Teacher Time

Teacher Time is where I work with students 1:1 with IEP goals. If a group is behind in something I will also take this time to finish up any work.

Each student has their own bin along with a clipboard with a data sheet for their IEP goals. Click here for my free data sheet on TPT! Each bin contains materials that relate to the child's IEP. I am still working on creating and putting together some materials for my kiddos but each child has at least one thing to work on for now.

While I am working with one student, the other student or students will do an activity. For group C they will usually work on puzzles or coloring. Group B will work on unfinished worksheets, coloring, or looking at a book. Group A does this calendar sheet.

I wanted to implement this center this year because last year I felt like some of my students goals were not being worked on as often as I would like. This seems to be a great solution and also provides for some catch up time if needed.

Morning Routine and Morning Meeting

8:15- Pick up students from before care
8:20- Begin carpool

The majority of my students get dropped off every morning by a family member. I will usually go out to carpool to get the kids while my assistants stay back with the ones in the classroom. As soon as one of my kiddos comes into the room they will take out their lunchboxes and place them on top of the crates and then take out their take home binder and put it in the green crate.

They will then put their backpacks in their cubby.

Once their belongings are away they will check themselves in on the door. Each student has a popscicle stick with their picture on it. 

Once carpool is over I will come in and check their take home binders for any notes or papers that are
turned into the office. While I am doing this, my kiddos are having some free time to play before we get started for the day.
8:50- Bathroom
9:00- Check Schedules

9:00- First group goes to ABLLS, other groups have morning meeting
9:00-9:20- Morning meeting with 2 groups

I will do morning meeting with 2 groups of kiddos at the yellow kidney table. My assistant who does'nt do ABLLS will assist students who need more prompting and also reinforce appropriate morning meeting behaviors.

Before starting morning meeting or any rotation we go over the rules and every once in awhile we will go over the "Good Beavior/Bad Behavior" poster.

 

Here is our morning meeting board. We do a question of the week and each student has the opportunity to annswer the question (found these on the autism helpers TPT store!). We then graph the number of students that picked each option. We usully graph on Wednesday once all groups have answered the questions. Thursday and Friday I will ask questions about the graph. (Which has more? Which has less? etc.) Once the calendar routine is finished, I will read a social story that may pertain to a particular student in that group or read a story related to a holiday or theme.

Here is our morning meeting book. Each student uses a book like this during morning meeting. Some books include pictures while others do not. It goes over the weather, day of the week, month, season, and the rules. This is where my assistant will prompt students if needed.

Friday Reflections!

Another week has flown by! This week we began our curriculum, rotations, and specials. It was a bit hectic at first but we are getting the hang of things!

What Worked: This week and next week we will be learning all about outer space in science class. I created a unit that I have begun working on with my students. It includes an adapted story in 2 different levels, vocabulary word cards, worksheets, bingo, and an outer space board game. I have begun reviewing the words and reading the story to my students. Next week we will get into the worksheets and games. I also want to do an experiement and an edible for this unit. I will surely post pictures of both of those next week! Here is my unit on TPT.

Highlight of the Week: Today was Grandparent's Day and grandparents got the opportunity to come and eat breakfast with their grandchildren and make a craft in the classroom. It is nice to see my students with their families and see them have fun together. Here is the craft that my kiddos made with their grandparents!

Student Schedules

Yesterday I showed you our master schedule for our class. Today I will share my students individual schedules that are based off of the master schedule. Next week, I will go into each part of the schedule.

Here is the front of each of my students binder schedules. They are all laid out on our u-table every morning for easy access.

 

 

Here is the inside of group B and C's schedules.

 

Students check their schedules in the morning after our morning bathroom trip and then go to their area, either morning meeting or ABLLS with an assistant. After a part of the schedule is complete they will pull off the picture and place it in the pocket of their binder. The picture cards are changed daily once the students have gone home for the day.

 

This is where students know what to do at the orange center. I will explain the orange center in more detail next week.

 

Here is where the students know what to do at the purple center. This is located on the other side of the binder flap.

