I once worked with a PT in a Massachusetts preschool that had an activity for every week of the year based on what the theme was for that month. Since her caseload changed every one or two years, she could use it over and over again. I thought this was a brilliant idea because most of the time I think of my activities on the drive to work. I decided to make a yearly activity list for my professional goal (for supervision and evaluation), needless to say, I did not achieve that goal that year. Probably because I am a procrastinator, slightly disorganized, or I just didn’t care enough. The experience did teach me one thing. For the past 10 or so years, I have been incorporating the student’s academics into my sessions whether or not it’s individual, small group, or a whole class. Not only does it provide the students with a more creative way to practice spelling or learn the weather or simple machines, it increases the communication with the teachers and your supervisor and principal will feel like you are being proactive. An added bonus is that the parents are pretty happy too. I also choose one activity and tweak it. This week, the students, in a k, 1, and 2 self-contained classroom, are learning about animal homes which included the three little pigs. All of these students have goals based on writing, cutting, copying, and attention. They completed the directive drawing activity and wrote a sentence.
I modified the same activity for a higher functioning class but had them generate their own sentences. For another class, I modified it again and had the students add a box around the pig because they were going to mail it to where ever they wanted. Then the had to measure it and figure out the area and perimeter of the box to reinforce a math lesson while still meeting my OT goals.
For these examples, I drew the outline of the head so that the students can practice cutting and drawing.
DrawOT 