Milestone - First day of Junior Kindergarten

It's hard to believe, but Dew1 has officially started Junior Kindergarten.

He has been going to a typical preschool since he turned 2 (he's an August baby by birth but was a September baby by due date ...)  His first year went well - it was 2 mornings a week, and  his delays were not as apparent as there were not many demands placed on them that year.  It was more social, and getting used to be away from Mommy for a while.  They did activities and such, but didn't have circle time or anything.  He had a great time and it was very good for him socially.  It was during this year that we took him to the Easter Seals Step-Up program as well. (more about that another time.)

Then last fall he started the 3 year old program.  We decided to keep him at 2 mornings a week because we had to register him in February and he was transitioning in the Early Intervention program to the Intermediate Unit.  We didn't know what they were going to provide for him in the way of therapy and we wanted to keep his schedule as open as we could.  Turned out that he got 3 hours a day of in home therapy so it worked out well.  He did alright, but by December his Behvioural Consultant determined that the situation wasn't working as well as it could be.  We looked into switching him into an IU Classroom, but really wanted to keep him as "Typical" as we could.  In the end, we got an Aide into his room, and it was the perfect solution.  He started coming home with completed assignments, he was joining circle time, he was being more social with his peers, and having fun. 

We registered him for 5 day a week 3 year old programs for the fall.  We decided to do a combination of 2 day and 3 day programs and keep him back a year to let him catch up with his peers.  Then, the year after, put him into 5 day 4 year old preschool, then off to Kindergarten a year behind his age mates but in with his developmental peers.  He wasn't potty trained yet because his language wasn't ready for it yet, and we weren't worried about this.

And then it happened.  We decided to move back to Canada.

Suddenly it was a whole new world.  Instead of 2 years before Kindergarten, he was going to be going to Junior Kindergarten this fall!  Whole day, every other day, alternating Fridays.  And he had to be potty trained! 

We had contacted the school in June, as soon as we knew where we'd be living and made as many arrangements as we could for him.  We prepared them for his special needs, and while they weren't able to get him his own Aide (mostly because it was June and that planning happened in April, but even more mostly because he's not officially in the system yet for service. .. and that could take years...) but they paired him in a classroom with a little guy who does have an Aide, so that Aide will work with both of them.  Which is good b/c I don't believe that he needs a Full Time Aide, but just one to keep an eye on him and guide him a bit.

So it's been a busy summer with the potty traning (another post to come!) and this past week he he had his orientation.  He did really well (or so the school told us.)  He didn't use the potty while he was there and they were concerned that he was holding it (which i think he was.)  They gave us a great booklet that they have prepared that is a photograph tour of the school.  He loves to read his "school book" and I'm going to put a template together to share here for everyone to see.  I think that all kids, typical and non-typical alike would benefit from it.

I can't wait to see how things go next week!

Tot School: Felt Star Matching

So, as I mentioned in my previous post, I found my Star Box the other day.

And put it to good use.

We have a felt board mounted to our wall.  When I find the post that inspired it, I'll post about it.  Until then, please be satisfied with the statement that I have a felt board on our wall.

So I pulled out my Star Box, and opened it for Dew2.  We played with them for a while, checking them all out.  I have a weird assortment of colours now, because many were destroyed or taken home during my programs, and I'd have to hastily make more with whatever colours of felt we had on hand at the time.

We went to the felt board, and I put one of each colour up to the board, labeling the colour as I went. He tried to repeat me as much as he could.


Then we pulled out more stars, and I gave them to him to match.  He did really well!  I was very impressed with how well he matched his colours.

And it was a bit of a challenge for him to work standing up, and to get them to stick, which was also perfect.  When I can fit a bit of OT in, it's a good day :-)

So we matched stars.  And now it's a favourite activity.

Tot School / Sensory Activity: Alphabet Rice Table Hunt

On a whim yesterday, I came up with this great idea that not only occupied both Dews for a good 10 minutes solid (!) but was such a good mix of things: sensory input, OT involving big muscles and work, alphabet identification, OT work using the magnet board standing up, and team work.  You can bet we'll be doing this again.

Materials:

1.  Alphabet Letters - from the Dollar Spot at Target, currently one of our Activity Packs.

2.  The Sensory Table - currently filled with Rice.  From Lakeshore Learning.

3.  The Magnet Board - a DIY from a blog suggestion.  I can't find the link now, but will post it as soon as I do.

4.  The Alphabet Strip - I made it from a word document - it matched a foam magnetic letter set that a friend passed down to us, and Dew1 loves to match the letters.  I should say Loved because many of them have, sadly, been chewed to a lettery death.

The Game:

1. Hide the letters in the Rice table.

2. Encourage the Dews to dig and hunt for the letters.
3. When they find one, they have to say which letter it is, and then run it across the room to the Magnet Board and match it on the Alphabet Strip. 

At this point, I asked Dew1 what sound the letter makes, because he knows them.  Dew2 doesn't know the name of his letters yet, so I told him which letter he had found, but he's getting really good at matching them so we cheered him on big time for that.

