This week in speech and language, Ms. Kate's Uppers HAD A BALL learning about different kinds of figurative language such as idioms, homophones, and synonyms! Ms. Barbara's Uppers worked hard on their nonverbal communication skills with Ms. Jen to prepare for their Diener stage debut that is scheduled for next week! Ms. Shannon's Inters also worked on nonverbal communication, specifically eye contact and facial expressions, and enjoyed our special topic time on Friday.
Primary and inters students completed their end of year assessments this week. In addition, primary students participated in their weekly motor group focusing on body/spatial awareness, rhythm and timing. We continued to work in our handwriting books, focusing on letter "J". Inters students completed a writing activity called "info. about myself" focusing on capitalization rules.
This week in the Social Club, we made up names and assigned roles for our puppets for our puppet show "Busy Bee's at the Diener Hive". We came up with a very interesting story plot and we will create a problem and solution next week. The kids practiced talking to each other with their puppets. We encourged them to use their imaginations to answer questions about their puppets family and what school their puppet went to. They came up with some very creative answers!
We made observations of our terrariums, this week. The kids drew pictures of the changes they noticed in their bottles and answered some questions to help them to sequence the steps that we took when putting our terrariums together.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Monday, May 17, 2010
Friday Follow Up-May 14, 2010
We had a great week in speech and language and social skills. The Uppers continued to learn about conversing and also staying in touch with friends over the summer. We enjoyed brainstorming expected and unexpected telephone behaviors. Engaging in role-playing scenarios, especially over the telephone, was especially fun!
Ms. Jenni and Ms. Shannon's Inters worked hard to expand their semantic (vocabulary) networks this week. They loved playing Headbanz, working on perspective taking, and integrating the various clues given to them by their peers to problem solve. This game has quickly become one of our absolute favorites!
Monday was Fitness For Health, We have been working on hitting a birdy with a racket, and continued the same thing on Tuesday and Wednesday. We worked on body and space awareness, not running into each other and saying excuse me when we do. Friday for dance the uppers learned the thriller dance.
Ms. Jenni's class focused on rhythm and timing skills during our weekly motor group. They continue to work very hard to complete end of year assessments. Their improvements are truly amazing!
Light, camera, action! This week in the Social Club we began making our puppets for our awesome puppet show! The kids have been working together to come up with a story plot, characters, a problem and a solution that will take place in this little play of theirs. We used different materials to make our paper bag 'bees' and every bee has a job/profession (inspired by Disney's "Bee Movie"). How exciting!
We used different shapes to make pictures in the Art Club. The kids used their imaginations to make robots and aliens, chickens and lions, Ms. Patrices' and Ms. Lauries'... it was truly amazing to watch their creativity soar through art!
In science this week, the primary and inters started learning about the butterfly life cycle! We made butterfly books and life cycle wheels. We even got to watch a short power point slide show that went through the process of the life cycle. The uppers started constructing their soda bottle terrariums! Over the next few weeks, we will make observations about what we see in our bottles!
Ms. Jenni and Ms. Shannon's Inters worked hard to expand their semantic (vocabulary) networks this week. They loved playing Headbanz, working on perspective taking, and integrating the various clues given to them by their peers to problem solve. This game has quickly become one of our absolute favorites!
Monday was Fitness For Health, We have been working on hitting a birdy with a racket, and continued the same thing on Tuesday and Wednesday. We worked on body and space awareness, not running into each other and saying excuse me when we do. Friday for dance the uppers learned the thriller dance.
Ms. Jenni's class focused on rhythm and timing skills during our weekly motor group. They continue to work very hard to complete end of year assessments. Their improvements are truly amazing!
Light, camera, action! This week in the Social Club we began making our puppets for our awesome puppet show! The kids have been working together to come up with a story plot, characters, a problem and a solution that will take place in this little play of theirs. We used different materials to make our paper bag 'bees' and every bee has a job/profession (inspired by Disney's "Bee Movie"). How exciting!
We used different shapes to make pictures in the Art Club. The kids used their imaginations to make robots and aliens, chickens and lions, Ms. Patrices' and Ms. Lauries'... it was truly amazing to watch their creativity soar through art!
In science this week, the primary and inters started learning about the butterfly life cycle! We made butterfly books and life cycle wheels. We even got to watch a short power point slide show that went through the process of the life cycle. The uppers started constructing their soda bottle terrariums! Over the next few weeks, we will make observations about what we see in our bottles!
Monday, May 10, 2010
Friday Follow Up-May 7, 2010
During language time, the primary students made edible ladybugs out of grapes and strawberries. focusing on following directions and reinforcing the concepts of living things and insects. Small group work focused on describing, listening, following directions and asking clarifying questions.
This week in the social club we played some exciting group games to promote socialization and team work. We played "Diener Diner" which allowed the kids to practice asking questions ("What can I get for you? Would you like some tea or coffee? How many eggs do you want?" etc...) and follow directions. We also watched clips of "Bee Movie" to get inspired for our Bee puppet show we will be putting on!
We took some time to really appreciate nature this week in the Art Club. We investigated and scowered the playground for natural beauty. After collecting different items (leaves, sticks, rocks, mud...) we came back inside and the kids made Art from Nature. Their work will be displayed in the science room.
Primary students designed festive arts-n-crafts activities focusing on folding, scissor, and handwriting skills. They also participated in their weekly motor group practicing their body awareness skills, moving their fingers, noses, and toes to the rhythm!
Ms. Jenni's inters class did a great job during their weekly handwriting group, working on forming compound words and formulating their very own silly sentences!
This week the students participated in a few Mother's Day craft projects. In addition, we continue to work on completing our end of the year assessments. It has been so exciting to see all the progress!
In science, we started talking about Life Cycles by discussing the differences between living and non living things. The primary and inters classes did a fun sorting and coloring activity. The uppers worked on comparing and contrasting real worms and gummy worms. Next week, we will focus on our new classroom pets and start constructing our terrariums!
This week in the social club we played some exciting group games to promote socialization and team work. We played "Diener Diner" which allowed the kids to practice asking questions ("What can I get for you? Would you like some tea or coffee? How many eggs do you want?" etc...) and follow directions. We also watched clips of "Bee Movie" to get inspired for our Bee puppet show we will be putting on!
We took some time to really appreciate nature this week in the Art Club. We investigated and scowered the playground for natural beauty. After collecting different items (leaves, sticks, rocks, mud...) we came back inside and the kids made Art from Nature. Their work will be displayed in the science room.
Primary students designed festive arts-n-crafts activities focusing on folding, scissor, and handwriting skills. They also participated in their weekly motor group practicing their body awareness skills, moving their fingers, noses, and toes to the rhythm!
Ms. Jenni's inters class did a great job during their weekly handwriting group, working on forming compound words and formulating their very own silly sentences!
This week the students participated in a few Mother's Day craft projects. In addition, we continue to work on completing our end of the year assessments. It has been so exciting to see all the progress!
In science, we started talking about Life Cycles by discussing the differences between living and non living things. The primary and inters classes did a fun sorting and coloring activity. The uppers worked on comparing and contrasting real worms and gummy worms. Next week, we will focus on our new classroom pets and start constructing our terrariums!
Friday, April 30, 2010
Friday Follow Up-April 30, 2010
We had a lot of fun this week in music! In the Primary class, we learned some new songs about springtime and went on a Bear Hunt. In the Inters classes, we got out a parachute and played some really fun games, like "Floating Down the River," and "You Can't Make a Turtle Come Out!" In the Uppers classes, we had fun practicing our two songs for graduation, "You've Got a Friend in Me" and "Lean on Me." We sang more of our favorite songs and played fun movement games.
During language time, the primary students played go fish with bug cards, working on asking and answering questions, while continuing to learn about different types of bugs. They also participated in smaller group work focusing on following directions, turn taking with peers and expanding on play and language skills!
Thu, April 29, 2010 10:52:09 AM
Re: Friday Blurb
...
From:
Patrice Felder [Chat now]
...
View Contact
To: Laurie Schwadron
This week in the social club, we focused on doing group activities. We played three different games in the sensory room that highlighted a few important skills such as team work, positive attitudes, and patience. When we were finished with our games, we cooled down by making cards for the VIP's (Very Important People) in our lives :) We tapped into our creative sides in the Art Club when we did our Colorful Expressions project. The kids used various colors to show different emotions (example: blue=sad, yellow=happy, red=angry, pink=shy, green= silly, etc).We ended the day by going outside to search for inspiration for next weeks art project-- Art in Nature.
In science, we continued to talk about planet Earth and ways to keep it safe and reduce pollution.. We defined liter and came up with a list of ways to prevent people from littering. The primary and inters classes made liter bugs. We used miscellaneous items that were all reused or recycled from previous projects! The uppers classes worked on finishing up their planet Earths. In addition to this, each child came up with two facts about the Earth and ways to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!
