Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Our Wizard of Oz party was a huge success! We invited two other classes and had around 25 kids plus staff and some parents in attendance. Since our cooperative has taken over a recently vacated elementary school in the county we were able to reserve its gym for our party, no need to fight for space in any of our buildings. YAY! The Skill Development Center is located here as well and we contracted with the vocational program, which runs a bakery, to make cookies for us. And because the space was recently used as a cafeteria we had all the tables we needed in addition to access to a beautiful playground.

Everyone entered through a rainbow created with streamers taped over the door. The Yellow Brick Road was created with yellow table covers securely taped down with (mostly) yellow duck tape. To the right you can see a table that held paper bag "baskets" the kids used to collect prizes.

The first activity station was the Yellow Brick Road game. We gave out lollipops for prizes. And what about the creative use of that cooler as Dorothy's house complete with Wicked Witch of the East and Ruby Slippers?

Next up was the apple toss with Scarecrow. We gave out rainbow "slinky" type plastic springs for prizes. The background is the Dora Explorer scene setter mentioned in a previous post. The Scarecrow was enlarged from one of Pete Wells' illustrations.

After the Scarecrow came Pin the Heart on the Tin Man. Tin Man was also enlarged from one of Pete Wells' illustrations and highlighted with aluminum foil. We couldn't laminate him so hung a clear shower curtain over top of him to protect him. Hearts were "pinned" on using paper hearts with tape. Blindfold was optional. Prize was a heart ornament I picked up at Wal-Mart before Valentine's Day.

Lion's game was in the middle of the gym around a big circle. Unfortunately I don't have a kid-free picture of it, but we used a stuffed lion to decorate the circle and gave out medals of courage. The game is played like Duck Duck Goose but saying "Lions and Tigers and Bears OH MY!" and running on "on my." Nonverbal kids used a step-by-step programmed with "Lions"--"Tigers"--"Bears"--"OH MY!" Everyone had tons of fun running around the circle.

Melt the Witch was the next game in the rotation. We had a witch's hat on an empty 2 liter bottle. The kids tossed blue balls at the bottle to knock it over. This was surprisingly difficult for them! The prize for this activity was a mini bottle of bubbles. The witch is another enlargement from Pete Wells and the background is the other half of the Dora Explorer scene setter.

At the end of the Yellow Brick Road was the Emerald City. There were three activities available here, although only two of them are pictured (you can see the Lion game circle in the front of the picture). The kids were able to frost and decorate sugar cookies at the table on the right. The table on the left held a variety of green-themed sensory toys. After I took this photo I set up the portable podium with a lap top that was running the Wizard of Oz cause effect activity from Pete Wells' Oztastic unit. The kids had a lot of fun pushing the button to make Oz speak over the surround sound system. And don't you just love that the stage curtains are already green? Made the perfect backdrop for watching the movie during lunch. They even matched the Wizard's throne room.

The sensory table contained a variety of toys I found at Wal-Mart and/or had available in my classroom including: green Moon Sand, green plastic leis, green sensory/discovery bottles, green Flarp, a "slime" ball, a green fish that vibrates, a green hand held fan that lights up, and a bottle of green bubbles. The prize for the section, besides a cookie, was a mardi gras bead necklace.

We also had a "field of poppies" for kids who needed a break from all the action. The poppies are simply red paper plates taped to the wall. We had a CD player in here as well with the soundtrack to Wizard of Oz. We used folded up cafeteria tables to create a room divider of sorts.

It was actually warm enough for the kids to go outside for a few minutes while we set tables up for lunch. After everyone was settled with their sack lunches we started the movie on the big screen. The kids were enthralled. And the kids who needed to be more active were able to run around at the other end of the gym.

Set up took us about two hours (not counting the time it took us to make the decorations--gotta love teacher work days) but clean up only took about 20 minutes even with us salvaging what we could of the decorations. Best of all, everyone left with smiles on their faces. I really wish I could share the photos of all the fun we had.

How Oz-some!

