Annual Syllabus for Montessori I

Quarterly Planner

Unit I

Montessori – I

                     (April –August 2013-14)

AIMS & OBJECTIVES

LANGUAGE SKILLS

Listening & Speaking Skills

To increase upon the skills of

1.  understanding basic conversation.

2.  following simple instructions.

3.  listening to and enjoy ‘Rhymes and Stories’.

Pre-Reading skills

To inculcate the aptitude to

1.  hold and open a book.

2.  read pictures from cut books and class library books.

Pre-Writing skills

To cultivate the competence to

1.      draw strokes(-, |, /, \)

2.      Curves(     )

3.      colour within a given shape.

4.      make objects from clay.

5.      do tearing and pasting activities.

6.      play with sand.

COGNITIVE SKILLS

Pre-Number Concepts

1.  identify various primary colours: Red, Yellow & Blue.

2.  sort and match objects according to the given colour.

3.  understanding of concept big/small, hot/cold, loud/soft, clean/dirty, same/different, day/night.

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

1. To develop interest and curiosity in surroundings.

2. To develop the ability to

i)   about myself(boy/girl).      ii)  about our body parts.

CREATIVE AND EXPRESSIVE ART

To develop the ability to

1. use colouring and drawing tools.

2. enjoy musical activities.

3. sing simple songs and rhymes with action.

VALUE BASED EDUCATION

1. To develop the ability to say the prayers after the teacher.

2. To create awareness about general hygiene.

3. To inculcate good eating habits.

4. To instil basic values like sharing, honesty and truthfulness.

5.  To help understand the importance of days like Mother’s Day, Independence Day, Raksha Bandhan.

Festivals

1. Awareness about the main festivals of the summer season – Raksha Bandhan, Independence Day, Ram Navmi, Baisakhi and other important days, falling during the ‘Quarter’.

2. Significance of these festivals and how they are celebrated

3. Stories based on these festivals

LEARNING EXPERIENCES (LANGUAGE)

Listening And Speaking Skills

1. Basic conversation related to theme & topics to be taught for the month

2. Simple instructions, greetings and courtesies in English.

General instructions commonly used by teachers and parents.

3. Rhymes and Stories through picture books, story charts, puppets and drawings on the trace board.

Stories

·   According to the Theme

Me and My Family

Early to bed and early to rise

4.  ‘Recognise Me’ Kit for identification of different objects.

5.   Nature walk- Students would listen to the sounds in the nature around them and talk about them.

6.   Free Play

7.   Games like ‘Who is at the door?’ etc.

8.   Role Play.

9.   Riddles like ‘Who am I?’

10. ‘Show and Tell’ activity to enhance speaking skills.

Pre-Reading

Children will explore the Pictures Books, Pictures Cards etc and would be observed as to how they handle the books i.e. are they able to open, hold or close the book properly?

Are they able to talk about/describe the Pictures?

Games like ‘Chinese Whisper’, ‘Passing the Parcel’, ‘Balloon Race’ etc would be played.

Pre-Writing

Activities like Colouring, Sorting of Pulses, Sand-pit play, Scribbling, Plasticine Play etc. would be held to enhance the fine motor skills. ‘Threading of coloured beads’ would be carried out to help develop the sequencing skills and to strengthen the concepts of colours.

‘Plasticine Play’ would be done to allow them to make objects using their  imagination  and  as instructed  by the teacher.

Introduce the body parts with the help of potato

Old  Newspapers  and  glazed  paper  will  be  used  for  Crushing  and  Tearing activities.

COGNITIV E SKILLS

Pre-Number Concepts

·   Introduction of Colours- Red, Blue, Yellow.

·   Games  such  as  –  ‘Colour  Race’,  ‘Colour  Hunt’,  ‘Colour Story’,  ‘Mystery Bag’, ‘Riddles’, ‘Colour  Sorting’,  ‘Colour Matching’ I spy…….., Free Colour play, Tipy Tippy Tap etc…will be played to enhance the concepts taught.

