Crazy Faces

A new, yet exciting challenge I am faced with this year, is having a few non-verbal students on my caseload. Many of my materials will most likely be based around using Mayer- Johnson's boardmaker icons for visual support. This past week my full class lesson focused on identifying facial features and attributes. Every student was provided with a communication mat- seen in the picture below. My non-verbal students used the mat to identify parts and to respond to questions. My verbal students used the mats to assist in making their verbal responses.

Each student had the opportunity to look in the mirror and use the communication mat to describe themselves. My targeted concepts were long, short, straight, and curly for describing hair and various colors for describing eyes and hair. The students also identified special features such as glasses and freckles.

Everyone then created the paper plate faces- also in the picture. I held on to the faces for a follow up activity with some students in their pull out sessions which included discussing the concepts same and different in reference to the hair color and eye color of their classmates.