Lego Therapy

Here is another great activity I heard about at the teacher in-service I attended last month. Lego therapy! Here is an excerpt from another site "Research has shown that during play therapy, Children learn to communicate with others, express feelings, modify behaviour, develop problem-solving skills, and learn a variety of ways of relating to others". 

Of course I went to Target the next week and puchased 3 boxes of the small 50 - 60 piece Lego puzzles to do a little experimenting with my own kids. I explained to the kids what it was we were going to do. I explained each job title and the job duties of each of those people. I then assigned 1 box of Lego's to each table of 3 students and one staff. As you can see from the picture above 

Each table consisted of:

A Supplier - He is in charge of the parts
An Architect - He is in charge of the plans
A Builder - His job is to build the model 
And of course an aide who's job was to gently "guide" them.

Here's how it works:

The architect (he's holding the directions) is to explain the part he needs to the supplier (white flat piece with 4 dots) who then provides the part to the builder. The architect then explains to the builder where the piece needs to go according to the directions. Some of it really took some explaining and I think it's important that your architect be pretty social. My aides were only there to step in and inform one of them of maybe a better way to give directions to their group. I also put my lower boys as the suppliers as I am pretty sure they wouldn't have been able to do the other jobs our first time out.

It was amazing how much better the kids got as the time went on. It pretty much came to the point where my aides weren't having to speak at all. The kids were able to finish each of the boxes within about 40 minutes and were really proud of what they had built! 

My plan is to do this every 2-3 weeks rotating the boxes in their groups and possibly some of their jobs. I love their team work and the fact that they are verbally having to relate to each other in order to finish the task. I am curious to see how it goes each week and how the are progressing. I'll keep you up to date.

Have a great weekend,

Cooking Eggs, 5 Ways!

I haven't done any real cooking with the kids due to the new rules laid out for us at the beginning of this year. Last week during a conversation about table manners and the importance of thanking the person that cooks for you, I noticed that even though I have had parents telling me their kids help cook at home, according to me kids, and what they know, they do not appear to at all. Another reason why I wish I could continue the cooking classes we used to have. 

So today I taught a cooking class. I didn't allow them to help, they sat in a semi-circle in front of me and we talked about what I was doing in each step. We would also pause to write the steps on the board. First we hard boiled, then fried, then scrambled, we made a cheese omelet, then made deviled eggs with the eggs we had hard boiled. You will have to forgive my omelet, I am totally out of practice and it probably could have used another egg for the size pan I had as there was NO flipping that thing!

We have been watching Youtube videos of people cooking all year when I find a good one that's appropriate. This was so much better as they were right up in there and we could talk about each step and they could ask questions.  Luckily no one even asked to try anything which made it a lot easier for me to not have to say no. Apparently eggs are not a hot ticket item with my kids. Oh, and my two female aides guessed 20 and 30 minutes on how long to boil an egg!!!! One said she was even going to go home tonight and do it for 3 minutes to see for herself, lol.

Now, I am going to ask this which I know is going to make me so jealous, but.... Do you do cooking classes with your kids at school? Do they/you have a favorite thing to cook?

FYI... I put a bulletin board up in the kids lunch room today that count's down the days left of school this year, and guess what?  We have 60 more days!!!!

Have a great week,

Baggie Money Count

We do some sort of money lesson each week, and they can get so mundane at times.  Now that we are 3/4 of the way through the year I find myself searching for new fun ways to deliver the skill. Today during my lunch, I was racking my brain on what money lesson I was going to do with them this afternoon. A worksheet, money games, something on the projector, small groups??? My money eggs came to mind as the kids really enjoy doing that activity box. It just so happened that a co-worker had borrowed some of my sandwich bags earlier in the day and when I saw them sitting on the cabinet I thought "money bags". I spend the next 10 minutes numbering and filling 20 baggies for our lesson! 

Here's how afternoon class works in my room. When the kids come back from lunch, I give them about 20 minutes of free time to finish up anything from the morning that wasn't completed or to just hang out with their classmates and draw or play games with my support staff. At the end of 20 minutes I play one song for my girl (if she hasn't lied). This song is kind of like our "time to clean up" song. Then I play one song for my boy who knows EVERYTHING about music. He actually gives me his list Monday mornings for the whole week. When it's time for his song to play I inform the kids how much time they have until the song ends, and everyone knows, they need to be seated and ready for class at the round table by the time the song is over. It's almost like a game, but it works!

