Christmas Bags by Kendra

I know it's early, but if you are like me, things that aren't planned in advance don't get done! Kendra over at Aussie Pumpkin Patch posted about her Christmas bags. This is a wonderful idea for organizing and completing holiday crafts. Basically you put the supplies for a craft in an individual bag. These bags are then given out one at a time. I like that it helps me be ready in advance with supplies. I also think more craft would be actually completed this way. These would also work well for workboxes.

HSS: Lots of new materials!

Homeschool Share recently completed it's annual Blast contest and has posted lots of new materials on the website. They have new units, lapbooks and things for workboxes under a new category called Workboxables. Some of the new items Ds and I are looking forward to using are the units and lapbooks for How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the USA and Christmas Around the World.

There are also new units and lapbooks on Ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt, a Spanish lapbook, lapbooks on bears and beavers, Goodnight Gorilla lapbook and a unit on the Laura Ingalls Wilder classic Farmer Boy in addition to many other fabulous parent created materials.

Work Job Board

Although we have been doing the workbox system lately, I wanted to share another type of visual schedule that has been a big help to A17. We have used the work job board at home and at therapies for years. For us, the workbox system is an extension of our work job board. I made the board above from an inexpensive dry erase board I found at Walmart.

The child picks a preferred activity--for A17 it could be computer, music, or any other fun activity. I have specific cards for these but keep a generic treat card for something unexpected. At therapy the "reward" is doing a favorite activity like gait trainer. Then I or the therapist chooses the work or "job" activities that must be completed before a favorite activity. When each job is completed, he takes off the card. This helps him know what is expected and gives him something to work toward. I also use this to break down a more difficult task into steps.

Craft Box

One thing that has been a suprise to me this year is how often A17 requests to do crafts. He has enjoyed coloring in the past, but not much else. Now, he asks me to get out our craft box. I put together a basic craft box at the start of the school year so we would be able to do some basic crafts whenever the mood strikes. He needs lots of help due to fine motor issues but really enjoys choosing supplies, colors and pointing where something should go!

The box is a tall clear tote with a lid and a handle. I keep the paints in a separate box in case of leaks.

A look inside shows:

sheets of felt in several basic colors

colored pipe cleaners

googly eyes

jingle bells in gold and silver

beads

glitter paints

glitter in sprinkle tubes

Elmers clear washable school glue

Elmers glue sticks

crafts sticks--regular and jumbo--plain colored

pom poms--variety of colors and sizes

colored feathers

Crayola washable kid paints

paint brush with thick handle

Crayola So Big crayons

Crayola washable markers

Our biggest craft find has been foam stickies that you can buy in tubs at craft stores. These have been a huge hit with A17! He uses these to make cards, bookmarks, door hangers, collages, etc. We have also purchased several themed kits-- a pirate ship and a log cabin--to go along with our unit studies. I prefer to buy the ones with the sticky background so we don't have to mess around with gluing small pieces.

For anyone doing the workbox system, we have found that the following crafty items really work well in the boxes.

Kumon First Steps Workbooks--Let's color, Let's sticker and paste, Let's Fold,

Crayola Color Wonder books and markers

Let's Draw with Chalk ( or other chalk books)

paint with water books

aquadoodle

washable stamp pads and stamps ( we use an adapted handle and tape/velcro the stamp on)

A17 uses adapted scissors. These are a push down type. I put the paper in and move it as necessary while he pushes down on the handle.

Wipe-Off Books

Since receiving new dry erase markers ( see Touchmath post), A17 loves using them. He can't write due to his disability, but he is enjoying several pre-writing books. He needs some assistance with hand eye coordination to follow the lines. Some books in this series can be found at Target.

The Get Ready to Print book features animals and a construction theme. A green star shows the child where to start and the red dot shows the end. The book starts with simple draw a line activities and gets progressively harder as you advance through the book.

A second book titled Pre-Printing with Mazes features a mouse. Each page is a maze with another adventure such as find the buried treasure, get through a cave, fly in outer space. This book has a black arrow to show where to start and a piece of cheese at the end.

Math Games

I found these jumbo sized foam dice at the teacher store. They are easy for A17 to pick up, hold and throw. We are using these for number practice. After a throw, he needs to count the dots and pick which number it is from a choice of number cards or use his Dynavox to tell me. They can also be used to write simple addition problems.

We are using dominoes in a similar way. Because regular size dominoes are too small for A17, I made some using large rectangles of black cardstock. You can either use paint to make the dots or use a large circle punch.