I was checking my email today and received one from someone I don't know. Now, I don't usually open emails from unknown sources but the Subject got my attention: "Interest in your Oz program." Hmmm... The email was from Jane Albright who is a member of of the International Wizard of Oz Club (IWOC). Seems like the yahoo group Everything Oz posted a link to my blog, highlighting our little Wizard of Oz project. She also invited me to submit a proposal to present at the upcoming National Wizard of Oz Club Convention to be held in neighboring Manhattan, KS (home of Kansas State University) and Wamego, KS which hosts the Wizard of Oz museum and has done a lot of tourism-related things around the theme if Oz, including Oztoberfest. The third part of the event is a coinciding academic conference at KSU on the theme of "Recreating Oz." And while I find that an extreme honor, to be recognized for my efforts with a very small group of children who tend to be among the "hidden" population (for those who do what I do, you know what I mean), what I found to be even more interesting and thrilling was what happened when I opened up my blog and checked my stat counter. Just since last night when I most recently posted I've had over 30 visitors (for me that's a lot), most of whom have come from the EverythingOz community. How cool is it that these people have taken the time to not only check out my work but also the work of all the other people whose resources have contributed to this project (Pete Wells, dltk-kids.com, Dale Air, etc., etc.). Not only that, but hopefully a few of these folks will return to see the "final product" and learn what kids who face such significant challenges can accomplish and that they are really more like every other kid their age than they are different. And that Kansas is a wonderful place to educate your children, especially if they have special needs. It's a beautiful place to live, and not gray at all.

So welcome to all my Everything Oz visitors. I hope you enjoy our trip Over the Rainbow, stay for a visit, and come back soon.

There's No Place Like Home

During Week 4 we had a blast reading the story (the kids were really into it). But by far the most popular activity we did was the Great Green Food Taste Test. Every one of the kids had a fantastic time and EVERYONE used their higher level (relative to the student) communication systems to comment, request, and ask and answer questions. AWESOME! Tasting activities are a top favorite for my tube fed kids and all the kids demonstrated definite and consistent preferences.



In Week 5 of our Wizard of Oz project we vanquish a Witch, get some wishes granted, and learn that there truly is no place like home. Activities this week include:

• This rainbow art project: We are going to do the mobile project and add a writing component by choosing things about home that are important to us, gluing the PCS symbols to clouds and hanging the clouds from the bottom of the rainbow
• Making rainbow cookies

This week we are also hosting our big Wizard of Oz party. We've invited friends from two other classes to join us at the Skill Development Center. We are expecting about 25 kids plus staff and parents and have lots of fun activities planned:

• Follow the Yellow Brick Road game with lollipops for prizes
• Apple Toss with Scarecrow (toss plastic apples into a bucket from different distances) with rainbow springs as prizes
• Pin the Heart on the Tin Man with heart ornaments I found at Wal-Mart on clearance
• Lions and Tigers and Bears OH MY! game (played like Duck Duck Goose) with medals of courage as prizes (I found them at Wal-Mart)
• Emerald City sensory play (lots of green sensory toys like discovery bottles, colored rice, mardi gras beads, play doh, etc.) and cookie decorating; the kids will get a cookie (for those who can eat them) and a mardi gras necklace
• Melt the Witch game (place witch hat on an empty two liter pop bottle; toss a blue bean bag or small ball at the hat to knock it over) with bubbles (to represent water) as prizes
• We'll also have the Poppy Field quiet zone with bean bags and mats and Wizard of Oz music playing for kids who need a break from the rest of the action.
• During lunch we'll show the movie using the big screen in the Skill Development Center's gym
• We'll also have kids and adults dressed as the various characters in the story

We spent today's teacher work day finding and/or making decorations for the party:

• For the Yellow Brick Road we are using yellow disposable table cloths duck taped to the floor to make them safe to walk on
• The Emerald City area will be covered in green table cloths (it helps that this section is located in front of the stage which has green curtains)
• Party City had an awesome Dora the Explorer scene setter background sans characters which will make a perfect Oz countryside. It even has a passable Yellow Brick Road
• We made enlarged versions of some of Pete Wells's wonderful characters from his Oztastic unit to designate the different areas; Dorothy's house will even be 3-D as there is a large cooler in that section of the gym (add some "windows" and a "door" and a pair of stuffed striped stockings wearing ruby slippers and you have a house!)
• The goodie bags the kids will carry around to collect their prizes are made from brown gift bags with a picture of Toto glued to the front
• We'll have a crepe paper streamer "rainbow" hanging over the entrance door

The Great Green Food Taste Test

I just posted The Great Green Food Taste Test activity to Adapted Learning. Log in and check it out! The activity contains an interactive graph; simple, intermediate, and advanced communication boards (or at least how we define simple, intermediate, and advanced in my classroom), a cut apart board, and a Read Me page that explains how it all works.

