Teaching Jeremiah, A Journey into the Mind of an Asperger's Child

Apr. 15, 2008

Going "Buggy"!

No, we have not quit learning our alphabet.  In fact, we still go over the eight letters on our coconut tree everyday so that we don't forget them, but Jerry took an interest in caterpillars a few weeks ago and so, in step with the reason we home school, we took a break from our "routine" and have been studying caterpillars and butterflies instead.

I think Jerry knows most of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" story by heart now.  We've read it so much!  We also saw the play, along with two other Eric Carle stories, at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.  That was fun.  We visited the butterlfy garden at MOSI and Miss Helen is waiting anxiously for a few of her caterpillar eggs to hatch so that she can give us a few to watch change into butterflies.  We have a butterfly habitat and had fun with it a few years ago, but Jerry doesn't remember that time.

So what have we been up to?  Whew, where to start!  Jerry made a caterpillar out of a clothespin and some colored pom-poms and then wings from paper towels so that we could turn our caterpillar into a butterfly whenever we wanted to by attaching the clothespin to the wings.  Jerry used an eye dropper (great for fine motor skills) to color the wings with food coloring in water.  He was amazed when I put some blue food coloring into the red water to make purple!


We ate life cycle spaghetti for dinner one night.  I mixed shell (cocoon) pasta with corkscrew (caterpillar) pasta and bowtie (butterfly) pasta.  For a snack we threaded Fruit Loops onto a pretzel stick, added a marshmallow head, and broken pretzel pieces for the antennae.  Sounds strange, but anyone who knows me knows my theory.  Anything with marshmallows is yummy!


We made a Very Hungry Student story.  I filled in the blanks while Jeremiah told me his favorite things to eat.  He got a little goofy in the middle, but laughs hysterically every time he hears me read the story to him.  Here's what he came up with...

On Sunday Jerry ate one can of beanie weanies.  But he was still hungry.  On Monday Jerry ate two pears.  But he was still hungry.  On Tuesday Jerry ate three apples.  But he was still hungry.  On Wednesday Jerry ate four sausages.  But he was still hungry.  On Thursday Jerry ate five butterflies.  But he was still hungry.  On Friday Jerry ate one caterpillar, one sun, one snowman, one leaf, one cloud, one stick, one cheese stick, one can of Spaghetti O's, one mushroom, one tomato, and one potato.  That night he had a stomachache!  On Saturday Jerry ate one chocolate Pop Tart.  After that, he felt much better.  Whew!  Jerry sure was hungry.

We also made a coffee filter butterfly.  Jerry colored spots with markers on the coffee filters and then sprayed them with a water bottle so that the colors would spread out and run together.  We added a pipe cleaner body.

I sectioned a paper plate into fourths and Jerry made a butterfly life cycle.  He used a navy bean on a silk leaf for the egg, pom-poms for the caterpillar, a shall pasta noodle for the cocoon, and a butterfly sticker for the butterfly.  He also traced the words of each part of the butterfly's life cycle.


Jerry also used my potato peeler to shave some crayons so we could make a wax paper butterfly by ironing the crayon shavings in between the wax paper.

Then Jerry used Q-tips to put paint blobs on one side of a butterfly cutout.  He folded the butterfly in half and it turned out very pretty the way the paint blobs spread from one side to the other.


We re-created "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" story on a homemade felt board.  I used a pizza box from Pizza Hut for the felt board.  I decorated the outside and then covered the inside with felt.  Then I laminated the pieces from the story and put felt on the backs of them so Jerry could re-tell the story with the pieces or follow along on the felt board as I read the book.

Outside

Inside

Jerry used his fingerprints and inkpads to make his own butterflies and caterpillars.  He glued sticks on the paper for a tree and cotton balls for clouds.  This was a great sensory activity.  I also let him add his own things to the picture.  So he added a sun and a snowman!


For math, I laminated leaf pictures onto index cards and then numbered the cards from one to ten.  I gave Jerry navy beans (eggs) and he put the number of "eggs" on each leaf that the card said to.  He's not real good at counting yet and so I held up my fingers to represent the number on the card.  Then, as he put each egg on, I put down one finger so he could see how many eggs he had left to put on.

I printed out about twenty colorful butterflies as well and laminated them to index cards.  Then I cut the index cards (and butterflies) in half and Jerry had fun matching each butterfly half to its partner.

Then Jerry put laminated story cards from "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" in order to practice his sequencing. 

We also practiced beginning letter sounds by gluing pictures of things that began with either a "c" (caterpillar) or a "b" (butterfly) onto their appropriate page.

I found a cool craft in an Usborne book that uses yarn, a picture of an animal, a penny, two beads, and a straw to make the critter appear to "crawl" up a wall.  This was fun!
Crawling Caterpillar

We made a caterpillar from different shapes of construction paper.  Circles were his head and body, rectangles were his antennae, squares were his eyes, and triangles were his feet.  We actually did this project at Abrakadoodle with our other home school friends.

And of course, every creature can be made out of a toilet paper tube!