Funtastic frogs have pattern and activity cards as well as workbooks. I found a fantastic clearance sale on the books and cards at Bookcloseouts.

DK Math Wizard game reviews numbers and counting.

Workbox Ideas

In the past A17 has worked on job boxes--shoe boxes containing a fine motor activity such as sorting plastic silverware. Now we are broadening that to include workboxes. I went through my totes and made a list of what would work in the boxes. Found some things I had forgotten about! LOL

Here are some ideas that we have tried or intend to try. I'm always adding to my list!

Math:
Touchmath sheets
magnetic counters
other counters ( bears, large colored spools, Toob animals)
magnetic pattern cards
themed pattern cards and counters
Funtastic frogs
balance scale
dice game ( using a jumbo sized foam dice)
domino game
velcro book for counting

Reading:
chapter books
easy readers
non-fiction books related to unit study
audio books
vocabulary cards using Boardmaker
Leap pad

Everything else!
unit studies
lapbooks ( ie minit books)
craft supplies ( paints, foam stickies, markers, etc)
lacing cards
lacing beads/blocks
chalk book
Discovery Toys Busy Bugs
Lauri sorting and stacking frogs
sticker books
Learning Resources weather game
magnetic doll with clothes
velcro books with interactive pieces ( ie survival signs, street signs, colors, counting)
file folder games ( ie Evan Moor and Carson Dellosa)
magnetic letters
knob puzzles
sorting games ( use color sorting bowls)
number pegboard
card games ( ie Arthur)
dot markers and art book
magnet matching puzzles
flashcards
stamps with handles and washable stamp pads
Kumon books for fine motor skills ( cutting, pasting, coloring)
magnetic books
ice cream scoop color game
wood bead stacker
bristle blocks
magnetic wand and discs
sensory boxes ( ie beans, rice)
playdoh and cookie cutters
giant pegboard
alphabet game ( homemade-match upper and lower case)
homemade dictionary ( notebook with pictures cut from magazines and pasted on letter page)
stencils
Leap pad
music ( cd's, instruments, Kindermusik stuff)
Early Visual Skills ( tracking, patterns, size)
nature journal and stickers
scavenger hunt
experiments ( Janice Van Cleave books, pop bottle science, etc)
Color Wonder books
matching games ( ie memory)
bean bags
clothes pin games
Magna Doodle
dry erase books, maps
Discovery Toys Opposite Pairs game

Workboxes

Recently on the Five in the Row boards and Homeschoolshare boards, moms have been talking about a new way to organize the school day using Sue Patrick's Workbox System. She developed this system to help her son who has autism, but it can help any child or parent who is looking for more structure or organization in their school day. Her book ( either spiral bound or ebook) explains the system in detail and gives lots of ideas. With purchase of the book, you will be able to download forms and cards to get started. For convenience, these are also available for purchase on her website--already printed and laminated. The cards use Boardmaker pictures which is helpful since A17 is familar with it. One of the cards is a work with Mom card. This is used to tell students which activities are to be done with Mom and which are to be done independently.





Very simplified, the system has you use 6-12 plastic shoeboxes on a rack and put one piece of work into each box. The idea is to promote independence, focus, and attention in a structured learning environment. The student sees what work is expected and as the number of boxes is emptied, can see progress being made. In addition he can anticipate a fun activity by looking ahead at the boxes. Hopefully this will promote motivation. It helps the mom with organization--no more hunting for supplies at the last minute and losing the student's attention. It also helps to add more "fun" educational activities into the day. If you're like me you have lots of cool stuff packed away in the closet or a tote that you mean to pull out or forgot you had! The workbox system helps you get those items out and into the boxes. Learning centers, file folder games, unit studies can all work well with this system. The book includes lots of ideas for the workboxes.





With A17's special needs, we needed to change the system a bit. We are starting with 6 boxes for now. Since he can't physically get to the box, I will bring it to him. My goal in implementing this system is to become better organized for our school work and to think very carefully about which activities A17 can do on his own or with very little help. We have used a visual schedule in the past. This is just taking that a step further. In box 1 is Touchmath, box 2 is magnetic counters and pattern cards, box 3 are books to read for our oceans unit study, box 4 has lapbook materials, box 5 has a craft, and box 6 has a chalkboard book plus chalk.

If you would like to see how some other moms have implemented this system, check out these blogs.
Our Lifesong
Joyful Mother of 6 Children
Walking By the Way
Teaching 2 in TX