The Uppers classes continue to make great strides in Social & Life Skills. We reviewed the components of nonverbal communication including: body language, facial expressions, gestures, tone of voice, and vocal volume. We had a blast engaging in role play and acting out skits to match our body language, vocal tone, volume, and facial expressions to different situations! Ms. Jenni’s class also worked on identifying and using appropriate body language and facial expressions given a variety of different situations. The Inters loved playing What Did You Say? Ms Shannon & Ms Deanna’s Inters made edible compost cups! We read The Little Green Monster and discussed ways we can help our environment. Our compost cups were delicious!
During language time, the primary students played go fish with bug cards, working on asking and answering questions, while continuing to learn about different types of bugs. They also participated in smaller group work focusing on following directions, turn taking with peers and expanding on play and language skills!
Thu, April 29, 2010 10:52:09 AM
Re: Friday Blurb
...
From:
Patrice Felder
...
View Contact
To: Laurie Schwadron
This week in the social club, we focused on doing group activities. We played three different games in the sensory room that highlighted a few important skills such as team work, positive attitudes, and patience. When we were finished with our games, we cooled down by making cards for the VIP's (Very Important People) in our lives :) We tapped into our creative sides in the Art Club when we did our Colorful Expressions project. The kids used various colors to show different emotions (example: blue=sad, yellow=happy, red=angry, pink=shy, green= silly, etc).We ended the day by going outside to search for inspiration for next weeks art project-- Art in Nature.
In science, we continued to talk about planet Earth and ways to keep it safe and reduce pollution.. We defined liter and came up with a list of ways to prevent people from littering. The primary and inters classes made liter bugs. We used miscellaneous items that were all reused or recycled from previous projects! The uppers classes worked on finishing up their planet Earths. In addition to this, each child came up with two facts about the Earth and ways to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle!
The Uppers classes continue to make great strides in Social & Life Skills. We reviewed the components of nonverbal communication including: body language, facial expressions, gestures, tone of voice, and vocal volume. We had a blast engaging in role play and acting out skits to match our body language, vocal tone, volume, and facial expressions to different situations! Ms. Jenni’s class also worked on identifying and using appropriate body language and facial expressions given a variety of different situations. The Inters loved playing What Did You Say? Ms Shannon & Ms Deanna’s Inters made edible compost cups! We read The Little Green Monster and discussed ways we can help our environment. Our compost cups were delicious!
Friday, April 23, 2010
Friday Follow Up-April 23, 2010
Primary students participated in weekly handwriting groups focusing on the letters "I" and "T". They also completed a mystery coloring activity which required them to distinguish between upper and lower case letters. The students did an amazing job during our small group Yoga Bingo activity, where they got to practice yoga postures, as well as their turn taking skills.
Ms. Jenni's inters students worked very hard during their OT groups completing visual motor and brain gym activities in the hammock swing, working on core muscle and upper body strength. They continued to work hard in their handwriting books, completing their repertoire of lower case letters!
This week in music, we practiced our Earth Day songs to sing at Hadley Park! The Primary Class sang "This Old Earth." Miss Jenni's class sang "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." Miss Shannon's class sang "Recycle." Miss Kate's class sang another version of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." Miss Barbara's class sang "We've been Working on the Trash." Miss Deanna was so proud of all of the Diener kids today. Everyone sang beautifully at Hadley Park and it was so fun singing all of these songs with our Bullis pen pals!!
This week in the social club, we went on a safari in our minds! We walked through different habitats and identified the animals that we saw. We concluded with a fun group game out on the playground. We had a great time telling stories through pictures in the art club. Each student made four pictures that told a story, without using words. We also created a silly springtime sticker scene. We wrapped up our first session by using modeling clay to make our favorite animals.
In science, we celebrated Earth day by discussing the 3 R's-- Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. We made giant planet Earth's with large coffee filters, makers, and water. we stuffed them with newspaper and other recyclable paper. We will continue to talk about the Earth and ways to help the environment next week.
We had a fun week in Speech and Language! The Uppers enjoyed being detectives while playing Reading Riddle Maze. We worked hard with our teammates to cooperate, respect one another’s ideas, and share responsibilities. The Inters learned about Earth Day with Fancy Nancy and completed a recycling project by sorting paper products, plastic/glass, and compost items.
In Social & Life skills, the Uppers classes were introduced to conversation vocabulary terms and learned about body language, gestures, facial expressions, and more. We had a blast practicing using different form of body language to convey messages to our peers.
This week our students participated in a fun body awareness activity. We focused on directionality and multi-step gross motor movements. In addition, we have begun out OT re-assessments. Its exciting to see all the wonderful progress!
Ms. Jenni's inters students worked very hard during their OT groups completing visual motor and brain gym activities in the hammock swing, working on core muscle and upper body strength. They continued to work hard in their handwriting books, completing their repertoire of lower case letters!
This week in music, we practiced our Earth Day songs to sing at Hadley Park! The Primary Class sang "This Old Earth." Miss Jenni's class sang "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." Miss Shannon's class sang "Recycle." Miss Kate's class sang another version of "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." Miss Barbara's class sang "We've been Working on the Trash." Miss Deanna was so proud of all of the Diener kids today. Everyone sang beautifully at Hadley Park and it was so fun singing all of these songs with our Bullis pen pals!!
This week in the social club, we went on a safari in our minds! We walked through different habitats and identified the animals that we saw. We concluded with a fun group game out on the playground. We had a great time telling stories through pictures in the art club. Each student made four pictures that told a story, without using words. We also created a silly springtime sticker scene. We wrapped up our first session by using modeling clay to make our favorite animals.
In science, we celebrated Earth day by discussing the 3 R's-- Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. We made giant planet Earth's with large coffee filters, makers, and water. we stuffed them with newspaper and other recyclable paper. We will continue to talk about the Earth and ways to help the environment next week.
We had a fun week in Speech and Language! The Uppers enjoyed being detectives while playing Reading Riddle Maze. We worked hard with our teammates to cooperate, respect one another’s ideas, and share responsibilities. The Inters learned about Earth Day with Fancy Nancy and completed a recycling project by sorting paper products, plastic/glass, and compost items.
In Social & Life skills, the Uppers classes were introduced to conversation vocabulary terms and learned about body language, gestures, facial expressions, and more. We had a blast practicing using different form of body language to convey messages to our peers.
This week our students participated in a fun body awareness activity. We focused on directionality and multi-step gross motor movements. In addition, we have begun out OT re-assessments. Its exciting to see all the wonderful progress!
Friday Follow Up-April 9, 2010
This week in Beyond Cooking, we made cinnamon tortilla chips with fruit salsa. The kids had fun while working on their fine motor skills (cutting, chopping, and slicing fruit). We made comparisions between our fruit salsa and the tomato salsa and used a vin diagram to organize our information. We measured and mixed, sprinkled and sifted. It was a very delicious treat!
In science, we began talking about The Earth and our environment. The primary and inters classes read the book "On Earth" by G. Brian Karas and identified and located all seven continents. The uppers created Earth puzzles and began discussing biomes and animal habitats.
This week our students continued tomake excellent progress with their overall handwriting skills. Several of our students are enjoying learning cursive. This week we also focused on building our upper body strength and maintaining postures.
In science, we began talking about The Earth and our environment. The primary and inters classes read the book "On Earth" by G. Brian Karas and identified and located all seven continents. The uppers created Earth puzzles and began discussing biomes and animal habitats.
This week our students continued tomake excellent progress with their overall handwriting skills. Several of our students are enjoying learning cursive. This week we also focused on building our upper body strength and maintaining postures.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Friday Follow Up-March 26, 2010
We had a fun-filled drama day with Mr. Aaron, in the Social Club this week. The kids talked about the story of The Three Little Pigs. They each were assigned a role and acted out different parts of the story. We ended the day by playing a fun group game in the fitness room.
Participants of the Buddy Program enjoyed doing Buddy Tracings with their friends from Green Acres. Inside of the tracing, each child wrote something that they liked about their buddy and the Buddy Program. We played a group game and enjoyed oatmeal cookies. What a treat!
We had a fiesta in Beyond Cooking on Thursday! The kids had a blast preparing Cheese and Spinach Quesadillas, Pita Chip Nachos, and fresh salsa. We incorporated math into our cooking lesson by cutting our quesadillas into halves and fourths. Everyone agreed that the recipes were easy to make a very delicious!
The 2nd Annual Diener School Science Fair was a huge success! The children had a great time learning about and executing all of their projects. Parents (new and old), friends, and other visitors were amazed by all of the hardwork put in by our kids! Everyone did an amazing job!
