Spring is here!

Posted by Emily Richardson in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The weather has finally warmed up, although the pollen around here is off the charts!  I had so much fun with a Spring craft today.  This was one of those activities that I whipped together last minute for a group yesterday and it was so successful that I used it for multiple groups today.  I love it when I can do something like this that covers many different communication targets and is practical for a variety of students.

 

spring tree making

Language concepts are in bloom!

I made these Spring pictures today with kindergarteners who are working on categories, basic concepts, choice making, and peer interaction. I also work with students with Autism who are taught in self-contained classes.  They are in three different therapy groups based on distinct differences in communication levels.  One group is learning pre-requisites for communication, another has semi-consistent use of pictures and voice output for choice making, and the third is a group of verbal students who can participate in conversation.  (Okay, I realize the “semi” and “consistent” contradict each other, but I’m sticking them together anyways!)  I love it when I can prepare one activity and use it for four different types of groups!

We were able to target so many concepts: sequencing (First let’s make the grass, next the tree, then the leaves, last the flowers), prepositions (put the leaves ON the branches, glue the flower NEXT to the leaf) , colors (light green/dark green), location (put the grass on the bottom, leaves grow on the branches), and description (this tree is bare/empty, now the tree is full).

Finished product of a Spring Tree

Finished product of a Spring Tree

We also worked on choice making (color of grass, leaves, and flowers), requesting (materials needed), turn taking (asking for a turn and passing turns to peers), commenting (I like this color, This picture is pretty), and answering questions (Where does grass grow, Where are the leaves on a tree, what happens to a tree in the Spring).

spring tree open

OPEN!

Language was embedded into every single step!  Like practicing “open” and “close” to make our flowers.  We put a piece of tissue paper into our OPEN hand, then CLOSED it to make our flower.

spring tree closed

CLOSE!

Do you notice how this student put the leaves literally ON the branches!  I guess I can’t complain, I did say “Don’t put the leaf on the tree trunk, put it on a branch”!  So if you are looking for an easy language-based craft for Spring, just gather a few materials (tissue paper, construction paper, and glue) and get ready to create!

I’d love to hear from you about some of your Spring crafts.

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