Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Write a simple circus poem or story

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abc teach

Here is a simple way to write a poem about the circus.

Begin each line with a word that starts with the letter on that line.
C _______________
I _______________
R _______________
C _______________
U _______________
S _______________

To make it even easier, you can add more words and let the participants fill in the blanks

Come to the circus.
It is really ______.
Remember the clowns
Cause one may a look like a _____
Upredicitable is what the circus can be
So lets go tomorrow and see what there is to_______

You can have a discussion about rhyming words and make a word bank for the audience to choose from

Of course this is just an example
come back to see the story idea

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Riddle Answers

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Riddle answers

1.Breath
2.He didn't want to hit the bar
3.Open the door, put him in, close the door
4.Open the door, take the giraffe out, put him in, close the door
5.The elephant, he's in the refrigerator
6.Jump in, swim accross, get out. The aligators are at the meeting
7.The rope isn't tied to anything but the horse
8.8. Take the top half away and the "o" is left
9.Drop it 4 feet, the first 3 feet the egg won't hit anything
10.Make sure it's a matchstick
11.Read the label
12.No, they have giraffes
13.A dumpster
14.Fire
15.A needle, a potatoe, a storm, or true lovers
16.When it's ajar

Friday, June 25, 2010

More Riddles

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More riddles

1.I am lighter than a feather, yet no man can hold me for very long. What am I?
2.Three guys run into a bar, the fourth man ducks. Why does he duck?
3.How do you put a giraffe in a refrigerator?
4.How do you put an elephant in a refrigerator?
5.All of the animals go to a meeting for the Lion King. One animal doesnt show up. Which animal doesn't come?
6.You come to a river that aligators live in. There is no boat, raft, bridge, nor material to make them. How do you get accross?
7.A fifteen foot rope is tied to a horse. The horse is 25 feet from a stack of hay. How can the horse get to the hay?
8.From what number can you take half and leave nothing?
9.How can you drop an egg 3 feet without breaking it?
10.How can you make a fire with only one stick?
11.How can you tell the difference between a can of chicken soup and a can of tomato soup?
12.Can giraffes have babies?
13.What has four wheels and flies?
14.Feed me and I live, give me something to drink and I'll die. What am I?
15.What has eyes but cannot see?
16.When is a door not a door?

ANSWERS-next time

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Laughter is the best medicine: Easy Riddles

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Here are some riddles that are sure to make you and your residents laugh

Can you spell eighty in two letters?
A-T.

Did you hear the story about the skunk?
Never mind, it stinks.

How can you double your money?
Look at it in a mirror.

How can you make seven even?
Take away the letter S.
How can you name the capital of every U.S. state in two seconds?
Washington, D.C.

How do you file a nail?
Under the letter N.

How do you make a lemon drop?
Hold it and then let go.

How does a baby ghost cry?
"Boo-hoo! Boo-hoo!"

How does a broom act?
With sweeping gestures.

How does a fireplace feel?
Grate! (Great!)

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Emotions Outlast The Memories That Drive Them (part 2)

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npr

by Deborah Franklin

Feinstein says, "Your brain is no longer able to catch onto those experiences, so your day-to-day experiences, like what you had for breakfast this morning, what you did last Saturday night, those are gone. They're vanished."

But Feinstein suspected that the good feelings and bad feelings triggered by meaningful events might linger, captured by a different part of the brain.

So, to stir up some strong emotion, he threw a mini-film fest in his clinic. He showed several people who have damage to the hippocampus a string of short movie clips from tear-jerker classics.

One was the scene in Forrest Gump where he is crying all alone at the grave of his dead wife, Jenny.

It worked. Everyone who watched the film clips was visibly moved — some to tears. Yet a half-hour later, when quizzed about the movies, they didn't remember a thing — not even one woman who had sobbed during the films.

"We test her memory, her memory's gone," Feinstein says. "What happens to her emotions? Well, it turns out she's still sad."

She's extremely sad, she tells the psychologist, though she has no idea why.

"Is it the sort of tightness in the gut or in the throat, or the face, somehow cuing her into the fact that she's sad?" Feinstein asks. "Is it some sort of nonverbal image resonating in her mind, a sort of gloomy image of despair? We don't know. It's an excellent question and one that needs to be followed up on."

Now here's the good news: When Feinstein and his colleagues repeated the experiment, this time showing the same people clips from funny or uplifting movies, like When Harry Met Sally or a Bill Cosby special, it put everybody in a great mood.

And that good feeling outlasted their memories, too. Remember that, Feinstein says, next time you spend time with a friend or family member with Alzheimer's.

"Telling them a simple joke, calling them up on the phone, giving them a visit, could actually have these enormous positive benefits," he adds.

Donna Schempp, a social worker with the Family Caregiver Alliance in San Francisco, says Feinstein's research rings true to her own experience.

Schempp's father, who was once an avid gardner, had Alzheimer's. She learned with him that spending brief visits outside looking at daffodils and tulips paid off for both of them, even after he no longer remembered who she was, or when he'd last seen her.

"The thing is that you're going to visit more if you can find a way to make that event pleasant for yourself," Schempp says, "wheareas, if it's really painful, you're going to avoid it."

Keep your visits short, she says — short but sweet.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Emotions Outlast The Memories That Drive Them

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npr

by Deborah Franklin



A study of patients with amnesia finds that the emotion tied to a memory lingers in the mind even after the memory is gone.

The finding, published this week in the journal PNAS, Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences could have important implications for people with Alzheimer's disease and their families.

One of the loneliest things about loving someone with early Alzheimer's is the feeling that any good times the two of you share just don't matter.

