Getting Organized - Curriculum By Subject

Every year I tell myself "self, you need to be more organized this year". As my curriculum grows I find it harder and harder to keep track of what I have done and what I need to do. 5 years ago I would just create a worksheet when I needed one, then save it in my computer in the hopes of remembering I had it for the next year. I was so overwhelmed with having to create everything I used that organization was out the window. 2 years ago I started printing out everything and placing it inside binders by subject. Last year I tried teaching in the order of the binders, but then I would get pulled, or the school would plan something during my class time, or some kid would keep picking his nose and the lesson on food storage was put on the back burner as we worked on Nose Picking 101. By the middle of the year, I couldn't remember where I was or what I had done. 

This year I have created a worksheet with all the lessons I have and taped it to the wall next to my desk. So far, 4 weeks in, I have done an amazing job at marking off each lesson after I teach it. I am going to try REALLY hard this year to STAY ORGANIZED! Does anyone else do something similar to this? How do you keep yourself organized? I would love to know.

Here is what I have been using. I am sure I will add to it when some new issues arise, but for now, this will have to do. Wish me luck :-)

The Pledge of Allegiance

Happy Tuesday! I am going to admit right now that I have been doing a terrible job at having the kids recite The Pledge Of Allegiance each morning. It was one of my plans this year and so far I have been slacking. My new boss has decided that we are going to start doing it every morning as a whole and have different kids lead it from the office onto the speakers in our classrooms. I was super excited as now it can get done even if I'm busy with something else at the moment. So, yesterday I got the kids all up one at a time and had them recite it in front of the class. Even though 2 declined to even try the others knew it by heart. Even one of my autistic boys who really only repeats what I ask him with a "yes" or "no" added at the end recited the whole thing????? Crazy. After listening to them I got to thinking if they really even understand what it was they are saying? There are some pretty big words in the Pledge of Allegiance. I went home last night and put together this little slide show and today I handed out this worksheet and we got to work dissecting The Pledge. I think the kids have a much better understand of what they have been saying all these years. I used very basic definitions and did elaborate and give examples as we went over each word. A very successful lesson if I do say so myself  :-) 

ASL - Finger Spelling Our Names

We have one classroom in our program that accommodates the deaf students who attend. One of my good friends is the teacher in that class so we get the kids together often for fun activities.

I think it's important to try to teach my kids some sign language so they can try to communicate with the others kids when they are together. My friend does "Sign Time" with a few of the classes during the year and last year it was even an elective the kids could sign up for. Today we learned how to finger spell our names doing this fun activity. 

My friend turned me on to the Enchanted Learning website where I was able to find the fingered letters. I saved each one to my computer and pasted four to a page so I would have the whole alphabet for later uses. After counting how many I would need of each, we made copies and cut them apart. I laid the letters out on the table and had the kids walk around finding each letter in their name. They colored and cut them out, then pasted them onto a piece of large white paper. My friend had a sheet of the regular alphabet available for them to color their letters and they cut those out and pasted them below their finger letters. 

Everyone had to go up to the front of the room and practice signing their names before we hung them up for all to see. This was actually a pretty long activity. From start to finish it took them about and hour and a little longer for a few of them. All in all, a great time was had by all!

Changing Curriculum & Coin Stamping

 Every year my classroom has a little shift in the students I spend my day with. Last year I had a lower academic group of kids join us, even to the point that I had to go out and purchase a few Melissa and Doug items for them since we weren't much above counting and colors. The information we get from the high schools that the kids are coming from is not always accurate so where they get placed is sometimes a little off. Occasionally we can make small shifts at the beginning of the school year but other times I just like to think there is a reason I was chosen to spend the year with them. This year brings me a couple new kids who are a bit higher then those I have had in the past. So, I am needing to change up my curriculum to adjust to them. 