The Great and Powerful Oz

This week we had fun with Part 3 of The Wizard of Oz. A lot happens in this section, between the angry apple trees, meeting both the Tin Man and the Lion, and running across poison poppies. Just reading the story took most of our available time. Today the kids made lion "masks" with their peer buddies. We adapted a bit by using smaller paper plates and gluing a photo of the kids' faces to the center. Ours don't seem to look much like lions at the moment as they are made from some very interesting colors (blue and orange, purple and gold, etc.). Maybe once we add some ears... The kids really enjoyed the adapted Boardmaker book (still waiting to hear back from Pete Wells to see if it's OK if I share these adaptations), probably because some of the best music is in this section. I don't know how many times we've heard "If I Only Had a Brain" and "If I Were King of the Forest."

Next week we find out if everyone survives the poison poppies, meet the Great and Powerful Oz, and venture off on a quest after the witch's broom. As part of our activities we will

• Do a green foods taste test and graph our likes and dislikes
• Fingerpaint with different shades of green (if time; it's a four day week for us)
• Do the heart collage we ran out of time for this week
• Do a lesson on the concepts of "real" and "pretend"

Our big Wizard of Oz party is in two weeks. Hopefully we'll be finished with the story by then. There's only one part to go after this next week so I think we'll make it.

Lions and Tigers and Bears Oh My!

No, we haven't stopped working on our Wizard of Oz unit and no, I didn't forget to post Part 3 of our journey down the Yellow Brick Road. We are simply stuck on Part 2 for the time being. Between MLK Day and Inauguration Day plus a community outing last week, we just did not have enough time to get through the material. Thus we repeated last week's plan this week. Today we made scarecrows and they turned out SO cute. We modified this plan slightly by using styrofoam balls wrapped in muslin for the head. Even Wayne, who HATES art projects, got into this one and made awesome choices and fully participated in the project. Tomorrow we read my modified Boardmaker version of the story and work on comprehension questions. On Friday we'll do the sensory story with our peer buddies, play with bubbles, and make magic wands.

Next week we plan to work on the following activities along with Part 3...

• Heart collage: choose colors and sizes of hearts to create a collage; we'll probably add a texture component to this too
• This lion project: we'll make ours a bit smaller and use photos of the kids' faces
• If we have time we'll make our own poppies, letting the kids explore circles and choosing their own colors for their flowers
• Cook a recipe with an apple theme, probably a simple apple crisp we can make in the microwave; this recipe lets us incorporate assistive technology by chopping the apples in the food processor; my "non oral" kids can taste test the different ingredients as well as help measure and stir so they are fully included
• There is a lot that goes on in Part 3 so it will probably take us some extra time to become thoroughly comfortable with the story

Still more Oz fun

I was in charge of a ROCKO event today. Because I already had lots of resources for a Wizard of Oz theme, that's what we did today. The kids had a blast making magic wands and Over the Rainbow necklaces (multiple colors of pony beads on lanyards). We even did an interactive viewing of the movie: singing all the songs, dancing along with Dorothy and her friends, blowing bubbles whenever Glinda appeared, booing the witch, etc. while we ate Munchkin Munchies (Chex snack mix).

We also played Follow the Yellow Brick Road:


Materials:

• 8 1/2 X 11 yellow paper (20 sheets or at least one for every player)
• pictures of characters and places in the story to glue/tape onto the yellow paper (laminate for durability if you want to be able to use them again); a good source is Pete Wells's Oztastic unit
• matching pictures for a "draw" pile or to put on an All-Turn-It spinner
• sound track to the movie
• small prizes (optional)

Procedure:

• Lay the yellow paper "bricks" out in a circle, picture side up (we used yellow duct tape to secure ours to the floor)
• Have the kids choose a brick to stand on
• Start the music; the kids move around the circle until the music stops
• When the music stops, everyone stops on their spot
• Pull a picture from the "draw" pile or spin the spinner
• The person standing on the spot can receive a small prize, become the Music Master, or whatever other activity you choose to use
• Continue, engineering as needed to make sure everyone has a chance to "win"

