We are learning about North Dakota this week! Here is a link to our book:
National North Dakota Day is April 19th. We learned a few things about North Dakota in our book! Did you know it was the leading producer of honey and sunflowers in the U.S.? Find out some other cool facts by reading the book. Of course, we have a couple of our students on the front and back, taking in some of the North Dakota scenery.
SENSORY
We put letters /N/ and /D/ in colorful rice. We picked rice that reminded us of flowers we might see in North Dakota’s Peace Garden
Science access point: match objects by one observable property, such as shape.
The students put pieces of play doh on to a laminated peace sign. They also used some fun stamps to add some pattern to their design.
Science access point: apply a push to move an object.
The Dickinson Museum is a paleontology center where you can find full size dinosaur skeletons and fossils—-how cool is that! The students looked for dinosaurs in our Jurassic sand!
Science access point: recognize a model of a real object.
Milk is the official beverage of North Dakota, so we used oobleck to represent that tasty beverage.
Science access point: track objects in motion.
There were colorful flowers—–like ones you might see in the Peace Garden—-in our water play this week!
Science access point: distinguish between objects in motion and at rest.
North Dakota leads the nation in sunflower production, so we chose citrus sunflower scent from Bath and BodyWorks.
Science access point: recognize one or more external body parts.
GROSS MOTOR
Since North Dakota has The Dickinson Museum with dinosaur skeletons and fossils, students here went on a dinosaur hunt of their own. Students practiced targeted skills, such as wheelchair mobility, gait training, or stair negotiation to find dinosaurs. Of course, they got to touch our dinosaurs, which probably isn’t the case at The Dickinson Museum.
FINE MOTOR
For project one, the students made a Peace Garden poster.
First, they identified the color GREEN and the shapes RECTANGLE and CIRCLE.
Science access point: identify objects by one observable property, such as color.
Math access point: recognize an object with a two-dimensional shape.
Next, the students took turns either painting a large piece of poster board or adding fun flower stickers to a peace sign.
Math access point: solve quantities of objects or actions using language such as enough, too much, or more.
The peace sign was glued to the poster and—–TA DA!!! We are ready for North Dakota Day!
For project two, the students made their own Peace Gardens.
First, they identified the color GREEN and a RECTANGLE shape.
Science access point: identify objects by one observable property, such as color.
Math access point: recognize an object with a two-dimensional shape.
Next, the students used a GREEN marker to draw lines on their paper.
Science access point: recognize that pushing and pulling an object makes it move.
Then, they used soda bottles to make colorful flower blossoms by stamping UP and DOWN.
Math access point: recognize a movement that reflects a spatial relationship.
We finished the flowers off with a peace sign stamp in the center of the flower.
Math access point: recognize when an object is added to a situation.
TA DA!!! We love our peace gardens!
LANGUAGE
We made a yummy treat that we think would fit right in if we were in North Dakota. Here’s the recipe we used:
We started by putting some vanilla yogurt into the cups. Students counted out each of the 3 spoonfuls.
Math access point: associate quantities with number names.
Next, they added some blueberries. Students were only given a couple blueberries. Staff waited to see if they requested MORE or if they indicated they were ALL DONE.
Math access point: indicate desire for more of an object.
We PUT some chopped bananas in next. Students used their words or symbols to request HELP from staff to cut the bananas if they needed it.
Students requested granola next. They got to try some first and then indicated if they LIKE it or NOT.
Finally, we put some honey on top. Students got to try a little bit on their spoon. They indicated whether it was SWEET or SOUR.
Yum! Each student was asked if they liked the parfait to which they had to respond YES or NO.
It was a pretty big YES in this classroom 🙂
Join us next time for more fun and learning—–Group by Group!
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Hello there, I just wanted to drop you a note to let you know that I ADORE your weekly email. I work in a school that looks very similar to yours. I always get some great ideas to use when working with my students. Keep up the good work! The kids look like they are having so much fun!
Stay healthy!
Thank you so much!