Ok, back to the money bags. I handed each students a lined piece of paper and had them write their name and number they paper 1 - 20. The bags then got dispersed around the table and they were to open a bag, count the money, write the answer on their paper that matched the number on the bag, put the money back in the bag, and pass the bag clockwise. I had one aide sitting between two boys that required a little help and another aide that worked with two boys and they counted together with her as they require more assistance. It took about 40 minutes for most of them to complete the lesson. I was surprised that they stayed incredibly engaged the whole time as well. Sometimes it's hit or miss, but this was definitely a hit! Now to start thinking about what to do next week!

Adventures from the Book of Virtues

I have a student in my class who lies. She comes up with the most amazing stories. I am not sure if they are memories from her past, things she has seen on tv or stories she has heard about from someone else. 

We have been working on this for over a year and we have had some major improvements. Her currency, music. Our deal is, she doesn't lie all day, and she gets to pick a song we will listen to after lunch. This is a BIG deal to her and about 3 - 4 days a week this works. I still almost daily have to remind her, when I see the wheels spinning in her head, to think before she speaks so she won't lose her song. Her reply usually "I will talk to you later", lol. 

I was telling the story to my kids the other day about The Boy who Cried Wolf after an incident with our sweet girl. I went online to see if I could find maybe a reading of it in Youtube and that is where I stumbled on this amazing little video. I watched it during my lunch to make sure it was appropriate for them and then again with the kids when they returned to class. I did stop the video a few times to see if they were keeping up with what was happening and also to explain integrity a bit. The kids were glued to the screen and we had a great discussion afterwards. It's not just the story "The Boy who Cried Wolf" it is about a boy who lies at school about his project and gets caught up in his lie. It then goes to the "wolf" story then back to the original kids. I noticed many more similar videos posted from Jay & Jay friends that I thought the kids might enjoy as well. 

This weekend I have spent a bit of time watching a few of the other videos I saw, and I am excited to fit them into my curriculum. Cartoons that teach social skills, what a win win in my book! There are so MANY to choose from! Click on this LINK to find the list of video's they offer. 

Here are a couple:

The Social Express

Because of the four extra classrooms that moved over to our campus this year and the lack of space to feed 175 kids all at the same time, we were separated into two different schedules for breakfast and lunch. Unfortunately my three friends that I ate lunch with in previous years are now on the opposite lunch schedule as me. It's kind of a shame because we used to do a lot of things together with our kids AND we did major brainstorming during our many lunches together. Now I spend my lunches in my room, alone, looking for cool things I can do with my kids.

So, yesterday I stumbled upon a cool site called The Social Express while looking around Youtube. You can read about it in the box here <---- I love that the kids appear older, possibly teenagers. A lot of the videos I find for my students seem very babyish and trust me, they let me know. I watched this full 10 minute tutorial to get a better idea of what the site had to offer and was really impressed. You get a free 5 day trial and if you like it, it's only 4.99 a month!

There are 47 lessons in all and you can't move up levels (3) until you complete the level before. The small clips (webisodes) cover all different skills like self-management, listening skills and conflict resolution among others. The clips pause when there is a "teaching moment" and also when there is an option for the kids to choose. It also gives you an option to add your kids which I assume would be if they were doing them individually on the ipad or computer to track who has seen what. We did ours over the projector as a whole class and each lesson lasted about 5-7 minutes including our talking. There are also worksheets you can download that coincide with the clips. We did 4 of the clips yesterday during our afternoon class time and the kids stayed very involved in the clips and the conversation.

Check it out, remember it's free for 5 days, so start on a Monday and not a Wednesday like I did, doh! I highly recommend you check out the tutorial first so you can see see how it works and all it has to offer. Here are the links to the tutorial and website The Social Express 

One more day till the weekend!!

Enjoy,

Power Cards

Friday my school had a teacher in-service day. We were fortunate to have a woman come in and talk to us from CAPTAIN - California Autism Professional Training and Information Network. I had heard of CAPTAIN training but was unaware of all their services they provide for families of students with ASD. Among other things, they provide free hands on diagnostic testing to families, helping them come up with a plan and strategies to help their child succeed. Since CAPTAIN is run through the education department, kids must be referred through their school district. But again, it is all free, so don't let your district tell you otherwise. They even pay for hotel stays and food while your child is being evaluated at one of their three diagnostic centers. I took plenty of notes and can't wait to work on some of the things she taught us in the class. I want to tell you about a few of the things I learned but want to start out with this one first as I plan on starting it today with one of my girls. 

