 S.M.A.R.T. at HomeSummer is almost here, which means your child may be spending more time at home and, hopefully, outside. Before you know it, you’ll be hearing, “I’m bored!” We've found a fun way to chase that boredom away by securing a tarp to the grass and adding a sprinkler. Then have your child(ren) roll across the tarp. When they no longer find that fun or challenging enough, have them crawl on their belly and/or their hands and knees! Children of all ages enjoy water play and we think adding some brain-stimulating activities is a S.M.A.R.T. thing to do. Share your photos with us, we'd love to see them! If you are looking for more movement ideas, check out our Time Saving Tips!
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Fun Spring themes can be easy! But some teachers run out of ideas on how to change their S.M.A.R.T. course or feel overwhelmed to think of new ways to change it. The New Ulm ECFE teachers made some simple, yet effective, changes to their course that we were excited to see. They changed their course by:
Watch the short video to be inspired and catch some great ideas to make your S.M.A.R.T. Course feel fresh too!  Sarah, One S.M.A.R.T. Teacher at Manz Elementary, knows that being outside in the spring is exactly what her students need! So, she is preparing a movement course using S.M.A.R.T. Activities and the playground.
Playgrounds have several places to help develop the tactile, vestibular, and proprioceptive systems. The playground at Sarah’s school has landscape edging for the students to use as a Balance Beam, slides for them to climb up and slide down, grassy areas for them to Pencil Roll, and plenty of wide-open space to do Helicopter Spins before returning inside. Did you notice a couple of the CORE Floor Activities are missing? Sarah noticed that too and will continue to have her students Alligator Crawl and do the Creep Track in the classroom.  Time Saving TipsThe end of the year is in sight! Still, it is important to change out your S.M.A.R.T. Vision Trackers to keep your students engaged. We know you’re short on time, so we’ve made a few simple spring vision mazes for you to download, print, and use with your students. You will find four different mazes all with the same 3 colors so it’s easy to give directions as you monitor the students. (Remember to have students cover one eye and trace the first color, then cover the other eye and trace the second color, and finally trace the third color with both eyes open. Another Time Saving Tip: we’ve included a download for that too!) We’ve created two Spring, two rhyming, and two open-ended mazes so you add your own content! Reference:
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Here are some fun ways to help your child develop vision skills at home:
Sometimes we educators can get a little tripped up when creating new cards for the Creep/Slap Track. Because it is the end of the year we feel that we have to TEACH all day long and forget the Creep/Slap Track is a vision activity. (That’s why this month’s S.M.A.R.T. Spaces includes a free download too! We’re sharing Creep/Slap Track cards to help you through a busy end of the year.)
Remember, the cards in Creep/Slap Track are there to direct the movement of the eyes from side to side, this helps stimulate the brain and build the eye movements needed for reading. So, remember, the cards in the pockets of the Creep/Slap Track must be review information! If a student cannot read the material simply tell them to gently slap the card with their hand. Download: References:
Off with the lights, on with sight word review! One S.M.A.R.T. Teacher, Michelle at Southern Bluffs Elementary, uses the Basic Vision activity to boost her students' sight word knowledge and vision skills. When she turns the light on, she reads the word on the page and when the light goes off, the students repeat the word. This may seem like a reading task, but Michelle knows by pairing it with Basic Vision, she is helping to develop her students’ vision systems too. When she turns the light on, the lens in the eye bends and when she turns the light off, the lens relaxes. This S.M.A.R.T. Activity builds flexibility and endurance of the focusing system, critical for reading up close AND shifting focus from the board to the desk repeatedly.
Michelle is also One S.M.A.R.T. Teacher because she wrote her 100 sight words in sets of 25 on different colored paper so she can easily keep track of how many cycles she’s done. On Monday she reads the 25 words on the blue paper, on Tuesday she reads the 25 words on the green paper, on Wednesday she reads the 25 words on the yellow paper, on Thursday she reads the 25 words on the white paper, and on Friday she lets the students pick which words to read.
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 That's One S.M.A.R.T. Teacher!One S.M.A.R.T. Teacher, Steph from Kasson, wisely uses her time by giving her students a double dose of brain stimulation! She found that her students would often move around a little during the still time in Helicopter Spins. She tried adding Auditory Activities to the 15 seconds of “stop” time looking for a solution, and she is pleased with the results.
Helicopter Spins and Auditory Activities are excellent to combine because they both stimulate the Vestibulocochlear Nerve, so by doing both, Steph is providing double the stimulation for her students!
Helicopter Spins are a type of Topsy Turvy Activity that helps develop the sense of where we are in the world. Check out the other skills Topsy Turvy Activities help to develop.  |
AuthorSCheryl Smythe Archives
April 2022
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