Butterflies

My students created a book called "Where's My Mom?"  Each book had a textured caterpillar on the cover page.  The next two pages said, "That's not my mom."  The last page said, "That is my mom.  The goal is to match the "mom" butterfly to the caterpillar.  I used an Ellison Press to cut the butterflies and caterpillars from textured paper available from APH.  It was a good lesson for teaching the concepts - same and different.  If you present the caterpillar, matching butterfly, and a non-matching butterfly, the student can find the texture that is different.  I continued this way until the butterfly that was left was the "mom" butterfly.

We also made a butterfly from a coffee filter.  Some of my students painted their butterfly on the Mini-Lite Box from APH.  I used shiny pipe cleaners to make the antennae, and bright colored clothes pins for the body.  We used watercolor paints and brushes.  Try not to let the filter get too wet, or wait until it dries to add the antennae.  Wrap the pipe cleaner around the body, then twist.  I used plastic clothes pins, but you could use the wooden pins and paint them.

If you have a student with low vision or CVI (Cortical Visual Impairment), shiny pipe cleaners can be a quick way to highlight pictures or objects.  

Easy Communication Board

I encourage my students with disabilities to use sentences as much as possible from low tech to high tech, from verbal to written communication.

One of the most inexpensive ways I have used to encourage sentence development is a basic communication board. I use Boardmaker to print out symbols/words, but any picture from a magazine or camera could be used. I wanted a way to reuse symbols without having to run to the laminating machine. I came across baseball card holders made from heavy plastic at Walmart. I trimmed the holders to 3 in. by 3 in. I set the size of my cells to 2.5 in by 2.5 in. I placed Velcro on the back of each holder.

I use a slant board with an area at the bottom to place the symbols. Students sequence the symbols to create a sentence. I use this board for activities throughout the school day. The symbols are larger and easier to manipulate for students with some physical disabilities. Some students love the sound of the Velcro.