Today the Primary class and the two Inters classes sang at the Hebrew Home! Everyone did an awesome job. The Primary class sang songs like "Old McDonald," "Open Shut Them," and "Five Green and Speckled Frogs." The Inters classes sang songs like "I've Been Working on the Railroad," "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," and "If You're Happy and You Know It." The kids all did an awesome job and the people at the Hebrew Home were very happy to hear their beautiful voices! In Miss Kate's Uppers class this week, we had fun continuing our study of rhythm by playing lots of rhythm games like Musical Instrument Chairs, Lightning Sticks, and I Like to Move It. We can't wait to continue having more fun in music after spring break! :)
Primary and inters students were excited to celebrate Spring this week! They created beautiful craft projects requiring them to trace their hands, cut, and glue or tape. Check out their BRIGHT projects outside of Ms. Jenni's classroom!
In Fitness we worked on balancing and continuing strengthening the lower body as well as the upper. Today we had the hebrew home And sang and danced away. All the kids that went danced to the cupid shuffle.
This week our students participated in a fun spring craft project. We created colorful flowers out of handprints. It required us to trace our hands, cut them out, and glue them to a paper plate. We are working hard on improving our visual motor and fine motor skills.
This week during Speech & Language, Ms Kate’s Uppers practiced making predictions and offering solutions to a variety of scenarios. We read Pig Pig and the Magic Photo Album, took turns trying to figure out what would happen based on our previous knowledge, the cover, and the title, and enjoyed when the true story was revealed! We even drew pictures and told stories to one another about what pictures we wish were in our photo albums that could transport us. Ms. Barbara’s Uppers put their irregular past tense verb and other grammatical form knowledge into use by creating Club Penguin Mad Libs. Our favorite part was when we read our silly stories to the rest of the class! The Inters enjoyed playing an exciting game of Headbanz, which allowed us to practice using our categorization and attribute generating skills.
Have a wonderful Spring Break! Enjoy playing the social skills and language games that were provided to Jillian (Pass the Eyes, One Word Story, & Category Horse)!
In art, the Iners learned how to create many shapes from starting out with one small shape. The children drew their shape on the paper, then followed the shape to make a line around it. They continued to draw many lines around their shapes and some even created more shapes! The children later colored in their shapes with crayons.
HAVE A GREAT SPRING BREAK!!
Participants of the Buddy Program enjoyed doing Buddy Tracings with their friends from Green Acres. Inside of the tracing, each child wrote something that they liked about their buddy and the Buddy Program. We played a group game and enjoyed oatmeal cookies. What a treat!
We had a fiesta in Beyond Cooking on Thursday! The kids had a blast preparing Cheese and Spinach Quesadillas, Pita Chip Nachos, and fresh salsa. We incorporated math into our cooking lesson by cutting our quesadillas into halves and fourths. Everyone agreed that the recipes were easy to make a very delicious!
The 2nd Annual Diener School Science Fair was a huge success! The children had a great time learning about and executing all of their projects. Parents (new and old), friends, and other visitors were amazed by all of the hardwork put in by our kids! Everyone did an amazing job!
Today the Primary class and the two Inters classes sang at the Hebrew Home! Everyone did an awesome job. The Primary class sang songs like "Old McDonald," "Open Shut Them," and "Five Green and Speckled Frogs." The Inters classes sang songs like "I've Been Working on the Railroad," "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," and "If You're Happy and You Know It." The kids all did an awesome job and the people at the Hebrew Home were very happy to hear their beautiful voices! In Miss Kate's Uppers class this week, we had fun continuing our study of rhythm by playing lots of rhythm games like Musical Instrument Chairs, Lightning Sticks, and I Like to Move It. We can't wait to continue having more fun in music after spring break! :)
Primary and inters students were excited to celebrate Spring this week! They created beautiful craft projects requiring them to trace their hands, cut, and glue or tape. Check out their BRIGHT projects outside of Ms. Jenni's classroom!
In Fitness we worked on balancing and continuing strengthening the lower body as well as the upper. Today we had the hebrew home And sang and danced away. All the kids that went danced to the cupid shuffle.
This week our students participated in a fun spring craft project. We created colorful flowers out of handprints. It required us to trace our hands, cut them out, and glue them to a paper plate. We are working hard on improving our visual motor and fine motor skills.
This week during Speech & Language, Ms Kate’s Uppers practiced making predictions and offering solutions to a variety of scenarios. We read Pig Pig and the Magic Photo Album, took turns trying to figure out what would happen based on our previous knowledge, the cover, and the title, and enjoyed when the true story was revealed! We even drew pictures and told stories to one another about what pictures we wish were in our photo albums that could transport us. Ms. Barbara’s Uppers put their irregular past tense verb and other grammatical form knowledge into use by creating Club Penguin Mad Libs. Our favorite part was when we read our silly stories to the rest of the class! The Inters enjoyed playing an exciting game of Headbanz, which allowed us to practice using our categorization and attribute generating skills.
Have a wonderful Spring Break! Enjoy playing the social skills and language games that were provided to Jillian (Pass the Eyes, One Word Story, & Category Horse)!
In art, the Iners learned how to create many shapes from starting out with one small shape. The children drew their shape on the paper, then followed the shape to make a line around it. They continued to draw many lines around their shapes and some even created more shapes! The children later colored in their shapes with crayons.
HAVE A GREAT SPRING BREAK!!
Monday, March 22, 2010
Friday Follow Up-March 19, 2010
This week in Social Skills group, the Upper girls spent some time with Ms Jen working on our conversing skills. We created a list of conversation DOs and DON'Ts and practiced acting them out. Then we divided into groups and played a game called Mumble Jumble in which each team was given a list of 10 question/comment sentence strips and had to put them in sequential, logical order. The teams enjoyed acting as judges for one another's conversations. Ms. Shannon and Ms. Deanna's Inters enjoyed learning about semantic attributes using St. Patrick's Day riddles and a categorization game.
In music this week, a lot of us were getting ready for our trip to the Hebrew Home next week! In the Primary class, we practiced songs like "Open Shut Them," "Make New Friends," and "Old McDonald." In the Inters classes, we practiced songs like "I've Been Working on the Railroad," "Yankee Doodle," and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." We are excited to sing at the Hebrew Home next Friday! In Miss Kate's class, we had so much fun making our rhythm band out of our "instruments" that we brought from home! There was so much creativity, and we had instruments like chopsticks and a plate, a rice-filled plastic egg, a spoon in a cup, and an empty milk carton! We made some awesome music. In Miss Barbara's class, we watched clips of the group STOMP and talked about how we can make rhythm with household objects, like brooms, basketballs, and pots and pans. We will be making our rhythm band next week.
This week in Ms. Emily's class we continued our friendship theme. The students invited each other into a "friendship web" and said once nice thing about a friend in the class. We also made froot loop friendship bracelets where the students practiced making requests. Each student was "in charge"of a different color froot loop. The students did a wonderful job asking each other for various colors.
This week in Ms. Jenni's class we continued the class's plant theme by making the yummy dessert Dirt and Worms. The students learned sequenceing words while following directions. They also used a variety of verbs to describe the different actions that went into the activity. At the conclusion, we sat in a circle and used a special "talking stick", which the students used to ask each other what their favorite part of the activity was. Everyone did an awesome job listening attentively to their friends!
In fitness, we worked on and discussed the importance of 3 major leg muscles calf, quadriceps ,and hamstrings. All this week we did exercises involving the lower body, lunges squats steps and using the scooter. No dance this week because of the field trip.
This week during OT, Ms. Jenni's class wrote letters to thier pen pals. Students practiced writing statements and questions to their buddies, and were very excited to tell them about a recent visit to the theatre to see Flat Stanly! Primary students were ready to lean after building and maneuvering their very own obstacle courses. Forget the pencils! We used shaving creme during our handwriting lesson to learn and practice our letter of the week, "G."
In music this week, a lot of us were getting ready for our trip to the Hebrew Home next week! In the Primary class, we practiced songs like "Open Shut Them," "Make New Friends," and "Old McDonald." In the Inters classes, we practiced songs like "I've Been Working on the Railroad," "Yankee Doodle," and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." We are excited to sing at the Hebrew Home next Friday! In Miss Kate's class, we had so much fun making our rhythm band out of our "instruments" that we brought from home! There was so much creativity, and we had instruments like chopsticks and a plate, a rice-filled plastic egg, a spoon in a cup, and an empty milk carton! We made some awesome music. In Miss Barbara's class, we watched clips of the group STOMP and talked about how we can make rhythm with household objects, like brooms, basketballs, and pots and pans. We will be making our rhythm band next week.
This week in Ms. Emily's class we continued our friendship theme. The students invited each other into a "friendship web" and said once nice thing about a friend in the class. We also made froot loop friendship bracelets where the students practiced making requests. Each student was "in charge"of a different color froot loop. The students did a wonderful job asking each other for various colors.