 I am changing out some of my activity boxes to add ones that are a bit more challenging for these guys. Here is one I added this week. Since I will put a huge emphasis on money I thought these coin stamps, (which by the way have gone down in price since I bought them a week ago!) would be a great addition. I made up a couple worksheets for them to use the stamps with and so far the kids have really enjoyed working with them. If you can see in the picture, it says the coins and the amount needed (ex. 2 dimes, 2 nickels, 3 pennies) and the kids stamp the correct coins then add the total to the page. 

I am on the lookout for more, so if you know of any other good money activities please share.

Have a great weekend!

Putting Away Groceries

Here is a fun life skills lesson on putting away groceries. I have this lesson in a cut & paste worksheet already but since Velcro is my new best friend and any cut & paste worksheet can easily be adapted into a Velcro book, here you go! There are 33 food pieces and three options of were you can put them, 12 pantry, 9 freezer, and 12 refrigerator. I used clear Velcro, cause it's my favorite! I am giving this away for free in my store to anyone who promises to comment on my blog at least once in the next year. No pressure, lol. Here is the link to pick up a copy for our kidoes. I would love to hear how they liked it.

The Specials - Update

Has anyone had the opportunity to watch this show? I am in LOVE! I only caught one episode that was on the OWN channel over the weekend so I went ahead and bought Season 1, for only $27 bucks (10 episodes)! I really think my kids are going to enjoy this. A reality show with people just like them?? Fabulous!

Here is an excerpt from their website:
In-depth documentary telling the story of how Carol and Dafydd Williams set up "The Specials" home & helped their daughter Hilly realize her dream of living with her friends.

And here is what the OWN site has to say about it:

There is also a season 2 available~ I'll give you a good review after we are able to watch them. It will take a bit to watch 10 episodes but I promise to keep you up to date!

Here is the link to their site.

*UPDATE* I just received an email letting me know they have refunded my money for the video. Apparently Oprah owns all the rights to the shows for the next 5 years and they are no longer allowed to sell them to buyers in the USA. I will keep you up to date if Oprah starts selling them. So bummed :-(

Community Based Instruction

A very essential part of my programs is community based instruction (CBI). This year we are fortunate to have the opportunity to learn in the community 3 times a week. One day we will work at our job sites which at this time include Subway, McDonalds, a nursery, a pizza place, a Mexican restaurant, Burlington Coat Factory, both of our local colleges and major car dealership. Another day we will do physical education. We go bowling, or to one of two recreation centers or to a local park.

The final day we will spend at a variety of destinations in our community. This year because of all the new rules that were implemented, I have had to come up with some additional worksheets to use during these outings. Now, we won't do a worksheet each time but they are good for my kids to keep them busy for the hour+ we are at our destination. While we will still take our yearly trips to the zoo, the planetarium, a couple museums, the library, newspaper etc. I love doing instruction in stores. ANY stores for that matter! It's like a HUGE classroom right at our fingertips!

I am slowly trying to put all of the worksheets together (I know i have more somewhere) so I can post them for you, hopefully soon. Most of them I have done in the past and a few of them are new ones that I plan to work into our schedule this year. These worksheets have a variety of activities and most all of them fit into the goal of "finding an item in a store". Hopefully I will have it posted by the end of the week and I can just add to it as I make more. 

I would love to hear your ideas of what you do for CBI with your class. Do you do worksheets? Must you have a lesson planned? Let's share. You can pick up a copy of my worksheets HERE.

Have a great weekend!

Social Skills Packet COMPLETE!

Well I finally did it! After months of work (and periods of no work) I finally finished the last of the social skills worksheets this weekend,Yeah to me!!!! I had to add an additional one on "Public vs Private" at the last minute but got that done too! So, here it is, the complete volume of 27 social skills worksheets! I am sure I will continue to add as problems arise, but for now this is it. Here is a sneak peak at the new entries!

HERE is the link to the entire packet

Bully Free Card Game

I picked up this cool looking game while at my local autism conference a few months ago. It is recommended for 2-4 players and as I had 11 kids I didn't really play it as a game. I pushed two kidney tables together and we all sat around them (this is one of my favorite ways of teaching). I passed each colored stack around the table having the kids "take one" and "pass the others", which by the way, is a VERY difficult task that I am determined to conquer by the end of the year!! I then went around the table clockwise having the first student give me a card of his choosing from the 4 he had and we discussed each card as a group.