·   Colour day celebration.

·   Lacing The Beads Kit for fine motor skill development.

EVS

Here I come

·   Welcome of Children to the School

Marvellous me

·   All about me – to develop the concept of self

·   Body Parts

• Self Body Parts

·         My Sense Organs

All about My Family

My Home

Creating awareness about various rooms in home; Bed room, Living room, Kitchen, Bath Room, etc.

Summer and Rainy Season

Various concepts related to the season will be taken up like

·   Fruits, vegetables and other food items available

·   Clothes we wear and things used

·   Related activities

Activities

1. Games like Belonging Race, Be quick, Water Games, Treasure Hunt, Parts of the Body Race, Poldy says…, and activities like Rhymes and songs, Salad Fruit Party, Concepts taught.

2. Sequencing and classification of objects.

Worksheets and supporting activities will  be  designed  to  enhance  their  knowledge. Audio- Visual Aids will be used to reinforce what has already been taught in the class in all areas. Related Field Visits, where ever possible would also be planned.

Value Based Education:

·   Various activities like storytelling, Common Courtesies, Group Projects to impart Good Habits.

·   Celebration of different festivals and their importance in our lives.

HYGIENE AND NUTRIT ION

‘Friday Specials’, ‘Fruit Break’ and ‘Table Manners’ to inculcate healthy and good eating habits.

Personal Grooming for Personality Development.

CREATIVE AND EXPRESSIVE ART

Art & Craft

·   Painting – Hand Painting, Thumb Painting, Finger Painting.

·   Glitter Sticking.

·   Colouring within the given shapes and figures

·   Collage Work- as per the project in hand, painting, paper folding, cotton dabbing, bud painting, nail printing, sand painting.

·   Sand play

·   Making of Bonfire on sheet with finger painting.

Music & Dance

·   Sing and dance to recorded music.

CO-CURRICULAR ACT IVITIES

Paper Craft, Nature Walk, School Tour etc. as and when organised in the school.

FIELDTRIP

Vegetable Market

Cactus Garden

                        (mention a nearby place)

* Subject to change depending upon the prevailing circumstances.

Suggested activities for parents:

·         “Play Ball”- This is not just a call-out but can be used to help your child to develop his/ her motor skills. You can start with a large ball and then gradually move to small sized ball. Throw; catch; bounce one or more times to another person; kick a stationary or moving ball; roll; toss-clap-catch; toss under leg-catch; bounce with one or two hands; bounce with alternating hands; bounce while walking; bounce with eyes closed ; catch in a container; throw in a basket or at a target.

·         ‘Hop like a frog’- Encourage your child to hop as many times as possible, increasing the number required each time as better balance and strength are achieved.

·         ‘Skip to my lou’ - Teach this skill by having your child step on one foot, hop on that foot, step on the other foot, hop on that foot, etc. with increasing speed. Encourage the child to be able to skip for fairly long lengths of time or in circles or other patterns without losing the rhythm.

·         Jump like a kangaroo- Have the child jump so that both feet land at the same time. Jump in a series of hoops; jump over objects or varying heights; jump in 180º turns; jump with both feet together; broad jump; high jump.

·         General Exercises- Encourage muscle strengthening through exercises such as push ups, sit ups, chin ups, toe touches, leg lifts, arm circles, etc.

·         Clay/Play-Doh- Encourage the youngster to manipulate clay in order to strengthen the fingers. The child could be asked to try to make a “ball”, “pancake”, or “snake” to use a variety of muscles. Also the child can try to make letters and numbers out of the clay.

·         Get large plastic buckets (or sand buckets if you  have lots of really little toys) in a variety of solid colours (red, blue, yellow, green, pink). Ask your child to clean up his/her toys by  putting  the toys in the bucket  corresponding  to the color bucket. Great for teaching personal responsibility, color identification, and sorting.