4.  Continue until all letters have been found.

This activity is excellent as an OT Sensory activity because they really have to dig for them, and then run across the room.  Then add the letter recognition, and letter sounds!

Next time, maybe I'll make them drag themselves on the scooter board!  I also intent to share this with Dew1's OT because he really liked it and it might be a good one for them to do together.  He enjoys his letters and he needs to do some good OT activities at the beginning of his session to chill him out.

Matching - Jack O Lantern Faces

With Halloween coming, and Dew1 starting to figure these things out, I decided it was high time to have some Jack O Lantern Fun.  Dew1 loves to match - he finds it to be a very rewarding task.

This is by no means an original idea.  I googled around, and found a great Pumpkin Body and Jack O Lantern Face pieces patterns on the Family Education website - the patterns are free to download, and copyright to Pearson Education Inc.

Because we have a great flannel board mounted on the wall, I finally decided to make this out of felt (I wrestled with magnetic as we also have a great magnetic board on our wall as well.)  I chose sensory over fine motor, and I thought the felt would be fun.  I have had troubles getting things to stick to our flannel board - I suspect it's because it's mounted flat against the wall.  All of the flannel boards I have ever used at work have been standing easel-types, and I am thinking that the angle is a big help.

Anyway, after testing velcro and other types of sticky assists, I discoverd an article on about.com that commented on using sandpaper.  Well, sandpaper is a lot cheaper than velcro (I bought a package of 5 large sheets for $1 at Dollar Tree to make sandpaper letters.  Haven't gotten there yet but I had the sandpaper!)

I traced the outline onto the back of the sandpaper (right side up ... I made that mistake the first time.)  Then I ran it through the Xyron to stick it up, and then stuck it to the felt.  It made it very easy to cut the felt out, I must say.  Same for the eyes, mouths, and noses.  Then I realized a problem.  Our felt board is black.  The face pieces are black.  Hmm.

So I put a few pieces of sandpaper onto a square of blue felt to use as a landing zone area for the face pieces.  Not ideal but it works for me for now.  Perhaps a basket on the shelf beside?

I have also taken pictures of several face combinations for Dew1 to match.  I punched a hole in the corner and put them on a binder ring.  He has tried a few, but is more interested in the pieces for now.

He is also very wrapped up in the sensory experience.  It is soft on one side and quiet scratchy on the other.  This makes it fun to just hold and reposition on the felt board.

Update:
Emily at Learning Vicariously posted about her Magnetic Jack-O-Lantern here.  It looks great - I might have to do a magnetic one after all!  I love how they used it as a springboard to talk about feelings.  Great Idea!

Tot-Book - Thomas the Train

Our First Tot-Book!
We were inspired by Carisa at 1+1+1=1 and used the Thomas the Train Tot-Book that she so generously shared.  As it was our first, we followed it a little to the letter, or so to speak.  (In addition to being our first Tot-Book that we've made, it's the first I have tried to photograph ... hopefully I'll get better at that, too!)

The Cover.  I downloaded some Thomas clip art, printed it out, covered it in contact paper and ran it through my Xyron to make it sticky.  Dew1 helped me decorate.  To make the flap cover, I found a graphic of a wooden Thomas track and used it to cover up my bad folding job (first lap book fold - I missed it a little!)

















The inside, open.  I covered just about everything with contact paper for my first go round.  It was very time consuming but I figured that Dew1 was going to Love it Very Much so it was worth it.  I also put a piece of cardstock weight paper behind the center panel to give a bit more support to the folded part. 

The inside, right side.  Dew1 used dot markers as well as crayons to colour the trains.  I covered both covers and the pages to the Thomas and Friends book with contact paper for a little durability.  I also ran the back pages of both books through the Xyron before stapling the books together to make them stick better.

















The inside, left side.  I made two copies of the shapes so they could be matched.  I covered just the front of the shapes, pockets, and pages of the How Many book with contact paper to make them old up a bit better.  The pocket (after assembly) and the last page of the How Many book also went through the Xyron.


We were supposed to go spend a Day with Thomas this past summer and I had planned to take a picture of Dew1 with Thomas and use it to make a puzzle to put on the back cover.  Our trip had to be rescheduled, but when we do go, I'll be sure to do the puzzle and update.

I've found that the Xyron adhesive works so much better than a glue stick, even if it is more expensive.

Dew1 has loved this book dearly.  My only minor annoyance is the fact that you need to use paperclips to keep the shapes and How Many book in.  But as you follow Carisa through her Tot-Book journey, you'll see that she has solutions to all of these little problems (Hello Activity Pack!)

Tot School

We have been inspired by both Carisa at 1+1+1=1 and all of her Tot School friends.  Many of our ideas are from them, or inspired by them.

As a result, we decided that if they can share and inspire, so can we!

This is the first Tot School post.  Nothing Tot School-y about it, but keep your eyes open ... it'll get fun!