Community Learning Task 4

Learning Activity #4:                            Autism and Ability Awareness Month
April 23rd – April 30th

April is Autism and Ability Awareness month. Each year at Gilmore we come together to celebrate diversity and celebrate our differences. We would like to honour this in this week’s learning activity.  In class we would learn all about our classmates and celebrate each individual’s uniqueness.  To this end, it would be helpful to complete the following tasks together as a family. We hope that as a family you will be able to share your unique views, ideas and characteristics.

Learning Tasks:

  1. Watch the read aloud: All My Stripes by Danielle Royer and Shaina Rudolph
  2. Discuss your own “stripes” with your family, what qualities do you have that make you unique? What personal connections did you make to this story? How did the story make you feel?
  3. What “stripes” do your family members have? What stripes do you appreciate in others? How can we acknowledge the stripes in others that may seem different from our own?
  4. Follow the instructions found at Draw your own Zebra to create your own zebra — OR — print the PDF Zebra Template.
  5. Add your unique stripes to your zebra. Make sure you label each stripe with the quality or personal strength that it represents.
  6. Put this in a place where you can see it, such as in your window or on your fridge, and be reminded of your unique stripes each time you see it!
  7. Take a picture of your creation to share with your teacher, along with any writing or reflections that you’d like to share.
  8. Later in the week, look at the Gilmore Library blog to see your teacher’s stripes!

Optional Extension Activities

Here are some sensory activities you can try doing at home with household items around your house:

  • Create a calm down sensory bottles 101 Sensory Bottles
  • Wear a pair of gardening gloves or winter gloves and try stringing beads on a piece of string.
  • Wear a pair of oven mitts and put some cotton balls into a bucket/bin
  • Fill a small container with grains of rice and put in small paper clips or safety pins. Without looking, try to take out the pins out of the container of rice

Optional video:  Amazing Things Happen by Alexander Amelines