Fall Trees

It has been a few weeks! And what a busy few weeks it has been! Now that we have mastered our routine, the different activities are in full swing!

My favorite part of our schedule is Monday...partially because it is a half day-kiddos leave at 1:00...and partially because I call it MANIC MONDAY...which means everything is CRAZY! I use it for art...so each Monday, we work on an art project. It is a nice way to bring in each week...and it makes sure that I always have current work up on my walls.

2 weeks ago, we made fall trees! What a great way to bring in the fall! And who knows...maybe it worked! Our temperatures in Southern California will finally drop this week! Here are some of our pictures of our fall trees...

 We started with their hand print as the base of the tree! For my kids, this is an exercise in a few things, the least of which is sensory integration. So many of my students have a variety of sensory issues, that allowing me to take a paint brush, and paint their hand, and then put that on paper, was an exercise in control! Overall, they did pretty good with this part. One of my students told me that he "looked like a bear" and growled and howled while we made his tree trunk! A fun time in imaginary play!

 My kids had a variety of techniques to complete their trees. We, of course, had to add leaves. Because we were making fall trees, our leaves were red, yellow and orange (working on color recognition.) The above student used a full hand method to put her leaves on! The student to the right and below used a one finger method to put their leaves on their trees!

Overall, I think their trees turned out GREAT! I did trim some of the leaves, if they got a little carried away, and mounted them on construction paper.

What a fun way to get my students interested in fall! What do you do to help your students enjoy fall