Sharing the ideas of Ivymount professionals with our community, one week at a time....
Issue 5
Earth Day - Wednesday, April 22
Simple ways to celebrate Earth Day:
  • Plant a tree/flower/vegetable garden
  • Pick up trash around your house
  • Create a birdseed ornament
  • Clean and recycle coffee K-cups
  • Reduce shower time
  • Use cloth towels and reusable straws
  • Make "kindness rocks"
  • Repurpose jars
  • Create your own environmental art piece inspired by Andy Goldsworthy (suggested by Kim Prati, Ivymount Art Teacher)
  1. Start by going outside and exploring the materials available to you such as, stones, rocks, leaves, flowers, grass, small branches, pine cones, acorns, etc.
  2. Examine the materials you have and start to experiment. Think about shapes, lines and colors. Mr. Goldsworthy uses a lot of circles and organic shapes, straight, zig zag, curvy and spiral lines.
  3. Create a design and share with your family and us! See Ms. Prati's piece below.
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Live Aloud
Not all teaching needs to be done through explicit instruction. The current situation provides lots of opportunities for adults to teach by modeling appropriate behavior. LIVE ALOUD by narrating your experiences as you apply strategies to help you get through everyday activities. Here are some examples:
  • To model the executive functioning skill of organization while planning for your upcoming grocery trip, you could state aloud, " I am going to make a list of what I need at the store so I don't forget anything. When I get to the store, I will cross off each item as I put it in my cart."
  • To model an emotional regulation strategy while working from home you could state aloud, "My computer is not working and I'm really frustrated! I'm going to take a couple deep breaths and then try again."
  • To model flexibility at meal time, you could state aloud, "I really want pizza for dinner, but since we don't have any pizza sauce left, I'm going to come up with a plan B and make cheese quesadillas instead."

Get Moving with Chores
The Ivymount OT/PT Department suggests that doing chores can be a great way for students to improve regulation, incorporate movement into their day, and help the family! To increase motivation, consider an appropriate reward for completing a chore such as a small treat or a few minutes of tech time. 

Activities that involve “heavy work,” such as pushing, pulling or lifting, provide deep pressure input to muscles and joints which can be calming.

Household chores that involve heavy work :
Loading and unloading the dishwasher
Carrying a laundry basket full of clothes
Vacuuming
Mopping
Taking out the garbage
Mowing the lawn (push mower)

Other Chores with Lots of Movement
Sweeping
Washing the car
Dusting high and low places
Bringing items left around the house back to where they belong

Other Simple Chores
Matching socks
Folding towels
Setting the table
Wiping off counters
Look for At Home Ideas from
Ivymount Outreach Programs weekly on Tuesdays!
Ivymount Outreach Programs | www.ivymountoutreach.org | outreach@ivymount.org