There are 4 categories. 
1. Confidence Builders - These cards say things like "what are you good at?" "what makes you a good person?" I was surprised that the kids could not think of one thing they were good at so I had to help out and ask questions like "who is good at dancing?" "who is kind to others?" It took that for them to see their good qualities.
2."What would you do if...." - These stated things like, "someone tried to beat you up", or "someone tripped you on purpose". We talked about how we would handle each situation and practiced saying. "please stop it" "leave me alone" and when it was time to tell someone.
3. Bully Busters - These tell how you can help someone who is being bullied.
4. Ways to stay bully free - These gave examples of things you can do if you or someone you know is being bullied. Again we discussed and practice using our words.

All in all I thought these cards were great for conversation starters. In 45 minutes each student only got to pass in 2 cards but everyone was engaged and participating the whole time. I can't wait to use them again!

You can find them online. Or HERE at Amazon.

Making A Recipe You CAN'T Eat!

Today we practiced hands on cooking skills! And as to not break the "no edible food" rule, we made Gooey Gunk! One of my co-workers loaned me this great book that's full of ideas and recipes! We got to use measuring cups and spoons. We warmed water, practice our stirring skills and even got to knead the gunk before it was finished. I had everything all set out when the kids came back from their break. I wrote the whole recipe on the board and we went over it step by step as a class. I then sat back and let the kids make the recipe as I relayed the steps again one at a time. It was pretty cool how it all came together and it made quite a bit so each kid got to do a little of the kneading. Tons of fun! I can't wait to tackle more of them! If you go to Amazon and look up this book you will be able to find this recipe in their preview.

Reading Time

I made it through my first week back with the kids and I just want to say, that was the LONGEST week I think I have ever had! I have 11 kids this year and 4 of them are new to our program. They are ALL absolutely amazing and unique. I look forward to getting to know them better and spending the year with each and every one of them! 

I started something new this year. I wanted to incorporate some reading comprehension into my schedule and so far it's going pretty good. I found these "Who Was.....?" books that I thought would totally keep the kids attention while teaching them a history lesson as well. I have about 20 books just begging to come to my room but for now they are sitting in a cart on my donorschoose page waiting for their turn to be purchased. In the mean time, I bought 4 books to get us going. This week we started "Who Was Ernest Shackleton?". I divided the book into 3 sections each being about 10 minutes worth of reading. Then I made a worksheet listing 8 multiple choice questions for each section we read. They kids were amazing! They really paid attention and knew the answers when we worked on the worksheet.

The books are also pretty inexpensive at about $4.99 each at Barnes and Noble and I bought 2 used on Ebay for $3.50 (free shipping). I plan on making worksheets for each book and will post them in my store as a bundle when I get at least a few of them done. For now, if you interested in getting this book I can send you the worksheet to try out with your kids. The books coming are "Who Was Clara Barton?", "Who Was Mark Twain?", and "Who Was Sacagawea?", so those worksheets will be ready soon as well. 

Hope you have a great weekend!

Update: thanks to Bill Gates, his wife, and their foundation this project got funded about an hour after I posted this! Life is good :-)

Weekly Schedule (for the time being)

Ugh, I feel like I'm losing my mind trying to come up with a schedule! I feel for you teachers that have to do this all year long, I've been so spoiled! Like I said in my last post, we will be on campus the first 30 days of school and I need to have a schedule put together before Monday on what I plan on doing. I have three events planned tomorrow and would really love a day of rest on Sunday so I'm trying to finish this tonight (if possible). So far this is what I have. Each period is an hour and since I can't imagine my kids be interesting in ANY subject for that long I have split each period into two. I tried to throw in some fun things I know they like throughout the day so I don't lose them. I don't want to leave anything out or have to make to many changes, tho I know it's inevitable. The first part of period 1 will only be 15 min and our morning chat consists of calendar skills, counting money by 5's, 10's, and quarters, current events, our day... etc. Our functional academic notebooks are in the morning too and cover a wide variety. Oh, and we will be doing some sort of PE during that outdoor time. 

