Friday, February 5, 2016

Happy Friday Parents and Carers!

Today was our pancake breakfast, and they were delicious. Although, I think it was the maple syrup that made the breakfast so memorable! Haha

The day began with our Show and Tell session. The boys were very excited and we saw some new things today. Everyone had to describe their object, share why they brought it in, where they got it from, how long they have had it, and why it is so special.

After our morning circle it was time for some yummy pancakes! That maple syrup bottle was full when we started! Hahaha just joking! 

 I bet you can guess what we did next.... some sensory dancing on Go Noodle! Yup, dancing again!  We needed to burn off all the pancakes and sugar. Haha Guided dancing is great sensory activity to help regulate and demonstrate great body and muscle awareness, proprioceptive and bilateral movements, gross motor skills, motor planning, and auditory processing.

In at today we looked at different kinds of shapes, their names, and then used our creative minds and fine motor skills to make a picture! There were some really cool ideas, such as a flower, dog, rhino, a dinosaur, mouse, goat, basketball net, etc.

In science today we continued work on our five senses. Today we explored the sense of touch and feeling, and without our sense of sight (everyone was blindfolded). We played some cool games and then had a Fear Factor session at the end! 

What a great way to end a busy week! Have a lovely weekend gentlemen and see you all on Monday!

Mr. Jacob : )

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Happy Thursday Parents and Carers!


The boys, Ms. Amber, and I had another day full of fun and friends!

Evan started his day off with Ms. Amber completing his sensory diet, while the other three wanted to write in journals. Yes, I said it, they wanted to write in journals! We had some fun writing full sentences and drawing pictures to go along.

 I bet you can guess what we did next.... some sensory dancing on Go Noodle! Yup, dancing again! Haha Guided dancing is great sensory activity to help regulate and demonstrate great body and muscle awareness, proprioceptive and bilateral movements, gross motor skills, motor planning, and auditory processing.

Mr. Avery was our teacher today and led the class through time (past, present, and future), calendar work (years, months, days, and weeks), emotions and feelings, and morning greetings. We all forgot whose turn it was today and needed to look back at our blogs to figure it out! Great problem solving skills by the boys.

The boys did some great time management and problem solving, and then had some time to do activities that they all agreed on, like Jurassic Park, Lego's, and dancing!

In language arts we played a fun pizza game involving rhyming, categories, synonyms, definitions, phonics, phonemic and phonological awareness. It was so much fun!

We had a new fun relay race activity in gym today. Two teams had to pull themselves on a scooter by using a rope, and then get back to tag a friend by using their legs. A great session involving motor control, gross motor skills, balance and coordination, bilateral movements, teamwork and sportsmanship.

In social skills we got into pairs and discussed things that make us upset, why they make us upset, and things we can do when we are upset. Afterwards, we got to make a fun calming sensory bottle to use when we are feeling sad, mad, frustrated, annoyed, etc.

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, and rhyming skills, and balance and coordination.

Lastly, we read a cool book called Pete's A Pizza. It is a great sensory story involving a boy, Pete, who is grumpy because he cannot play baseball. Pete's father tries to cheer up his son by making him into a pizza! 

Here are the boys getting our pizza roller.

Getting "oil" (water) and "flour" (baby powder) tossed on the "dough" our bodies. This was down after we kneaded, stretched, and rolled the dough (massaged, stretched, and deep pressure on their bodies).

Next, we had cheese and toppings (construction paper and paper toppings) thrown onto the pizza while using an Italian accent. Haha

The pizza is in the oven and looking ready to eat!

Have a great evening gentlemen and see you tomorrow.

Mr. Jacob : )

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Happy Wednesday Parents and Carers!

The boys, Ms. Amber, and I had such a great day with lots of learning and fun. The day began with some sensory dancing on Go Noodle. Guided dancing is great sensory activity to help regulate and demonstrate great body and muscle awareness, proprioceptive and bilateral movements, gross motor skills, motor planning, and auditory processing.

Mr. Zachary was our teacher today and led the class through time (past, present, and future), calendar work (years, months, days, and weeks), emotions and feelings, and morning greetings. 

In math today the boys had to estimate how long it would take them to complete certain activities in 30 seconds. We discussed what estimation is, how long 30 seconds is, and what each task entailed. We had to then test our estimations by timing our tasks using a sand timer, as well as a regular timer. It was so much fun, and we got to do jumping jacks, spins, blinks, etc.

In language arts two of our friends needed some time to discuss a problem that occurred at recess. We had a lengthly chat about right, wrong, friends, feelings, emotions, and empathy. Evan and Zachary did such a great job and after they made up, they completed a brainstorming activity for our upcoming pizza delivery session! Great job boys! Our friends Eric and Avery did some excellent work with Ms. Hope and Ms. Amber, going over a pizza board game involving rhyming, synonyms, definitions, meanings, comparisons, and opposites.

For the third day in row everyone got along so well during Dodgeball! There were no arguments or interruptions the entire game! We also got to work on hand-eye coordination, teamwork, sportsmanship, motor planning, fine and gross motor skills, proprioception skills, vestibular and bilateral movements,and balance and coordination.

We had a brand new Minute to Win It today called "Going Fishing". Our friends had to manoeuvre a Kleenex fish around "sea weed" and "sea rocks" in order to get their fish back into its underwater cave using only a paper plate! We worked on our concentration and focus, hand-eye coordination, proprioception skills, bilateral movements, fine and gross motor skills, math skills, time management, sportsmanship skills, and how to work through our emotions.

In social skills we discussed healthy snacks and foods. We then got to create some cool "pictures'" and objects using our healthy foods to be creative and have some fun.

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, and rhyming skills, and balance and coordination.

Lastly, while Zachary was with Ms. Allison, the other three boys completed a team building challenge. They had to transport a ball without using their hands, and the ball had to be touching a green ring. They could only use three strings! They did so well and solved it using problem solving language, teamwork, balance and coordination, fine motor skills, and patience.

Have a great evening and see you tomorrow!

Mr. Jacob : )