This week in Ms. Jenni's class we continued the class's plant theme by making the yummy dessert Dirt and Worms. The students learned sequenceing words while following directions. They also used a variety of verbs to describe the different actions that went into the activity. At the conclusion, we sat in a circle and used a special "talking stick", which the students used to ask each other what their favorite part of the activity was. Everyone did an awesome job listening attentively to their friends!
In fitness, we worked on and discussed the importance of 3 major leg muscles calf, quadriceps ,and hamstrings. All this week we did exercises involving the lower body, lunges squats steps and using the scooter. No dance this week because of the field trip.
This week during OT, Ms. Jenni's class wrote letters to thier pen pals. Students practiced writing statements and questions to their buddies, and were very excited to tell them about a recent visit to the theatre to see Flat Stanly! Primary students were ready to lean after building and maneuvering their very own obstacle courses. Forget the pencils! We used shaving creme during our handwriting lesson to learn and practice our letter of the week, "G."
Friday, March 12, 2010
Friday Follow Up-March 12, 2010
This week in science we started working on our science fair projects. The primary class began an experiment about osmosis, while the inters classes conducted experiments about chemical reactions and wind velocity. Our uppers classes had a blast with their top secret projects. Everyone is very excited to continue their research and share all of their findings!
We took advantage of the beautiful spring like weather and went on a nature walk in the Social Club. The kids made observations about the changes in our environment due to the change in seasons. We played Freeze Tag and Hop, Skip, Jump as a group and gave the kids a little time to have free play.
On Wednesday, at the Buddy Program, we 'kicked' it outside and played a big group game of Kickball! The Diener and Green Acres students had so much fun! We played several 'getting to know you' games to help the kids remember the names of their buddies! A name card was also sent home to help our kids remember their Green Acres buddy's name. Everyone is excited about our St. Patty's Day celebration next week!
We got dirty in Beyond Cooking by making Mud Cups! We used our measuring, crushing, blending, scooping, mixing, and tasting skills to prepare and enjoy this unique treat! The kids had a great time making this yummy snack!
This week during our weekly handwriting group, Ms. Jenni's class did a wonderful job practicing their letter writing skills in preparation for writing to their pen pals. We reviewed the parts of a letter, and practiced by writing letters to our classmates.
Primary students had an exciting week in OT. We tested our core muscle strength by completing visual motor and fine motor activities in a variety of positions in the hammock swing. We also continued to work hard in our handwriting books, focusing on our letter of the week, "Q".
This week in Ms. Emily's speech group we learned about friendship and read Making Friends by Fred Rogers. Throughout this wonderful picture book, the students made personal connections that were related to friendship. Some of the personal connections were; naming friends from class and home, relating games that the students like to play with others, and problem solving what one can do if two friends want to play with the same toy. Following the book, the students implemented what was portrayed in the story by playing together as a class while building a tower of blocks. The students did a great job taking turns, maintaining eye contact while communicating, and interacting as a group.
This week in Ms. Jenni's speech group we learned about the social skill of providing encouragement to friends. The students did a great job of coming up with encouraging statements to specific situations (for example, what would you say to a friend who thinks he will never be able to ride a bike) . Finally, we did an activity where the students matched positive options when making decisions.
This week our students focused on paragraph writing. We discussed what makes a good paragraph. We also continued to work on building our upper body strength and endurance.
In art, the primary class had fun painting with popsicle sticks! We added flour to our paints to make them thicker. The students then were able to use their popsicle sticks to paint on their paper and create a design! The inters began learning about abstract design. For this particular project, we used white construction paper, a black marker, and a variety of colored markers and crayons. The uppers first used a pencil to draw a nature scene. Then they used markers and crayons to complete their artwork, creating different landscapes!
We took advantage of the beautiful spring like weather and went on a nature walk in the Social Club. The kids made observations about the changes in our environment due to the change in seasons. We played Freeze Tag and Hop, Skip, Jump as a group and gave the kids a little time to have free play.
On Wednesday, at the Buddy Program, we 'kicked' it outside and played a big group game of Kickball! The Diener and Green Acres students had so much fun! We played several 'getting to know you' games to help the kids remember the names of their buddies! A name card was also sent home to help our kids remember their Green Acres buddy's name. Everyone is excited about our St. Patty's Day celebration next week!
We got dirty in Beyond Cooking by making Mud Cups! We used our measuring, crushing, blending, scooping, mixing, and tasting skills to prepare and enjoy this unique treat! The kids had a great time making this yummy snack!
This week during our weekly handwriting group, Ms. Jenni's class did a wonderful job practicing their letter writing skills in preparation for writing to their pen pals. We reviewed the parts of a letter, and practiced by writing letters to our classmates.
Primary students had an exciting week in OT. We tested our core muscle strength by completing visual motor and fine motor activities in a variety of positions in the hammock swing. We also continued to work hard in our handwriting books, focusing on our letter of the week, "Q".
This week in Ms. Emily's speech group we learned about friendship and read Making Friends by Fred Rogers. Throughout this wonderful picture book, the students made personal connections that were related to friendship. Some of the personal connections were; naming friends from class and home, relating games that the students like to play with others, and problem solving what one can do if two friends want to play with the same toy. Following the book, the students implemented what was portrayed in the story by playing together as a class while building a tower of blocks. The students did a great job taking turns, maintaining eye contact while communicating, and interacting as a group.
This week in Ms. Jenni's speech group we learned about the social skill of providing encouragement to friends. The students did a great job of coming up with encouraging statements to specific situations (for example, what would you say to a friend who thinks he will never be able to ride a bike) . Finally, we did an activity where the students matched positive options when making decisions.
This week our students focused on paragraph writing. We discussed what makes a good paragraph. We also continued to work on building our upper body strength and endurance.
In art, the primary class had fun painting with popsicle sticks! We added flour to our paints to make them thicker. The students then were able to use their popsicle sticks to paint on their paper and create a design! The inters began learning about abstract design. For this particular project, we used white construction paper, a black marker, and a variety of colored markers and crayons. The uppers first used a pencil to draw a nature scene. Then they used markers and crayons to complete their artwork, creating different landscapes!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Friday Follow Up-February 26, 2010
In Hands On Science, we discussed the three properties of matter: solids, liquids, and gases. We had a blast conducting two experiments. We mixed different liquids together to make silly putty! The kids enjoyed decribing how the putty felt in their hands. Our second experiment was a yummy treat. We mixed ice cream (solid) and Coca-Cola (liquid) to form a gas (the bubbles)! After recording our data, we enjoyed our delicious experiment!
We had a wonderful time playing getting to know you games in the Buddy Program this week. The Diener Inters were so eager to meet their Green Acres buddies. They asked them a lot of awesome questions to try to get to know them better. We played a number recognition game with the parachute. Everyone had a great time!
Beyond Cooking was fantastically fruitful this week. We made two different snacks with fruit: a fruit parfait and a fruit shortcake. We make comparisons about both and devoured our creations while we listened to the book, Blueberries for Sal.
We had a great time exploring magnets in science this week. The primary and inters classes worked in small groups to test items in their experiment bags to see which items were attracted to magnets. The uppers learned about the strength of different magnets by conducting a Paper Clip Attraction test!
To: Laurie Schwadron
This week during OT, primary students had a chance to practice sequencing and turn taking skills while playing a fun board game, Sequence for Kids. We continued working in our handwriting books this week. Our letter of the week was "C", and we practiced spacing and alignment while writing upper and lower case "C".
During OT this week, Ms. Jenni's class continued to participate in movement activities focusing on Left/Right discrimination, body and spatial awareness, as well as crossing the midline. We were introduced to lower case "h" this week. We practiced correct letter formation and sizing.
This week we continued to focus on left/right discrimination and played "Twisty Moves," a fun and exciting game full of movement. This week was full of movement, improving our gross motor skills and bilateral coordination.
This week in Ms. Emily's speech group we continued the class theme of winter and learned all about polar bears. We then made yummy polar bear treats where we used our description, association and following direction skills. Use the sequencing cards that were sent home to have your child retell what he made.
This week Ms. Jenni's speech group fell on the 100th day of school. In honor of this special day we played a game where we worked together to answer 100 speech and language questions. We had ten questions for ten different categories. Some of the categories included plurals, what's wacky, why questions, and categorization. The students even had a chance to practice their skills by playing the game during centers this week!
We had a wonderful week in Speech & Language! The Uppers worked on word retrieval and increasing expressive vocabulary. We played Headbanz and worked to expand our ability to provide attributes for target vocabulary terms and/or phrases. In Social & Life Skills, we continued learning about nutrition and health. Your children may begin to ask you if they can help choose and pack their lunch items. We ask that you facilitate their independence and encourage them to make healthy choices so that they have sufficient energy throughout our exciting school day! Ms Shannon and Ms Deanna’s Inters learned about categorization and practiced using describing words during poem construction and game playing activities.
