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                                                               AUGUST 1998 NEWSLETTER
 

Welcome back to school !  Here in Texas, most school districts open for business in early to middle August, so we are always starting back when summer is at it's hottest!  This year we have been having record heat, and have been making the national news with our heat spell and it's effects on people and crops.  My philosophy is, it's too hot to enjoy being outdoors, so we might as well be in the classroom.  It's not fall yet, so we can't do thematic units on autumn leaves or pumpkins, we have to create some different ideas for activities that are relevant to our kids.

This time, the August newletter includes units on Free Time Activities, Shapes and All About ME.

ALL ABOUT ME:

Help your students get acquainted with their new class or with new members of the class by doing a unit about themselves.  Language circle is the best time to introduce a new unit, if you're in a secondary education setting, oral discussion groups related to social studies or social or life skills are appropriate times.
 
Help your students find ways to communicate about themselves, their school, home, friends and families.

INTRODUCTIONS: Help students learn to introduce themselves by rehearsing appropriate phrases or adding a self introductory phrase to their communication board or device.  For students who can communicate by conventional means, practice using spoken language or sign language to say phrases such as "Hi, I'm Patsy, what's your name?"
For students using communication devices, especially for new users, this is a great time for them to learn the social skills along with their friends.  Some school districts on low budgets, or some students who are not ready for complex communication systems, may use a switch and tape loop, or a BIG MAC to say the same phrase again and again.  After using this prerecorded message to get the listener's attention, the student can point to icons on a communication board, or compose a message using a voice output device.

BODY POSTERS: One of my favorite activities for this type of unit, is the life size body poster.  This is made by finding a piece of paper big enough for the student to lay on such as feezer paper for smaller children, or bulletin board paper for bigger kids.  If you are working with kids in a setting outside the public schools, such as a day care, you may not have access to a variety of art supplies, but requesting a purchase order for a large (36 inch wide)roll of white paper will give you access to a variety of art activities which you can do again and again with different thematic units through the school year.