Variations:

• Play like traditional musical chairs, removing one spot each time until only one player remains
• Put action options on the All-Turn-It spinner; the person on the spot that is drawn gets to spin then do the action chosen (or choose someone else to do the action); options might be "melt like the witch," or "sing We're Off to See the Wizard" or "dance like the scarecrow" or "freeze like the rusted Tin Man," etc.
• Let the student who lands on the "lucky spot" don a witch's hat and become the Wicked Witch to swoop in and "get" the next person who lands on the lucky spot
• Have the student who lands on the lucky spot act out something related to their spot
• Have each student identify the character/location/vocabulary term he/she lands on or tell something about the item
• Have the student draw a card then follow the circle until he/she finds the matching brick
• Have a race to see who can match the cards to the bricks the fastest; must follow the path; could do this as a relay race, just make the path a straight line and have one team per side
• Could do the same as the matching activity but use comprehension questions instead
• For better access for wheelchair users, put the path on the wall

We used the following characters/places/things: Dorothy, Toto, Auntie Em, tornado, house landing on witch, Munchkin Mayor, Munchkin drummer, Lollipop Munchkin, Glinda, Wicked Witch, ruby slippers, Scarecrow, Tin Man, Lion, angry apple tree, Emerald City, Witch's castle, The Great Oz, the Wizard, and flying monkeys
Other items might be: rainbow, hot air balloon, Munchkinland houses, water bucket, broomstick, yellow brick, basket, Uncle Henry, Miss Gulch, oil can, magic wand

Vortex Cubes

Our Vortex Cubes from Dale Air in the UK arrived today just in time for our Oztastic sensory story. They were worth every penny! The "farm" one smells pretty much like a farm, or at least one with lots of cattle. The "burnt wood" brought back fond memories of sitting around a camp fire and "forest" smells like the evergreen woods in Colorado. "Apple" made my mouth water and "freesia" is just heavenly (and really really strong). The cubes are hefty at around 2 inches (OK, I'm really bad at estimating sizes, but they are big enough to hold onto while fitting comfortably in the hand), made of sturdy plastic, brightly colored, and well labeled. The scents were strong enough to be smelled through the box, styrofoam peanuts, 2 plastic bags, and an adhesive seal, which I'm sure made the package very popular with the dogs when it went through customs. The cubes cost around $9 apiece, which includes shipping and import tax, and took exactly 7 days to arrive. I have found nothing like them here in the US, but I'm sure they would be at least that expensive, if not more, if there was a US manufacturer. Customer service is excellent as well. I received quick and friendly responses to emailed inquiries. And the company has so many scents to choose from! There are 82 food related scents and 117 non food related scents as of today. Some interesting titles include Boiler Room, Dragons Breath, Street 1930's, Flatulence, and Dinosaur. And if you have a specific scent in mind but can't find it on their list, try emailing them to see if they can recommend a substitute or maybe create a new scent. They add scents all the time. I can think of a few right off hand (in case Dale Air is reading :-) ): swimming pool, gym shoes, locker room, wet dog, snow, autumn day, asphalt, large vehicle exhaust.

The uses of these cubes are limited only to the imagination. Put a container of them in a multisensory area for olfactory exploration. Buy two of several scents to create an olfactory matching game. Use with sensory stories, typical literature, history lessons, science experiments, etc., to increase understanding and enhance memory/recall (since scent is supposed to be the strongest memory trigger). Match to familiar community outings (although suprisingly I did not see one for Swimming Pool unless the Brits use a different term) or use as transition cues for various activities. Use scents of favorite or common foods to make choices at snack or meal times. Pair specific scents with colors for people with visual impairments to make art projects more meaningful (we have done this successfully using liquid potpourri on cotton balls stored in film canisters but the Vortex cubes would work so much better). Match scent cubes to objects, photos, symbols, or words. Use them to do a like/don't like inventory with individual students or classes. Or branch out and quiz random people in the hall. Play a "guess what this is" game with the cubes, another fun hallway/peer activity. For even more fun, pair the scent game with taste testing Every Flavor Beans (hmm...think I might have just found my "after spring break" activity).

Follow the Yellow Brick Road...

Part 3 in our journey through Oz...