·         Next time you read a story to your ward, try t his activity to develop his problem solving and creative thinking skills. When you get to a point in the story where the character faces a problem or needs to make a decision, stop reading and ask your child to describe what he might do in a similar situation. Encourage him to explain his choices.

·         Place a small object inside a large tube sock. then, have your child stick his or her hand inside the sock, feel the object, and try to guess what it is. This activity helps children focus on their sense of touch. Select items such as a eraser, rock, penny , or button.

·         Mirror Game : Here is  another simple early childhood physical development game. In partners, the children face one another (or you can play this at home with your child) and one partner plays the part of the “reflection” of the other. When the child jumps, the partner needs to jump. When the child touches their nose, the partner needs to touch their nose. This helps in body awareness.

·         Lying on their stomach, bending their knees, get your child to hold on to their ankles and sway from side to side like a basket. This is a great exercise that stretches their muscles and teaches co -ordination and balance. Children love these simple gross motor activities.

·         Next time you read a story to your ward, try this activity to develop his problem solving and creative thinking skills. When you get to a point in the story where the character faces a problem or needs to make a decision, stop reading and ask your child to describe what he might do in a similar situation. Encourage him to explain his choices.

·         Take your child on a walk around your neighborhood and listen for different sounds of  nature.  Can you hear birds chirping, leaves rustling  in  the wind, sticks  breaking  underfoot,  dogs barking,  or  water flowing?  Now,  listen  for 'people' noises: people talking or laughing, children playing, cars and trucks driving by, or noisy construction vehicles. Can you hear more nature sounds or people sounds?  Have your child mimic some of the sounds he saw or draw pictures of the things that were making the sounds.

Unit II

Montessori I

(September – December 2013-14)

AIMS & OBJECTIVES

LANGUAGE SKILLS

Listening & Speaking Skills

To develop the ability to :

1.  understand basic conversation.

2.  follow instructions in simple sentences.

3.  listen and respond to ‘Rhymes’ with actions.

4.  understand stories in Hindi & English.

5.  speak a few sentences.

Pre-Reading skills

To develop the ability to

1.   handle books with care.

2.  enjoy picture books.

3.  talk about a picture/scene

Pre-Writing skills

To develop the ability to

1.   thread coloured beads according to a given sequence with Lacin g Beads (kit).

2.   colour within a given shape.

3.   make objects from clay.

4.   do tearing and crushing activities.

5.   play with sand.

6.   trace objects / shapes.

7.   Easy to tough Alphabets (I, L, T, F, E)

8.    Maths-(1, 7, 4, 9, 10, 2, 3, 5)

COGNITIVE SKILLS

Pre-Number Concepts

To develop the ability to

1.   identify and sort different colours

2.   identify the basic shapes.

3.   sort and match objects for shapes.

4.   compare i.e. fat/thin, long/short, wet/dry, full/empty, big/bigger/biggest, tall/short.

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

1.   To develop interest and curiosity in surroundings.

2.   To develop the ability to

i) identify different Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables. ii) identify different Animals.

iii) identify different birds                                          iv) know about towns

3.  Different means of transport

4.  To know about i) role of family ii) My School

CREATIVE AND EXPRESSIVE ART

To develop the ability to:

1.  use colouring and drawing tools.

2.  enjoy musical activities.

3.   sing simple songs and rhymes with action.

VALUE BASE D EDUCATION

1.   To develop the ability to say the prayers independently.

2.   To create awareness about general hygiene.

3.   To inculcate good eating habits.

4.   To instil basic values like sharing, honesty and truthfulness.

5.   To know about important festivals i.e. Gandhi Jayanti, Dussehra, Deepawali, Children’s

Day, Christmas, New Year.

Festivals

1.      Awareness about the main festivals celebrated in India – Dussehra, Diwali, Gandhi  Jayanti, Bhai Dooj, Karva Chauth & Christmas.

