Despite the onset of allergies and icky sinus infections, spring is one of the most beautiful times of the years as flowers pop up from the ground, and the trees display magnificent limbs of green leaves.
January to March can be hard months to plan for as winter themes seem to drag on and on, and March seems like a “filler” month of sorts. So, when April was upon us, I couldn’t wait to start on spring themed strategies, like “Spring Is Finally Here” (counting strategy) and singing “Rockin’ Robin” while playing egg shakers.
My creative juices kicked in as I thought about my ALC classes and what I could do with them that would be relevant to spring while still being sensory-based. As I was perusing through the aisles of my neighborhood Dollar Tree (which I highly suggest you do on a regular basis for affordable manipulatives and to get your creativity to flow), I had the idea of doing a flower planting strategy! After getting all of my supplies from the Dollar Tree, I sat down to write a song that would accompany my strategy. And luckily enough, the “Cups” song from “Pitch Perfect” seemed to be the perfect template to set my song to. Thank goodness I didn’t have to start from scratch with this one! I’m always happy to adapt lyrics to popular songs.
I mainly created this strategy with my ALC students in mind – both elementary and secondary groups – but this strategy proved to be effective with my SLC and LS classes as well. My students had fun feelings the rocks, sniffing the flowers, and getting to choose the flowers they wanted to plant. For some of my SLC classes, after we “planted” the flowers, the students picked a flower and were encouraged to give them to a peer and compliment their peer as well. “Planting Blooms” proved to be a very adaptive and multisensory strategy that all my students enjoyed.
If you’d like to get a full rundown of my “Planting Blooms” strategy, including a breakdown of how to go through the strategy, as well as the song I wrote that accompanies it, click here (PDF format)!
Enjoy!
In love + harmony,
Ms. Esther
Music Therapy with Ms. Esther 