Last but not least was Jerry's favorite by far.  We made a puppet version to go with our Eric Carle story.  I glued google eyes and some spots to a green sock and slid it on Jerry's arm for the caterpillar.  I had laminated all of the food from the story and cut holes in the middle of them beforehand.  Then, as we read the story, Jerry could pretend his caterpillar was eating each piece of food by sliding his caterpillar arm through the hole on each piece of food.  At the end of the story, we put a brown paper lunch bag over the caterpillar's head to represent him in a cocoon.  Then, when we pulled the bag off, I used Velcro  to attach decorated felt butterfly wings to the top of Jerry's caterpillar arm.  He would run around the house flapping his arm to make the butterfly fly.  It was so cute!

Caterpillar

Butterfly

It was amazing how many skills we seemed to cover just with learning about caterpillars and butterflies.  We had so much fun in fact that next is Eric Carle's "The Grouchy Ladybug".  I promise not to make you wait three weeks this time to find out what we're doing.  I'll try to update everyone weekly this time.  Until next time, don't let the bed bugs bite!!

  

Post A Comment! Send to a Friend!

Comments

Apr. 18, 2008 - Wowzer Dowzers!

Posted by Anonymous
Tara - you are amazing. You are doing so great including all of Jerry's goals WHILE he is having fun! You are giving him a WONDERFUL education!
Permanent Link

Apr. 22, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous
Pamela and I had so much fun with Eric Carle books when she was that age. Every single one of them has so many opportunities for fun and learning!

Tammy
http://aut2bhomeincarolina.blogspot.com
Permanent Link

Apr. 24, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Sylvia
Tara and Jeremiah

What an awesome fun time of learning. Jeremiah, you are quite an artist. Keep up the good work; maybe we will see your work in the Louve or the Tate Museum some day.

Sure did bring back memories of 9 years of homeschooling!! Great blessing!!

Sylvia
Permanent Link

About Me

I am a home schooling mommy of four children 11 and under and happily married to my best friend for the last fifteen years. Our youngest son Jeremiah was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in 2006. This blog has been created to document the home schooling challenges and rewards of teaching Jeremiah.

 
Subscribe to the Grace Bound Books Podcast on Itunes!
,

Recent Posts

Papa Jim
Jeremiah's First Sleepover Birthday Party...Well, "Almost"
I Love Dr. Rao!
A Beach in a Baggie?!
Cuisenaire Rods
More Jonah Fun
Children's Medical Services
"Who did, Who Did, Who Did, Who Did, Who Did Swallow Jo - Jo - Jonah?"
"Mommy, Who is Jesus Christ?"
A Winner!!
"Sit!"
VBS Power Lab
In whatever It Takes....
Our Little Graduate
School's Out for the Summer!!
Miniature Treehouses
A Voyager At Last!
Whoa There Kitty!!
Caterpillar Crazy
"B B B B B B B!"
Tattooed Foreheads!
Meet....Louis?
Assessment Day
Meet Neena
Pseudostrabismus
"The Very Busy Spider"
"The Grouchy Ladybug" by Eric Carle
I forgot "H"!!
Going "Buggy"!
Jeremiah and Jesus
"A" and "F"...Here We Come!
Five Down!!!!!
Happy Birthday Jeremiah!!
The Taste of Autism
A Speed Bump
Fort Foster Field Trip
More Super Sounds
"What Kind of World Do You Want?"
Super Sounds
Planet Heroes
Humility
To Medicate or Not to Medicate...That Was the Question
"You Might Be An Aspie If..."
The Diagnosis

Links

Home
View my profile
Archives
Email Me
My Blog's RSS
Jeremiah's Journey - A YouTube Presentation About Our Son with Asperger's Syndrome
Our Family Blog
Our Photo Albums
Grace Bound Books Podcast
Tell the World "What Kind of World You Want" and raise money for charity!
Grace Bound Books
CurrClick: Grace Bound Books - Downloadable Christian Home School Curriculum
"What Every Parent Ought To Know About Their Aspergers Child........."
Autism Speaks
Nathaniel's Hope - Sharing "The Hope" with Kids with Special Needs and Their Families
The Unicorn Children's Foundation
Asperger's Syndrome: Offering Families Practical Help and Faith-Drive Hope
Asperger's Syndrome - Understanding and Educating
Coulter Video for DVD Education for Asperger's Syndrome
TumbleBooks - eBooks for eKids!
Phonology & Articulation Resources
Personalized Children's Books for Social Stories
Games, Songs, Communication Cards, Print Resources and Information for Special Needs
Resources for Teaching/Training Children with Autism at Home and School
Autism Walk Online Donation to Support Autism Speaks
Aut-2B-Home Ring
Tenere Kingdom - Learn More About Service Cats for Autistism Spectrum Individuals
Heads Up! - Special Needs Curriculum Resources
Bright Feats - Your Medical, Educational and Special Needs Family Resource
Homeschooling Aspies Community Forum

Friends

DonnaC
helff
Sonya
SweetSavages
JoyfulMomma
christinejoy
Godschild05
Entry 29 of 44
Last Page | Next Page