 

 

 

Here is group A's schedule. It is more functional and looks more like a schedule that you would have in the real world. It still has the orange and purple center schedules.

 

 

Here is a close up! The students cross off each activity that has been completed.

 

 

 

 

Schedules

Before I talk about the schedule in our room, I want to take a few moments to brag about my amazing students! Yesterday was our first day of rotating and using our schedules which in turn caused a few meltdowns and some confusion among my students and staff. Since it was the first day I had to teach my kiddos how to use their schedules. Anyways... onto the bragging! Today was fabulous! It was only the second day of using our schedules and they did amazing. No major meltdowns and almost perfect transitions, almost ;) I am excited to see how much better my kiddos get with their rotations throughout the school year.

So at our school, one of our assistants pulls students out 2-3 at a time for an hour to work on ABLLS. ABLLS is a program that uses principles of Applied Behavior  combined with individualized student goals. Also throughout the day students go to speech, OT, or PT if needed. We also have at least one special every day. With this hectic schedule I had to find a way for all of my students to get the information they needed. So we rotate throughout the day in 20 minute intervals.

Here is our master schedule.

Here is our teacher schedule.

I will go into detail about each part of the schedule and how the student schedules look and how they are used. Thanks for reading!

Chelsea

Friday Reflections!

The end to another wonderful week is here! Not to mention, it's a long weekend :) We had a lot of fun this week and are starting to get back into the routine of things.

What Worked: Student group setup
I currently only have 7 kiddo's in my class. We are actucally getting a new student next Tuesday. Last year I played around with how to group my students and I have found what works best for me, my assistants, and of course my students. I group my students based on academic level. This way I know they are all getting the material they need at their own pace and in a way that is differentiated for each of them. My A group has 2 students currently and they are working on a 1st-2nd grade reading level and are working on double digit addition and subtraction (one of my kiddo's in this group is even on multiplication!) My B group has 3 students who are reading pre-primer and primer sight words. My C group are students working on pre-academic skills and letter and number recognition. There are currently 2 students in this group. Well to get to the point, these groups of students have been working out great! I feel that they are all learning and participating at their own pace and level.

What Didn't Work: Scheduling this week
Next week is when we start pulling out for ABLLS, specials, and therapies. So since this week we didn't use our schedules, transitioning was a bit difficult. We had a few meltdowns when transitioning from playtime to work. I tried to use a temporary schedule but since there arn't unlimited hours in the day I didnt have time to make one for each student. Next week our schedules will start and I will post abut our daily routine.

Highlight of the Week: Apple Edible
Since we were doing activities relating to apples this week we did an edible activity, of course incorporating apples! Here is our finished product! Looks silly, but its supposed to be a mouth. There are 2 apple slices and peanut butter in the middle to hold the marshmallow teeth.

I try to do edible activities at least once or twice a month. They go with a topic we are working on in class or a holiday. I like these activities because not only are they fun but they also teach following direction skills. I will also incorporate social skills and have students in charge of an ingredient so the other students have to ask for it.

Well that's how our week went! How was yours?

Chelsea

Day 2 and 3 of Apple Week!

Here are the activities that we did Tuesday and Wednesday!

On Tuesday at the u-table where the students work with me, we sorted apples based on color and then graphed them. Graphing is a 5th grade standard for us so I figured it would be good to incorporate for this activity. I bought a few different apples in each color; red, green, and yellow. On Wednesday the students were able to taste each apple and pick which was their favorite. This proved to be a fun activity and a healthy snack!

Also yesterday, one of my assistants played an "I Have, Who Has" game with an apple theme with my students. This is the first time I have used this game and since it was also probably the first time the students played I wanted to use somthing simple, so we played it using upper case letters. I got this game from TPT for free :) Click Here.

Wednesday, one of my assistants played apple bingo with the students that I created. I will be putting it up on TPT once I create some more cards.

 

My other assistant made apple trees with the students out of small pieces of ripped paper. I love these types of crafts because it also works on fine motor skills. Here they are up in the hallway. I love them!