Tuesday March 22, 2022

Check In (5 min)

How are you feeling today? Do you have anything you want to share?

Today happens to be... Diabetes Alert Day!

Thematic Activity: Critical Thinking

Did you know that employers value critical thinkers? Employers want job canidates who can evaluate a situation and provide the best solution to a problem. 

• Do you know what critical thinking is? It can be helpful in many situations both within work, program, debates, conversations, family and friends problems, plus so much more. 
• Critical Thinking Explained: Watch this and  remember to use captions.

Did you like the video? Did you learn something new? Or was this a good refresher? When was the last time you used your critical thinking skills?

• Critical thinking is a skill that can develop over time with practice. Online you can find rescources to help you become a better critical thinker. 
• Review this Ted Talk video with 5 tips that you can start using today. 
• What tip did you find most helpful?
• What advice would you give to someone who wanted to level up on their critical thinking skills?

Client-led Exercise: Have a volunteer lead the group in some light stretching

Show & Share (10-min)

What's your favorite cozy warm beverage?

Skills: Collaborative Discussion-Community Awareness "What's going on in our community?" (20 mins)

Set up the zoom white board to answer the questions as a group.

• Have you checked out community calendars in the area that you live in?
• Where do you normally go to look and see what community events will be offered in the area that you live in? 
• Do you look at the newspaper either paper copy or online?
• Do you use the internet? 
• Do you talk to friends? Or use social media such as facebook or instagram to look for cool events?
• Brain storm all the ideas on where and how you can look for event's going on in the community that you live in! 
• After you all have had the chance to brainstorm, see which events are going on in your community over the next month. See what you can find online, on a app, or even in the newspaper. Provide specifics about each event. 

Body Break

What did we learn today?

Quick Fun Activity 

Have you heard of the word OCD? Do you know what it stands for? Many people tend to use this word  and throw around myths about it. Share with the group if you've met someone who has OCD or have heard the word used very often. You can also watch this animated video on Debunking the myths of OCD.

Wednesday March 23, 2021

Check In (5 min)

How is your week going so far? Have you noticed anything good or anything you'd like to work on?

Today happens to be...National Chia Day!

Theme of the week: Awareness and Critical Thinking 

Thematic Activity:  Awarness of events around the world

Because we are talking about awareness and critical thinking this week, how are you keeping up with the facts on events happening around the world? Use the questions below to facilitate the discussion. You can use the whiteboard to keep track of responses and share screen for examples.

• Where do you look for the news?
•  How do you hear about the news?
•  Which events are happening now around the world? 
• Which articles or reports do you feel that you've trusted?
• Can you tell the difference between real news reports or fake news reports?

Client-led Exercise: Have a volunteer lead the group in some light stretching

Show & Share (10-min)

Have you adjusted to the time change?

Identifying individuals with developmental disabilities from pop culture  (5-10 min)

PRESENTERS: As a team, have participants search for individuals that are currently in pop culture that have developmental disabilities. 

Once the participants find some one, have them share their screen to show the team.

People with developmental disabilities are now starring in movies, walking on run ways as models, and completing Iron Man competitions. 

What is exciting about this? New opportunities are happening every day in pop culture for anyone! 

 Skills: Collaborative Discussion on Brain Health 

Did you know that our brain contains amino acids and fats? Food actually has a large affect on our brian, mood, thinking, energy and overall health. 

Omega rich foods are good fats that are helpful for our brain! Before watching the video, take some time to do some of your own searching as a group and find some examples of food and vitamins that are good for brain health. Share screen and show images, videos or even atricles to support your answers.

Reflect on the answers shared: What was surprising? What was interesting? What did you already know? What is something that you will try?

Check out this video: How the food you eat affects your brian 

Reflect on the video: What did you like about the video? What did you dislike about the video?

Body Break

Theme Review: What's the theme for the week?

What did we learn today?

