Home - School Communication Binders

Tomorrow is my official first day with students! I still have a lot of projects I want to finish but here is one that I have recently completed. I want to first thank Clutter-Free Classroom for the awesome FREE printables I used to create my own version of these binders. Check em out :)

Hoping these will make my daily communication with parents more successful!

2012-2013 Classroom Set-Up

I am so excited to begin this school year! Even though I only have 1 semester of teaching under my belt (I was hired mid-school year in December) I feel like I have such a better concept of what is really important for both myself and my students in the classroom! While I still kept many aspects the same as my set up last year, I did some major rearranging, organizing, simplifying, and of course decorating! (cuz I'm a teacher-nerd like that!) So here are the pictures of my set up so far (that is if I don't switch it up again before next week..)

I could not pass up this adorable printable from School Girl Style

Her owl collection was exactly what I was looking for and she was great about making changes for me when I asked for help. Everyone should check out her store on Teacher's Notebook!

This is something new I added this year. I am all over the building during the day. I go with my students to lunch, sometimes I am observing them in their electives or in an IEP meeting, office, etc. I wanted my co-workers to be able to find me if necessary, or at least have a general idea of where I am.

Close up! This is just a blank frame template cut and pasted to scrapbook paper :) 

View from the door looking in. I basically flip-flopped the location of my group instruction area. 

You can compare it to my previous set up in 2011-2012. 

I felt like everything was cramped by my desk the way I had it set up before. This is a change that I made towards the end of last year and it has worked out great so far!

Calendar area. I still have some features I want to add to this so stay tuned!

My student's magnetic name tags that will be paired with their pictures for my "at school", "not at school" columns (easier way for my kids to understand "attendance") I downloaded the clip art owls for free off of Teachers Pay Teachers but I can't remember the exact link! Just search "owls" :) 

Our Visual Schedule. I plan on doing a large "First"/"Then" and breaking the schedule down a bit for some of my kiddos.

Life skills area

This area seems kind of "blah" boring but it's my work box system (explained Here )

and it is important for my students that this area is as distraction free as possible so they can focus on independent vocational work. If you read my post on the work box system, you might notice that I have added more boxes and the wall charts will contain jobs as well. More on that in a future post! 

I printed my clock labels as a "flash" freebie from Clutter Free Classroom. LOVE how this turned out!

The blue flower next to the clock is actually a magnetic clip where I plan on sticking misc. papers that accumulate during the day that I need to send home with my students. 

This is the going to be a 1:1 work area.

Friendly reminders of expectations posted to reference. 

I am going to use this space to write in what times/which students our Speech, O.T., P.T., and Vision Specialists will be seeing. It seems like every week there are changes or cancellations so I figured this would be better than re-printing the schedule each week. I can't remember where I got these but I am pretty sure it was TPT again. (sorry!)

This is more for myself and my paraprofessionals to keep us all organized and for me to avoid answering "where can I find ___" 25x per day! Hehe

These cutie labels are from Heather Perkins' TPT Store A FREE Download! 

Bulletin board behind my desk. I know it's random but it's "my area", and I heart pugs, coke zero, and more cute owl printables. The name banner is from MiTeacher-Girl-Store. "Live, Laugh, Learn" printables were a FREEBIE from Kickin' It In Kinder's TPT Store ..I love how they pop against the black background. 

Couldn't resist this awesome guy at the Target Dollar Spot :)

This mini bulletin board was pinterest inspired. It was seriously so easy! Just rolled masking tape to the back of the black paper, slapped it on, did the same with the border, and voila! AND I get to use magnets on it which stay wonderfully against the metal file cabinet. 

How stinking cute are these! $2.50 each, once again at Target! This is where we will keep I.D. cards.

We are finally making it almost all the way around the room. This is my sensory/break area. Those of you who read my set-up post from last year may be wondering, where did that adorable-perfect-classroom-sized-free-dorm-hand-me-down  blue couch go?! Well friends -  I quickly learned that if you provide a super comfy inviting couch, some students will get just a little too comfy! Bye bye awesome couch, hello smaller chair! The curtain is actually a fabric shower curtain from the dollar store. It is covering the clutter/storage on the massive built-in shelf.

These owls I added to my wall decal I still have up from last year. Also from School Girl Style!

That brings us full circle! Whew - if you're still reading this mega long post then you are my new best friend! Hope someone gets some ideas from this and I am always open to suggestions. Feel free to PIN anything you see here. If I used one of your printables and forgot to give credit, please let me know! 

- Danielle

Back to School and FREEBIE!

Wow is it really almost that time?! After working summer school, I ended up with about 2 weeks off in the beginning of summer and 3 weeks off at the end. Not too bad really. As I am gearing up to get back in the classroom (August 8th!!), I am trying to prepare for my new students and collect more detailed, accurate information on the students I already have. Here is a little freebie for you that I came up with for my parents to fill out. I plan on having these in my big teacher binder along with my student's IEPs. Hope some of you will find this useful! (this is the first time I have attempted to put a pdf for download into a post so I hope it works!) Click the link below the image to download!

Student Information Form - Special Ed.

Let me know if you are able to use this for your students! 

Danielle

Sensory Breaks

All of my students have unique sensory needs but especially my kiddos that are on the autism spectrum. I have always recognized that sensory needs were an issue but I didn't realize how important they really were until I decided to build in sensory breaks into our daily schedule. Before this, I always had these "sensory activities" available, but found they weren't really being utilized.