2.      Celebration of Children’s Day.

3.      Significance of these festivals and how they are celebrated.

4.      Stories based on these festivals.

5.      Creative activities related to these festivals.

LEARNING EXPERIENCES

LANGUAGE

Listening and Speaking Skills

1. Basic conversation related to theme and topics to be taught for the month.

2. Instructions in simple sentences.   e.g a)  Eat your Tiffin slowly !

b)  Finish your Tiffin !

c)  Wipe your face !

d)  Stand up !

e)  Sit properly !

f)   Join your hands and close your eyes etc.

3.  Rhymes and stories through Picture Books, Story Charts, Puppets and Drawings on the board….  etc.

4. ‘Show and Tell’ activity to enhance speaking skills.

English Stories

1.  The lazy Bunny & hard working Tuttu.

2.   The Little Red Hen.

3.   The birth of Christ

(mention which stories as per the theme)

Pre-Reading

Children will be exposed to books, pictures, cards etc. and observed i.e. they are able to handle books with care, turn the pages and read pictures.

Pre-Writing

1.   To develop fine motor skills, they will be given coloured beads. They will thread the beads and learn sequencing.

2.   Joining dots and tracing the objects/shapes will be done for fine muscle development.

3.   Children will be given plasticine to make objects using their imagination and as instructed by the teacher.

4.   Old Newspapers and glazed paper will be used for crushing and tearing activities.

5.   Sand play, Scribbling, Plasticine Play etc. activities will be done to enhance fine motor skills.

COGNITIVE SKILLS

Pre-Number Concepts

1.   Identification of shapes - Square and Rectangle, Circle and Triangle.

2.   Games such as – Shape R ace, Shape Walk, Feel & Tell The Shapes, Colour Day, Colour  Hunt,  Name  Of  The Colour,  Mystery  Bag,  Riddles,  Musical Chairs, What’s At My Back,  Jump In  The Pond will be played within  the classroom situation.

3.   Lacing the Beads for colour recognition & fine motor skill development.

EVS PROJECTS

Birds, Family, My School, Towns

Transport

1.   Differentiating between land, air, water transport

2.   Talk about a particular means of transport

Health is wealth

1.   Importance of washing hands and technique of washing hands

2.   Basic nutrition

3.   Dental hygiene

Seasons (Autumn and Winter)

1. Fruits and Vegetables available

2.  Other food items related to Autumn and Winter Season

3 . Clothes we wear

4 . Things used in Autumn and Winter Seasons

5.  Related Rhymes and  activities

Activities

1. Activities related to EVS projects; Sequencing, Sorting and Pairing of  Objects.

2. Painting, Collage work, Sand play, Songs and Rhymes, Dramatization and Role

Play

3. Games such as ‘Jump in the Pond’, ‘Tippi Tippi Tap’, Musical Chairs, etc. will be played related to the topics and concepts taught.

Worksheets and supporting activities will  be  designed  to  enhance  their  knowledge. Audio- Visual Aids will be used to reinforce what has already been taught in the class in all areas. Related Field Visits, where ever possible would also be planned.

Value Based Education:

a)   Various activities like story-telling, dramatization to inculcate habit of sharing and greeting, being honest and truthful.

b)   Celebration of different festivals and their importance.

HYGIENE AND NUTRIT ION

‘Friday Specials’, ‘Fruit Break’ and ‘Table Manners’ to inculcate healthy and good eating habits.

Personal Grooming for Personality Development.

CREATIVE AND EXPRESSIVE ART

Art & Craft

1.   Collage work- as per project.

2.   Colouring within the given shape and object.

3.   Mask of Ravana

4.   Santa Claus

5.   Christmas Angels

6.   Making Greeting Cards using Finger and Blow Painting.

Music & Dance

Singing and dancing to recorded music. They will learn to appreciate beat, rhythm, fast and slow movements.