Power cards, have you heard of them?

"Power Cards are a tool for helping a child to change an unwanted, inappropriate behavior by capitalizing on an interest, person or character that has special meaning for the child."  

Right off the bat I knew of a student of mine that might benefit from one of these cards, and immediately worked on putting it together. This particular students wants to be an aide (in my classroom) when she graduates. She is a sweetheart but takes up more of my day than any other students at this time. On this card are the issues we have. They are the things I feel I repeat all day to her. 

Since she wants to be a teachers aide, we are capitalizing on that. This card is about 6 x 5 inches and laminated. It will sit on the desk in front of her at all times. Instead of constantly talking to her about her behaviors, I am simply going to say "I need you to read your power card". Her card has 5 rules. I probably wouldn't do 5 for most of my kids, but I think it will work for her. Since I think a lot of her behaviors are done so she can get my attention or get the chance to have me to herself. This will eliminate that, and hopefully decrease the behaviors. 

Every student has something they like. You can go the interest route like Power Ranger, pirates, princesses, or their favorite band. Or in the case with my kids, I would probably go with what their life goal is like working in a grocery store, restaurant, or vet office. Another card I saw simply stated, "Batman says: Stay in your seat until class is over". I think a simple card like this, with a picture of Batman and possible the student sitting in the desk, would even work with a non reader if you go over it a number of times. I can see myself with my non reader, pointing at the words while stating, "Sam remember, what does Batman say? Stay in our seat until class is over" then "reminding" him to look at his power card when I know he understands.

I'm totally new to this and would love to hear if you use or have used power cards in your room. Have they helped? Have you noticed some working better than others? I would love your feedback!

Have a great day,

Restaurant Menu Activity

Everyone in my class is always on the lookout for "free" resources we can use in our room. Tuesday, one of my support staff brought me a class supply of Denny's To Go menus (don't worry, she asked). These are pretty high quality, quad fold, color menus and I was ecstatic! I immediately got to work putting together this worksheet.

Today, each student was handed the new worksheet, a menu and each group of two (we worked with our buddies) were given a tip and tax form. The students picked and added their own items to the order form for each of the four meals it asked for and determined their subtotal. We then worked together in our table groups figuring out their tax, as it is kind of new to most of them this year. After adding in their tax, they figured out how much tip they should leave then added it all together to get the total they would owe.

My kids really enjoy these kind of lessons. After today I plan to make a couple more worksheets that will require them to find different things on the menu and put them into an activity box for them to do during their free time. I am pretty sure after watching them today, that it will be a hit! 

These menu's are actually something I would have probably paid for had I found them in a catalog. So, don't forget, there are free resources all around you that can easily be incorporated into a lesson. Be on the lookout!

Restaurant Skills

I finished the unit on restaurant skills and turned it in yesterday to my boss!! Along with each of these sections: Restaurants, Paying Your Bill, Restaurant Tax & Tip, Restaurant Etiquette, Table Manners, and some Restaurant Skills role play cards, I also have a video on manners that we will be watching and some Power Point slides someone was kind enough to share with me! Our end "plan" is to eat out a restaurant! One of my aides just happens to know a guy who owns a cafe in town. He is willing to let each of the kids eat for free! In a perfect world, my kids would be paying for their own meal, but I can't use any budget money for that or ask them to pay. They are also too keen for fake money, so this will be a lesson on kindness as well. I am going to have them leave a tip for their server for sure. Not sure how long it will take to hear back, but I think the kids will really get a kick out of eating out as a group if we can make this happen. I'll let you know how it goes!

Here is the link to the unit on TPT Life Skills - Restaurant Skills/Eating Out

Martin Luther King Week

This week we will be preparing for Martin Luther King Day! So far I have a little activity planned for every day that we will work on after our lunch instead of our free choice time. I have never seen or even hear of this video "Our Friend, Martin" until last week. The entire movie can be watched on Youtube free of charge! I watched about the first 10 minutes of it the other day and I really think it will hold my kids attention. If you haven't seen it here is a little excerpt from the internet: 

My Friend Miles: This is the story of a black teenager named Miles, who has to go on a class field trip to the museum to learn what Martin Luther King Jr. did for humanity, he thinks that he'd rather play baseball. But the trip turns into an exciting adventure when he and his best friend, Randy, who's white, are sent back in time meeting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr at several points during his life.

