Tuesday, Decemeber 15, 2020

Check In (3-5 min)

• Bill of Rights Day
• Zamenhof Day #Esperanto

Theme of the Week and Skill Builder 

• Theme: Do’s and Don’ts of Cold, Dark Winter 
• Skill Builder: Managing resources and planning for winter (people and animals)
• We’ll learn about how winter affects our bodies and relationships.

Recap yesterday’s topics 

Show & Share (5-10 min)

What is your favorite sport in the winter Olympics? Is it an ICE sport or a SNOW sport? Do you do that sport? Have you ever looked into Special Olympics for winter sports? 

Tomorrow‘s Show & Share

Sharing memories of snow. Have you lived in a place that gets snow? Have you been to the snow with family or friends? What are your favorite memories of snow? Do you like it or dislike it? Why or why not?

Covid Mitigation Moment (5 min)

Wash hands and sanitize

PRESENTERS: the Handwashing FACT Sheets pages come in different languages. Click on the one that is good for your group.

• CDC: When & How to Use Hand Sanitizer in Community Settings
• CDC: Handwashing Fact Sheets—

Thematic Activity 01 (5-10 min)

Why do we tend to gain weight in winter time?

Holiday Party Prep (5 min)

PRESENTERS: This exercise should make everyone aware of the picture on the button for each district party. No need to click the buttons yet. Just make sure everyone knows what they are and which district they go to.

1. Learn about going to other Zoom rooms. 
2. Review the Learning Services PARTY enabled home page.
3. Learn the icons for the party rooms at the other districts.
4. North has a Snowman
5. South has a branch with lights
6. Central has a present
7. Santa Cruz has fireworks and champaigne

*Reader’s Option-Life Skills Story Quiz  (10-15 min)

PRESENTERS: if your group is reading the story and doing the exercises, the link will go to ALL the documents for that package of work. Scroll down to find the sheet you are working on on a given day.

Thematic Activity 02 (10-15 min)

Animals in winter time around the world

• Home School Scientist: Animals in Winter
• Discovery: 5 Animals That Do Winter Better Than You (YouTube)
• NatGeo: Animals Made For Winter (YouTube)
• Discovery Magazine: How Does Wildlife Survive Winter's Freezing Temperatures?

Skill Builder (10-15 min)

How not to get S.A.D. 

• S.A.D. Explainer (YouTube)
• APA: S.A.D. Tips
• NIH: S.A.D. Webpage & Flyer

What did we learn today? 

What are we doing this afternoon? 

Wednesday December 16, 2020

Well Being and Social Connection   

Check In (3-5 min)

Theme of the week and Skill Builder 

Today’s focus is winter in other cultures 

Recap yesterday’s topics 

Show & Share (5-10 min)

Sharing memories of snow. Have you lived in a place that gets snow? Have you been to the snow with family or friends? What are your favorite memories of snow? Do you like it or dislike it? Why or why not? 

Tomorrow‘s Show & Share 

Favorite cold weather meals. What is your favorite thing to eat when the weather is so cold? Do you make it yourself or does someone else make it? Is it  home-made or store-bought? What are the features of it? Is it rich or salty or sweet? 

Covid Mitigation Moment (5 min)

If you go into a public space they will ask you questions at the door before they take your temperature. It's a good idea to be ready to answer. 

Below are the common screening questions.

PRESENTERS: We will put these questions into the next few days curriculum so just work on one question at a time and help people who have low expressive language or English to come up with a strategy for answering. 

1. Do you have any of the following symptoms?

• Fever
• Cough
• Shortness of breath
• Muscle pains
• Loss of taste or smell
• Runny nose or congestion
• Sore throat
• Diarrhea
• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Nausea
• Vomiting

2. Do any members of your household have any of the above symptoms?

3. Have you traveled recently?

4. Have you been in contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past two weeks?

5. Are you or a family member awaiting COVID-19 test results?

Thematic Activity 01 (10-15 min)

Winter holidays around the world. 

Choose one or two items below that seem interesting. Learn and discuss.

•  The coldest place on earth (Siberia)
• Temperature converter from Celsius to Farenheit
• Snow and Disability: Nickole Sheron's Story PRESENTERS: Read just Nickole's Story
• * I Spy: Find the winter objects 
• Share screen and see if you can find all the instances of each object in the list. You can use the annotation tool or have your staff annotate for you. 

Optional Holiday Party practice (10 minutes) 

(optional Video of Tahiya explaining Virtual Rooms)

PRESENTERS: You can just demo if no one from your group is going to try it. Just DON'T ALLOW the Zoom meeting when the prompt pops up or you'll be prompted to leave your current space.. 

