Last Week of School!

We are on the home stretch! 

I hope you have a great summer and I cannot wait to see you in the fall! 

If you are a 4th grader, goodbye and good luck! I hope you enjoy 5th grade! 

SOCIAL WORK week of June 7th - June 13th: Goodbyes and Staying Connected

Goodbyes and Staying Connected

It's that time of the year again when some of us say goodbye for the summer, some of us move on to middle school, and some of us may transfer to other schools.

Goodbyes can make us feel sad, angry, excited and many other feelings.  However you feel about a goodbye, is ok.

While we sometimes think about goodbyes as "forever," but they aren't.  Every relationship you have becomes part of you.  It changes the wiring in your brain.  So one of the tricks to help with goodbyes, is to find ways to stay connected with that relationship.  Here are some ways that may help!

When connecting with people from a distance (e.g. over the summer, or if someone moves to a different school etc.) you can (with parent permission):

• Ask for their email address to write them an email
• Ask for their home address to send them letters or cards
• Ask for their username on a video chat app
• Ask for a parent phone number to talk to them on the phone

For people who you may not be able to see or talk to again, you can stay connected to that relationship by:

• Telling stories and memories about that person
• Looking at pictures of that person
• Writing a letter or make a card to that person and put it in a special place (e.g. a special memory box)
• Having conversations out loud to that person (and maybe even responding to yourself in that person's "voice"--saying what you'd think they would say)

I hope that you all have a great summer, and I hope to connect with all of you again soon!

Physical Therapy: Week of June 7-12

Try Out These Garden Yoga Positions!  Have a great summer!

Speech Therapy: Tips for Clearer Speech / Communication (June 7 to 12)

Have a wonderful summer vacation!!

And remember this summer to HAVE FUN!

Occupational Therapy for the week of May 31-June 6

Make Your Own Drawings

Use these step by step drawings to draw your own pictures. Try them all or pick your favorites!

Cereal Box Car Ramp

 Step 1: 

Gather your materials. You will need: an empty cereal box or two, scissors, blocks, Legos, or something to help make the angle of the ramp, something to go down the ramp (matchbox car, marbles, ball) and tape.

Step 2: 

You are going to cut your cereal box to make the ramp. There are many different ways you can choose to cut the box. Will one way make your car go faster than another way?

 

Step 3:

Build up the base that you are going to set the ramp on. This can be done stacking blocks or legos under the ramp or by taping empty toilet paper rolls under it.You can also use other parts of the cereal box to build the ramp. Use the photos below to help get creative. 

Step 4:

You are now ready to put your car down the ramp! Did it go as fast as you were expecting? What can you do to make the car go faster? What can you use to build your ramp up higher?

Send me a picture of your creation at bissone@westbrookschools.org. I hope you have fun with this!

Occupational Therapy Goals targeted: visual perceptual skills, fine motor skills, flexible thinking, problem solving skills

Physical Therapy: Week of May 31 - June 6

Try Out This Dice Exercise Activity!

Roll the dice to see what exercise you get to do!  Kids love the concept of chance and not knowing which exercise will come up next!  Can you roll all 6 exercises?

Speech Therapy: Articulation /SH/ sound. (May 31 to June 6)

If you are working on the 'quiet sound' here are some pictures to help you practice.  Remember to round your lips and make sure you blow the air out the front.  Lift your finger to your lips and say, "SSSHHHHH".  Looking in a mirror always helps.     

Practice each picture 5 times:   " shine, shine, shine, shine, shine. "

If /SH/ isn't your child's sound, you can use the link at the top of this blog to go to the Saccarappa Therapy Web Site.  Find the SPEECH tab to the far right and there are multiple links under "Speech Sounds" to pictures / word lists for every sound that a child could be working on in speech therapy.  

And remember..... HAVE FUN!!