Fieldtrip

1.   Railway Station                             3.  Market

2.   Hospital                                         4.  Temple

CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES 

Depiction of Janamashtami, Dussehra, Ganesh Puja, Hawaiian Party, Doll’s  Birthday Party, Healthy food v/s Junk Food, Animal Mask Party, Shape Hunt, Winter Vegitable salad party, Wool pasting on sweater, story enactment, colour day celebration.

As and when organised in the school. Subject to change depending upon the prevailing circumstances.

Suggested activities for parents:

·    Balance Beam- Encourage the child to walk across a balance beam with good control.

Proceed to large steps, small steps, tiptoes, forward, backward, sideways, etc. A home version of the balance beam is a rope lying on the floor, which can be made to have curves and intersect ions.

·    Jumping Jacks- Have the child jump so that the legs spread apart and the hands clap above the head and then jump again so the feet go back together and the arms go back to the sides. Do several of these in a row.

·    Duck Walk- Have the child walk with hands on hips and squatting low to the floor.

·    Crab Walk- Have the child “walk” on his hands and feet in a sitting or lying down position.

·    Seal Walk- Encourage the child to “walk” on his/her hands dragging his/her trunk and legs

behind him/her.

·    Scissors- Have the child improve cutting accuracy by cutting straight lines, wavy lines, circles and/or complex patterns with increasing difficulty as the child develops skill. Cutting play- doh helps improve muscle strength.

·    Colouring- Encourage accuracy in colouring within boundaries beginning with large areas and progressing to smaller sections. Use various modalities from crayons, to magic markers, to paints, etc.

·    Bead Stringing- Have the child string various sizes and shapes o f beads.

·    Lacing Cards- Have the child “lace” pictures or letters.

·    Finger Paints- Work with this modality.

·   Ask your ward to explain pictures in the Newspapers, Magazines etc

·   Draw shapes on the sidewalk or any spacious place with chalk (do 2 or 3 of each shape if you have multiple children). Then make a game out of finding the shapes. For younger kids, you can just ask 'can you find the triangle' and have them go stand on it. For older kids, you can make it more of a race -- 'Can you find the square' and then everyone runs to stand on a square. A variation is to draw different coloured shapes and have them find a specific coloured shape 'find the pink rectangle'. There are many different ways that you can modify this activity so that it is always a challenge to you r child.

·   To teach your child spatial relations. Ask him to stand in front of a ch air, behind a chair, on top of the chair, next to the chair, on top of the chair and crouch under the chair.

·   Take your child for grocery & vegetable shopping. After grocery shopping ask your child to help you washing vegetables and manage them for drying as per size.

·   Ask your ward to create a traffic scene with the toys he/she h as.

·   You can play this with or without a song. Pick an animal and say, "Dance like a rabbit! " After a little while say, "Freeze." Then stop moving and then call out another animal to imitate its movement. Between animals say, "Freeze." You can take turns with your child picking different animals to imitate. Pick animals that cover a variety of movements such as frogs, snakes, monkeys, elephants or even dinosaurs! This activity teaches children to listen to direction and encourages imagination.

Quarterly Planner

       Unit III

Montessori I

(January –March 2014)

AIMS & OBJECTIVES

LANGUAGE SKILLS

Listening & Speaking Skills

To develop the ability to:

1. follow instructions in simple sentences.

2. listen to a story.

3. listen and respond to rhymes.

4. speak with correct pronunciation.

5. to speak a few sentences in English for ‘Show & Tell’.

Pre-Reading skills

To develop the ability to

1. show interest in printed material.

2. read pictures with interest.

3. hold and turn the pages of a book.

Pre-Writing skills

To further develop the ability to

1. thread coloured beads according to a given sequence with Lacing Beads (kit).

2. make objects from clay like ball, snake, duck, flo wer.

3. colour within a given shape.

4. indulge creatively in Sand Play.

5. trace objects / shapes.

6. join dots to make figures.

7. do tearing and crushing activities.