1. Go to the holiday version of our home page here.  (You can also get there by going to hopelearningservices.org)
2. Identify the tile for each district party space. on the page
3. Clicking a party page will take you out of the meeting we are in and into a new meeting space
4. If you are going, come back and tell your group what it was like
5. Remember you can come back to this meeting by click on the square of your district on the home page.

*Reader’s Option-Life Skills Discussion (10-15 min)

PRESENTERS: if your group is reading the story and doing the exercises, the link will go to ALL the documents for that package of work. Scroll down to find the sheet you are working on on a given day

Thematic Activity 02 (5-10)

Winter practices, foods, and stories from other places. Use any of the links to find out about things other people do. Share your own traditions with your group, or things you've learned from traveling. 

• Popular Winter Foods
• Popular Winter Activities PRESENTERS: This link is to a great tool for people with low expressive language, minimal English or pre-readers. Read the text aloud for them as it appears.
• Winter Solstice Traditions

Skill Builder (5-10 min) 

Super easy fast way to help you manage your mood. Try it!

Tapping for mood regulation 

*My Winter Self Care plan part 1 (printable) 

Review the self-care plan and see which items make sense to you. 

What did we learn today? 

What are we doing this afternoon? 

Check In (3-5 min) 

Theme of the week and Skill Builder 

Today’s focus is on sleep and how to make sure your body doesn’t get all out of whack when it comes to your sleep schedule 

Recap yesterday’s topics 

Show & Share (5-10 min)

Favorite cold weather meals. What is your favorite thing to eat when the weather is so cold? Do you make it yourself or does someone else make it? Is it  home-made or store-bought? What are the features of it? Is it rich or salty or sweet? 

Tomorrow’s Show & Share 

Favorite romantic moment. It can be from your life, from a movie, a story, or a show. 

Covid Mitigation Moment (5 min)

If you go into a public space they will ask you  questions at the door before they take your temperature. It's a good idea to be ready to answer. 

Below are the common screening questions.

PRESENTERS: We will put these questions into the next few days curriculum so just work on one question at a time and help people who have low expressive language or English to come up with a strategy for answering. 

1. Do you have any of the following symptoms?

• Fever
• Cough
• Shortness of breath
• Muscle pains
• Loss of taste or smell
• Runny nose or congestion
• Sore throat
• Diarrhea
• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Nausea
• Vomiting

2. Do any members of your household have any of the above symptoms?

3. Have you traveled recently?

4. Have you been in contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past two weeks?

5. Are you or a family member awaiting COVID-19 test results?

<Body Break>

Thematic Activity 01-Staying Safe in Shared Housing (5-10 min)

If you live in a board and care home, or with rent with roommates, and can't do some home maintenance items, you still have a right to be safe in your house. The people who do have the ability to keep your home safe can tell you if they have taken care of these things. Look at this check list together. 

1. Which items would you need help with?
2. Whom can you ask to get them done? 
3. Practice how you would ask for help. 

* Readers' Option: Life Skills Stories - Life Skills Discussion Prompts

PRESENTERS: if your group is reading the story and doing the exercises, the link will go to ALL the documents for that package of work. Scroll down to find the sheet you are working on on a given day

OPTIONAL Holiday Visits to Another District (10-20 min)

1. Go to the home page
2. Introduce yourself. The hosting district may have some ice breakers or may just be getting to know each other. 
3. If you are in Santa Cruz District, visit NORTH district by clicking the Snowman square on the home page.
4. If you are in Central District, visit the SOUTH district by clicking the hot cocoa square on the home page. 

Thematic Activity 02 - Sleep in Self-Care (5-10 min)

Click this link and learn learn about things that affect sleep in winter time.

<body break>

Skill Builder - talking about your needs (10 min)

When we live with other people we often need to negotiate for our schedules, especially when it comes to sleep. Discuss these questions to find out what you need to get a good night's sleep.

1. Do you fall asleep easily? Or does it take time?
2. Do you need silence, or can you ignore a little noise?
3. Do you use any equipment or devices to help you sleep? (C-pap machine, humidifier, air purifier, radio)
4. Do you need complete darkness or do you need a little light to feel comfortable?
5. Practice "I need" and "I prefer" statements about your needs.

*Winter Self-Care Plan Part 2 (5 min)

Share this checklist too and see which items you want to keep an eye on during the season. Add your own ideas too, of course!

What did we learn today? 

What are we doing this afternoon? 

Friday, December 18, 2020

Check In (3-5 min)

Last day of Hannukah 

Theme of the week and Skill Builder 

Today we’ll focus on the beauty of winter  

Recap yesterday’s topics 

Show & Share (5-10 min)

Favorite romantic moment. It can be from your life, from a movie, a story, or a show. 

Next Week’s Show & Share 

Is just attending and giving parties and having a grand ole time.   

Covid Mitigation Moment (5 min)

If you go into a public space they will ask you  questions at the door before they take your temperature. It's a good idea to be ready to answer. 