We had a lot of fun this week in music! In the Primary class, we continued to play our favorite music games. We also learned new games that we played using rhythm sticks, like “Lightning Sticks” and “I Like to Move It.” In the Inters classes, we had music as one big group this week on our 100th day of school! We learned a special 100th day of school song and had fun singing and playing musical games with all of our friends. In the Uppers classes, we continued to learn about famous African-American musicians. We learned about two very famous groups, The Temptations and the Supremes, this week. We listened and danced to songs by them-it was a lot of fun!
We had a wonderful time playing getting to know you games in the Buddy Program this week. The Diener Inters were so eager to meet their Green Acres buddies. They asked them a lot of awesome questions to try to get to know them better. We played a number recognition game with the parachute. Everyone had a great time!
Beyond Cooking was fantastically fruitful this week. We made two different snacks with fruit: a fruit parfait and a fruit shortcake. We make comparisons about both and devoured our creations while we listened to the book, Blueberries for Sal.
We had a great time exploring magnets in science this week. The primary and inters classes worked in small groups to test items in their experiment bags to see which items were attracted to magnets. The uppers learned about the strength of different magnets by conducting a Paper Clip Attraction test!
To: Laurie Schwadron
This week during OT, primary students had a chance to practice sequencing and turn taking skills while playing a fun board game, Sequence for Kids. We continued working in our handwriting books this week. Our letter of the week was "C", and we practiced spacing and alignment while writing upper and lower case "C".
During OT this week, Ms. Jenni's class continued to participate in movement activities focusing on Left/Right discrimination, body and spatial awareness, as well as crossing the midline. We were introduced to lower case "h" this week. We practiced correct letter formation and sizing.
This week we continued to focus on left/right discrimination and played "Twisty Moves," a fun and exciting game full of movement. This week was full of movement, improving our gross motor skills and bilateral coordination.
This week in Ms. Emily's speech group we continued the class theme of winter and learned all about polar bears. We then made yummy polar bear treats where we used our description, association and following direction skills. Use the sequencing cards that were sent home to have your child retell what he made.
This week Ms. Jenni's speech group fell on the 100th day of school. In honor of this special day we played a game where we worked together to answer 100 speech and language questions. We had ten questions for ten different categories. Some of the categories included plurals, what's wacky, why questions, and categorization. The students even had a chance to practice their skills by playing the game during centers this week!
We had a wonderful week in Speech & Language! The Uppers worked on word retrieval and increasing expressive vocabulary. We played Headbanz and worked to expand our ability to provide attributes for target vocabulary terms and/or phrases. In Social & Life Skills, we continued learning about nutrition and health. Your children may begin to ask you if they can help choose and pack their lunch items. We ask that you facilitate their independence and encourage them to make healthy choices so that they have sufficient energy throughout our exciting school day! Ms Shannon and Ms Deanna’s Inters learned about categorization and practiced using describing words during poem construction and game playing activities.
We had a lot of fun this week in music! In the Primary class, we continued to play our favorite music games. We also learned new games that we played using rhythm sticks, like “Lightning Sticks” and “I Like to Move It.” In the Inters classes, we had music as one big group this week on our 100th day of school! We learned a special 100th day of school song and had fun singing and playing musical games with all of our friends. In the Uppers classes, we continued to learn about famous African-American musicians. We learned about two very famous groups, The Temptations and the Supremes, this week. We listened and danced to songs by them-it was a lot of fun!
Friday, February 19, 2010
Friday Follow Up-February 19, 2010
Welcome back Diener friends!
This week in science, we began our new unit on magnets. The primary and inters classes brainstormed everything they know about magnets and did a very fun magnet fishing activity. The uppers classes worked in small groups at different 'Investigation Stations' where they conducted various experiments to test to see if certain objects were magnetic. We will continue to talk about magnets over the next few weeks.
The Buddy Program got off to an interesting start this week. Due to a communication error, we were buddy-less for our first formal buddy meeting. However, that did not stop the Diener kids from having a great time! We had a short but informative discussion on ways to be a great buddy and we compiled a list of awesome questions and conversation starters for our kids and their buddies. We ended the day by playing a few group games. The kids really enjoyed themselves!
To take our minds off of the cold and snowy weather, participants of Beyond Cooking whipped up some delicious camping treats. We started by making some tasty Trail Mix that had a mix of both salty and sweet ingredients. We read two very cute camping stories while the kids enjoyed their tasty treat! We ended the day by playing campfire games and, last but certainly not least, we made S'mores!
Tuesdays fitness we worked on sprinting and timing how fast we can run a certain distance. On Wednesday, we continued our basketball drills, which we will be doing for the rest of this month. Thursday, in yoga, the kids played a musical mat game. When they stopped on a mat they had to do the yoga pose that was on the mat. Friday dance, we continued the wiggles eagle rock with inters and choreographed dance with uppers.
Primary students participated in a variety of movement activities during OT, after a long break from school. We were ready to learn after we maneuvered obstacle courses including tunnels, trampolines, scooter boards, and wheelbarrow walks.
This week in Ms. Jenni's speech group we made fortune cookies out of felt in honor of Chinese New Year! We learned what a "fortune" is, reviewed sample fortunes and discussed their meaning. Everyone did a great job following directions during the craft activity. At the end, we traded cookies with our friends in class!
This week in Speech and Language, Ms. Barbara’s Uppers class was divided into two groups. The first group continued to work on using irregular past tense verbs. Their ability to maintain this new skill over the unexpected snow-vacation was very impressive! The second group worked on categorization and attributes using the game A to Z Junior. During Social & Life Skills, we began our unit on nutrition using the new and improved food pyramid.
Ms. Shannon’s Inters had fun creating I LOVE YOU Valentines for our loved ones. We practiced using Give Me 5 while following the directions. We look forward to sharing our creations with our families!
After a long break, we are up and moving! The Uppers participated in a fun activity focusing on body awareness and crossing midline. We continue to progress with our cursive midline. This week we introduced lowercaswe "i" and "t."
This week in science, we began our new unit on magnets. The primary and inters classes brainstormed everything they know about magnets and did a very fun magnet fishing activity. The uppers classes worked in small groups at different 'Investigation Stations' where they conducted various experiments to test to see if certain objects were magnetic. We will continue to talk about magnets over the next few weeks.
The Buddy Program got off to an interesting start this week. Due to a communication error, we were buddy-less for our first formal buddy meeting. However, that did not stop the Diener kids from having a great time! We had a short but informative discussion on ways to be a great buddy and we compiled a list of awesome questions and conversation starters for our kids and their buddies. We ended the day by playing a few group games. The kids really enjoyed themselves!
To take our minds off of the cold and snowy weather, participants of Beyond Cooking whipped up some delicious camping treats. We started by making some tasty Trail Mix that had a mix of both salty and sweet ingredients. We read two very cute camping stories while the kids enjoyed their tasty treat! We ended the day by playing campfire games and, last but certainly not least, we made S'mores!
Tuesdays fitness we worked on sprinting and timing how fast we can run a certain distance. On Wednesday, we continued our basketball drills, which we will be doing for the rest of this month. Thursday, in yoga, the kids played a musical mat game. When they stopped on a mat they had to do the yoga pose that was on the mat. Friday dance, we continued the wiggles eagle rock with inters and choreographed dance with uppers.
Primary students participated in a variety of movement activities during OT, after a long break from school. We were ready to learn after we maneuvered obstacle courses including tunnels, trampolines, scooter boards, and wheelbarrow walks.
This week in Ms. Jenni's speech group we made fortune cookies out of felt in honor of Chinese New Year! We learned what a "fortune" is, reviewed sample fortunes and discussed their meaning. Everyone did a great job following directions during the craft activity. At the end, we traded cookies with our friends in class!
This week in Speech and Language, Ms. Barbara’s Uppers class was divided into two groups. The first group continued to work on using irregular past tense verbs. Their ability to maintain this new skill over the unexpected snow-vacation was very impressive! The second group worked on categorization and attributes using the game A to Z Junior. During Social & Life Skills, we began our unit on nutrition using the new and improved food pyramid.
Ms. Shannon’s Inters had fun creating I LOVE YOU Valentines for our loved ones. We practiced using Give Me 5 while following the directions. We look forward to sharing our creations with our families!
After a long break, we are up and moving! The Uppers participated in a fun activity focusing on body awareness and crossing midline. We continue to progress with our cursive midline. This week we introduced lowercaswe "i" and "t."
Friday, January 29, 2010
Friday Follow Up-January 29, 2010
This week in science, we continued to explore the solar system and discuss the planets. The primary students blasted off and had a wonderful time making Paper Tube Rocket Ships. The inters and uppers made their own personalized models of the solar system and learned new facts about each planet. The uppers also discussed the Planet Poster Project, which is due next Friday, February 5, 2010.
