Morning Meeting Update

My first full week with the kids is complete! After having a couple tough kids the last few years, this year I have been majorly blessed with what appears to be a pretty amazing group of individuals! This is also the first year that I have had all readers! The kids are so close to the same level both academically and socially which is great. They all seem to be completing their work right about the same time too.

I'm proud to say, I have been diligent with my morning meetings and they seem to be going really well (hey it's been 8 days!). I have been brainstorming and pinning ideas so that I can keep them interesting and engaging. Up until Friday I was just ending each morning message with a question. Since all my kids are readers and can write with minimal help this has been working. One day I mentioned the weather as it was going to be over 100. So I ended the message with "do you prefer when it's hot or cold outside? Why?" They are to answer their question in their journal and when we meet after breakfast I have one student read the morning message then we go around the table and everyone answers the question verbally. 

Friday I changed it up a bit and we used these pretty sturdy paddles I ordered last year from Oriental Trading. After asking everyone how they feel today (which by the way is so much fun because they are changing their word everyday and I'm loving the variety!), read the morning message (no question this day), did our calendar skills, counted money, and talked of our day, I passed them out. I then asked them 10 questions which they had to answer using their paddle yes or no.

 I can't remember them all now but here are some: 

I have built a snowman
I have been to another country
I have swam in the ocean
I was born in Bakersfield
I have been ice skating

Some of them we discussed after each poll, asking which country they had visited or where they were born if not here.


So, new plan. I think we will be doing two individual board questions a week, one team building activity, one similar to this one I did Friday, and one challenge (hold the door open for someone, introduce yourself to someone you don't know, ask someone to dance, invite someone to sit by you for lunch or on the bus). I want it to coincide with a lesson we worked on the day before. We can quick discuss it again and even do a couple role playing. After lunch when we come to group we will discuss if anyone was successful.

I am really hoping that with my kids all being on the same level, and me not having to differentiate their lessons too much AND freeing up my aides who no longer will need to work 1 on 1 with them, we can come up with some new exciting ideas for our class. I am excited, and can't wait to see what lies ahead for us this coming year!

I have pinned a few ideas on a Pinterest board HERE for the team building activities if your interested. If you have any you would like to share, please do so below!

I hope you have a great weekend,

Autism Update

With the new school year arriving, I have had little time to get out this plethora of information I hold from the conference I attended in Southern California. So, I thought I would start with a few facts and figures which headed off the keynote speaker on day one.

Facts & Figures

• Over 1.77 million cases of autism in the US
• New cases are diagnosed every 20 minutes
• Estimated 1 in 68 children, possible as high as 1 in 50
• 1 in 42 boys on average as high as 1 in 12
• Boys are 5x more likely than girls
• Autism is the fastest growing disability in the US
• Costs of 126 billion annually
• 2.3 million dollars to care for an individual with autism over their lifetime

Staggering isn't it?

****If you know anyone planning on getting pregnant in the future, you may want to pass on this bit of information too:

Folic acid taken pre-pregnancy and for the 1st 2 months of pregnancy can reduce autism rates by 40%. Also ASD moms should have their homocysteine levels taken. Mothers of autistic children show higher levels. They should have blood workup done before getting pregnant again. Elevated levels also showed a risk factor of heart disease and blood clots.

There was also talk of a medication that seems promising in reducing autism like symptoms in mice (for up to 8 weeks) and according to our key note speaker they will begin human trials in the next few weeks. You can Google Prof. Robert Naviaux if you want to learn more on this.

Is anyone else worried about the rise in autism and what this means for the future? 1 in 68 children??? The amount of kids with autism that have entered our program alone in the last 5 years is staggering. Are there enough adult programs set up for them? What's the plan? I don't feel like this is being taken seriously and I worry that our kids will not have the adequate resources available to them as they age out of the school system. Who's going to fit the bill? 

So many questions, so very few answers. 

I have many more things I want to talk about regarding this conference and will try really hard to find time in the next couple weeks to get it down in writing for you! I feel like there are not enough hours in the day lately!

Hope you year is starting out amazing!! I know mine is!

New "school" Years Resolutions!

It's that time of the year again folks. The time of year teachers make our new school year resolutions. Whether it's new things we are going to implement or old things we are going to stay more diligent towards, the commitment is there!