Below are the common screening questions.

PRESENTERS: We will put these questions into the next few days curriculum so just work on one question at a time and help people who have low expressive language or English to come up with a strategy for answering. 

1. Do you have any of the following symptoms?

• Fever
• Cough
• Shortness of breath
• Muscle pains
• Loss of taste or smell
• Runny nose or congestion
• Sore throat
• Diarrhea
• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Nausea
• Vomiting

2. Do any members of your household have any of the above symptoms?

3. Have you traveled recently?

4. Have you been in contact with someone diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past two weeks?

5. Are you or a family member awaiting COVID-19 test results?

*Work on a Name Tag for Next Week's Party (5-10 min)

If you are going to be in the zoom party name tags can make it easier to tell who is who. Besides they are fun. Put your name on it and decorate it.

*Readers' Option: Life Skills Stories - Activity Sheet (10-15 min)

PRESENTERS: if your group is reading the story and doing the exercises, the link will go to ALL the documents for that package of work. Scroll down to find the sheet you are working on on a given day

Thematic Activity 01 (5-10 min)

Taking Pictures During Holidays and the Rule of 3rds. 

If you take pictures this holiday season, use the rule of 3rds to "compose" or "frame" your photos. The rule of thirds says pictures look better when we put the focus of the photo on an intersection of an imagined tic-tac-toe board. 

Here is a winter scene that demonstrates the rule of thirds. 

1. Can you find the intersections of the lines? 
2. What interesting things in the picture are at or near the intersections? 

Here is another example. The clear points of interest are on intersections.

Draw the lines on these photos with the annotation tool to find out if the photographer followed the rule of thirds. It doesn't have to be exact.

01

02

03

If you have a hope tablet or a phone, you have a camera. If your group would like, you can practice taking photos with your device and sharing them with your group.  

OPTIONAL Holiday Visits to Another District (10-20 min)

1. Go to the home page
2. Introduce yourself. The hosting district may have some ice breakers or may just be getting to know each other. 
3. If you are in Santa Cruz District, visit CENTRAL district by clicking the  gift square on the home page.
4. If you are in North District, visit the SOUTH district by clicking the hot cocoa square on the home page. 

Thematic Activity 02- Music that Sounds like Winter (10-15 min)

Musical instruments come in many forms. This is an instruments that uses MARBLES! to make sounds. See what you think.

PRESENTERS: Purposely describe this instrument as best you can not just for the people who may not be able to see it, but also to help everyone practice describing things that are not common sights. It's an excellent communication challenge.

Vivaldi's Winter portion of the composition Four Seasons

Vivaldi is a famous composer of classical music and Four Seasons is one of his most famous pieces. This is PART of a longer symphony but as you listen to the music imagine snow, tiny animals trying to survive, the fading light, the shivering feeling of being cold, and the danger that winter can pose in the wild. 

PRESENTERS: the movement is long (9 min) so play it as long as interest holds.

Nordic Chant

The human voice is an instrument too. Listen to this example of using the voice to make us think of winter. 

Then, in your group, try to find sounds you can make that remind you of winter. Each person choose a sound and repeat it in a rhythm, then the next person can add theirs and so on until you are all creating a winter sounding combination. 

Skill Builder - Getting Clear About Winter Needs (10-15 min)

Get clear about our needs this winter and practice talking about it with people we trust. Especially during Covid, we need to understand our needs for social time and solitude. Since Fridays are about fun with friends, let's consider our social needs. Discuss the following questions.

1. What happens inside your body when you feel like being alone? What sensations do you feel? Do you notice any emotions related to that?
2. How does it feel inside when you want to be around people? Do you have any sensations in your body? Do you notice yourself thinking particular thoughts?
3. If you are in a group, or around people and you feel like being alone, what can you say to get some solitude that won't hurt someone's feelings, or make them feel rejected?
4. If someone asks you for solitude, do you feel hurt? If so, what can you do to manage that feeling?
5. If you want company and you are at home these days, are there people around you can hang out with?
6. How do you ask for companionship?
7. What can you do if the person you ask can't do it for some reason? Who else would you approach?
8. What about when we want to see a particular person? How can we try and connect with that person, even if we can't go visit them directly?
9. Sometimes we want company and we just can't have it. Or, we want solitude but it's just not something we can do right then. How do help yourself cope? 

Games  and Puzzles

Hannukah Dreidel Game (play for points)

PRESENTERS: click on the dreidel to spin it

Winter Jigsaw Puzzle

Random Interactive Word Search

What did we learn today?

What are we doing this afternoon?

Need some help deciding on an afternoon activity?

Spin the Activity Wheel!  

The activities are numbered. These numbers corrospond to brief activity descriptions listen in the linked document below. 

Activity Wheel Details