Chaya Sara is a wonderful intuitive teacher. She has a great understanding of her students developmental level and does a great job of presenting engaging content in a variety of ways
She is currently using the 6 Little Monkeys Vest Display as part of her Circle Time Routine.
She then added the 5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the bed Book by Eileen Christelow during her Story Time.
Chaya Sara also has access to two iPad versions of 6 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed that can be used for one-on-one intervention. The high contrast version is designed to address the needs of two students in her class with visual challenges.
When I last visited her class. she had added a lovely extension activity for 6 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. The six children in her class were seated legs tucked under the edge of a duvet filled with large pieces of foam (upholstery left overs). Chaya Sara had cleverly scanned and enlarged individual pictures of each monkey from the book (now 9" tall) and had attached them to a board covered with velcro-receptive, indoor-outdoor carpet ... allowing the monkeys to jump on the 'bed' as a unit. They can also be easily removed from the board when they 'fall and bump their heads'. Chaya Sara's students have emerging joint attention skills so the symbols are presented ON the props, rather than on an additional communication board, e.g., each monkey has a number on its front and on its back are the symbols, (bumped) HEAD and OW!
As the chant progresses, the monkeys are removed one-by-one from the carpet board, leaving additional space to add 3"symbols to further support the chant, Mama CALLED DOCTOR and the DOCTOR SAID …
5 Little Snowmen
A simple voice output communication device with the message "No more monkeys jumping on the bed' can be velcroed to the flip side of the carpet board allowing the teacher to seamlessly offer the time-dependent repetitive line to be be activated by her students.
This strategy of incorporating the symbols on the props helps to consolidate the visual focus ... especially important when children's joint attention skills are evolving. This activity also lends itself to replacing existing monkey faces with student photo faces. The chant now becomes 'Five little kiddies jumping on the bed' and engagement is further enhanced!
The duvet now becomes the snow covered hills
A large sun graphic is attached to the front of a flashlight to support the lyrics 'out comes the sun'.
There are three vest display versions availabl (PCS, SymbolStix, VI) to support this curricular unit.
There are four Animated Step-by-Steps® versions available (Regular, PCS, SymbolStix, VI)
The white duvet is now covered by a green sheet or blanket to simulate the green hills.
5 Green & Speckled Frogs
The white duvet is now covered by a blue sheet or blanket to simulate the blue water. A gym bolster is added as 'the log'. A mister with warm water can be used to simulate the splash as each frog jumps into the water.
5 Fat Turkeys ... 6 Little Gingerbreads ... 5 Little Pumpkins You get the idea.
5 Green & Speckled Frogs
The white duvet is now covered by a blue sheet or blanket to simulate the blue water. A gym bolster is added as 'the log'. A mister with warm water can be used to simulate the splash as each frog jumps into the water.
In the hands of a skilled teacher .... content is repeated in a variety of interactive formats ... creating a rich learning environment that is both therapeutic and fun.
…’til the next post …
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©2019 Carol Goossens’, Ph.D.
Augmentative Communication Consultant
Speech-Language Pathologist
Special Educator