Does anyone have a schedule prepared that I can peak at or can you let me know if you think I am missing something. I probably should have stayed longer today at work and did this cause now that I'm home I'm drawing blanks. 

Feel free to email me too @ empoweredbythem@aol.com

Thank you!!!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

I've been back at school now for a couple days and am really getting excited to see the kids on Monday. Our school,which was actually the temporary school for a new continuation high school in our town a few years ago, went through a beautification process over the summer. It went from "state penitentiary" style to something that actually resembles a school. We now have grass, trees, new ramps, A PARKING LOT, and 3 huge awnings covering the quad area! I've been at this site for 3 full years so this is really a huge blessing especially for the kids as you can tell from my sad pre-beautification picture here. 

Now lets talk about these changes. Special ed is under huge scrutiny right now at least in my district. There have been huge changes in those who are above us and we found out yesterday that there is also going to be huge changes for our classrooms. I've talked about the cooking changes that were implemented last year and that's still going to be an issue this year. The kids can only consume food that is provided by cafeteria staff or something they brought from home for their own consumption and all microwaves have been removed, so they can not heat any food they have brought. We will also have an additional day on campus (as opposed to going off campus) so I'm going to have to figure out how I am going to fill that time with the kids. Oh, and we may not be able to leave campus for up to 30 days! So technically that's an additional 8 hours a week I am going to have to figure out how to fill (in 3 days). They have also added more paperwork. We can't just "go" to Target now for CBI. We have to put in a request stating what we will be doing and how it obtains to their goals (2), Permission slips from parent and RTBA's for all staff for each outing will also be required. This will have to be done weekly. I was never one to take my kids to some store to walk around each week. We always had a purpose and usually a worksheet of some sort when doing CBI, but I think it will be helpful for others. We have also been given a "prep period" which we never had before! That will really help in getting all those things done that I used to stay after work to do. 

I don't really mind changes, especially when they are needed, and the others I will adapt to. I am a kind of a "go with the flow kinda person" and hope these new changes will be in the best interest of all the kids and our program. Has there been many changes going on in your district? New rules you have to follow this year? I'm wondering if it's only us or if this is something happening all over. I would love to know.

Social Skills Packet

I have had numerous requests for more social skills worksheets in the past and guess what? I finally have some more to add! I don't know why but these are the worksheets that I struggle with the most. I swear by the time I'm done doing one, I have read and re-read it hundreds of times! 


These are what I have added:
Listening
Telling the Truth
Apologizing
Asking Appropriate Questions
Dealing With Losing
Common Courtesy
Waiting Your Turn
Friendship Boundaries

I went ahead and bound them together with the existing social skills worksheets I already have online: Interrupting, Peer Pressure, Interrupting Others, Personal Space, Self Control, Apologizing, and my 3 friend worksheets. 

I am only charging for the new worksheets but added the others you probably already have as my plan is to dissolve the individual worksheets and only offer the bundle withing a couple months.

If you have any more ideas of a social skills I have not covered please let me know. I would love to have one per week of the school year if possible. You can check out the full preview HERE.

 I hope things are running smoothly for those of you who have already gone back. I am savoring my last two days off! 

  

And The Countdown Begins

Summer is coming to a close and boy has it been an interesting one. Since last summer I never did get the bug to create curriculum, this summer I decided to put myself into an atmosphere that would be ideal for working. Something about being home makes it really easy for me to find other things to do that seem much more important than getting the things done that I really need for the new year.

So, I rented a cabin, on a lake, in the San Bernardino mountains of California for a week. I packed up my laptop, my sweats, food, and a couple bottles of good wine and headed on my 3 1/2 hour drive to peaceful bliss. I actually was really excited to sit on the patio overlooking the lake and let my mind flow. 

After taking a walk around the lake I was ready! I was going to create! I put on comfy clothes, poured myself a drink and headed to my sanctuary on the porch with my laptop.