We went on an adventurous walk in the Social Club and we worked on saying please and thank you to our friends. We also worked on creating multiple circles of communication by asking questions and thinking of appropriate responses.
We rocked and rolled in Beyond Cooking this week! The kids had the opportunity to make their own Rice Crispie Treat Sushi Rolls. We talked about how they were the same and different from regular sushi and even made a vin diagram to represent these similarities and differences. Our kids had so much fun decorating their own 'take out' boxes and rolling their sushi rolls. Ms. Jenni and Ms. Abbe added their own creative flare to our awesome treats! Everyone agreed, it was the best week yet!
In Hands On Science, we continued to experiment with sinking and floating. We used eggs to test our hypothesis, which was "Will our eggs float or sink in fresh or salt water?" Even though our experiment didn't quite work how we thought it would, the kids still enjoyed themselves. We created boats out of foil and tested to see if they would sink or float. They ALL floated! We added egga and recorded how many eggs we could fit in our boats before they sank... What an 'egg-cellent' experiment!
This week in Ms. Jenni's class we continued our lesson on facial expressions and emotions. We acted out different scenarios using props and the students had to guess which emotion was appropriate for the situation. Everyone did a great job acting and following directions!
Miss Emily's class had a great week in OT. The letter of the week was "Y" and we made our very own its, bitsy, book of "Y" words. We practiced our cutting, coloring, and folding skills.
This week in Social & Life Skills, the Upper boys learned about the components of play and how they relate to big/little problems. We discussed how worrying about "little problems" such as what color piece you get or who goes first often takes away from our valuable game-playing time. We reviewed what makes a problem a "big problem" and how to try not to "sweat the small stuff."
The Inters read a book called Today I Feel Silly and brainstormed as many feeling words as we could come up with. We worked on nonverbal communication by showing our feelings with our faces and bodies. We also played a speedy memory game using Feelings Faces cards. We had lots of fun!
This week in music, we read an interactive book called "Carnival of the Animals." This was accompanied by the CD of the orchestral recording of "Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint-Saens, a famous French composer. We got to learn a little bit about Saint-Saens to continue our study of composers, and we got to review the instruments that are in an orchestra. With the book and the CD, we listened to each piece and discovered how each one sounded like a different animal-lions, elephants, kangaroos, and even some silly ones like fossils and pianists! We discussed the different instruments we heard and differences between loud and soft, fast and slow. We also continued to sing our favorite songs and play our favorite movement games.
This week we continued to work from our Handwriting Without Tears Workbook. Each student is making wonderful progress. The students then enjoyed a visual-motor activity that addressed spatial awareness and correlated with our math lesson regarding fractions/shapes.
We went on an adventurous walk in the Social Club and we worked on saying please and thank you to our friends. We also worked on creating multiple circles of communication by asking questions and thinking of appropriate responses.
We rocked and rolled in Beyond Cooking this week! The kids had the opportunity to make their own Rice Crispie Treat Sushi Rolls. We talked about how they were the same and different from regular sushi and even made a vin diagram to represent these similarities and differences. Our kids had so much fun decorating their own 'take out' boxes and rolling their sushi rolls. Ms. Jenni and Ms. Abbe added their own creative flare to our awesome treats! Everyone agreed, it was the best week yet!
In Hands On Science, we continued to experiment with sinking and floating. We used eggs to test our hypothesis, which was "Will our eggs float or sink in fresh or salt water?" Even though our experiment didn't quite work how we thought it would, the kids still enjoyed themselves. We created boats out of foil and tested to see if they would sink or float. They ALL floated! We added egga and recorded how many eggs we could fit in our boats before they sank... What an 'egg-cellent' experiment!
This week in Ms. Jenni's class we continued our lesson on facial expressions and emotions. We acted out different scenarios using props and the students had to guess which emotion was appropriate for the situation. Everyone did a great job acting and following directions!
Miss Emily's class had a great week in OT. The letter of the week was "Y" and we made our very own its, bitsy, book of "Y" words. We practiced our cutting, coloring, and folding skills.
This week in Social & Life Skills, the Upper boys learned about the components of play and how they relate to big/little problems. We discussed how worrying about "little problems" such as what color piece you get or who goes first often takes away from our valuable game-playing time. We reviewed what makes a problem a "big problem" and how to try not to "sweat the small stuff."
The Inters read a book called Today I Feel Silly and brainstormed as many feeling words as we could come up with. We worked on nonverbal communication by showing our feelings with our faces and bodies. We also played a speedy memory game using Feelings Faces cards. We had lots of fun!
This week in music, we read an interactive book called "Carnival of the Animals." This was accompanied by the CD of the orchestral recording of "Carnival of the Animals" by Camille Saint-Saens, a famous French composer. We got to learn a little bit about Saint-Saens to continue our study of composers, and we got to review the instruments that are in an orchestra. With the book and the CD, we listened to each piece and discovered how each one sounded like a different animal-lions, elephants, kangaroos, and even some silly ones like fossils and pianists! We discussed the different instruments we heard and differences between loud and soft, fast and slow. We also continued to sing our favorite songs and play our favorite movement games.
This week we continued to work from our Handwriting Without Tears Workbook. Each student is making wonderful progress. The students then enjoyed a visual-motor activity that addressed spatial awareness and correlated with our math lesson regarding fractions/shapes.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Friday Follow Up-January 22, 2010
This week in science, we continued to talk about the solar system. The primary and inters classes, enjoyed learning about the Outer Planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto- the dwarf planet) by watching The Magic School Bus Gets Lost in Space. we created a hands on, visual representation of the solar system, by having the kids pretend to be planets and orbit around then Sun! This helped to solidify understanding the new material. The Uppers worked on their Planet Projects and reviewed planet facts in their Solar System journals.
We had a great time learning about the concept of Sink and Float in Hands on Science this week. We watched a short video on buoyancy and we conducted an experiment to see if our selected items would sink or float. We made predictions prior to the experiment and we were all surprised by some of the results!
We made some delicious creations this week during Beyond Cooking. The kids had fun creating their very own Pizza Bagels! They got to pick their own yummy vegetable toppings to make their pizza unique. While our Pizza Bagels were baking, we blended up a delicious fruit smoothie!
We continued our basketball unit in fitness! We practiced dribbling, keeping our eyes on the ball, and learning the rules of the game.
We learned a new dance called the eagle rock. You can you tube it by the Wiggles. All the kids learned the dance, except the K class.
This week in speech and language, the Uppers continued to learn about irregular past tense verbs and figurative language. Ask your child to share his or her favorite idiom with you and see what they say! Please see Jillian's Friday letter for some samples of our I AM poems that the girls created this week in Social & Life Skills group. Although it is important for us to think about what we need to work on, we also need to take time to remember our strengths. On Friday, Ms. Courtney and Ms. Deanna's Inters worked on using Give me 5 to play Look Who's Listening! We also worked on eye contact while playing Pass the Eyes.
This week in Inters music, we combine Miss Jenni's and Miss Courtney's classes together for one big music class! We played lots of fun games like Count and Move, Freeze Dance, and rhythm stick games. In Miss Barbara and Miss Abbe's class, we continued our study of composers by learning about Tchaikovsky. We watched and listened to The Nutcracker Suite. We were assigned a project to do a little bit of research about a composer to share in next week's music class!
Our letter of the week in Miss Emily's class was X. We designed our very own letters using a variety of tactile media including cotton balls, felt, glitter, macaroni, beans, and stickers. We also participated in a large movement group focusing on right/left discrimination and coordinating both sides of our bodies.
This week in Ms. Jenni's class we participated in a variety of small group movement activities that focused on right/left discrimination and spatial awareness. We continued to work hard during our weekly handwriting group reviewing "tall" and "descending" letters and practicing the correct formation of our newly introduced lower case letters "p" and "r".
This week during speech group in Ms. Jenni's class we learned all about emotions. We studied different pictures of faces and analyzed how a person's facial expression depicts a certain feeling. We also practiced making the faces we studied (happy, sad, surprised, etc..). Each student then constructed their very own face depicting a "surprise" emotion. After they put their emotion face together they were able to guess what emotion it was and present it to the class. For example, the students told about the shape of the mouth and the angle of the eyebrows.
