Leaf Lanterns

In Kindergarten this week, we started working on our Leaf Lanterns.  We started off the class with a really fun movement song, Listen and Move by Greg and Steve.  The song tells us what to do and we follow along.  Then, the directions disappear and we have to remember what to do by just the music that accompanied each movement!

We then moved on to our lanterns, which were modified from DLTK's Crafts for Kids.  The students were given versions with their name in one of the "boxes" and asked to write their name two more times in the remaining boxes, using "Kindergarten writing" or "lowercase letters".

After writing their names, the students were asked to color the leaves using "fall colors", which we brainstormed together.  They worked hard to stay in the lines!  Next week, we'll work on turning these masterpieces into lanterns using scissors and glue!  If your child attends Kindergarten at Effingham Elementary School, they have already finished their lanterns, so ask to see them :)

Go Away Big Green Monster!

This week, the kindergarten classes and the preschool class met the Big Green Monster!  We read Ed Emberly's Go Away Big Green Monster! using the iPad app.


First, they were given a blank monster with circles at the top spelling out their names, as well as round stickers with letters.  The children needed to peel off the stickers and put them on the circles to spell their first name; in preschool, the letters were given in the right order, but in Kindergarten there was an added challenge of scrambled stickers!










Then we read the book one page at a time and the children colored their monster according to the narrator.  When the book was finished, we listened to the sing-along version of the book.  The children really enjoyed the animations that the app provided!

Laying on your stomach helps
to build muscle strength!

April is Occupational Therapy Month!

Happy OT Month!  Make sure to give your favorite OT a big hug :)

Here is a picture of the OT room door at NDS.  The little "game pieces" have faces of students and were colored by them and placed on the game board.

Occupational Therapy - Skills for the Game of Life!

When a child is determined to require occupational therapy services, I like to explain to the student (at their level) why they are seeing me.  We talk about what's hard and why and how we're going to work on making it easier.  Every April, I ask the students "What is OT?"  Some (typically the older students) can tell me what it is and why they are there.  Others can tell me why they come (after I remind them that coming to see me is "OT") and others don't remember :)  It's a good opportunity to review!  The kids were given a prompt of "OT is" and asked to finish the sentence.

OT is drawing. - Devin

OT is fun. - Joshua

OT is a time to learn and write things neat. - Dakota

OT is work hard. - Domenick

OT is fun! - Haleigh

OT is a time to learn time to work. - Nick

I got two "OT is fun!" answers...to me, that means I'm doing my job well :)

Duck! Rabbit!

We read the book Duck! Rabbit! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld.   It's about two people who look at the same thing and see two different things - one sees a duck, one sees a rabbit.  They argue and show their perspective throughout the book.  "Two unseen characters debate the identity of the creature at the center of this clever book - is it a duck or a rabbit?  Readers will join in the discussion, because the creature could, in fact, be either.  Just as each of the debaters begins to see the other's perspective, the duck/rabbit runs away and they see an anteater.  Or is it a brachiosaurus?"  

After reading the book and talking about our perspectives, we made a duck/rabbit (or "drabbit" as one student liked to call it!)  

Coloring the duck

The duck!

But if I turn it around...

See my duck?

It will be this bunny!

Coloring with Paper

For the past two weeks, the kindergartners have been coloring...without crayons!  They have worked on ripping paper (using "alligator fingers") into small pieces and then gluing them onto a picture.  The goal is to have the picture colored without using any crayons or markers.

Melted Snowmen

In Kindergarten, we made "melted snowmen"!  First, the students worked on cutting out the "snow pile"...

Then they cut out pieces for their snowmen, without drawing the pictures first.  NO PENCILS ALLOWED!

This was a challenge, as many had never cut out a circle without a guide before.  We talked about rotating the paper while closing the scissors.  A new skill for every student!

Puzzles!

Looking for pieces

In Kindergarten, we worked on some paper puzzles.  Each child found pieces numbered 1-4 and then worked to put them together.  After they discovered all the pieces and organized them on paper, the students then glued them on the blue construction paper.  We talked about putting glue on the back of the white paper (not on the blue paper), so that we use just the right amount.

Making sure to get glue
 in all of the corners!

There was a lot of gluing to be done!

Time to color and decorate!

Then the children were allowed to decorate their gingerbread men.  Some used "rainbow frosting", some colored them brown...one even made his black - or "burnt"!

Go Away Big Green Monster!

We read Ed Emberly's Go Away Big Green Monster! using the iPad app.

As each page came up, the children saw another piece of the monster's face.  They colored their page to match the monster.

The students loved seeing the animations in the app.  After the activity was done, we listened to the song available within the app and watched the illustrations come to life!

Sorry for the blurry pictures - these kids are always in motion!

Go Away Big Green Monster!

Roll A Monster

Most of my students love dice games and I've found many "Roll A..." games online.  It gets even the most reluctant pencil user to draw.  Since it's Halloween season, in some individual and group OT sessions, we've been playing "Roll A Monster".  

The students roll a die, then call out the number represented by the number of dots on the die.  This ability is called "subitizing" (to perceive at a glance the number of items presented) and is a wonderful math skill!  Then student then finds the intersection of their number and the part they are working on.  

Together, we focus on the detail in the drawings, the proportion of the pieces, and the orientation and location of the body parts.  We are also working on pencil pressure and drawing lightly enough to fully erase our lines.  The students love seeing the goofy monsters they come up with!  I've included some of the monsters I've rolled (as models) so you can see a few of the possibilities.