I have two things this year I am going to work on. The first one, which I heard about at the autism conference I just attended comes in two parts. #1 I am no longer going to say the words NO or Don't to my kids. I don't think I say it often, and when I do, I back it up with reasoning "NO, we don't have time to play with that now, but later, after lunch you will". So, I am going to try to leave the "NO" part off. Be more positive. Instead of saying "don't slam the chair down" I will say something more like "I understand you are upset, but let's think of other ways to get out our frustration". Or maybe instead of "NO we can't go to the snack bar now" I can say "now is not a good time, let's see if we have more time later".

#2 Instead of telling the kids what to do "go wash your hands", "go get your folder", "sit in your seat" we will say "what would be the proper thing to do after we sneeze?",  "what do we need to have to start out our day?", "where should we be if we are ready for our lesson?". Does that make sense? The speaker expressed that we feel the need to rescue them. While he was talking I totally saw that this is what we were doing all day in my room "go sit there" "go get your book" "get your jacket" "line up for breakfast". Not that these are bad things, but we are not allowing them to make any of their own decisions or to even think about what it is they need to do. We need to be teaching them self-regulation.

1. Self-regulation is the ability to monitor and control our own behavior, emotions, or thoughts, altering them in accordance with the demands of the situation.

I am going to really make this a priority in my room and model it for my aides so I can get them on board as well.

Ok, my second resolution is to hold a morning meeting with my kids everyday. It's so hard to find the time mostly because my kids arrive separately over a 45 minutes period. So here's the plan. When they arrive (7:30 - 8:15), they write their brief morning message, and work on one functional academic page in their folders. Then off to breakfast (8:15). When they come back (8:45), I am going to take this time for no more than a 15 minute meeting. I am going to really try to not go over that time frame as they will still need to finish their work and be out at the buses by 9:30.

I want it to look something like this:

Good morning ..... 

Ask students how they are feeling this morning and let them share that.

Go over the calendar for the day.

Count coins together from the wall (nickels, dimes, quarters)

Include a question: ex. "if you could go anywhere in the world where would you go?"

or 

short teamwork activity ....  ex. block tower, ball toss

"I hope you have a fantastic day".

So, that's the plan and I'm sticking to it (fingers crossed)!

Do you have any new resolutions for your classroom this year? I would love to hear about them!

GPS For Our Kids

I have sooooo many things I want to tell you that I learned at the conference I just attended!! But, before I get to all my notes and try to rewrite everything to where it makes sense to you, I wanted to ask you about this device that a mom talked about today right before the conference ended. The topic was about safety and our autistic children. A mother raised her hand and told us about this arm band called a GizmoPal she uses with her son. It's from Verizon and costs about 75 dollars with a 5 dollar monthly fee. It can call two preset numbers with one touch and receive calls from those same two numbers. You can also set it to auto answer which means if the child doesn't answer it within 10 rings it will automatically answer. Now for the best part.... it has GPS on it!!! 

So I'm curious, do you know any kids who are using these? Any that could benefit from it. Pros, cons? I think the GPS is great. I assume the student would have to be above a certain level to understand that you can't be calling mommy and daddy all day long.

Let's chat....

Today Is A Good Day For A Good Day

Sorry for the quiet this summer I have a lot going on! Got the news that my classroom would be moving during ESY(packed a lot of stuff). I sold my house (packed a lot of stuff). Bought a new house (but am currently homeless because apparently shorts sales are very unpredictable) and took a small family vacation. 

I was really hoping for this time off to get the new house in order and am so bummed that though I feel I have SO much to do, I can't really do anything but sit and wait. Then 2 weeks ago my boss emails me saying they will NOT be moving my classroom this current school year, which means I will have to UNPACK EVERYTHING back into the same room (did I mention I have a lot of stuff)! 

So, here I sit, waiting for my realtor to give me some sort of information "any day now" he says over and over. Waiting for my classroom to be available for the unpacking (did I mention all my work clothes are sitting in a POD somewhere!). Next week though, I head to Pasadena for the "Autism West Conference" that I have attended the last 2 years and love. Then I have one more week off before the new school year begins. I am looking forward to a little structure that's for sure. I'm finding it harder and harder to trick myself everyday to get up, shower, put on make-up and curl my hair just to go to Walmart for a roll of paper towels.

I hope everyone has enjoyed their time off and are looking forward to the up and coming 2015-16 school year!

Yours Truly,

Movie Trailer Monday!!!

