December visit to LEARN

Students assembled at LEARN on December 12 for the 3rd session of Mousecalls. The day began with an activity for students to learn about others, understanding similarities and appreciating differences. Groups of 6 students received a packet with one flower center and 6 petals. Students brainstormed all things that they have in common and wrote those items on the flower center. Then, each student wrote something about himself/herself on a petal. The petals were glued to the center and displayed on a whiteboard. The students showed creativity and enjoyed sharing with others. Here are some examples of student petals: I am a swimmer. I do karate. I can put my foot behind my head. I have 5 fish! I have a pet turtle. I'm 6'0" tall. I have a twin sister. I have 8 siblings. I am the only one in my group who has long hair! Obsessed with videogames. I like to do sports. Some flower centers, showing commonality, read as follows: We all like pizza. We all have our Xmas trees up. We all like chocolate. We all like science. We were all born in 1998. We all think rollerblading is awesome. We all have last names that start with different letters. The list goes on...
The highlight of the session was the American Sign Language (ASL) lesson. Mrs. Bell, from Montville High School, discussed hearing loss and how individuals with hearing loss are able to communicate. She gave an introduction to ASL and then her ASL students from the high school, who serve as student mentors, worked with groups of students to teach them ASL. Students learned how to use and understand sign language and fingerspelling, played SINGO (sign language bingo) and other related activities.