found her zen

For my fellow SPD, ADHD, PTSD, ASD parental units, you will appreciate a few great moments from our week. We found her “zen” and had some amazing learning moments, not to mention finding a new classroom!

First, my baby girl relaxed for the first time in her life… 25 minutes of calmness, quiet, eyes closed… ZEN… most amazing thing I have ever seen. It was discovered while at an OT appt. a simple swinging motion. She was on her back, flat, on a wooden “surfboard” suspended and swinging head to toe, back and forth. I shared tears with her OT. I wish I had the words to describe the moment, it was the most amazing thing I have ever seen.

The days that followed led us to find some other peaceful moments.

Mermaid Rock. She climbed up over and over and would just sit calmly for minute at a time.

School day on a dock, the floating motion was so calming for her. We read three chapters of her book. Also a great way to meet new people and learn random things. A nice couple taught her to tell the difference between a male and female Mallard.

We walked off some energy (and have since replaced the too-big back pack.

During our adventure we found a woodpecker. Her imagination also saw a whale, owls, and a wolf, which she included in her nature journal entry.

I am on the left smiling because I see the woodpecker, she is on the right with “scared face” because she sees the wolf.

During these days we have also had some of our usual meltdowns however she has now truly experienced peace and she liked it.

To see such a look of peace on her face was such an amazing gift.

PSA: 20% sale!

December 1, 2014  To: December 3, 2014

Offering a Discount of 20% on my entire store!

Short and sweet, now go shop and stock up!

sight words: set 1, group 3

Now ready! Set 3 is here, download at: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/beginning-sight-words-set-1-group-3-Do-a-dots-1551737 and enjoy 🙂

part deux

Group 2 of the beginning sight words set. Will see if I can get group 3 done before bed tonight.

beginning sight words do-a-dots

Working on a series of sight words for use with do-a-dot markers. Here is the first set. The first eight or nine groups will not be to hard to do. I am still trying to figure out how to make this work with the longer words, I will figure something out though!

Don’t have do-a-dots? Not a problem, the only limit is imagination. They can color, doodle, stamp, sticker, washi tape, candy, beans, counters, play-doh or anything else they can think of!

playdough mats: shapes

Let them have fun while they learn! Shapes, letters, numbers, 3 new packs to the playdough sets in my store!

The shape set contains 16 pages of shapes and lines to follow.

The number set contains 20 pages and includes numbers 1-10, each page contains a 10-grid to count with. The numbers with the starter dot have the grid filled in for the youngers. The grids in the plain set are empty so they will count on their own.

The alphabet set includes 52 pages. 2 sets of A-Z with upper and lower case on each page. Like the numbers, one set has as a starter dot, the other does not.

As with all sets like this I make, Play-doh is not the only option. They can be colored, decorated with stickers, do-a-dots, laminated and used with wipe-offs. Many options, just print and have fun!

play-doh: the benefits

We are on a Play-doh kick around here. When Miss Thing is not trying to find a way to use it in school she is using it in school she is using it to create dresses for her clip dollies. It is also used often in her occupational therapy. I had no idea play-doh had so many benefits for little hands!

The obvious is how it helps young children build finger and hand strength, fine motor skills and coordination. The less obvious is communication skills and story telling. MT cannot play with Play-doh without a constant chatter. If you listen to her, you will hear her telling stories as she plays, talking her way through a new dress design, or imitating her favorite youtube channels and pretending to put on her on show with very detailed step-by-step instructions.

Here is a link to an interesting article by Mallary I. Swartz, MS, she explains the benefits this magical substance has for little ones. Benefits include the following:

• social and emotional development
• approaches to learning
• creative arts
• language development
• science
• mathematics
• literacy
• physical health and development

Once I realized all the benefits I decided “playdough mats” were going to be my next project, I created one Playdough Pack last week and labeled it “set 1” knowing more would follow for sure. This weekend I created 5 more, however I decided to combine a couple to create larger packs so I will only be uploading 3 new sets tonight… after I take MT dress shopping. Priorities ya know! Ta-ta for now~

playdough mats

Payton approved! Print, laminate if desired, decorate. We used playdough. They could be colored, stamped, glitter glued. Options are only limited by imagination. So far her favorite is the alien, she thinks it should be pink since it is from Mars.

This will be the first in a series. I plan on adding holidays, seasons, letters and numbers. If you have any ideas just let me know, I would love to hear them.

punch it

Here are four sets of number cards, 1-10. Print on card stock to make stronger or laminate to be reusable. Find the number match and clip with clothes pins or paperclips, color, punch with a hole puncher, use do-a-dots, cover with beans or candy. Be creative and have fun!