 We are down to the last 5 days of ESY!! I found out last Wednesday that I will be moving into a new classrooms next year. So, not only am I having to pack up my house, I am also having to pack up my classroom. And to make matters worse, the air conditioner went out last Thursday so by 9 a.m. it hits about 85 degrees in the room and 

we have to vacate to a cooler classroom for the rest of the day. I'm hoping it gets fixed as soon as possible so I can stay late a couple days and get it finished. Friday we will be at another school for graduation, so I really only have 4 more days to get it done. I'm trying my best to pitch a few things that I no longer use. I tend to "hoard" things at school "just in case" I might NEED it again. It's funny, at home I don't keep anything. I try to live as simple as possible and have no problem dropping things off at Goodwill if I stop using it. Unfortunately, my classroom has a whole separate list of rules.

A few months ago one of my kids was talking about a new movie that was coming out. So, we went to Youtube and checked out the trailer. While we were there we went ahead and watched a few more. The kids were totally into it! From that day on we now enjoy "Movie Trailer Monday's" every week. 
After my kids come back from lunch, they have about a half hour of free time. They can play games with staff, use the ipad or computer, read books, draw or just hang out outside with their friends. Then we come back for our final class of the day before our day ends. On Mondays, we meet back ten minutes earlier now to watch the trailers.

 We do three trailers each week, and even though I take requests, which I add to my list, I like to make it a surprise which ones I will show that particular day. After each trailer we have a little discussion and ask who thinks they would be interested in seeing that movie and who thinks they wouldn't be. I only show them movies that have a G or PG rating as I don't want parents upset that now their kid begs to see a movie they deem inappropriate.

Tomorrow will be our last showing of the year. We are going to see "The Secret Life Of Pets", "Daddy's Home", and "Born In China".
This has been such a fun thing for all of us, that I am going to continue it in the fall. The kids look forward to it and I get multiple reminders every Monday so that I don't forget! And, we have so many left on our list that we want to see!

ttyl,

Social Skills Activity

Summer school (ESY) is in full swing. 12 days down 8 to go! So much has been going on in the last two weeks. I sold my house and bought a new one (which really is a very old one). I have to be out of the house I live in now by July 8th which just so happens be day 3 of my out of town vacation so I will have to move out 4th of July weekend instead. The new house doesn't close escrow until the 22nd of July which leaves me homeless for about a week when I get back. Luckily I have great friends who are willing to house me and my dogs until the new house closes, is repainted inside, and the new floors put down! I will be off work until August 19th, so will have plenty of time to put everything back together and get unpacked before the new school year starts. I guarantee you it's going to go FAST!

I wanted to post this fun activity I did with the kids last week. Each day we worked on two circles starting with Strangers and moving to the smallest circle being "me". We talked about each one and the kids wrote a small definition and added 5 people that would fit into each category inside the circle. Then they cut each of them out and we moved on to the next circle. When they were complete we stacked them and stapled them along the top. 

I really enjoyed doing these with them and it really kept their attention. There was great conversation, writing, cutting, and a bit of role play.

Take care,

ESY 2015

Well, we have just about made it through another school year. I have 3 half days to go and I'm sure they are going to fly by. Next Thursday is our last day of the regular school year. We will get a 3 day weekend and then start ESY on the following Monday. All of my class but one will be attending this year and I will keep my same staff so it will almost be just like a regular school year day except the kids will leave to go home around the time they used to leave to go to lunch. Oh, and I don't have to stay for my prep period, soooo I will be done with my work day at 11:30 a.m. Not bad at all!

I teach all the same classes during our extended school year as I do during the regular year with the exception that I try to make them a little more fun. Adding extra cooking classes, extra art projects, outdoor time that might include a water balloon or two, and even a real movie. That still leaves plenty of time for our core subjects like life skills, social skills, money management and so on. I have put their monthly morning workbooks together but this year I added all the pages we will use for the other classes as well to make my life a little easier as every page they will need will be together in one place and I won't have to pass out any other papers all summer!

We are going to do a few new things this year. Remember this lesson that was going around a year or so ago? We did these last summer during ESY. This year we are doing something very similar but each page will represent different people and the boundaries we have for them. Strangers, community members, acquaintances, friends and family. Each page getting small than the one before (ME being smallest). I'll post a pic when we are done so you can see the finished product. The plan is to take time discussing each group of people and having the kids write a small definition and a few names that would fit under each one. I also purchased this movie called "When Zachary Beaver Came To Town" that we will watch as well. Seems from the reviews that it has quite a few lessons in it about friendship, empathy, and to not judge others. I'll let you know if it's any good either. My kids this year are not movie watchin kids but I'm going to try just one!

I hope your school years are winding down nicely and you're not to stressed out right about now. Just remember, very soon, we can put our feet up and get a well deserved vacation before it starts all over again.

Microwave, Stove & Oven Practice

 Is everyone enjoying their Easter break? I am halfway through mine and really really enjoying the time off! 