Now, you're not going to believe this but........

MY LAPTOP WOULD NOT BOOT UP!!!! Nothing, Nado, No Can Do! It had worked fine in the morning before I left so I have no idea what happened. Now, I guess I could have driven down the hill and found a computer repair store that could look at it but frankly I had given up. When I got home (7 days and 5 books later), I took it to my tech guy who tells me my hard drive is shot... Ugh. I went ahead and bought a new computer and luckily they were able to transfer over 90% of my stuff onto my new one. So, it's been 13 days all together and I finally am up and running again!

On another note, I am meeting my friends that I teach with for lunch tomorrow so we can catch up before we start back next week. I made each one of them a cute emergency kids with all the things us teachers seem to need at one point during the year (eye glass fixing kit, floss, deodorant, nail clippers, hair ties, nail files, mints, tweezers, bandages, Tums, toothbrush, cough drops, Shout wipes, safety pins, and a needle and thread). Oh, and chocolate! 

Hope everyone is ready to get back to school. I know I am ready for it!

Going To Work

 I can't believe I never posted this packet! I have been spending the morning adding labels to each of my posts and realized there are quite a few of my worksheets and activities I have never posted on here. I'm going to try going through my workbooks in the next few weeks, and match all my worksheets to my post on here to make sure i'm not missing any important ones. This is a packet I did a few months ago on going to work. I love this packet and it's probably one of my favorites so far. Since I teach work skills only once a week, this packet was perfect. 

I did at least one page per week (whatever filled our half hour time slot) and the whole packet took us about 2 months to finish. I highly recommend you let it last that long (I seriously have had subs that could do it in an hour). Each page has so many things that can be discussed and even acted out. Get those kids up in the front of the room! They need to see something, hear something, and DO something!! I try to make it a rule that each kid gets up at least once per lesson. Sometimes I do two or three per group. They LOVE to get up and be the center of attention even if it's just for a few seconds. It could be to just ask the others students if Johnny's clothing is appropriate for an interview, or I might ask them a basic interview question. I love asking multiple choice questions to my lower autistic boys who I know will answer whatever the last word is I said. Of course I always make that the correct answer and everyone whoops and hollers when they get it right! 

Awwwww, it's posts like these that make me miss them more. I hope everyone has a great weekend! Sleep in, relax, and enjoy the rest of your summer!! 25 more days left for me!

The "L" Word

In my 10 years of teaching I have had my fair share of students telling me they love me. Usually it's been a socially higher student who lets it slip out and I let it slide. I had a girl one time that started saying it quite often so we sat down together and talked about who it is appropriate and who it is not appropriate to say "I love you" to. I would say things like, if you worked at a job, would it be ok to tell your boss "I love you" at the end of the day. "Nooooo", she would say. Throughout the year we work on a variety of boundary lessons, so this is something that is mentioned numerous times during the year. 

Jump forward to this past year. I had a few socially and emotionally lower kids in my room, and the "L" word started flowing. One autistic boy in particular who I am going to say is at about a 3 year old level told me everyday when he was walking out the door "I love you miss Karen". Partway through the year I get a new girl about the same level and in a position in her life where the only caregivers she knows have known her less than 3 months. She was an emotional mess, and after a few months she would tell me every few days that she loved me when I would help her or do something nice for her. THEN I have another autistic young man who every time he gets in trouble (especially at home) feels the need to tell me he loves me because he thinks I am going to be mad at him. So, what do you do? I'm torn between knowing it's not appropriate socially and also since they are with me for 4 years, I am someone they WOULD love. Personally it doesn't bother me at all, but I am sure my school thinks differently. It was never a problem with my higher functioning kids and still isn't, but frankly I am torn as to how I should start the new year with these lower guys.

So, I am curious, how do you handle the "L" word in your classroom? Do you allow it? Am I alone? I could really use advice.

Idioms

 All of my kids struggle with idioms. I like to use them in my classroom because in real life they are going to hear them and I would rather them know what they mean instead of them having that confused look on their face. I finally finished this idiom project I have been working on for MONTHS! 