In Art, the Primary class had a lot of fun painting with Q-tips! The materials used in this project consisted of white construction paper, black paint and Q-tips. The children dipped the Q-tips into the paint and created wonderful and very interesting designs (dots and lines) on their paper. They learned about the difference between light and dark (contrast). They have also discovered with previous art projects, that instead of using paint brushes, there are many different kinds of art "tools" to paint with , creating a variety of designs! The Uppers (Ms. Kate's class) will be concentrating on different art techniques that an artist may use. This week, the children learned how to draw "beyond the border" of their paper. This is a type of art technique. The first step was for the children to draw a large shape in the middle of their paper. Crayons and markers were then used to draw a picture, not only inside the shape, but also extending their drawings "beyond the border!" In Ms. Barbara's class, the children learned how to draw by using a grid. The children were first given graph paper which they used as a grid to create their drawing. The children then used a pencil to sketch their drawing on the grid. After this was completed, they used a black marker to outline their drawing. The use of the grid allowed the children to draw lines, and patterns in an organized manner. It became a very different and interesting way to draw!
We had a great time learning about the concept of Sink and Float in Hands on Science this week. We watched a short video on buoyancy and we conducted an experiment to see if our selected items would sink or float. We made predictions prior to the experiment and we were all surprised by some of the results!
We made some delicious creations this week during Beyond Cooking. The kids had fun creating their very own Pizza Bagels! They got to pick their own yummy vegetable toppings to make their pizza unique. While our Pizza Bagels were baking, we blended up a delicious fruit smoothie!
We continued our basketball unit in fitness! We practiced dribbling, keeping our eyes on the ball, and learning the rules of the game.
We learned a new dance called the eagle rock. You can you tube it by the Wiggles. All the kids learned the dance, except the K class.
This week in speech and language, the Uppers continued to learn about irregular past tense verbs and figurative language. Ask your child to share his or her favorite idiom with you and see what they say! Please see Jillian's Friday letter for some samples of our I AM poems that the girls created this week in Social & Life Skills group. Although it is important for us to think about what we need to work on, we also need to take time to remember our strengths. On Friday, Ms. Courtney and Ms. Deanna's Inters worked on using Give me 5 to play Look Who's Listening! We also worked on eye contact while playing Pass the Eyes.
This week in Inters music, we combine Miss Jenni's and Miss Courtney's classes together for one big music class! We played lots of fun games like Count and Move, Freeze Dance, and rhythm stick games. In Miss Barbara and Miss Abbe's class, we continued our study of composers by learning about Tchaikovsky. We watched and listened to The Nutcracker Suite. We were assigned a project to do a little bit of research about a composer to share in next week's music class!
Our letter of the week in Miss Emily's class was X. We designed our very own letters using a variety of tactile media including cotton balls, felt, glitter, macaroni, beans, and stickers. We also participated in a large movement group focusing on right/left discrimination and coordinating both sides of our bodies.
This week in Ms. Jenni's class we participated in a variety of small group movement activities that focused on right/left discrimination and spatial awareness. We continued to work hard during our weekly handwriting group reviewing "tall" and "descending" letters and practicing the correct formation of our newly introduced lower case letters "p" and "r".
This week during speech group in Ms. Jenni's class we learned all about emotions. We studied different pictures of faces and analyzed how a person's facial expression depicts a certain feeling. We also practiced making the faces we studied (happy, sad, surprised, etc..). Each student then constructed their very own face depicting a "surprise" emotion. After they put their emotion face together they were able to guess what emotion it was and present it to the class. For example, the students told about the shape of the mouth and the angle of the eyebrows.
In Art, the Primary class had a lot of fun painting with Q-tips! The materials used in this project consisted of white construction paper, black paint and Q-tips. The children dipped the Q-tips into the paint and created wonderful and very interesting designs (dots and lines) on their paper. They learned about the difference between light and dark (contrast). They have also discovered with previous art projects, that instead of using paint brushes, there are many different kinds of art "tools" to paint with , creating a variety of designs! The Uppers (Ms. Kate's class) will be concentrating on different art techniques that an artist may use. This week, the children learned how to draw "beyond the border" of their paper. This is a type of art technique. The first step was for the children to draw a large shape in the middle of their paper. Crayons and markers were then used to draw a picture, not only inside the shape, but also extending their drawings "beyond the border!" In Ms. Barbara's class, the children learned how to draw by using a grid. The children were first given graph paper which they used as a grid to create their drawing. The children then used a pencil to sketch their drawing on the grid. After this was completed, they used a black marker to outline their drawing. The use of the grid allowed the children to draw lines, and patterns in an organized manner. It became a very different and interesting way to draw!
Friday, January 15, 2010
Friday Follow Up-January 15, 2010
Hi Diener friends!!
This week in science, we continued to explore the solar system. We talked about the inner planets and outter planets and their divider, the astroid belt. The primary and intermediate classes learned about the center of our universe, the sun. We identified objects that grown from the suns energy and talked about how the sun heats the earth and other planets. The uppers did a "Planet Scramble" activity and talked about their Solar System Research Project. The Diener students are really "outta this world"!
The after school programs were a big success this week. In the Social Club, the kids had a great time working together to put puzzles together. We tried to do this without taking so the kids could try to use other forms of communication (writing, body language, ect...). They also made creative illustrations and popsicle stick frames for them. We had a great time in Hands On Science, with our snow experiment. The kids made predictions prior to the experiment and checked to see if they were right. We reviewed Scientific Method and all seven steps. Lastly, we used our 'YUCK' Science Kit to make 'Snot Goo'. The kids had the opportunity to touch it and use adjectives to describe what it felt like. Participants of Beyond Cooking learned about measuring ingredients while making homemade Baked Apples and Soy Milk Ice Cream. We put together recipe cards and enjoyed our delicious treat. We made a chart to show who liked what better ( the baked apples or the ice cream). All in all, we had a deliciously fun time!
We worked on passing and dribbling skills in fitness on Monday and Tuesday.
Wednesday, we worked on balance and building upper body and core strength. By running in a straight line,walking backwards, and hopping, we learned a new position called the plank, working our way up to doing 1 correct push up.
In dance class on Friday, the Primary class learned the Macarena. The Uppers worked on listening to the beat and clapping to it stepping to it and hearing the beat.
This week in music, in the Inters and Uppers classes, we continued to learn about composers. This week we learned about George Gershwin. We watched and listened to "Rhapsody in Blue," Gershwin's most famous piece. We continued to sing our favorite songs and play musical games. In the Primary class, we kept singing our favorite songs like "Open Shut Them," and played our favorite games like "Bop Til You Drop" and "Beanie Bag Dance."
This week Ms. Barbara and Ms, Kate's Uppers continued to work on their grammar by learning about regular and irregular past tense verbs. Some silly verbs do not follow the -ed rule and we are working to remember what they change to when these action words already happened! Ms. Kate's Uppers had a blast playing A to Z Junior to continue our work on categorization. The boys played against the girls and although it was close, the girls won!
Ms. Courtney's Inters read The Jacket I Wear in the Snow and then created their own individual books to re-tell the story of the boy who wanted to go outside and play during the snow day. We look forward to continuing this project with Ms Jen next week!
In social skills, the boys learned about self-awareness, New Years resolutions, and self-confidence. Instead of making resolutions about what we need to improve, we are resolving to feel good about ourselves, value ourselves, and think about ourselves in a positive manner!
Primary-This week we focused on letter "W". During our weekly OT group we created "W" using our bodies. We also had fun in the sensory room making obstacle courses that helped to improve our core strength and challenged our balance skills.
Inters (Ms. Jenni)- We worked so hard this week during our OT groups! We participated in challenging social groups focusing on motor planning, visual exercises, and social skills. We continued to expand our writing skills this week during our handwriting group.
To go along with Ms. Emily's weekly theme of Eric Carle, this week in speech group we played The Grouchy Ladybug- a Game of Size and Manners. Each student had a chance to spin, move the specified number of spaces, and collect the number of bugs they landed on. But wait! The students had to use the word please in order to collect their bugs. If they forgot to say please, the first person to remind their friend how to request politely got a bonus bug! The one with the most bugs wins! The students did a wonderful job requesting politely and reminding each other to say please if someone forgot.
To go along with Ms. Jenni's weekly theme of Marc Brown, this week in speech group we read the book Arthur's Tooth. Arthur is the only one in his class who still hasn't lost a tooth. Not only is he desperately waiting for his first baby tooth to fall out, his classmates are making fun of him and excluding him from playing in their games! After we finished reading the book we broke up into groups and read a situation from the book where Arthur's friends were being mean. After talking about how it made Arthur feel to be excluded, each group had a chance to change the "mean" comments into positive ones. The groups came up with many wonderful things to say to include a classmate who is being left out. What a great social skill to have!
This week in Occupational Therapy, the students continued participating in group activities that emphasize right/left discrimination, directionality and spatial awareness. In addition, our cursive curriculum was introduced to the students in Ms. Barbaras's class. Keep up the good work everybody!