One of my students started having really aggressive, violent behavior outbursts and as part of our behavior intervention process, I spoke with my O.T. and the parents  to discuss possible sensory needs. Here's one example, this student was literally throwing himself onto the floor throughout the day. Not just dropping to the floor, but jumping up and landing hard onto the floor. He would do it repeatedly during his leisure time, not as a means to escape/avoid working. The O.T. explained he is needing more proprioceptive input (sensations from joints and muscles that lead to body awareness) as well as vestibular input (sense of movement)   It became very clear that this student was needing some intense sensory activities to address his needs. To address this issue specifically, we are having him lay down and then rolling a large therapy ball on him while applying pressure which he absolutely loves! This guy rarely talks, let alone initiates communication and he will now lay down, say "ball" and when I stop, he says "more please".

This is when I decided to build in a sensory break for all of my students during the day, in addition to having more frequent sensory breaks for those who really need it. So, everyday after lunch time, we come back to the room and turn off the lights and sensory time begins! Here are a few of the activities we have available.

This is just a large plastic container with some good old dried beans inside, always a favorite! 

Here's where I store most of my "sensory" materials, the students know where they are and can access them during breaks. The "Discovery kids" fish tank on top is also very popular.

This is just a small table top fan I let the students direct towards them.

I am by no means an expert in sensory integration, so consult your O.T. before trying anything on your own! 

R-word

This is a cause that has a special meaning to me of course as a special education teacher. I work in a middle school where my students can benefit from inclusion with their peers regardless of the severity of their intellectual disability. Yet, even in this setting where their "typical" peers interact with and see my students on a daily basis, I still hear the R-word in the hallway or during lunch, and every time I get that burning feeling in my ears. According to the Spread the Word to end the Word website: "Respectful and inclusive language is essential to the movement for the dignity and humanity of people with intellectual disabilities.  However, much of society does not recognize the hurtful, dehumanizing and exclusive effects of the word “retard(ed)." If that isn't enough to change your mind about the use of the r-word, here is a video that might.  

Work Box System

First of all, I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted! Things have been crazy, my fiance's grandmother passed, my brother had a baby, and we went on a trip to Chicago..needless to say - life took over and I have been a bad blogger! Also, my camera is broken so my pictures are all from my phone (not the greatest quality) Anyways - as part of setting up my room, I have been lucky enough to have the Autism specialist and the Transition specialist from my district help me develop a new work box system. First, I will explain the concept of the system and then I will show you step by step how it works.

The work box system is designed to teach students to become independent in following a visual schedule to complete a series of work tasks. The purpose is to prepare students to be able to sustain working without prompts so they can be more independent and successful in a work setting in the future.

The main thing to remember is that the work box tasks themselves are not what is important. It is the process of following the steps in the system that is the goal. (I will explain these steps later in the post) In order for the student to learn to follow the system, they should only be given work boxes on their schedule that they can do independently, without prompts.

Before I can go further, I need to clarify what I mean by "prompts". If a student is working only when someone is seated right next to them, giving them directions on what to do, then that student is not independent in that skill. Independent would mean the student can sit down to do a task without an adult standing over them, know what to do by looking at the task, and complete it without assistance.

Here's how the system works and I will explain as I go!

My students are all easily distracted so they need a work area that is free from other stimuli as possible. 

The student is given a schedule strip that contains icons that correspond with work boxes that they can do within the system. At the end of the strip, I like to put a picture of a reinforcer that will be motivating for the student. (Yes, those are socks and I have no idea why a child would decide to work for socks but this one does!) IMPORTANT: Not all students will be able to start with 3,4,5 tasks in a row. The point is for them to do it INDEPENDENTLY so if that means only 1 simple task (put the ball in the cup) and then a reinforcer, then so be it, we can build up to more tasks later. 

The student pulls off the first icon and goes to the system to match it to the corresponding work box. This does not have to be organized by numbers, it just happened that all of my students can match number to number but some students may need to go by color/shapes/pictures/etc. 

Find the match and take the box back to the work area.

Student completes the task (this one was sorting silverware) Now, the number goes into a finished box so the student will know it is no longer on the schedule. 

This is the part that I have heard conflicting opinions on, I have my students place the finished box into a designated area and we do not deconstruct the box and put it back until a later time (after the students are gone) The reason we do this is because our students had somehow (previous methods) learned to take apart the job after they did it and realistically, in a workshop setting when they are being paid, we don't want them taking apart every job they do! (won't make employers happy when you are un-doing your work!) This bin is located right next to their desk so no need to travel to put the job away. 

And the system goes on for as many icons as the student has until they reach the end (socks!! yay!) 

With this student, we are trying to teach him to initiate requests, so he has to select the reinforcer form his device which has a voice output ("I want socks") This lets us know he is finished and ready for reinforcement, it also is preparing him for a work setting where he might need to ring a bell or hit a switch when he is ready for a break or needs more supplies. 

That's pretty much how it works! Now keep in mind, my students can not all do this 100% independent yet. We are still in the teaching process but the main thing is that when teaching the system, we use the least intrusive prompts possible. So for my student that needs more support, I stand back (3-5 ft.) and only step in with a gestural prompt (pointing or tapping) when they stop working or have trouble moving to the next step in the sequence. REMEMBER: The work boxes should be tasks they already have mastered, they should be able to look at it and know exactly how to complete it with zero prompting! 

Here are some examples of what are in some of my work boxes, they range from very simple tasks to complex, multi-step tasks. They cover a variety of skills including fine motor, sorting, life skills, academics, etc. 

A fine motor/color sort combo

Fine motor/life skills 

Starting to get more complex - Math: check bottom of container for number and select correct amount

A multi-step sorting/assembly task: Put the correct size container with corresponding lid into each section and close with wooden peg inside the containers with each lid on. 

Life Skills/Fine motor: Fold napkins into squares

Does not have to be a "box", file folder activities can also be a work task! As long as you have an icon for them to match to!

Whew! Sorry that post was so long !I hope it made sense and I am by no means an expert in work boxes, I am still learning myself so input is appreciated!