This week we have had a blast doing Oz activities. We read a story synopsis that I created using Boardmaker and liberally pirating the illustrations from Pete Wells' sensory story. It has sound effects and everything. Combined with a few tactile props for my visually impaired kids and we had a hit. The most popular part of Part 1 was the tornado. I made a tactile/visual version in a water bottle half filled with crystal beads. And EVERYONE got 100% on the comprehension questions. How cool is that?

We also started writing our own versions of the story. Each page of the book has a story prompt with three choices, basically a choose-your-own adventure. They've had lots of fun choosing and reading their books. I'm still waiting to hear back from Pete about whether or not it's OK to share these activities since I've used his work to create them. Hopefully he'll get back to me soon. This project was so popular with the kids I'm going to have to come up with more.

This afternoon we started the Wind Experiments. Between being short handed for staff, running late, and uncooperative kids, we didn't get very far. Only one student finished the experiment. The others variously protested, went on strike, or were too distracted by the other kids to concentrate. In retrospect I should have done a lesson on weight (heavy vs. light) and let them explore the objects as a group and set up the "wind" at a separate station in another area for individual use. The blow dryer was a real distractor to the kids who were still making choices or working on concepts. Not to mention that we were right on top of each other in our rather cramped space. That's how we'll set things up tomorrow when we try again.

We'll also do the Part 1 sensory story with our peer buddies tomorrow. If the response of my home bound student is any indication, it should be a lot of fun. Then our buddies can help us make tornado bottles.

This project has been wonderful for state assessment data for the portfolios. That's always a nice benefit. Interested in what we've done? Drop me a comment.

Next week, in Part 2, we meet the Munchkins, Glinda the Good Witch, and the Scarecrow. Lots of singing planned too. Goodness knows we've listened to the soundtrack enough. HA HA!

Other projects include:

• Bubbles (for Glinda); so much fun and everyone is always motivated to talk; think I'll break out our bubble machine and hook it up to the powerlink


• Magic wand craft to add to our story props


• Scarecrow craft, although I think we'll use up some of the multitude of fabric scraps we have in the closet rather than neckties; this is a nicely tactile project with lots of choices


• And of course the adapted story and the sensory story

The plan is to eventually post pictures of the whole project. I really liked the Voicethread Kate Ahern shared on her blog. I haven't explored Voicethread yet so this might be the perfect opportunity. We also have an Open House type night coming up at the end of the month. The first floor of the building (where my room is) will be opened up to parents and patrons during a home basketball games and we're all being encouraged to put up displays. I think we'll do a Yellow Brick Road timeline on the wall outside our room and put up the projects we've done, or photos of them.

Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...

Part 2 in our Wizard of Oz journey...
Next week we will launch into Oz activities in earnest. This week we have listened to the sound track about 3000 times (did you know the song "We're Off to See the Wizard" is repeated about 30 times on the soundtrack? It's repeating and repeating in my head, that's for sure!), worked on some vocabulary, and pretty well put all the materials together for the unit (now that I have my own laminator--YAY!). We also worked some on Kansas facts and did an Oz art project (chose between making a Toto or a Dorothy; Dorothy was a small paper plate with a choice of yarn to create hair, a choice of hair style--pig tails or braids, and choice of wiggle eyes). Tomorrow I think The Girls are going to spend some time creating the Emerald City, a Yellow Brick Road, and maybe some other Oz scenery.

For week two we are planning the following activities:

• Tornado activities: tornado in a bottle from Pete's Oztastic unit as well as Wind Experiments (look it up on Adapted Learning) and "tornado" sensory bottles (see below)
• Read Part 1 of the Sensory stories (oops! Just remembered I forgot to order the Vortex cubes!)
• Listen to the first part of the audio book
• If we have time we'll design our own magic slippers too

Tornado sensory bottle
Materials:
Empty water bottle with label removed, filled 2/3 with water
Glitter, confetti shapes, small items
1-2 drops food color if desired
Strong glue (we use Gorilla glue; hot glue tends to break)

Procedure:
Student choose items to put in their bottles
Glue the lids on the bottles
Shake the bottles and watch what happens; what happens when you swirl the bottle vs. shaking it?

