At the Ladybugs Picnic

"One, Two, Three--Four, Five, Six--Seven, Eight, Nine--Ten, Eleven, Twelve--ladybugs (whew hoo!)--at the Ladybugs Picnic."

Quick, quick--can you remember what TV show that song is from?????*

Here is the latest in the series of recycled art concoctions from Cameron the Creative. His exact quote:

"I did dis! Dere is a lady bug in dere and he goes trew (through) da flowas and in da holes."

Note the slices of foam pool floaties and who knows where the foam flowers were found. The green accents are really leftover pieces of crepe paper reborn as crinkled flower petals.

*Answer=Sesame Street circa 1980's--click the link below for a trip down memory lane.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr8vUTm64h0

What's Your Choice?

Our current events activity this month features the two categories of 1) the Presidential Election and 2) Fall Celebrations.

Students used clip art "stickers" to categorize the photos and then placed the photos on construction paper.

Our Speech-Language Pathologist made sure the students understood the concept of voting by having everyone sample red and green apples, then vote for which flavor they liked the best. The students received a red and a green apple shape then slipped their choice into an empty coffee can "voting machine."

Let's hope the best candidate wins!

Sketchin' Away

When we work with elementary school students on improving the fine motor skills necessary for school success, sometimes they need a little fun to keep on keepin' on.

Ed Emberley has written many books about drawing and they're useful for kindergarten students all the way up to higher grades, depending on your student's cognitive abilities. Your school's library probably has multiple titles on hand. Here is a link to link to his website:

http://www.edemberley.com/pages/main.aspx?section=db

This 4th grader is working on spatial skills, sequencing, pencil control and using his non-preferred hand to stabilize the paper --all while having fun drawing a step-by-step elephant sketch.

Please don't cringe at the position of his wrist & pencil; believe me, it's an improvement over what he could manage a few months ago.

Who Knows the Mind That Lurks Inside?

This morning I walked into the office of the SLP (Speech-Language Pathologist) who has been my guide to survival at the high school I serve. I noticed the cartoon-like drawings on her whiteboard and asked about it. Are you prepared to be fascinated?

Last week she was reading a chapter about Christopher Columbus to a group of students and one student, who has the diagnosis of Autism, seemed to not be paying any attention to the story. He was rocking and flailing his arms and looking everywhere but toward her. She felt an inspiration and asked him to stand up and draw scenes from the story she was reading.

He turned into Mr. Artist and drew these sketches. First, a boy reading a book about Christopher Columbus. Next, a boy thinking about the voyage Columbus made. Finally, Columbus preparing a map to chart his voyage.

Not only did the student draw this, he was able to point to the correct designs as the chapter was summarized by the SLP.

Who knows what's lurking in those seemingly inattentive, seemingly distractible minds of students we serve?

"P" is for Pizza!

Sure, in October, "P" is for Pumpkin, but pizza is everyone's favorite. One of my imaginative kindergarten teachers had prepared this arrival activity one morning last week and I fell in love with it. She pre-cut the paper-plate quarters, plus 3" x 5" rectangles of assorted "pizza topping" colors and set them in orderly piles. The students fashioned mini pepperoni circles, cheese and green pepper strips and mushroom-ish shapes, then glued them onto the pizza crust (brown crayon colored edges) and tomato base (red crayon colored centers).

As the activity progressed, the teacher commented on the variety of student designs: "Look how she has cut her yellow paper in tiny, little strips to make skinny cheese on her pizza." "Oh, here's someone who likes the same thing I do on my pizza--look at all those grey mushrooms he put on his pizza." She even pointed out the different approaches taken by students in organizing the project: "I want you all to come over to this table and see how he has cut all his cheese strips and put them in one pile, all his pepperoni circles and put them in another pile--he's all ready to make his pizza."

Each one was different and they were all take-home worthy!

Fall Digs

Have you tried adapted gardening with your students? You know, dig a hole, pet the cat, put in the plant, pet the cat, water the plant, pet the cat...

A friend designed a raised, mini garden bed for me to use at schools. It's very portable and inexpensive to construct. Since the winter weather in Virginia is suitable for growing pansies and snapdragons I plan to have students do the prep work and planting during recess, then carry water from their classrooms to the planter on a regular basis to keep it watered sufficiently. Fall weather gardening is very forgiving since the plants probably won't shrivel up in the heat over the long weekends without daily watering.

Will post more photos of the planting adventures.

Faster

Composing at the keyboard might seem natural to us by now, but for elementary students it's a developing skill.

A variety of factors slow down the task--Where are the letters? How do I spell that word? Did I type it correctly? The first two factors are difficult to control but we can do something about the last one. In fact, we're helping the student develop good keyboarding habits by doing something about it.

Using a simple word processor, such as the NEO, sets the stage for good keyboarding habits. It's all work and no play. Instruct the student to type a spelling or vocabulary word and hit Enter. When you see that they are successful performing this pattern with a couple of words, cover up the screen with a folder or piece of paper and ask them to type their whole word list. They'll be shocked.

At the end of the list remove the shield and have them review their accuracy. Many students will be surprised at how many correct words they have keyed in. You'll find that their keyboarding is generally faster when they are not spending time reviewing the screen to see if they have keyed in the correct letter.

We work faster when we're not looking at our computer screens after each typed word, and students will learn to work faster, too.