Quick Fun Activity

Share with the group if you've ever taken a ballet class? Unsure of what ballet is? You all can look for some examples online. Ballet is a form of dance that is often used to tell a story. You can learn a bit more about the story of "Sleeping Beauty" performed in ballet here. 

Thursday March 24, 2022

Check In (5 min)

What is something you learned this month that you find exciting?

Today happens to be...National Cheesesteak Day!

Thematic Activity: Exercises to improve of our brain health

The brain is involved in all that we do. Exercising the brain to improve memory, focus and daily functioning is and should be a priority. 

At any age, you can impove your brain health by:

• Completing a puzzle
• Playing card games
• Buliding your vocabulary
• Dancing
• Using all of your senses
• Learning a new skill
• Teaching someone else a new skill
• Listen to or play music
• Meditate
• Take a new rout home
• Learn a new language

From the list above, which activity are you interested in trying?

See nothing that you like? Look online and share with the group what you found. Search for activities to improve your brain health.

Client-led Exercise: Have a volunteer lead the group in some light stretching

Show & Share (10-min)

A favorite memory from program. Share about a time in program that you enjoyed and makes you smile. If you want, find a picture to share from the memory. 

Skills: Phonics

Today's skills is phonics- we will look at the letter D. Use the sheet below to help introduce the letter.

Letter D Worksheet

• Using an online timer, press start and see how many responses you can come up with to the following question in 30 seconds:
• Which items can you find in a grocery store that start with a letter D?
• Now reset the timer and press start again, and see how many responses you can come up with for the following question in 30 seconds:
• What items do you have around you right now that start with the letter D?

Connect the circled items with something that starts with the letter D. Click here for worksheet

Body Break

What did we learn today?

Quick Fun Activity  

In your group, try to create a short story using your imagination, but each person can only say one word, adding on to the story. 

For example: 

Bob says "Apple"

Julie says "Tree"

Jose says "Box"

Kim says "Sold"

 and so on and so one...

You want to create a short story that has a beginning, middle and an end. You an also add a bit of a scenario about a person with a conflict or something to get that imagination going. 

Friday March 25, 2022

Check In (5 min)

What are your plans for this weekend? Share a plan with your team

March happens to be...National MS Education and Awareness Month!

Theme of the week: Awareness and Critical Thinking

Thematic Activity: Awareness of our imgination 

Do you ever take the time to imagine the future? Think about stories that could be movies? Draw the perfect character? Create a cool machine in your head or have a vision of a goal? This is all in our imagination, the mind is powerful. It helps us create and invent. It influences all that we do.

• Here is a short list of 10 ways you can develop your imagination
• After looking at the list, share with the group what you found interesting about it or what things you already do.
• If you would like a bit of a push to explore your imagination further, this video below may help. 
• Watch this inspiring video: Click here

Client-led Exercise: Have a volunteer lead the group in some light stretching

Show & Share

Did you create an affirmation last week that you are using this week?

               <Body Break>

Virtual Scavenger Hunt(10-15 min)

PRESENTERS: Use the list below to have participants find items virtually. Participants can have either 

It's time for virtual scavenger hunt! Use the following list to explore the space around you (or look online) for the items. Share the times with the team once you find them!

• A good book
• Something that is blue
• A food you can eat
• An item that makes you laugh when you look at it
• Something that you use to pass time

Once you find those things, participants can come up with their own things for their peers to find.

Skills: Fractions

Fractions can help us divide many things into eaqual parts when using money, measurement, food, miles and so much more.

• If you need a small introduction to fractions. you can use this video to help introduce the topic. 
• For the worksheet below work as a team the best you can to complete most of the questions. If it becomes too challenging pick a few questions to complete together. 
• Writing Fractions Worksheet

Body Break

Theme Review: What's the theme of the week?

What did we learn today?

Quick Fun Activity 

Do you love to dance? Have you had the chance to show off those moves? Dancing has many benefits and its also a way to self express! Check out this video with a bit of history on social dance. 

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