Adaptation:
For visually impaired kids, make sure to use objects that they can feel hitting the sides of the bottle
Some visually impaired kids might respond better to a bottle partially filled with pinto beans or small beads (pony bead size) so they can feel and hear what is going on

We're Off to See the Wizard...

We are launching our Wizard of Oz unit this week. It should be loads of fun. I'm basing the unit on the wonderful work of Pete Wells and taking liberal advantage of his fantastic illustrations. Hopefully he'll give me permission to share these activities. If so, I'll post them to Adaptive Learning since what I've done is in Boardmaker.

We're going to take it a bit slow this week, getting back into the swing of things after over two weeks off. We're going to do a bunch of background work to prepare for really jumping into the story.

First, we'll work with the kids to make story props so they each have their own set. We'll make tactile/sensory representations for the characters and some of the major settings as well as gather the materials for Pete's sensory stories.

• Auntie Em: an apron


• Uncle Henry: ??


• Dorothy: yarn braids with a bow


• Toto: piece of fur or a small dog collar, for some kids a small dog doll


• Witch: ?? I have a witch's hat, but it's a bit big; maybe make tiny brooms?


• Scarecrow: straw; I also have a cool art project that we'll do during Week 2


• Tin Man: silver card stock OR an aluminum or tin can (no sharp edges)


• Lion: ?? I have an art project for this one too and a couple of lion dolls


• Wizard: ??


• Munchkins: I think we'll use some Little People or Weebles for these


• Glinda: magic wand with a star and curly ribbon


• Flying monkeys: ??


• Ruby slippers: we'll make our own from cheep baby shoes or slippers and red glitter or sequins


• Yellow brick road: we'll paint small blocks or bricks with yellow paint and glitter


• Emerald City: ?? maybe some small boxes painted green with glitter

We'll also play some of the awesome switch games available from Pete's Oztastic activities

I'll do some of the activities from my Kansas unit including reading our All About Kansas adapted book, making sunflowers, and singing Home on the Range (for more fun switch activities from the Intellitools Activity Exchange, search on Bongo Barry's name; a very talented fellow Kansan)

We'll do some work with tornados by making a tornado in a bottle (see the Oztastic activities again or do a google search for lots of ideas) and doing some fun wind experiments with a blowdryer. I think I'm most excited about these experiments because we don't do nearly enough science. Being in Kansas, we have wind nearly all the time and several of my students have "wind issues" so this is a great topic for us.

Wind experiments: Concepts of heavy and light; prediction (check Adaptive Learning to see if I've had time to upload the activity)

• Materials: objects with various weights such as feather, rock, book, paper, toy; a blow dryer; a powerlink and switch


• Procedure: List the experiment items on paper (or use PCS symbols); allow the students to explore the air moving from the hair dryer and to "play" with the hair dryer using a switch; have students explore one of the items (or incorporate choice by letting the student choose which item he/she wishes to experiment with); ask him/her to predict if he/she thinks the item will move when the "wind" blows on it (yes or no in column 1); have the student perform the experiment by blowing air on the object with the hair dryer (could place item on table or in student's hand, depending upon sensory needs); have the student indicate what he/she observed (did the item move in the "wind"? yes or no) and record the response in column 3

We'll also work a lot on the basic vocabulary in the story using the flash card activities Pete includes in his unit as well as just letting the kids explore the character cards and props.

I was able to pick up some cute props from The Kansas Store including a head band and wand for Glinda, Tin Man's axe, a miniature Toto with a basket, etc. In addition, the older sister of one my students is absolutely obsessed with the Wizard of Oz (she prefers to be called Dorothy, thank you) so we may be able to (secretly) borrow some things from her. I downloaded the soundtrack to the movie from itunes as well as two really well-done audiobooks performed dramatically (one by The St. Charles Players, based more on the movie, and the other by The Colonial Radio Players, which stays true to the book).

I created a board game with two different sets of cards. One set has comprehension questions about the story. The other focuses on the concepts of "real" and "pretend." Both use the same game board. Of course, we won't be able to play them until a bit later in the unit.

So stay tuned for our journey down the Yellow Brick Road. I'll share more as we come to it. The original goal was to finish on Jan. 29, Kansas Day, with a Wizard of Oz party, but I'm not sure we'll make it. Between a couple of short weeks and the need to talk about current events such as the upcoming Presidential Inauguration, I'm sure we'll encounter some delays.