"So often I'll listen to family members say, 'Oh, I don't go and visit Grandpa anymore because 10 minutes after I leave, he doesn't even remember I came,' " says Justin Feinstein, a graduate student in neuropsychology at the University of Iowa.

Feinstein had a hunch that those visits made more of an impression than anyone realized. To check, he turned to several people who, like Alzheimer's patients, have damage to a spot in the brain called the hippocampus.

He describes it as a "kind of a sea-horse-shaped structure right in the middle of the brain, no bigger than the pinkie."

Damage your hippocampus, and you can't hang onto new memories for more than a few minutes. It can happen through a stroke, epilepsy or Alzheimer's disease.

Read More:

Monday, June 14, 2010

How to become an activity director

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

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eHow

Activity directors plan and implement programs in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, adult day care centers and other similar locations. Before becoming an activity director you must follow specific guidelines recommended by the National Council of Certified Activity Professionals (NCCAP), which is the only national organization that offers varying levels of certification for activity professionals working with the elderly. The Virginia-based group also offers re-certification to professionals looking to renew and maintain their membership.



Read more: How to Become an Activity Director | eHow.com

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Occupational Therapy & Stroke Patients

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

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Some residents in nursing homes have had strokes. It is helpful to know something about them

eHow

There are many possible problems after a stroke. The lost functions may include problems with moving, thinking and talking. Pain can be a problem after a stroke as well because of muscle spasticity or weakness. More than 60 percent of stroke survivors will have some sort of disability. Occupational therapy can help with many problems that a stroke brings.
The occupational therapist teaches the stroke victims how to compensate for difficulties after a stroke by prescribing activities that help regain lost functions.
Stroke
A stroke happens when a brain bleed or blood clot interferes with the flow of blood to the brain. Because of this, many brain cells can die, and damage to the brain occurs. There are many problems that can happen because of the cell death.

Occcupational Therapy

Occupational therapy uses a variety of techniques that are suited to different disabilities and situations. These may include using memory aids such as lists or a diary, learning to eat or dress with one hand or practicing mental or physical tasks through the use of board games and crafts. A stroke survivor's therapy usually begins with simpler activities, then progresses to more complicated ones as the person gets better.

Early Therapy

Once a stroke victim is stable medically, occupational therapy activities usually begin. Education about stroke recovery from read all of...Occupational Therapy & Stroke Patients

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Activity Director Resources

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information

Here is a great dementia resource for caregivers and healthcare professinals,

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Get your subscription to Activity Director Today's e magazine

eHow

Activity directors are responsible for planning, organizing and implementing individual and group activities to meet the social, emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs of the residents they serve. To do this, they must think up things to do that involve the residents. They communicate this to them by making a monthly activity calendar. Activity resources offer the activity professionals tools and ideas to make a great activity calendar and run great activities.
Books
There are several books that serve as good resources for the activity director. The first book is "Long Term Care for Activity Professionals and Recreational Therapists, Fifth Edition" by Elizabeth Best Martini, Mary Anne Weeks, and Priscilla Wirth, 2008. This book is an easy to understand and thorough explanation of the workings and day-to-day operations of an activity department. It answers many questions that an activity director may have. It discusses different kinds of group activities and the appropriate resident mix that should be involved. Activity department standards are also discussed. Talking to family members can be difficult. This book gives you pointers on how to do this effectively. Managing your activity department is also explained.

A book specifically for those with memory impairments, including Alzheimer's disease and related dementia, is "Adorable Photographs of Our Baby Book," by Susan Berg, 2006. This book discusses and demonstrates meaningful, mind-stimulating activities for this population of residents that activity directors serve. Using baby pictures is the focus of the book. These baby photographs and the suggested visual conversation-stimulating exercises provide the activity director and his staff with many ideas to have great interactions with all levels of residents with dementia. Even residents who do not have a memory problem enjoy looking at the photographs because they are big and make the residents smile.

"The Positive Interactions Program Of Activities For People With Alzheimer's Disease," by Sylvia Nissenboim, 1998, is a time-saver because this book lays out pre-planned programs for groups and individuals. Even though this book is....read all of Activity Director Resources

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Sun facts for a discussion with long term care residents

Activities directors, caregivers, and healthcare professionals,here is some great information


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The Sun


Some people from long ago thought of the Sun as a god. They did not want the god to be angry with them. To keep the Sun happy, they offered it gifts such as gold and food.


People in ancient Egypt, Asia and Greece worshipped the sun.
They thought that an eclipse of the sun, when the moon passes in front of the sun and blocks the light, was the sun god showing anger. The Greeks called the sun Helios. The Romans called it Sol.


The Sun is our closest star. It is a member of the Milky Way galaxy. The Sun is a yellow dwarf star, which means it is a medium size star. It is believed to be over 4 billion years old. The Sun spins slowly on its axis as it revolves around the galaxy.


The center, or core, of the Sun is very hot. A process called "nuclear fusion" takes place there. Nuclear fusion produces a lot of energy. Some of this energy travels out into space as heat and light. Some of it arrives at Earth! Streams of gas particles known as the solar wind also flow out from the Sun.


On the Sun's surface, we can see storms. We call these storms "sunspots" because they look like dark spots on the Sun's surface. The Sun also produces big explosions of energy called solar flares. These flares shoot fast moving particles off the Sun's surface. These particles can hit the Earth's atmosphere and cause a glow called an aurora.


The sun is the closest star to Earth, and is the centre of our solar system.


The sun is a huge, spinning ball of hot gas that glows in the sky. Our sun is a medium sized star. It looks larger and brighter than the other stars because it the nearest star to Earth. It is about 150 million kilometres away.