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
This week in science, we continued to explore the solar system. We talked about the inner planets and outter planets and their divider, the astroid belt. The primary and intermediate classes learned about the center of our universe, the sun. We identified objects that grown from the suns energy and talked about how the sun heats the earth and other planets. The uppers did a "Planet Scramble" activity and talked about their Solar System Research Project. The Diener students are really "outta this world"!
The after school programs were a big success this week. In the Social Club, the kids had a great time working together to put puzzles together. We tried to do this without taking so the kids could try to use other forms of communication (writing, body language, ect...). They also made creative illustrations and popsicle stick frames for them. We had a great time in Hands On Science, with our snow experiment. The kids made predictions prior to the experiment and checked to see if they were right. We reviewed Scientific Method and all seven steps. Lastly, we used our 'YUCK' Science Kit to make 'Snot Goo'. The kids had the opportunity to touch it and use adjectives to describe what it felt like. Participants of Beyond Cooking learned about measuring ingredients while making homemade Baked Apples and Soy Milk Ice Cream. We put together recipe cards and enjoyed our delicious treat. We made a chart to show who liked what better ( the baked apples or the ice cream). All in all, we had a deliciously fun time!
We worked on passing and dribbling skills in fitness on Monday and Tuesday.
Wednesday, we worked on balance and building upper body and core strength. By running in a straight line,walking backwards, and hopping, we learned a new position called the plank, working our way up to doing 1 correct push up.
In dance class on Friday, the Primary class learned the Macarena. The Uppers worked on listening to the beat and clapping to it stepping to it and hearing the beat.
This week in music, in the Inters and Uppers classes, we continued to learn about composers. This week we learned about George Gershwin. We watched and listened to "Rhapsody in Blue," Gershwin's most famous piece. We continued to sing our favorite songs and play musical games. In the Primary class, we kept singing our favorite songs like "Open Shut Them," and played our favorite games like "Bop Til You Drop" and "Beanie Bag Dance."
This week Ms. Barbara and Ms, Kate's Uppers continued to work on their grammar by learning about regular and irregular past tense verbs. Some silly verbs do not follow the -ed rule and we are working to remember what they change to when these action words already happened! Ms. Kate's Uppers had a blast playing A to Z Junior to continue our work on categorization. The boys played against the girls and although it was close, the girls won!
Ms. Courtney's Inters read The Jacket I Wear in the Snow and then created their own individual books to re-tell the story of the boy who wanted to go outside and play during the snow day. We look forward to continuing this project with Ms Jen next week!
In social skills, the boys learned about self-awareness, New Years resolutions, and self-confidence. Instead of making resolutions about what we need to improve, we are resolving to feel good about ourselves, value ourselves, and think about ourselves in a positive manner!
Primary-This week we focused on letter "W". During our weekly OT group we created "W" using our bodies. We also had fun in the sensory room making obstacle courses that helped to improve our core strength and challenged our balance skills.
Inters (Ms. Jenni)- We worked so hard this week during our OT groups! We participated in challenging social groups focusing on motor planning, visual exercises, and social skills. We continued to expand our writing skills this week during our handwriting group.
To go along with Ms. Emily's weekly theme of Eric Carle, this week in speech group we played The Grouchy Ladybug- a Game of Size and Manners. Each student had a chance to spin, move the specified number of spaces, and collect the number of bugs they landed on. But wait! The students had to use the word please in order to collect their bugs. If they forgot to say please, the first person to remind their friend how to request politely got a bonus bug! The one with the most bugs wins! The students did a wonderful job requesting politely and reminding each other to say please if someone forgot.
To go along with Ms. Jenni's weekly theme of Marc Brown, this week in speech group we read the book Arthur's Tooth. Arthur is the only one in his class who still hasn't lost a tooth. Not only is he desperately waiting for his first baby tooth to fall out, his classmates are making fun of him and excluding him from playing in their games! After we finished reading the book we broke up into groups and read a situation from the book where Arthur's friends were being mean. After talking about how it made Arthur feel to be excluded, each group had a chance to change the "mean" comments into positive ones. The groups came up with many wonderful things to say to include a classmate who is being left out. What a great social skill to have!
This week in Occupational Therapy, the students continued participating in group activities that emphasize right/left discrimination, directionality and spatial awareness. In addition, our cursive curriculum was introduced to the students in Ms. Barbaras's class. Keep up the good work everybody!
HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Friday Follow Up-January 8, 2010
Welcome back Diener friends!
The Primary and Inters practiced taking deep breaths and experimenting with breathing and movement using the pin wheels. We did our yoga moves to the story "The Rabbit in the Forest" that told the story of sharing our gifts with others. Then we did some partner moves to "wash windows", row your boat and we made a twisty stair line.
The Uppers worked with breathing and the Sun Salutation. We did a Down Dog Relay and had a surprise yoga pose under our mats that we had to guess.
At the end we all finished with our final relaxation to the song "Peace Be With You"
This week in music, in the Inters and Uppers classes, we started learning about composers. The first composer we learned about this week was Beethoven. We learned a little bit about his life and listened to and watched clips of his music, including parts of his 5th and 6th Symphonies. This month, we will learn about a different composer each week! In the Primary class, we continued to have fun with our favorite songs and movement games.
Primary-We had a wonderful week with Ms. Brook participating in our weekly movement and handwriting groups. We did a variety of exercises with our bodies focusing on body awareness, coordinating both sides of our bodies, as well as coordinating our upper and lower bodies. The letter of the week was "V".
Inters (Ms. Jenni)- This week during our motor group with Ms. Brook we focused on a variety of skills in a variety of different postures. We practiced prone (tummy) postures, supine (back) postures. In addition we worked on rhythm and timing skills while completing brain gym and clapping patterns.
This week in Ms. Emily's speech group we read the book Kipper's Snowy Day . Just like the characters in the story made snowdogs out of snow, we had lots of fun making our very own snowdogs using cotton balls! We even dressed them up so they would keep warm in the cold weather. The students did a wonderful job attending to the project, following directions, and using their language skills to complete the activity. We learned opposites and attributes that related to the book. Everyone had a chance to share their favorite snow activity with the group!
This week in Science, we focused on the Solar System! The primary and intermediate classes had fun watch the Magic School Bus Gets Lost in Space and making their very own Outta This World pictures! The uppers took a look at the Sun and visited the planet closest to the giant star, Mercury. Next week, we will continue to focus on the four inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars)
The after school clubs kicked off this week with a bang! We had an awesome time on the social club making snow measures. In Hands on Science, we conducted a color mixing activity and did a fun water experiment with Mr Aaron! Last but not least, we chef'd up some salads this week (Salad People and Fruit Salad) and made comparisions about which ones we like better.
The Primary and Inters practiced taking deep breaths and experimenting with breathing and movement using the pin wheels. We did our yoga moves to the story "The Rabbit in the Forest" that told the story of sharing our gifts with others. Then we did some partner moves to "wash windows", row your boat and we made a twisty stair line.
The Uppers worked with breathing and the Sun Salutation. We did a Down Dog Relay and had a surprise yoga pose under our mats that we had to guess.
At the end we all finished with our final relaxation to the song "Peace Be With You"
This week in music, in the Inters and Uppers classes, we started learning about composers. The first composer we learned about this week was Beethoven. We learned a little bit about his life and listened to and watched clips of his music, including parts of his 5th and 6th Symphonies. This month, we will learn about a different composer each week! In the Primary class, we continued to have fun with our favorite songs and movement games.
Primary-We had a wonderful week with Ms. Brook participating in our weekly movement and handwriting groups. We did a variety of exercises with our bodies focusing on body awareness, coordinating both sides of our bodies, as well as coordinating our upper and lower bodies. The letter of the week was "V".
Inters (Ms. Jenni)- This week during our motor group with Ms. Brook we focused on a variety of skills in a variety of different postures. We practiced prone (tummy) postures, supine (back) postures. In addition we worked on rhythm and timing skills while completing brain gym and clapping patterns.
This week in Ms. Emily's speech group we read the book Kipper's Snowy Day . Just like the characters in the story made snowdogs out of snow, we had lots of fun making our very own snowdogs using cotton balls! We even dressed them up so they would keep warm in the cold weather. The students did a wonderful job attending to the project, following directions, and using their language skills to complete the activity. We learned opposites and attributes that related to the book. Everyone had a chance to share their favorite snow activity with the group!
This week in Science, we focused on the Solar System! The primary and intermediate classes had fun watch the Magic School Bus Gets Lost in Space and making their very own Outta This World pictures! The uppers took a look at the Sun and visited the planet closest to the giant star, Mercury. Next week, we will continue to focus on the four inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars)
The after school clubs kicked off this week with a bang! We had an awesome time on the social club making snow measures. In Hands on Science, we conducted a color mixing activity and did a fun water experiment with Mr Aaron! Last but not least, we chef'd up some salads this week (Salad People and Fruit Salad) and made comparisions about which ones we like better.
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