It stars the voices of Ed Asner, Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, Whoopie Goldberg, Samuel L. Jackson and James Earl Jones to name a few.

Tomorrow we will be working on a timeline that coincides with this Brain POP video clip about Martin Luther King. We will watch the video once before I hand out the timeline, then watch it again stopping every time we get to one of the dates after the kids have colored and cut them out. The clip is only about 4 minutes long and I suggest you watch it first to get the dates. I had to watch it again Friday with a teacher who swore up and down some of the dates were missing, lol. I printed the timelines on cardstock to make them a little more durable.

I also have a 3 page fun pack in my store about Martin Luther King. It include a word search, a fill in the blanks and a cryptogram. You can find it HERE. 

Wish me luck this week, I have been working hard all weekend putting together a unit of Restaurant skills as my boss wants me to submit a proposal before he will agree to let me take my kids to a restaurant to eat (he's already turned down 2 teachers). I'm going to give it to him good! That way he can't possible say no, right?

Enjoy your week,

Social Errands

I take every opportunity I have to send my kids on social errands. Sometimes I really need to get something somewhere or something brought to me and other times I just need a little break from that certain student (I know, you know, what i'm talkin about). Sometimes a little fresh air and a walk can make all the difference in the world. So, I don't think I have told you this before, but I am the "leader" of my focus group where I work. Pretty snazzy huh? During a process of elimination and a nasty game of "straws" I was "awarded" the title. This title gives me LOTS of opportunities to get or need things from my fellow focus groupies. Hence, my kids get plenty of practice running social errands. 

How social errands work - In order to do this successfully, you need to get your co-workers on board. They will be key in making sure that the social skill is completed properly at their end. Now, how you handle the social errand with vary widely depending on your kids. Some of mine, I just send. "Tom, I need you to run over to Ms. Jones' class and ask her if we can borrow her stapler". I don't need to call Ms. Jones, we are in cahoots. Some of my non-verbal kids I will send with a note, "I need you to take this note to room 2 and give it to Mr. Smith and then come back, ok?". Sometimes a phone call is in order to give the other teacher a heads up on what you're trying to accomplish since a lot can be lost in translation. We all do it, so we know when a kid comes in our room, to follow out the skills. If they don't ask voluntarily we ask them until we get the information (or in some circumstances I have had to call the room). Manners are important and we make sure those are addressed as well on both ends. It's funny, my friend has a boy that she sends to my room for things weekly so he can blow off a little steam. He comes in, tells me what he needs just as clear as can be and leaves. My phone will ring a couple minutes later and she will be confused because what he brings her back is not what she asked him to get, lol.

Most of the time I don't even make it an option to run these errands, because I know my boys, and they would "opt out" if given the opportunity. I usually start it with "I need you to....." and they are out the door before they know what hit them because if they think to hard about it, they won't be able to do it. In the beginning of the year I always think there are one or two that will have a tough time, but really almost all my kids have and will become pro's, in their own way. This is a great way to bring these guys out of their little social bubbles. Kids who were very intimidated by it when we started don't even blink an eye over doing it now, halfway through the year. 

Hopefully you can find another teacher or two that you can do this with at your school. Maybe even the office if another teacher is not an option. I think you will really see a difference in the way your kids approach uncomfortable situations with others. It's also a great work skills!

Take care,

Christmas Card Exchange Finale

Here it is!!! All the amazing Christmas cards we received from our new friends! The kids had a great time doing this exchange and we had so much fun opening each one of them, reading about the other classes, and pinning them to our map on the wall! We are missing about 6 of them, and I'm sure they will be there when we get back, and trust me, my kids will be just as thrilled! Not sure how long I will keep it up on the wall though, as my OCD isn't handling it very well, lol. If anyone else wants me to post how you displayed them, send me a pic and I will post it here too.

And..... I'm officially off work for two weeks!! Can I get a 

HALLELUJAH!!! 

Update: There were three more cards waiting for us when we arrived back at school this week!! Two had been opened? One so bad that it was just a mangled envelope in a post office baggie with a note saying "sorry". It's ok, we know you sent it! I would love to do this again next year as my kids LOVED it! Thanks again to everyone who participated!

