Activity Boxes, Does It Ever End?

 I think I might possibly be addicted to creating activity boxes.  I am currently up to 36, I know I need to stop but each skill is so important! Here is some pictures of some new ones I have added.  This is another money element.  There are 24 laminated cards each with a dollar denomination up to $1.00.  The kids just need to set the right amount of money on the card matching the amount owed.

Here is a duplicate of the PAES box I used to have access to at my old site.  The kids first have to sort the utensils than take one of each and fold and roll them into the napkins. I was able to find the napkins from a restaurant supply company.

Here is a wrapping present activity.  I have been sitting with the kids while they do this activity as it seems very difficult for them.  I am hoping with time they get better and may be able to do it independently. If anyone has any tips, I would love them!

I found these cute shape links on ebay and bought three sets for about $9 which included shipping.  It took almost a month to get them as I didn't realize I was ordering from Taiwan! I glued one shape in the bottom of each cup.  They can either sort by color or shape.



Here is an activity I purchased from Autism Educators on TPT.  Basically, the students have to match the dvd to the correct dvd case. First you will need to print, laminate, and cut out all the pieces. Then bind your book (not necessary) and add Velcro dots to the pages so they can stick the cd's and the covers to the page.  There are 18 matching pages in total.  I have only had two kids from other classes work on it and they did a great job!  I am absolutely loving this activity!! You can find her activity here - http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Life-Skills-for-Special-Education-DVD-Work-Task-Sort-Autism-1014051 

What Do You Mean We Can't Cook Anymore?

We got some bad news yesterday at work.  Because of food service guidelines we are no longer allowed to serve food to the kids that has not been prepared by our food service providers. This means no more potlucks, no more BBQ's, no more birthday cupcakes, and no more cooking in class (this one makes me the most sad). This will also include the restaurant food my students deliver every other Friday to help earn money for our program.  They have also closed down our student cafe, which sold healthy prepackaged snacks.  OH, and did I mention the popcorn and snow cone machines the students JUST purchased so they could sell these items in the quad on Fridays? Those are out too!

IMO teaching the kids to cook is a MAJOR part of teaching them how to be independent. I only have them for four years! My job is to make them as independent as I possibly can before they leave at age 22 to enter the adult day program where they will most likely spend the rest of their lives. Friday my aide was supposed to be teaching her annual homemade tortilla class with the kids.  Next Tuesday we were having a weenie roast at the park and the week after that we were going to make sandwiches and pack sack lunches to take to the zoo with us. It really makes me sick to think of all these great learning opportunities that ALL the kids in our program will be missing out on!

       COOKING IS AN INDEPENDENT LIVING SKILL!!!

I would love to know how your school handles this kind of thing.  Maybe this is a common practice and we were just behind the times. Please let me know how your school handles non food service food items. How do you teach the kids food prep without using food?  

Thanks for the vent :-(

Live Butterfly Garden

A few weeks ago we took a field trip with the kids to the Insect Lore Bug Museum in Shafter, Ca.  It's a great outing and the kids always have a good time.  It's one large room but has all kinds of bugs that the kids can see!  The tour guide even takes many of them out of the cages for the students to "pet" and look at more closely. This year I decided to buy a butterfly garden so the kids could see the butterfly life cycle.  For about 30 bucks we got this cool meshed container and 10 little tiny baby caterpillars. My kids really haven't seemed to have much interest in them during their caterpillar or chrysalis stage but yesterday they started hatching!  

