Reflection #4

What a miserable day.... A perfect day to learn... But, I'm tired today. The fog outside is a mirrior of the fog in my brain. My body is telling me it's June.
So, today's class began with presenting our social stories from last class. Book Creator is super easy. The hardest part is the actual planning of the story. The creative part is really easy. You can use Book Creator for pretty much anything.
We followed with a brief discussion about our case studies. I'm feeling ok about the whole thing. I've got a little guy in mind (at least). My little guy used to be in my class and I often think of him when I find neat apps/websites that may work for him.
So, once prepped with what the expectations were, Kari, Adele and I set out to the Dollarama in Bayer's Lake to start "seeking and inventing". First part - Seeking. Initially I thought finding 15 low tech items would be difficult. But, before we knew it, we had 40 things!

Gears, Gears, Gears Building Set

I chose this toy because I recently bought it for my classroom. The toy is meant for children ages 3-10. This is a heavy duty gears set that spins and twirls. It’s easy to assemble and has many building possibilities. There are interlocking gears, pillars and cranks, connectors and an interlocking base. My students love creating all sorts of structures, tall or wide. The building set promotes imaginative play and motor development. It teaches kids how things move in a simple way. The pieces are fairly big and bright. But definitely not suitable for kids under 3 (I’d be worried about choking for sure).

Toy Company: Learning Resources Inc
Price: $64.99
# of pieces: 150 moveable pieces
Washability: plastic material enables easy clean up
Storability: easily taken apart and comes in a helpful, plastic storage container.
Batteries: none necessary
This building set has pieces that are quite a good size which enables little hands to pick them up and manoeuver them. Pieces are brightly coloured and easy to handle. They would be appropriate for children with physical or developmental needs. Children of different ages and ability levels would be able to play. The pieces are tactilely unique and encourage exploration. Play can take place on the floor, tabletop or wheelchair tray. Playing with gears is an easy activity to understand and there are no right or wrong way to play.

Features and Benefits:

*Durable
*High contrasting colours
*Tactilely stimulating
*Visually stimulating
*Open-ended
*Easy to grasp/hold

Developmental Processes Promoted:

*Visual attention
*Visual processing
*Cause and effect
*Action concepts: in/out, push/pull, on/off, go/stop
*Fine motor
*Eye-hand coordination
*Problem solving
*Finder and hand control and dexterity
*Hand and wrist grasp
*Sequential thought
*Patience
*Turn taking
*Social Interaction