We began the day by saying hello and introducing ourselves to our new TTAs Mr. Dean and Ms. Rebecca. Everyone was very excited and all smiles while getting to know our new friends. : )
After our morning circle time Mr. Carter was our teacher today. He went over the month, date, day, year, weather, time, and feelings. Carter did a fantastic job for his first time playing teacher at Oakwood.
Afterwards we had two different ideas for our morning exercise. Most of us wanted to play the fun Name Game where we go in a circle and say one another's name, as well as come up with funny moves to mimic. The other students wanted to complete some math work! Yes, you are reading this right. MATH WORK!
Sander, Lizzie, and Zachary worked on 3D shapes, sides, and vertices.
Continuing on with our Get to Know Me week, everyone filled out our "Whose in My Circle" sheets. Students had to write some of their favourite things and then ask their friends if they 'Love', 'Like', or 'Don't Like' what their favourites are. We got to use our math skills, compare and contrast skills, oral communication skills, social skills, questioning skills, and turn taking.
After 30 minutes of quiet seat work and no arguing, everyone got some free time to socialize and play with each other. Always an important opportunity for social skills, life skills, math and language skills, fine motor skills, abstract and creative thinking, and turn taking and team work.
After snack and recess we had some great 1:1 reading sessions with myself and the TTAs. It was a peaceful learning opportunity to see where everyone's reading levels are at after the summer break. I was very impressed with everyone's abilities and enthusiasm to read! : )
In gym class today we played Scooter board Capture the Flag with our friends in Ms. Andrea's and Ms. Jessica's class. Everyone demonstrated great auditory processing skills, hand-eye coordination, teamwork, sportsmanship, motor planning, fine and gross motor skills, proprioception skills, vestibular and bilateral movements, and balance and coordination.
During our "Mindfulness" today we used a fun exercise involving frogs to work on calming exercises, 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. We used Ocean Mist spray, paper bags full of leaves, smooth and cool stones, soft feathers, and a spray bottle.
To start our afternoon we participated in another TGTS (Thinking Goes to School) activity called "Mimic a Design". One student had to create a design/ object/ picture on a Geo Board with rubber bands. The other student(s) then had to study the creation and mimic it by re-creating the design/ object/ picture. This exercise activates visual scanning, visual memory, and ocular motor skills, fine motor skills, math skills (number sense and numeracy, geometry, fractions, symmetry), two way and oral communication skills, problem solving, creative thinking and abstract thinking.
While four students went to the sensory gym, the other three worked on some of their fun language arts work from the other day. They had to think, verbalize, spell, and write out things about themselves.
The four students who were in the sensory gym came back to work on some body awareness and bilateral movement work from TGTS. We played "Operation" and "Body Lifts", which both utilize our body sense, mapping, and awareness, memory recall, sequence, and the simultaneous cooperation between the left and right side of the body and mind.
At the end of the day I gave the students the choice to either participate in (a) Head Bands, or (b) Team Structure Building. The vote was close but in the end the majority chose Head Bands. This was a fun game where everyone had to use inferencing, questioning, abstract thinking, problem solving, turn taking, oral communication, categorization, classification, time and social skills. It was a lot of fun and poor Mr. Dean was the first to go, and the first to not get the answer before the timer was up.
What a great first day with the full team! Have a lovely evening everyone and see you all tomorrow!
Mr. Jacob : )
No comments:
Post a Comment