Oak Lane School

Oak Lane Class of 2024😊

Making bouquets for Mom. We love our Oak Lane Moms! Happy Mother’s Day! 🤍💐

Happy Eclipse Day! 🌝🌚

Hello, March! 👋

Exploring Africa

❄️walking in a winter wonderland❄️

Reading about the changes that come along with winter and drawing pictures of the things we like to do in the winter. ❄️☃️

Love these responses for separation anxiety. 💕

How it started 🌱 How it’s going 🍅

Summer looks a little different around here. Taking in the last few weeks of training and excited to implement some new strategies and best practices into our literacy curriculum this year!

Oak Lane Class of 2023 Self Portraits
Ages 3-5 🙂

We love Julia Donaldson and Alex Scheffler books and their new book, SUPERWORM, was a hit with our budding readers! 📚

What’s your favorite book from this dynmaic duo?

Looking at the work of Claude Monet with a mini art exhibit. We learned that Monet liked to go outside and paint landscapes, so we did the same! 🎨

Egg-citing things happening over here! 🥚🐰

Cherry Blossom Art 🌸

Help your child open food packaging with food scissors! Keep a child friendly pair in the kitchen for easy accessibility. Your child can gain independence and practice cutting. It’s a win-win! 🙌🏻✂️

If your child is unable to opeate scissors, try these instead!

Loop Scissors Colorful Grip Scissors Loop Handle Self-Opening Scissors Adaptive Cutting Scissors for Children and Adults Special Needs, 8 Inches (Yellow, Red, Blue, 6 Packs) https://a.co/d/apsrBFp

Little hands need little pencils!

Here’s a quick little thought/frustration of mine: Please, please, let kindergarteners (and first graders) (and I’d even say second graders!) use half-pencils instead of full pencils.

I say “let” because I keep having to write it into IEPs as an accommodation. I wish it was just the normal!

Children’s hands are 4-5 inches in circumference. Adult hands are 7-8 inches in circumference. And yet adults and very small children alike are expected to use 7.5 inch long pencils.

The equivalent ratio for an adult (using some averages) would be using a 12.5 inch long pencil about as wide as a thick marker! Imagine how unwieldy that would be. Add an eraser to the end of it and now you’ve got even more weight counterbalancing all of the fine motor control you’re trying to do at the pencil end. And all of that with muscles that are brand-new to fine motor control at all and not very coordinated at it…so imagine, really, trying to write with a 12.5 inch long pencil with your non-dominant hand.

You might very well get referred to me for OT when all you needed in the first place was a writing utensil the right size for your hand, from the beginning (not as a special accommodation)!

[Image description: A simple photograph of a regular-sized pencil and a half-sized, shortened pencil side by side. End description.]

Letter practice, but make it fun! 🙂

We like to call this WORM WEATHER! 🪱🪱🪱

Enrollment for Fall 2023 is OPEN! Message/Email/Call to schedule a tour. Details below.

If you’re looking for something to do tomorrow, check this out!

My favorite Playhouse teacher💜Join us for our final and farewell preschool party this Friday at 10:30💗Register here: https://originalplayhouse.com/monthly-preschool-parties/

This week we’re making heart suncatchers! 💗☀️

Directions- https://discover.hubpages.com/holidays/Heart-Window-Craft-Stained-Glass

shaving cream = ♾️ possibilities

Patiently waiting to build a REAL snowman, but these ADORABLE paper snowman will make due for now. ☃️ ?

🚨Arctic Animal Rescue🚨

Introducing/reinforcing polar animal vocabulary.

We have been learning about animals that live in the arctic and this activity has been on repeat!

The children really enjoy hammering the ice and naming what arctic animals they broke free. 🧊🦭🐧🐻‍❄️

❄️ DIY Snow globes ❄️

Let that holiday spirit linger by turning your Christmas tree into something the winter animals can enjoy!

Bird feeder ornaments- Spread peanut butter on a pine cone and roll in birdseed.

Garland- String cherries, cranberries and popcorn using a large blunt needle and fishing wire.

🌲✨🐿️🦌🐦