Tuesday, 27 September 2016

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Hi Students, Parents, and Carers!


Five of our friends began the day with some fun Musical Chairs while we waited for our two remaining students. Morning exercises help our bodies regulate, and we get to demonstrate great body and muscle awareness, proprioceptive, vestibular and bilateral movements, fine and gross motor skills, motor planning, auditory processing, social problem solving, oral language skills, and math skills.

It was such a nice sunny day this morning. As a class, we decided to clean up the school yard as there was so much garbage everywhere! We learned about the environment, pollution, life skills, social skills, team work, and oral communication skills while helping keep our bodies fit and the school yard clean.

After all of our hard work we had some quiet reading time. Some of us read individually, others asked for a friend to join, and still others had a teacher help them out. It was a lovely session to see everyone reading together!

Mr. Sander was our teacher and went over the month, date, day, year, weather, time, and feelings.

Ms. Elizabeth saying farewell to her Oakwood friends as she excitedly hurries off to SJA!

Mr. Zachary writing a Math pre-assessment with a SJA class.

Ms. Josephine and Ms. Monika led a fun gym session of "Coloured Octopus". This game utilizes auditory processing skills, hand-eye coordination, teamwork, sportsmanship, motor planning, fine and gross motor skills, proprioception skills, vestibular and bilateral movements, balance and coordination, and math skills.

During our "Mindfulness" today we used a fun exercise involving spaghetti exercises to work on calming down our bodies, deep breathing, stretching, drama, and regulation. Afterwards, we went on a magical journey through a forest, river, climbed snowy mountains, listened to birds and the sound of leaves, while listening to a relaxing narrative and being exposed to sensory stimuli.

Mr Carter having some fun after our Mindfulness session haha.

Ms. Elizabeth posing with her SJA drama group!

The afternoon began with some Fine Motor Math work from the JUMP Math program. Students worked on their number recognition, formation, number patterns, writing skills, and two-digit addition problems.

In the sensory gym we worked on our hand-eye coordination, teamwork, sportsmanship, motor planning, fine and gross motor skills, proprioception skills, vestibular and bilateral movements, math, time, phonics and rhyming skills, and balance and coordination. Today we split up the groups into two. While one went to the sensory gym, the other worked on their JUMP Math worksheets involving two-digit addition problems and number patterns. Some students also played a fun math board game that Sander brought in, and others participated in a fun TGTS abstract drawing game that utilizes creative and abstract thinking, mathematical thinking, visual spatial skills, and fine motor skills. Great job by all! : )

At the very end of the day we watched a short visual story on You Tube outlining the history of the Olympics. We discussed what they are, where athlete's come from, why they are held, when they are held, what athlete's compete for, and Zeus and the Ancient Greeks who started it all off! Afterwards, students started working on their own Olympic Athlete profiles. Everyone demonstrated oral communication skills, turn taking, social skills, comprehension and processing skills, writing skills, and Social Sciences (History and Geography).

Have a great evening and see everyone tomorrow for CASUAL DAY!

HOMEWORK TIPS:

1) Have students think abstractly and make pictures out of nothing. Use and find materials in the house, recyclables, food, or things you find around the yard or park. Students can then make a list of their items they found, discuss what they have and where they come from, organize their items in a particular way (largest to smallest, nature items & household items/ edible & non-edible items, etc.), and then create an abstract image. Or, ask them to create a picture with a triangle, two rectangles, and a five-sided shape. 

2) Work on questioning, inferencing, grouping, and categorization games. Play "Head Bands" at home (draw a picture of a dog and write "dog", do not let your child see what it is and stick it on their foreheads, or put it behind a head band around their head. Your child will have to ask meaningful and relevant questions to figure out what the object is on their forehead), or "What's in the bag?" (place a random object in a brown paper bag, shoe box, garbage bag, etc. and your child has to ask questions and inferencing to figure out what the object is). Some great questioning techniques would be asking if it is a living or non-living object, human or animal, does it fly, can you throw it, is it a sphere, etc.

3) Go over any 2 and 3 digit addition problems (for example, 34 + 12 = 46). Try and get them to use counters, number lines, mental math, and regrouping strategies.

4) Have your child create a character. get your child to draw the character in a setting. Discuss what a setting is, the environment, what the character is doing, etc. and create a short visual story. This can be one page, a couple pages, several pages, or the story can be continued everyday and different parts added weekly. Have fun with it and go over Characters, Setting, Plot, Events, Problems, and Resolutions that may occur in the story. If you have an iPad you can download free movie and book makers and then recreate the story in a drama/ role play setting as a family, with siblings, friends, or individually with someone filming.

Mr. Jacob : )


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