Bumps On A Log

Last Friday, my co-workers and I hosted a Christmas dance for our program. Since we don't have a building large enough to hold all of our kids and staff we were fortunate to be able to have use of a large building close to our school. Most of the kids were able to walk there, and the more fragile kids we transported. On the walk back from the dance I overheard an aide from another class telling my aide that the kids in her class didn't really have a good time. They just sat there at the table for the 2 hours looking bored she said. I found this very upsetting to hear. I did see these kids, many of them in fact, sitting at the tables surrounding the dance floor with their support staff sitting among them looking just as bored. Our kids bored? This is OUR fault not theirs.

Let's look at the makeup of my class. I have 11 kids. If I were to take my kids to a dance for the first time and allow them to choose how they would respond to this social event. Here is what I would see.

 3 of my kids would be dancing (nonstop).
 3 of my kids would be standing in the middle of the dance floor (not moving).
 5 of my kids would be standing or sitting on the sidelines  (looking bored). 

Having fun is a social skill. A very important social skill that needs to be taught especially with our kids. Sometimes I feel like my kids come to me having never learned how to play with one another. Having never been taught how to have a conversation with their peers. We are only half way through the year, and I have seen improvements in the way my kids have started talking to each other instead of just wanting to talk to staff. This is something that we can help them learn to do. I have mentioned before how important I feel these large social events are to our kids. It gives them a great opportunity to socialize with their peers and it gives us an even bigger opportunity to teach them how to socialize with their peers. 

So, how do we teach them? I like to prepare my kids in the classroom prior to any event. We talked all week about this dance. We talked about who they might want to dance with and practiced how we could ask them. Even though we dance every single Friday, my kids were totally jazzed about this party. I also have a rule in my room regarding my aides. I do not allow them to sit during any event where I wouldn't want the kids sitting. Now that doesn't mean you shouldn't get a sit break every now and then, but for the most part I want them up. I want them dancing with my kids. I want them guiding my kids into social conversation with their peers. I want them encouraging my kids to get out on the dance floor and even setting up dance dates. My aides are great. They know what I expect from them and I am so proud when I see them among the only aides out there dancing with groups of kids, starting a conga line, or encouraging a dance off among the students. 

I myself probably pulled 25 kids from chairs out onto the dance floor during the party. It's amazing how easy you can smuggle a kid into a group of his peers dancing and sneak off without anyone noticing. They need us to teach them how to do this! Out of my 11 kids I don't think I saw one sitting more than 5 minutes. They have come a long way since the beginning of the year. When I see the kids having fun and talking, dancing and laughing with their friends just like any other teenager would, it really makes me proud of who they are becoming. It also makes me appreciated my support staff who believe in me and what I want to achieve, even though I make them work twice as hard as any other aide in our program (I really do, lol).

We have 2 more big dances this school year. The next one being for Valentines Day. This gives us about 5 weeks of school to work on our moves! I look forward to seeing what improvements they make!

Take care,

Telephone Etiquette

After posting last week on all the worksheets I use for my telephone skills and role playing, I searched both on my home computer and at school for a digital copy of the one I have on telephone etiquette. Well, I couldn't find it nor could any of my coworkers, so the plan was to retype it up over the weekend. But, I forgot to bring it home. So, I reinvented it, and by golly I think it is 10 times better the second time around! You can find it in my TPT store here.

I hope you have a great week with your kids!

Money Skills Packet Additions

Hope everyone is having a fun relaxing weekend. Only 5 more work days left until Christmas break! Actually, 3 of those day I will get off early because of finals, which we don't even have! I am right on schedule getting things done that I had mentioned in an earlier post. I only have December medical billing, grades and benchmarks, and an assembly for perfect attendance. 
         
                                       I can do this!

I have recently added four additional worksheets to my money skills packet. If you already own it, head on over to my store and download the product again so you can get them! 
 Money Skills Packet

Teaching By Learning Styles

When I first started teaching it was for a small program funded through our local high school district and the Departments of Rehabilitation. It was a 2 year program for students ages 18 - 99. I had 30 plus students in my room at any giving time and I taught life skills, social skills, community awareness, job preparation, and family life. Looking back my students had either a learning disability, autism, or a brain injury. My first boss, who has since retired, was a great role model. I was the aide in this program for 2 years when the current teacher decided to retire. My boss really wanted me to take over the teaching job when she left. I finished up what I needed and had enough school to get my emergency credential and was able to start the Monday after she retired (this actually didn't happen since I got picked for a 10 week jury trial and had to have a sub start for me, but i did get there finally!). 

