January Week 2: Draw A Map

phoneme: /d/

Transition Song: Colors by The Learning Station

Materials:  laminated letter D, butcher paper, crayons

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts: draw, down, around, dog, dad, neighborhood, house, trees, street, cars, fireman, police, library, park, railroad tracks, up/down, big/little, tall/small, cold/hot, in front/in back, next to, over/under, What/Where questions, -ing, plural -s, possessive 's, past tense -ed, environmental print such as McDonalds or grocery store.

Pre-literacy: Draw the letter D.  Start at the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and draw around.  Who has a /d/ sound in their name?  What other words have a /d/ sound?  This week the students thought up panda, dandelion, dinner, dad, dinosaur, doctor, dog, and duck.

This week, Miss Carrie showed everyone a map of the classroom.  We found the tables where we sit and the different Work Time areas. Miss Carrie wanted to draw a different kind of map.  She brought out a big piece of paper and unrolled it all the way across the rug!  Then Miss Carrie showed us that she has a red house with big trees.  She drew a horse because there are a lot of horses by her house.  And down the street there is a McDonalds. 

Miss Carrie handed out crayons.  We all laid on our tummies to draw.  We told each other what was next to our houses.

DO THIS AT HOME:  draw a map together of your house or your neighborhood.  Label with pictures.  Talk about where you like to go (the grocery store, a restaurant, the park).  A fun (and useful!) map is of your child's room or playroom.  Label on the map where everything goes and put it in an area where you and your child can refer to it as you clean up the toys together.

Have you seen this? A man diagnosed with autism passed the bar exam!

I saw this over the weekend and have been smiling ever since!  A man diagnosed with autism graduated from law school and passed the bar exam on his first try.  This is huge!  This can open up more opportunities for other adults with special needs to attend university.
Check out the video from NBC San Diego Channel 7.

January Week 1: Colors

Phoneme: /d/

Transition Song: Colors by The Learning Station

Once we learn this song we will sing it without music and add more color verses that we make up.


Materials: Laminated letter D, scarves

Vocabulary and Basic Concepts:  red, yellow, blue, green, orange purple, pink, black, white, gray, brown, Who questions, wave, high/low, fast/slow, go/stop, spin, twist, turn, swim, hop, jump, front/back.

Pre-Literacy:  Let's draw the letter D.  Notice that it has a curved line and a straight line.  Start at the top and draw down.  Go back to the top and draw around.  What words have the /d/ sound?  Draw, down, around, curved, dog, duck, dinosaur, dinner.  Who has a /d/ sound in their name?

This week we talked about colors!  What colors are you wearing?  We pulled out Miss Carrie's scarves and everyone got to choose their favorite colors.  We danced to music and talked about our actions and the color of scarf we were waving.

The children thought it would be fun to pile the scarves on Miss Carrie's head!

DO THIS AT HOME:  Go on a color hunt around your house. (Let's look for things that are red.  Now let's look for things that are yellow.)  What colors are you wearing?  If you have scarves, have a dance and talk about your actions as you wave your scarves.