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!