Autism and Ability Awareness Month

Task:

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 that this year through this week’s learning activity. Please complete the following tasks together as a family. We may not be able to recreate the same experience we would have with a 20-person discussion in the classroom, but we hope that as a family you’re able to learn from one another and share your unique views and ideas.

Learning Tasks:

1. Watch the read aloud “All My Stripes” by Danielle Royer and Shaina Rudolph

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gaLxpifMcQ

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:

https://www.artforkidshub.com/how-to-draw-cartoon-zebra/

to create your own zebra.

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.

Try this special zebra page to share your ideas and thoughts.

8. Later in the week, look at the Gilmore Library blog to see the Primary teachers’ stripes!

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

A) wear a pair of gardening gloves or winter gloves and try stringing beads on a piece of string.

B) wear a pair of oven mitts and put some cotton balls into a bucket/bin

C) 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

Here are some fun things you can do at home and make your own sensory tools:

Calm down sensory bottles 101

Texture Balloons

Oil and Water Galaxy

Optional videos

Amazing Things Happen – by Alexander Amelines

What is Autism?