COGNITIVE SKILLS

Pre-Number Concepts

1. To reinforce the recognition of different Colours.

2.  To enhance the ability to identify and manipulate the shapes.      ,     ,       ,       ,

3.  Understanding of concept hot/cold, sweet/sour, over/under, open/close, heavy/light, up/down.

Number-Concepts

1. Count by rote (1-10).

2. Recognize numbers (1-10).

THINKING SKILLS

To develop the ability to

1. classify objects.

2. use memory skills with greater efficiency.

3. show sequencing skills.

4. fix simple puzzles.

ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

·   To develop the ability to differentiate between

i)                    different type of dress

ii)                  modes of transport

iii)                various shapes.

·   To have an understanding of the various safety measures to be taken at home / in school / on road, etc.

·   Courtesies and etiquettes (restaurant etiquettes, guest etiquettes, phone etiquettes, etc)

VALUE BASED EDUCATION

1. To develop the ability to say the prayers independently.

2. To create awareness about general hygiene.

3. To inculcate good eating habits.

4. To instil basic values like sharing, honesty and truthfulness.

5.  To help understand the importance of festivals i.e. Republic Day, Basant Panchmi and  Holi.

Festivals

1.Awareness about the main festivals of the winter season – Lohri, Makkar Sankranti, Republic Day, Maha Shivratri, Guru Gobind Singh’s birthday

2. Significance of these festivals and how they are celebrated

3. Stories based on these festivals

4. Creative activities related to these festivals.

LEARNING EXPERIENCES LANGUAGE

Listening And Speaking Skills

1.  Basic conversation related to theme and topics to be taught for the month

2. Instructions in simple sentences like:

a)        Take out your diary/tiffin.                   b)        Move in a straight line etc.

3. Rhymes and Stories through picture books, story charts, puppets and drawings on the trace board.

4. ‘Show and Tell’ activity to enhance speaking skills.

English Stories

Mention the stories

Pre-Reading

Children will be exposed to books, picture cards etc. They will learn to open and handle books. They will also learn to recognise drawings from chalkboard, display boards and books etc.

Pre-Writing

1. Threading of Beads- to further develop fine motor skills/eye-h and co-ordination.

2. ‘Join the dots’ and ‘Trace the objects/shapes’ activities for further fine muscle development.

3. Tearing, pasting & crushing activities for development of hand muscles.

4. Sand play, Scribbling, Finger play, Plasticine play etc. activities will be done to enhance fine motor skills.

COGNITIVE SKILLS

Pre-Number Concepts

·   Reinforcement of Shapes and Colours

·   Games such as – Shape Race, Shape Walk, Feel & Tell The Shapes, Colour Day, Colour Hunt, Name Of The Colour, Riddles , Musical Chairs, What’s At My Back will be played within the classroom situation.

Number Concepts

1. Recognition of Numbers (1-10) on the Chalkboard

2. Playing number games i.e. Number Hunt, Number Line, up and down the stairs etc.

3. Counting number of objects e.g. threading of beads on to a string etc.

EVS PROJECT

SHAPES

·   Differentiating between the different shapes.

·   Talk about the shapes of various objects in the surroundings.

·   Sorting objects according to shape.

·   Trace a shape.

·   Related rhymes and riddles

·   Related games and activities.

SAFETY

1. Stranger Safety – Knowing which strangers are safe to approach when lost.

2.   Fire Safety – How to avoid fire hazards, e.g. – not playing with matchsticks, not touching a burning candle, etc)

3.   Road Safety – Following traffic rules.

4.   Food Safety – Importance of eating nutritious and hygienically cooked food.

5.   Related rhymes and riddles.

COURTESIES AND REFINEMENT

1.   How to introduce self.

2.   How to behave in front of guests.

3.   How to greet the elders.

4.   How to answer/attend a phone call.

5.   Related dramatization and role plays

Activities

1. Sequencing and classification of objects.

2. Activities related to the EVS projects: Sequencing, Sorting and Pairing of objects etc.

3. Painting, Collage Work, Sand Play, Free Play, Songs, Rhymes and Role Play.

4. Games such as Find the Partner, Fire in the Mountain, Nature Walk, What is Missing, The Cat & The Mouse will be played related to the topics and the concepts taught.

