What Fun It Is!

I wanted to get another post in before our break--when I'll be out of the country-- so here we go!

Work Tasks

 

Many of the students in the classroom are working on one to one correspondence so this is a task I created to help them work on that while also working on fine motor skills by clipping the clothes pin onto the circle.

 

If you'd like your own copy, you can download my file here.

 

 Another skill we're working on is sequencing color patterns. I made this task out of part of an egg carton and halves of notecards! What I like the most about this task is that it can be individualized for each student. If the student is not able to sequence yet, they can color match the chips, but putting the chips on top of the color instead of into the carton.

 

Classroom Organization

 

Something important for our students, especially those who are non-verbal are picture schedules. This helps give a clear idea of what to expect for the day and helps eliminate any distress from unexpected changes in the normal daily routine.

 

I created this daily schedule that I refer to throughout the day and move over the picture as that activity is completed.

 

Timers are also helpful in assisting in making transitions easier for students.  We have some timers that give visual cues, changing from green to yellow to red, and others that require audio cues-- usually a verbal reminder.

Winter Wonder-crafts!

 

Of course, one of my favorite things is getting to do crafts with the students. We have done more than what I have to post-- but here are some of our highlights!

 We have been doing some watercolors in class!

I found this free download from teachers pay teachers with the light bulb patterns. I printed it out on cardstock and used a white crayon to write different messages like "May your days be bright" or "Happy holidays to all" or "It's time to deck the halls." They turned out really nice and it was a very simple craft if you're looking for one!

I was very excited to try out this next craft with my brother Tommy. It was a great practice at measuring the ribbon with a ruler, cutting with scissors and then stuffing the ribbon into the clear ornament. In some of the ornaments, we put colored pom poms into them to fill extra space.

 

I think they turned out great as well and would certainly recommend trying it out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall Festivities!

Hello! I, of course, have been very busy creating new things for the classroom and doing more arts and crafts in the classroom.

Arts and Crafts

I often get to play art teacher at work and enjoy coming up with projects for the class to make.  This one with the fall trees was really great for helping them continuing to practice their fine motor skills-- particularly ripping. They had to rip all of the pieces for the trees and with assistance glued it down to make a fall tree picture!

I also had the class make scarecrows back in October. They practiced using scissors to cut the fringe for the "straw" coming out of their scarecrow and then with or without assistance they practiced using crayons. I had them draw circles and green lines for their pumpkins. They also practiced cutting out circles! It was a great cutting/gluing project.

Cooking

Something really fun we've started to do in class is cooking!.. or a kind of cooking. So far we've made trail mix-- students practiced pouring ingredients into a bowl and stirring and scooping into bags. We've also made smores-- students practiced assembling the smores in the proper order.

Back in October, for our "cooking" we decorated cupcakes! I found a pinterest idea for mummy cupcakes. I just baked chocolate cupcakes and bought icing and M&Ms and ta-da! Mummy cupcakes! They helped me guide it in strips over the cupcake and then set the "eyes" on top. It was neat seeing some of the students very particular on making sure the M was face down. It was a delicious Halloween :)

Until Next Time

I've been asked to post about some of the different communication strategies I use in the classroom so I'm getting some pictures and information ready to post about that. Look for that next week. Happy Thanksgiving!

Let's Get Busy!

Bling side!

I have been very busy lately! In addition to preparing to move to our new home in Shawnee, KS, I am trying to keep up with all my goals and planning for next school year! Here are some examples of what I've come up with so far.. 

Tame side :)

I recently acquired a bunch of plywood that I am going to have my dad saw in half so that I can make clipboards for my class next year-- pictures to come once I've made those too!


This may have been a bit early, but I figured I'll need some kind of cute container to store all of my new homemade clipboards in!


I didn't have many fun paint colors..... but I did have glitter!!


Science


This isn't totally done (I couldn't find any brads!), but I want to do more space science this year so I wanted to create a visual way for students to see that the Earth orbits the sun and the moon orbits the Earth. It also says the distance between on the white part in between. I'll attach brads when I get some and then it will be complete! All it took was some crayons, paper plates and brads :)

Things to come

I bought a bunch of really cute labels so I can label the books in my library--once I type up a format on word I'll share it so anyone else labeling books for their library can already have the template!

I'm planning on making more things tomorrow to post so this one may be a little short, but I'll have more things soon!

Resource Alert!!

There isn't a picture I can link to put it on pinterest, but this is a site with lots of BLANK school templates for newsletters, borders, school menus, lots of things! And FREE! Just click here