At Cornerstone we take a weekly trip to the library to pick out books for the classroom. This allows the children to interact with people in the community and have real world experiences. We are learning how to use the computer catalog to look up desired books and them locate them within the library. AC and W enjoy this time to find theme related books, as well as other books of interests. W currently enjoys learning about sports, especially football, and AC loves princesses.
This week in Social Studies we learned about American symbols and landmarks. W loves the Statue of Liberty and the Liberty Bell and AC knew all the landmarks! We made a collage to match the pictures with the words.
We use a multi-sensory to teach and reinforce concepts in both academics and occupational therapy tasks. For example, line adherence is an important concept for organization of written work. In the pictures below, AC is physically placing the words on the line. We then wrote the words on our lines on the dry erase board, reinforcing and encouraging proper line adherence. A number line is also helpful for math concepts, such as adding and subtracting. Our students are kinesthetic learners, so the movement is very helpful!
Every opportunity we have during our school day we promote independence. When students are independent and successful, we see such a boost in confidence! W and AC make their own lunches. So many skills, sequencing, following directions, fine motor development, are addressed during this daily, functional task.
We played -an Bingo! Students listened to the word stated and then had to match the spelling word to the picture. Ms. Shelby challenged the students to sound out, read, and then spell the words. Once they placed all the words on their boards, Ms. Kelly gave a two-step spatial direction that they had to follow. For example, “find the word fan and go place it next to the computer.” Teachers love that education and therapy are blended in such a natural manner.