Worksheets and supporting activities will be designed  to  enhance  their  knowledge. Audio- Visual Aids will be used to reinforce what has already been taught in the class in all areas. Related Field Visits, where ever possible would also be planned.

Value Based Education:

· Various activities like story-telling, dramatization to inculcate habit of sharing and greeting, being honest and truthful.

· Celebration of different festivals and their importance.

HYGIENE AND NUTRIT ION

‘Friday Specials’, ‘Fruit Break’ and ‘Table Manners’ to inculcate healthy and good eating habits.

Personal Grooming for Personality Development.

CREATIVE AND EXPRESSIVE ART

Art & Craft

·   Thread painting, Spray painting, Leaf painting, Block painting, Sand pasting etc

·   Collage work - as per the project

·   Colouring within the given shapes and objects

·   Tearing and Pasting

·   Paper folding

·   Shape Craft

Music & Dance

·   Sing simple songs/rhymes.

·   Co-ordinating movements with rhythm.

CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES 

Shape race, paper craft, nature walk, teddy picnic, outdoor fun ga me etc. As and when organised in the school.

Fieldtrip

·   Grocery Shop

·   Herbal Garden

Subject to change depending upon the prevailing circumstances.

Suggested activities for parents :

·    One Foot Balance - Have the child balance on one foot to a count of 3, then the ot her foot. Increase the length of time required to balance. Try the same activity with eyes closed.

·    Wheelbarrow Walk - Have the child “walk” on his/her hands while his/her feet are held for him/her.

·    “Other Walks” - Have the child walk on tiptoes; walk on heels; walk fast, slow, backward, or sideways; walk on stilt s made of large juice cans wit h a rope through each can and held in the hands; leap frog; three legged races; etc.

·    Rhythms - Encourage the child to walk (march) rhythmically in time to music or handclaps. Or play rhythm games with commercially available records; or show the child a handclap pattern of 3-6 parts and have him/her repeat it exactly.

·    Obstacle Course - Put out a series of games for the child to complete in the sequence you establish and encourage him/her to complete the whole course (from memory). Suggestions are jumping over an obstacle, climbing up and over something, crawling under a low object, squeezing through a tunnel, sliding down something, rolling, hopping or any of the above mentioned activities.

·    Crossing the Midline - Encourage t he child to cross his/her body midline without having him/her to cognitively aware of what you expect o f him/her. One suggestion is to have him/her walk along a line with legs crossed or crawl with arms crossed. Or have the child use just one arm and one leg at a time for ball games and throw the ball at the child so his/her right hand will have to go the left side of the body in order to catch the ball, for example. Discourage the child’s turning his/her body in order to avoid crossing the midline of the body.

·    Two-Handed Activities - Some children have trouble getting the two sides o f the body to work well together. Suggested activities are as follows. Roll, throw, or catch a very large ball. Play parachute games. Roll out clay wit h a rolling pin and two hands. Ho ld a bucket-type of container with two hands and catch a ball in this. Volleyball- hit a ball or beach ball with two hands simultaneously. Hit a ball or balloon suspended on a rope from the ceiling in the middle of a stick (bat) held with two hands on either end.

·    Scissors - Have the child improve cutting accuracy by cutting straight lines, wavy lines, circles and/or complex patterns with increasing difficult y as the child develops skill. Cutting play dough helps improve muscle strength.

·    Buttoning - Begin with large buttons with the article of clothing off the body and proceed to increasingly smaller buttons. Then use large buttons on clothing on the body and work toward smaller buttons. Also try to change where on the body the buttons are (pants, shirtfront, sleeves, collar, etc.).