Omg is was sooooo exciting.  I will admit, me and my aides were much more excited than the kids (still) and I could have sat and watched them all day.  I swear I had a proud mommy moment every time one of them broke out of their shell.  So, now we have 10 amazing Painted Lady butterflies who are raring to get out and explore the world!  Tomorrow we are going to take a short walk and let our little friends go.  I read their life cycle is only 2 weeks, so I want them to have as much time as possible exploring the world.  Here is the link to the bug museum.  They actually ship the tiny little caterpillars all over the country.
https://www.insectlore.com/

Student Portfolios - Transition Special Education

I have been thinking about putting together portfolios for all my kids since I transferred to this job 5 years ago.  Every now and then I will mess with it and add a page or two, but have never been in a big hurry to get it done.  Starting next school year, my boss wants every student in our program to have a portfolio. We have many reasons for wanting the portfolios.  One is so we can bring it to the students IEP so the parents can see what the students have been working on.  It will also follow them through our program if they were to get a new teacher. When they complete our program at the end of 4 years, the portfolio will go home with the students to use as a resource and hopefully shown to their new adult day placement. It's taken me a couple weeks but I think we are finally complete!  Here's what it will include:  

Page 1 - Cover Sheet (you can see it there above)
Page 2 - Personal info sheet (this includes all student and parent info. Is the student conserved? Medical info and diagnosis.
Page 3 & 4 - Parent/Guardian assessment (what does the student do at home? with friends? with the family?  What areas do you want them working on?  What does their future look like to you?
Page 7 - Current IEP cover (I will show them all below)

Page 8 will show what each of the students goals are, what we will be doing at school regarding the goal and what the parents will be working on at home.  It will also be used to mark off whether the goal is met each quarter.  Page 9 will list what the parents transition goals are for their child each of the four years they are with us.  Each year the new goals will be listed.  Employment goal, educational goal, and independent living goal.  This page will stay in all four years. All these questions are also on our new IEP's.
Page 10 - Student Transcripts
Page 11 - Community Awareness.  This sheet has a list of all of the community based outings students need to attend (pharmacy, DMV, airport, Laundromat etc).  There is also a box to write the date that the students attended.
Page 12 - Resources.  We will add to this over the years.
Page 13 - Here I have added a 39 cent plastic 3 ring business card holder.  I had these in my portfolios years ago and the kids loved adding cards to them.  They need to include and resources the student may need (regional center, Dr., Dentist, independent living center, pharmacy the use etc).
Page 14 - Certificates of Achievement (perfect attendance, Student of the month, most improved, citizenship etc).
Page 15 - Job Training Log.  This will keep track of the job sites and dates that the student worked there.

Page 16 is where the students will write their own evaluation of a job site they have completed.  We change job sites every quarter so their will be multiple of these pages inside their portfolios.  This page has room for a picture of the student working, their job duties, what they liked and didn't like about the job.

Page 17 is a job site evaluation form.  This will be completed most likely by the aide who accompanied the student each day to their job site.  It will only take a couple minutes to complete this form each quarter.  
Page 18 & 19 is a sample job application the students can fill out to use as a reference if they were to need to fill out a real one for a job.
Page 20 - Resume insert
Page 21 - Letters of recommendation insert
Page 22 - A worksheet to write down any references they may have.  Name, address, phone number and relationship.
Page 23 - Yearly assessments insert

After the insert is the area where you can put any assessments you have done with the kids.  I add my "I can" pages - not included (you can find those on my blog). ***** NEWLY ADDED are the 4 assessments I do with all my kids (language arts, math, personal info and time/calendar).  The portfolio also included two vocational interest assessments you can see on your left, and one page where the students can choose the type of environment they want to work in.

Pages 24 - 27 are insert pages to sort the classwork you want to keep in the portfolio to show during an IEP (social,vocational, independent living and functional academics.  Here is a picture of all the inserts that are included. We will be including in ours 3 clear plastic 3 ring insert pages that hold pictures.  We figure the students are more apt to hold onto the portfolio after graduation if it contains pictures of them.  I am selling this in PowerPoint so that you can make any changes you need. I think it would be great for high schools too, it may just need a little adapting. You can also add your school logo to all of the insert pages.  To see a preview of each page, check it out on TPT.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Student-Portfolio-Special-Education-1173108

St. Patty's Treats

 Monday is St. Patrick's Day sooooooo I made these cute little treats for my kiddos (and the office staff... shhhhh). I tried using a Rolo and a Kiss but finally decided on just a dollop of melted white chocolate to hold them all together. Super adorable and super easy to make!  Hope everyone has a great St. Patty's Day!