To this day I still use many of the strategies he required from me when I took over the class. One of the biggest being that he wanted every lesson I taught to include each of the three learning styles. They all needed to include something the kids saw, something they heard and something they did. I've seen many teachers in my day who teach every lesson as a hands on project. Then there are the teachers who lecture and of course those who pop in a movie, or hand out a worksheet for each and every lesson they teach. Each is great, but really only to the kids who learn best with that technique. By implementing all three styles into a lesson, you will raise the the chances of every student in your room understanding and learning what it is you are trying to teach them.

For example, money is a big one in my room. Every morning orally, we count by 5's, 10's and 25's using the 4 foot visual on the wall. In the computer lab, they are required to work 30 minutes counting money or making change from Attainment's money skills program before they can play online. Weekly there are worksheets about money in their morning folders. And once a week I do a hands on lesson using fake money. They are also encouraged to make small purchases when we go out in the community.

That's kind of a broad one, so let's do another. 

Fire safety - We have a video on fire safety. I have multiple pamphlets (free) from FEMA I read to the kids. We do a basic worksheet on fire safety. We practice stop, drop and roll. We might even visit a fire station.

Mailing a Letter - I have a worksheet on mailing a letter. We watch a video on-line of how mail is sent through the US Postal Service. I do an example on the overhead. We address our own envelope and mail our worksheet home to ourselves.

I understand that this probably would not work in a regular ed classroom since there is a push to teach and move on. but for special ed, I really think it is imperative to their learning. Worksheets are easy enough to find, or make. Role play is free and doesn't require any materials at all. Putting together hands on projects can be costly and will take more time, but are worth it when you can. And, you can always find a video on-line that goes with the subject you are teaching. I don't always have the time to do all three when I teach a subject on a particular day, but I make sure I do at least two, and since I re-teach most of my subjects continuously during the year, I make sure I hit each of their learning styles equally.

Thanks for reading, and please feel free to comment!

Reindeer Hat Craft

Today we finished up the second of three Christmas crafts we will be sending home this year. These straw hats have been sitting in my craft cabinet for the last couple years and I finally decided it was time to do SOMETHING with them. 

I found this idea on Pinterest and fell in love with it. The kids glued on their eyes, nose, bow, and ears. They made hair with some yarn we had and cut and poked the twigs through the hat. I did have an aide glue gun the antlers from the inside to hold them up. 

Super cute, and here's a class photo of all of them! As you can see, they made them their own.

I Can Hear You...

I wanted to share this very powerful poem I found last week. Breaks my heart. You can find the post here Teaching Learners With Multiple Needs

Hope your week is going well!

The Round Table

I wanted to give you a visual of the "Round Table" I use for the majority of the lessons I teach. On this particular day we were painting Christmas ornaments, asking nicely to have one another pass the colors we need (I only put two of each color out on purpose so this would happen :-) and enjoying small talk, mostly initiated by me. We found out what each student was asking for for Christmas, a favorite gift they have gotten in the past and some of their family traditions. All while listening to "piano Christmas songs" my new favorite!

Role Play & the Telephone

If you don't have a couple of old telephones in your classroom, I suggest you pick yourself up some at a nearby garage sale. Years ago, when the district updated our phone system I asked to keep a couple of the old phones they were tossing to use with my kids. I use them multiple times during the year and they are a great teaching tool.

Here's how I use them:

1. Calling 911 - This is one of my favorite role play exercises. One kid is the victim, and the other is the phone caller. I am the 911 operator. The students have to push 9-1-1, tell me what's going, answer my questions, and depending on their level, their address and such. Even the lowest kids can learn to say "mom sick". The kids LOVE doing this! Everyone wants their turn being the victim and most don't even want suggestions on their injury. They are such good actors and actresses!

2. Calling in sick - I make my higher kids call themselves in sick when they are not going to come to school. I have cleared this with parents, and I do send a quick text to mom or dad on a couple of them. It's a great life skill for them to learn. Someday, if they get a job, they will need to know how to call in if they are not going to make it that day. We practice on the phones how to give a brief explanation. "Hi, this is Bob, I will not be coming in today because I am sick". I inform them that nobody wants to hear about liquids that may be coming out of them and to keep it short and to the point. The person answering the phone, has work to do.

