather of the turkey had a different material and the students rotated from station to station adding the items to their turkeys.  She did an outstanding job of incorporation fine motor practice and sensory needs into one project!

 

Word Study:
We are working on a set of new words during our word study time and centers. We are learning to sound out words in the _ot family as well as continue our sight word practice.

hot
got
pot
spot
and
go
to
the

There are a series of videos on youtube that sing sight words and letters.  We occasionally watch the sight word videos for words we are working on, and the students also love the Alphabet Phonics Song.  You can find the videos at this link.
 

I hope everyone has had a nice Thanksgiving break!