Don't forget to wear GREEN!!

Buying Gifts

Tuesdays we always work on money skills. Today I thought we would stray away from the counting coins/making change stuff we have been working on and do something a little more exciting. I put together this fun worksheet on buying gifts and gave the kids each a Walmart and a Target ad to use for cutting and pasting.  They really did a fantastic job!  Some of them were pretty funny.  We tried helping them along letting them know that maybe there was a better gift beside shampoo for your sister graduation. One of my young men even pasted a fruit platter on his page for a "neighbors housewarming". Another sweet girl cut out a 18 pack of bud light for "Your cousins wedding". Me and my aide were going over and over with her (she was adamant) asking if she really thought a case a beer was a good gift to take to a wedding which she responded "You didn't go to MY cousins wedding!" Guess you can't argue with that!   

You could do a price limit if you wanted, but since the pickings were kind of slim I decided against it for us. Here is a finished worksheet that one of my boys did.  From start to finish it took about 40 minutes for most of them. If you're interested in this worksheet, you can find a copy free over at my TPT store under "Buying Gifts"!

We're Almost There

I am spending my weekend getting my students morning folders ready for the next TWO months. Normally what happens each month is another teacher calls or emails me on the last day of the month asking for a copy and I, procrastinator that I am, CANNOT believe the month is already over! Basically, I haven't even started them!  Last Thursday, (the 20th) a teacher asked me if she could pick up her March copy the next day.  "Wait, I still have 8 more days (is what I was thinking)!" I told her I was "putting the finishing touches on it" (small fib), and told her she would have it by Monday.  Now I completely understand that those I love sharing with don't really appreciate having to put together 12, 30 page folders the actual morning they need them.  So back to my weekend.  I decided to be productive, to work ahead for a change and whip out TWO months at once!  Imagine the shock tomorrow when I hand them BOTH March and April's work packets!!  
So, While sitting here yesterday making up some final worksheets it dawns on me, we will only have one month left before summer after the kids finish these folders! Where has the year gone? You see, I don't particularly care for summer break. Have I ever mentioned that I live in a virtual oven from May to October? Now for all my fellow teachers with husbands and kids and vacation plans I completely understand your need for it and will try to embrace it AGAIN just for you.  

 I have a few small trips planned before summer this year, so chances of getting out of town to cooler climates during the broil is probably out.  I'll try to plan that better next summer!

I hope you all have an amazing week with your kidoes!

Weekly Newsletter (update)

I was so determined this year to keep up on the weekly newsletter I put together at the end of school last year.  But.... I am having a TERRIBLE time remembering to do it! I don't know what it is, but next thing I know it's Wednesday, and it never went out :-( This week I am going to try something new.  Instead of the kids writing a morning message on Mondays, I am going to have them fill in this blank newsletter to send home to mom and dad. It pretty much covers everything they need to know.  What are we doing this week.  Do I need money.  Reminders (have permission slip signed, wear socks Thursday) and upcoming events.  My fingers are crossed!

Have a great 4 day week,

Valentines Day

Tomorrow is Valentines Day and we have been talking all week about it. The kids are super excited! We (I say that loosely) put together these chocolate kiss roses throughout the day today (they were a little more difficult for them then I was hoping).  The kids will each have 5 roses to pass out to anyone they want tomorrow. It's going to take a lot of guts for some of my kids, especially my boys.  I am sure there will be a little encouraging, and we will probably start out with passing some out to the secretaries. We have been practicing saying "Happy Valentines Day" all week, so I just know they are going to do an amazing job. 

Happy Valentines Day to you and your class!