3. Making appointments - We practice this a few times a year. Again, they call me and I try to set them up an appointment that they need. It goes something like this:

me: Good morning, Dr. Smiths office
them: Hi, I need to make an appointment
me: What do you need to be seen for (or I transfer them)

You get the gist. We take turns, so everyone is getting to hear the others and after each one we talk about what they did right and what they could do differently.

4. Taking messages - This is an important skill for them to learn. I have fake message pads and even send them home and encourage the parents to allow them to practice. I let the kids pretend call each other and leave messages for someone who is not there.

5. Last but not least, we practice basic phone etiquette. How to answer, how to be polite, how to tell them to hold while you get someone (immediately), how to tell them someone is not home, and especially how not to take over the conversation when the call was not for you, which is really hard for a few of my kids.

These are all important skills for our kids to learn on their road to independence. I have worksheets that we do prior to the role play so they get a double dose of the skill. If you are not doing this already, I highly suggest you give it a try. These are some of my favorite classes I teach!

Enjoy your weekend!

December Doings

So much going on and we only have 3 weeks to fit it all in! As much as I love December, and getting two weeks off, it's such a hectic month which I don't especially enjoy. 

1. To start things off, no one signed up to do a Christmas party for the kids, so the "Spirit Club" has taken over. We found a place near us that will allow us to use their facility for free, we just need to get some decorations together to spruce the place up a bit. I really had wanted to do tablecloths to cover the tables as it is an all white room and we are not allowed to hang anything on the walls, but those things are expensive! Even to rent they are 10 bucks each (tables are huge) and I need 18 of them so that's not going to happen. I am totally trying to not to stress on this!!! CHECK

2. Christmas Card Exchange is underway! I sat the kids down yesterday and we decided what we wanted to write (type) inside each card + our signatures. We ended up with 25 classes participating and I am so excited for them to get them back. Our goal is to get ours out by Wednesday. We have a map of the US on the wall and will pinpoint everywhere we get one from! CHECK

3. Decorating my room - Since I spend more time in my classroom then I do my awake time at my home, I love to make it a happy Christmas place! We put up our tree yesterday and hung our stockings along the bottom of the white board. I just have a few more things to do today and it will be complete! I even played Christmas music yesterday and it really put me in the spirit. CHECK

4. Christmas Crafts - My plan is to do 3 crafts for the kids to take home this year. A few years ago, the office staff was cleaning out an old classroom and found these straw hats that they were going to toss. I grabbed them thinking I could have the kids decorate them. It's now about 3 years later and they are still sitting in my craft cabinet! We are going to turn them into reindeer's to hang on the wall (I will post pics). I also have been making ornaments they will paint and am still trying to narrow down the third one.

5. Window decorating contest is Friday and I haven't a clue what I am going to do!!! CHECK

6. End of the quarter assembly will be the last week of school, I still need to get the awards ready and order the perfect attendance dog tags.

7. CBI - My focus group has until Friday to turn in our forms for CBI for the next quarter. We have an aide who has been setting things up, but it's a lot of paper work so I am hoping we get it done in time. CHECK

8. Medical billing - ugh, I just remembered this one. I haven't even finished November!!! November CHECK - December

9. January morning folders will also need to be out mid week the last week of school so teachers can get their copies made. Almost forgot about this one! CHECK

10. 3 IEP's! 2 DONE!

11. Grades and Benchmarks!

So basically, it appears that I will be working late most days in December, lol. Is anyone else stressed out during this time of year? Please tell me I'm not alone. I am totally going to need the two weeks off to recuperate!!

Have a great day,

Social Skills Strategies

I have observed some of the other classes in our program and oh boy is there a LOT of drama going on! "She's looking at me" "He's talking to my girlfriend", plain old kid DRAMA. I, on the other hand, have a completely drama free class this year! Now, that can be a good thing, right? Well, the reason we are drama free is that no one talks to each other! No one is friends, and no one wants to do things with anyone else. Now, we say good morning and please and thank you, and I am constantly trying to get them to do puzzles or play games together, which they will, they just don't socialize while doing it.

