Negotiations

One of my non-verbal students has been working towards having a conversation using gesture and sign.  Today he showed some strong emerging skills in this area by negotiating for treats.  At morning snack time, he took me towards the birthday cake a classmate brought earlier in the week.  When I didn't immediately reach for the cake, which was on top of the fridge, he took my hand and raised it to point towards the cake.  When I told him he had to wait for the cake until after lunch, he went to another staff and pointed towards the cake, signed "eat" and "please" while crying (which actually sounded more like a pretend cry).  When she also said no, he sighed, got up, and went to play as if nothing had happened.  He did get a piece of cake after lunch as promised.  Later in the same day, he was offered a small piece of chocolate from a choice of two.  He signed "two" in response to the verbal and signed offer of "one".   When that didn't work, he signed "four" and then signed "two" adding a "please" sign a "treat" sign and an "eat" sign for good measure.  In the end, he happily accepted the original "one" and enjoyed his small chocolate bar.

Sports Day

We had whole school Winter Sports Day this afternoon.  The kids all had a great time.  Waiting in line and taking turns was challenging, but they managed it without too much fuss.  This is such a great skill.  One activity was building towers out of cardboard boxes.  One student particularly loved this activity so much that he snuck off later to go back to it.  It was pretty scary that he went off on his own - but the activity he chose was very appropriate and it was good to see some independence.  The look on his face when he was caught was priceless - it was a classic "oh nuts, busted" look.  It was also great to see this kind of social awareness - it is a new skill for him.

Valentines Day

We had a Valentines Day party at the end of the day.  The students gave each other Valentines Day cards.  It was cool to watch them try to distribute the cards.  Even after months of being together, they still don't all know each other's names that well.  This was good practice in giving, taking and acknowledging each other.

Art Project with Grade 4

Last week, we completed some pictures based on the artwork of Eric Carle.  We worked with a grade 4 class in the regular program.  On the first session we filled many pieces of paper with lots of paint - in stripes, swirls, shapes, patterns, etc.   On the second session we cut the papers up to make shapes.   We glued the shapes together to make elephants, horses, suns, mice and other designs.  It was great to see the two groups working side by side and learning from each other.  One of my students loved it so much that he gets the glue stick out on his own now at work time so he can continue to practice his new skill.  Until last week, he had no interest at all in cut and paste activities.