Welcome to the
CIU20 Early Intervention Newsletter!
child_with_umbrella_chalk.jpg

March 2023

This month's themes are rainbows and the weather!
In this month's newsletter, we would like to share some rainbow- and weather-themed ideas and fun activities that your family may enjoy participating in and completing.

These are some suggestions for activities for you to try along with your child. We understand every child is at varying levels in the skill areas. If your child is not yet engaging in the activities independently, please use exposure, modeling, and/or shaping to modify and adapt the activities for your individual child.
Activities to foster gross and fine motor skill development
Rainbow Fine Motor Ideas

We love rainbows! They are fun for St. Patrick's Day, perfect for celebrating Spring, a great way to learn colors, and cheerful for any time of year. We'd love to share our top ten fine motor rainbow activities for kids!

Read more
www.stillplayingschool.com
30+ Rainbow Activities Kids Love

Inside: Toddlers and preschoolers will love exploring colors with this collection of rainbow activities. They will learn how to sort and identify each color while building a variety of skills! You want to teach your toddlers and preschoolers the...

Read more
teaching2and3yearolds.com
Dance and move along with the songs!
Activities to help build language and communication
How Crayons Saved the Rainbow Read Aloud Book

Strategies:
  • Attention: Go on a picture walk! This is for those children who can not sit for a whole story.  Talk about the pictures rather than reading all the words on the pages.  
  • Core Language: Have your Core Word Board out to allow your child to request for turning pages by saying/pointing to "turn" or to ask you to look by saying or pointing to "look."  
  • Receptive Language: Name different pictures on the page and encourage your child to point to each picture. 
  • Expressive Language: Ask your child “What’s this?” while pointing to pictures on the page.
Engaging in the story:  Use stuffed animals, objects, and other related items from the story to help your child make connections. 

The Colors of the Rainbow Song

Strategies:
  • Core Language: Play the song on youtube! Stop the song at various parts of the song to have your child use their Core Word Board to request “turn," “again,”  “look,” or “go” to continue playing the song.
  • Receptive Language: Name different pictures on the page and encourage your child to point to each picture. 
  • Expressive Language: Ask your child “What’s this?” while pointing to pictures on the page..
Activity Bag

Gather items and place them in a backpack or bag
Gather items of the following colors and place them in a bag: 
  • Red
  • Orange
  • Yellow
  • Green
  • Blue
  • Purple
  • Pink
Core Language: Place the items in the bag, have your child request “look,” “more,” “want,” or “do,” to take the items out of the bag.
Receptive Language: Have your child point to the color item you name when in a group of three. 
Expressive Language: As your child takes an item out of the bag, have them name the item, describe how it looks and/or what color it is.
Out & About Activities: Rainbow Scavenger Hunt
(Click on the image or enlarge on your device)
Activities to help develop sensory and self-help skills
25 Rainbow Sensory Activities for Preschoolers

This time of year rainbows are everywhere. I even saw one a few weeks ago and it totally made my day. I don't think it's possible to be in a bad mood after looking up and seeing a rainbow in the sky. These 25 Rainbow Sensory Activities for...

Read more
www.messforless.net
Fruity Cereal Marshmallow Rainbows
Materials:
  • Pipe cleaner
  • Large Marshmallows 
  • Colored Cereal O's (fruit loops, fruity cheerios, or fruit spins)
Directions
  1. Cut pipe cleaners in half
  2. Stick one end into a marshmallow
  3. String the cereal on the pipe cleaner 
  4. You can either have the child put them in order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, or you can let them have fun with it.
  5. Once full, stick the other end into the second marshmallow
Helping With Household Chores
Toddlers and young children love to be helpful, and while you may think they are too young to do chores, the opposite is true. Teaching your child that everyone has a role in keeping up with the house and showing them how to do their part has multiple benefits. Not only will they be more independent and confident, but you’re providing important foundational building blocks to their development!
Click on the image to download your own copy of the chore chart
Activities to help develop social and emotional skills
What's In The Box
If the weather is not cooperating with your child to go outside, here is an idea to do with a box! Your stands and puts hands and arms through holes. Place an object in the box, and have your child guess what it is!!!!

More ideas like this can be found at Hands On As We Grow
Read-Aloud Book from YouTube
If you are thinking of spring cleaning, here is a cute book to help your littles clean up after themselves!
Activities to build cognitive skills
Rainbow Color Hunt
Materials needed: colored construction paper

  1. -Have your child go on a color hunt around your house! Set out the pieces of different colored construction paper and ask your child if they can find one or more objects of each color. Once they find something, ask them to place it on the corresponding colored paper. n picture on it (i.e. Can you find the apple crayon?).  
  2. If your child is working on letter sounds, ask them to find the crayon with the picture that starts with a letter sound (i.e. Can you find the picture that starts with the "a" sound).  

Raindrop Count
Materials needed:
-White board
-White board marker
- Straws
- Scissors

Draw clouds on a white board.  Have your child cut several straws into pieces, or assist them with this task if they are not yet comfortable using scissors. Write a number inside of the clouds.  Ask your child to find that number of straw pieces and place them under the clouds to make it look like it is raining. Write a different number in the clouds and repeat these steps. 
Weather Theme Learning Activities for Preschoolers and...

Weather is a delightful preschool theme to explore because weather is something children can see and experience everyday! My favorite time to explore a weather theme is during season transitions. The weather changes so quickly. It can be all hot...

Read more
happytotshelf.com
Follow Us to Learn More
Follow us on our social media channels to learn more about the resiliency of #AmazingIU20Kids and creative approaches to learning that our #AmazingIU20Staff have implemented!
At Colonial IU 20, we believe in RELATIONSHIPS that support student growth, RESPONSIVENESS to stakeholders crucial needs, RESULTS demonstrated through effective services and programs, and INNOVATION to improve student outcomes.
Colonial IU 20 provides educational, administrative, and management services to 13 school districts and 3 career and technical centers in Northampton, Monroe, and Pike Counties. As one of the community’s largest employers and contributors, the 1,400 full and part-time staff at CIU 20 provides direct and indirect services to 79,000 public school children; 9,000 non-public school children; and 7,000 professional staff in our service region of 1,200 square miles.