Last Week of August

     During this second week of school we're learning all about our school, our new friends and our new teachers.  The children are learning about many new ways to communicate with each such as sign language, using pictures and using a communication device such as a Dynavox to talk with their friends.  You might see new signs at home such as drink, please, more and friends. We are learning why our school has ramps and that our friends that use wheelchairs need those ramps to get around the school. We are also learning that our school has rules that we need to follow.  The children are already saying, "walking feet" inside the school.  Our rules are very simple:

• Listen to your teachers
• Walking feet inside the school
• Keep your hands and feet to yourself
• Use nice words with our friends
• Use inside voices

     We played musical chairs yesterday and it was fantastic...we giggled and laughed a lot as we all scrambled to find a chair when the Sousa marching music stopped!  We are also learning nursery rhymes during our music time.  Today we'll use our rhythm sticks.  We'll first learn the rules with our sticks and I will demonstrate the myriad of ways to use the sticks.  Then I'll pass out the sticks to each child and we'll go around the circle and play follow the leader with each child taking the leadership role.  This is where the children get very creative and do fantastic moves with their sticks and we all follow their lead.