 I consulted with my fellow teachers and we tried to come up with the most used idioms our kids might hear. If you think of one that really needs to be on here, shoot me an email and I can add it. When I started out I was thinking maybe doing 10, but it kept building!

 I think that 30 of them will be overwhelming all at once, so I will probably do 5 a week for 6 weeks (or more depending on how they do), reviewing the previous ones before introducing new ones. After each picture there is a page that (very basically) explains what the idiom means. 

"To be very sick", "You have my full attention", "When everyone is facing the same challenge". I hope you can use these in your classroom and that they make idioms a little easier for your kids to understand.

You can find this product HERE

Special Educator Blog Hop

Jamie over at Tales of a Carolina Girl is hosting a Blog hop for special education teachers!!! Click on the button below to head on over to her website, sign up and check it out!!

Here's my addition:

Name: Karen

Job Title: Special Education Teacher Moderate/Severe

Grade: High School Transition Program 18-22 

How Long I've Been Teaching: 10 years

Advice: I guess my best advice is to never let them know you're scared, lol. I am very firm with my kids, but also very loving. I think some of them are even a little afraid of me the first couple weeks, but it works (at least for me). I have had kids who needed restraining the previous years but when they get to my class and they find out that I won't put up with certain behaviors, after a short time the behaviors seems to just disappear. I had one boy last year that I really thought was going to hit me (a few times). I let him have his behavior and anytime he showed destruction I was very firm with him but then went back to what I was doing and ignored him. After the behavior was over and he was back at baseline, I would do something fun with him to build his trust. It took about 3 week to taper off his behaviors and then we never had a problem with him again the rest of the year even though they had experienced these behaviors for years prior. That's not to say I didn't have to give him "the look" every now and then. I guess since I raised 4 kids of my own I kind of treat my students like I did my kids (minus the occasional cussing, empty threats, and brief rages), firm but loving.  

Thanks for the Bloghop Jamie!!!

 HERE is the link again!

Sequencing

I am one week into my summer vacation and the creative juices have yet to flow. I had this same problem last summer too. I had all these plans and it just wasn't there. This summer I am determined to get some things done! I have a folder titled "need to work on" that includes about 15 projects that range from a page with a simple title, to books that have numerous pages completed. I practically forced myself to finish one today.  Of course I picked one that didn't require many brain cells since most of it was already complete. I got this idea from a speaker at an autism conference I attended last year (I love the ideas I get at conferences!). This book requires a bit of work putting together, and of course more Velcro, which I forgot to bring home this summer!!! So, 1 down 14 to go! Here's to wishing me luck!

 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Functional-Academics-Sequencing-1311039

Reading Aloud

Yesterday was the end to another amazing year with my kids. I had two of my girls graduate this year, and two of my boys will be moving to other classrooms in the fall which leaves me with 4 incoming freshman in August (which I love). I have been thinking a lot about what worked this year and what I might just want to change. One of the things I would like to do is have a designated reading time. The majority of my kids are non-readers but every week when we are at the computer lab I will get a couple of them to sit with me on the couch and I will read books to them from our library. They really love listening to the stories. The books we have are very much for a small child and even though my kids love to hear them I would like to get some that have more substance but will still hold their attention. I came across these books the other day on Amazon. I am wondering if they would be engaging enough for my kids? I would love to know if anyone has read these book and frankly if the're any good. It seems there are a ton to choose from and it would be like getting a history lesson as well. Please send me your thoughts, and again thank you!

Face Masks

I bought these fun white face masks a few years ago from Oriental Trading Company. My original plan was to paint them for Halloween, but for some reason I find them hidden in the back of my cabinets every year around Thanksgiving time. When I stumbled upon them again a few weeks ago while packing up for ESY, I thought why not let the kids paint them this summer and end this vicious cycle. So, here they are! The kids had fun painting them and we even wore them to get our breakfast the next morning. You can find them here ($5.25 a dozen) if you're interested.