I got an email last week from someone wanting to know if I had any worksheets on using a microwave, which I did not. So, this weekend I put together a fun little cut and paste one for her. Then I thought, "why not add one of using the oven"? Which then turned into "might as well do one on using the stove". Each of these worksheets are cut and paste. I also made each one into a worksheet with the answers on another page so they can be made into work tasks that can be laminated with Velcro attached. I did add another row of questions to make up for the space at the bottom of those sheets. 

The directions on the microwave sheet are the actual directions from each products. I also tried to use a variety of cooking terms on the others (saute, broil, bake, preheat, simmer, fry etc) so you're kinda getting two lessons in one :-) Once the dials are cut they have to be glued/velcro in the circle turning it so the correct temp is on the line at the top. I did use gas and electric nobs on the stove worksheet so the kids will know there is more than one option. 

Hope these are helpful for your kids! Enjoy your time off, it will be over before we know it. You can find the worksheets HERE.

"They Don't Understand What We're Saying"

Last week I had a new instructional assistant start in my classroom. Since I run my room completely different than 95% of the other classes in my program, retraining them from their bad habits is at the top of my list. Although in the beginning most will miss the freedom they had, it's only a matter of time until they "buy in" to my beliefs. Though I have not been 100% successful in making this happen hence why I'm getting a new aide, I really had faith that this guys was going to work out great. 

First off, I have a list of expectations I hand out and we went over it together. One of the biggest rules I have with myself and my staff is that I run my classroom as if my boss, or a parent is standing inside the door. I run it as if my child or their child were one of my students. Now this doesn't mean we don't have fun, because my kids are great fun and we have great times. But I do want my classroom to be a professional environment all the time. My kids deserve that. 

So does this work? Mostly yes. My work likes to move our IA's around a lot and even though they will deny this, I believe some are put into my rooms because they need "structure" and I have "structure". It seems every year I finally get everyone on board and then the new school year starts and I have to start all over again with new IA's. I do seem to have better success with ones who are also parents as I think they can put their own child in the place of our students and they know what they would want for them. We meet bi-monthly for an hour and because we are a team I really love their ideas and input and we use them often. This is also the time I bring up any issues I see happening. I also bribe them. I bring them little snacks or lunch a couple times a month and send home fun little things my kids do that their kids can as well. All this to make sure they know how much I appreciate them. I also thank them every day when they leave for their help. People who feel appreciated are much better workers.

So, the reasoning for this post was that during a conversation with my new IA last week, while talking about having private conversations in front of kids, he told me that he completely understands since my kids are "verbal" and they know what's going on. But..... the basic life skills class, from which he came from, it wasn't such a big deal he said, since the kids were non-verbal and didn't understand what the staff was saying. Now this is where I wanted to SCREAM! I immediately asked him to set up the projector and screen and went to my computer to find this wonderful video clip I keep on hand for this exact occasion. He sat quietly for 10 minutes and watched the video. He probably wouldn't appreciate me telling you this, but he cried. I saw him wipe tears. He is a father, he understands. I think he's going to work out great.

So, here is the link to the video. It's only 10 minutes long and it should be seen by EVERYONE who works with special kids. This is not an isolated case, I have seen it over and over for many years. It really makes you think.

Father and daughter win struggle with Autism

Take care, 

College Classes on Campus

I wanted to share with you something pretty cool that's been going on in our program for the last few years. Cal State University is about 10 miles from our school. As you can see from the picture I pulled from the internet, one of the required classes for their Physical Education B.S. degree is a class called "Adaptive Physical Education". It just so happens that my program is full of kids who love physical education! So, apparently someone talked to someone and from there an amazing opportunity was born! 

Here's how it works. The first half of the year the college students are on their own campus learning about adaptive PE and planning fun and exciting activities that kids with special needs might enjoy. The second half of the year the teacher and her students use our quad area as their classroom. We send out 4 classes a week (40 kids) and let them take over. They are there for a full hour and every week there are new, fun activities they rotate the kids through. From freebie's to obstacle courses, beach balls and bean bags. They bring a TON of stuff and the kids always have a blast!

The college kids are just amazing and they are so sweet and kind with our kids. I stood and talked to their teacher yesterday when they were there and she said that her students brainstorm and come up with all their own ideas for the activities and that's why they are never the exact same each year. I thought I would share this on the off chance that your school or class may have the same opportunity available to you in your community. I hope you look into it as it is such a great experience for all of the students, ours and theirs.

Take care,

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,