Sweetheart Funsheet

Boy am I ready for this three day weekend! 

I had all these plans of taking pics of the kids working on this Sweetheart funsheet next Friday so i could share it with you, but after thinking about, I figured that wouldn't give anyone else a chance to use it. So, here it is.  If you would like a copy they are FREE over at my TPT store.  Just follow the link below.  Enjoy your weekend!
ttp://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Valentine-Candy-Heart-Funsheet-1096752

More Activity Boxes!

 I was looking through my activity boxes today making sure they were fully stocked and realized that I hadn't shown these three yet.  I found this first one here on Pinterest.  I went on Ebay and bought a "lot" of letters.  I think there was something like 500!  So far this is all I have done with them.  This box has pictures of everyday things that start with each letter of the alphabet.  It also has two of each letter, one upper and one lowercase, that go with each picture for the students to match. 

This box has the students practicing their cutting skills. The kids seem to really enjoy this one.  There are three pages stapled together. It starts off pretty easy with straight lines.  Then it moves on to curved line and lastly zig zag. The biggest problem with this is they try to go really fast which makes it really messy. It takes a bit of practice but I see them getting better already.

If you are not familiar with Adaptive Tasks activities on TPT you need to be.  I recently bought this one and another one on making pizza (I haven't found time to laminate those).  The kids love this box!  First they need to put the sandwiches together according to the chart (bread, mayo, cheese, meat, lettuce onion etc).  Once all the sandwiches are made they need to pack the lunches.  I added bags to the box for them to put the completed lunches in (sandwich, cookies, drink, chips etc). I am not doing this activity justice so I suggest you check it out for yourself. Here is the link.  
 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Packing-Lunches-Life-Skills-750597

Salt & Pepper Filling Activity Box

 We added this new activity box to our classroom a few weeks ago.  We have had students in the past who have done job site training at a pizza place.  Part of their job was to be responsible for filling the salt and pepper shakers.  I bought the these shakers at the Dollar Tree (2 for a dollar).  

The large salt container will fill 9 shakers so that is the amount we went for.  I have been sitting with the kids the first time they do this activity so we can be very clear about the directions and the "fill line".  It's actually kind of cute to watch them try to remove the funnel when they over fill it.  They just know it's going to go all over, lol.  Hence why we pour over a plate.  After the shakers have been filled and the lids tightened, the students have to pour the ingredients back into the original containers. 

I have the worksheet available in my store free of charge if you are interesting in making a box for your classroom.  I keep this sheet laminated inside the activity box. Here is the link:  
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Activity-Box-Salt-Pepper-Filling-1060249

A Classroom Thanksgiving

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Between me and my aides we put together an amazing feast on Wednesday for the kids.  We had been working on table manners so this was a great way to end the lesson. The kids also learned how to make homemade cranberry sauce and pumpkin pies.  
Next week is going to be very busy at school.  We are having a window decorating contest that I am so excited about! My class is making a hand print Christmas tree and also going to be elfing ourselves and turning it all into a North Pole theme! We have to have the window done by Friday for the judging.  I can't wait to see what it will look like all put together.  I will post pics when we have it completed!  

Don't forget Teachers pay Teachers is having their cyber Monday and Tuesday sale this week.  I will have all my products at 20% off and TPT will add to that for a total of 28% off.  Be sure to use the code "cyber" when checking out. Hope you find everything you are looking for!  

Using Visual Recipes

As you can probably tell from some of my previous posts, I absolutely love cooking with my kids!  We don't get to do in near as often as I would like since we have to finance it with our own money and it can get quite pricey. We still are trying to do it at least once or twice a month, and my aide are great about helping out with ingredients!

Every time we get ready to try a new recipe I like to have a visual to go with it. This way we can go over the recipe step by step before we head into the kitchen to do the actual cooking. We always send a copy home (in hopes that their folks let them try to make it there) and we put one in their binders that they take home when they graduate. As you can see they go from pretty basic recipes to a little more challenging as to try to find things that all my kids will be able to make independently.