I really have been trying to bring them out socially all year. I have given them small tasks that requires them to be social. For example: Each week one of my kids is in charge of finding out who has money for the snack bar (which now we can go to once a week). This requires walking around the room with a pad and pen and asking each student if they have money and how much. In the beginning, some had a hard time, but now it doesn't matter who I ask, they all do a great job! I have two boys who deliver the newspaper each day to the other 18 classrooms. They are to walk in, say good morning and leave the papers on the first table they come to. They now can do it completely independently! Another of my boys has been doing the morning flag salute over the classroom Intercoms. He started out shy and timid, and now he is ad libbing so much I have to keep telling him he needs to keep it short and simple. He is so cute and mentions his whole name 2x. At the end he always says "This is John Michael Smith <---- fictitious name, then sings "this is how we do it". I can always tell when my phone rings immediately following his broadcast, that he went a little overboard, but I just love how he has come out of his shell! One of my girls takes the roll and outing sheet to the office where she has to post one and greet the secretary with the other. Another student passes out name badges every time we go off campus, which requires them to have to say the name of each of the other kids as they are called to pick them up. 

I've been working all year on this and as I am seeing improvements when we are together as a group and especially in their "jobs" they do, I am not seeing it much in their interactions with each other. I know it's in there, because some of them have absolutely no problem telling ME or their aides something they did or are going to do. For some reason they still don't see each other as social resources.

Here are some of the strategies we have been working on:

1. Include their peers in conversations - If a student comes to tell me something I stop them and try to include the whole class or at least another student by saying something like "Oh, I bet the whole class would love to hear this story" or "Kim loves dogs, I bet she would want to hear this too". 

2. The round table - I LOVE working with them at the round table, which really is just two kidney tables pushed together. We all sit around it and instead of a traditional lesson where I stand over them and they try to not fall asleep, we have more of a class discussion, where everyone get's involved in the subject. We swap stories, we share ideas, and we take turns reading and giving answers. I prefer this way of teaching even if we are following a worksheet.

3. Role Play - We role play in almost every social skill lesson we do and quite a few life skill lessons too. The kids love it, and they actually get to practice the skill.

4. Use the worksheets as a guide - Reading a student a social skills will not help them learn the skill. Talking about it, explaining it, role playing it and practice, practice, practice will.

5. Work in groups without support - I have my kids broken up into 3 groups of 3 and one group of 2. These are the groups they stay with on outings (with their assigned aide or me). Each group contains a writer, a reader (sometimes that's the same person) and usually someone with a behavior (gotta even those out). Sometimes I feel my kids become reliant on their aides, so I kick them out on occasion and make the kids work in their groups alone, usually this has been after an outing and I want to see what they learned. This requires them to talk! And the whole time I walk around and encourage it.

6. Play games - Games are a great way to get them talking and having to converse with their peers. My kids love UNO, they love Left Right Center, and last week we sat at our round table with their writing boards and played Would You Rather, which was great fun!

7. Peer help - Many times when a students will ask me for help I will send them to another student first. Usually someone sitting close to them. This requires conversation!

8. Encourage togetherness - I try every opportunity I have to pair my kids up for activities. If someone wants to go out and play basketball you bet you're going to hear me say "can you think of anyone that might want to play too?' "why don't you ask them". One of my sweet boys who I just love to death says "NO" every time I ask him if someone can sit by him for a puzzle or game, lol. He will allow them, won't speak to them, but will allow it, which is a huge milestone compared to last year!

9. LET THEM DO IT - If they can do it, let them! This is a huge pet peeve of mine. I was shocked today to find out from an aide in our program that she saw one of my kids at a pharmacy, picking up her own meds! Her living staff was no where to be found according to my staff, which is a little scary, but she did it ALL BY HERSELF! It made me so proud. So, let them order their own food, let them ask at the store where an item is, let them ask for directions to the bathroom, let them ask the teacher next door if they can come over after lunch, I could go on forever, but I'm sure you understand.

10. Don't hold them back - Most of our kids need a little push to interact with their peers. I have 4 big social situations that happen daily/weekly in my program. Breakfast, lunch, outside break time, and our Friday dancing. In my room these activities are NEVER optional. I also do not allow my kids to eat in my classroom, they eat in the cafeteria, and I want them to choose their own seat. We are not building our social circles if we are sitting with the same 10 kids we sit with all day in the classroom. Same with the dancing and outdoor time. About half my kids would much rather sit in my room all day in their little safe bubble away from all the chaos and noise of the program. But I would be doing them such a great disservice if I allowed that.

I hope this gives you a little insight on how I do things in my room. As you can see, I am pretty passionate about this. I only have them for four years before they head over to the adult programs our community offers. It's my job to prepare them for that.

Have a great weekend and a blessed Thanksgiving if I don't talk to you before that.

Christmas Card Exchange