You can find the recipe book here:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Follow-Along-Recipes-989267

Community Logo's

I'm having a blast putting together these fun Velcro book for the kids.  Here are two using logos found in the community.  I picked stores in my community that my kids would be familiar with.  I can easily change one or more of them if they don't match stores near you.  I was fortunate to find this clear Velcro at Walmart so the kids can still see the picture through the Velcro.  It was in the sewing sections and came in about half inch circles.  My kids are mostly non-readers so this way they can see where to return the picture when they are done  
with the book.  Kind of like getting two lessons in one!  I added an extra sheet that has no picture, just the word, in case you have readers and thing that will be more beneficial to them. There has been quite a bit on interest in them in my classroom and with a bit of prompting and help all my kids have been able to do them.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Community-Logo-Activities-970170



Have a great rest of your week!  

Postcard Exchange UPDATE

Happy Monday!  I had work training all day Saturday and a baby shower AND a BBQ!!  So, I only had one day to relax (-housecleaning and laundry) and boy was I feeling it today.  Here is a little update on the postcard exchange I am participating in.  I sent out 29 postcards and was hoping to get that many back but it's not looking good right now.  The kids have been LOVING it though and get so excited each time one comes!

Grocery Store Ads

I grabbed a dozen grocery store ads yesterday while I was shopping and put together this fun little cut & paste worksheet for my kids.  If you go to the ad on-line and click on any picture you can copy and paste it onto your document. There are so many activities that can come out of using the ads.  Ads from store like Target and Walmart are great as well. I have had my kids come up with a menu for a day using the ads, we have done scavenger hunts inside the ad, and also have had them shop for a week allowing them a certain amount of money to use.  You can also use the ads to find words that start with each letter of the alphabet or even money lessons! Endless possibilities. 

            Even better, they are FREE!

Life Skills - School Safety/Being Sick

I was a busy bee this weekend putting together some worksheets I have had on my mind lately. With cold and flu season fast approaching I thought it was important to go over this with the kids.  As you can see I added the symptom "diarrhea" as to get the giggling over with as soon as possible so we can move on.  Funny, when I taught higher kids it was the word "ball".  Didn't matter what kind of balls I was referring to or the context it was in, it was the funniest word EVER!

Here is another worksheet on what we can and can't bring to school.  My kids were able to tell about each one and there was a lot of good conversation that came out of this. We have had some interesting items brought to school in the last couple years (some illegal) so this lesson is very important with my group of students.  My sister in law told me a kid brought a kitten to school last year in his backpack!  What are some of the strangest things your kids have brought to school?
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Life-Skills-Being-Sick-968534
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/School-Safety-970008

Money Cards

 I was working on an IEP for a new student a few weeks and was struggling to come up with a functional academic math goal.  Most of the goals I regularly work on with my kids were all to difficult for this particular young man.  I wanted to pick something that I could actually teach him, since looking at his IEP from high school it seems he rarely ever met any of his goals.


Luckily our program has some wonderful level one teachers I could go to for advice.  One teacher had these neat money cards in a basket she uses for her kids.  Each card is neatly laminated, very colorful and age appropriate for our kids.   

 What she does is hand the student some one dollar bills then lets them pick a card of something they would like to buy.  The student then has to hand her the right amount of dollars bills to make the purchase.  I am sure there is a lot of prompting and praise involved as well.  She says by the end of the school year all her kids have mastered the task!

She was going to try to find the cards to email me but hasn't been able to locate them so I made some of my own. I made 12 task cards only using one dollar bills.  There are copies of those task cards using dollars and quarters (12 cards) and some using the dollars and a variety of coins (12).  I also made 12 cards that use larger bills and another 12 cards with larger bills and coins.  I can't wait to start using them in my classroom!  I think all my kids will benefit from them!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Money-Cards-966675