Science Unit: Plants

A few of you have been asking about our science unit this month.  The theme is PLANTS and I now have our unit worksheets available for purchase on Teachers Pay Teachers (click here for the direct link).  If you want more information about how my science station is organized, check out this blog post and this blog post.  

Similar to my other science units, this Plant Unit is based around 9 vocabulary words: 
*Seeds        *Petal        *Flower        *Roots        *Stem        *Plant        *Branch        *Trunk        *Leaves

LOCKDOWN DRILL!

Last week, the autism teachers in my school were approached by our Assistant Principal and told that our school would be participating in it's FIRST EVER (at least since I have been here) lockdown drill.  This is the kind of drill that you typically get no warning for since the police want to see how your school reacts in the moment.  Basically, the school announces a lockdown over the intercom, and everyone is supposed to act as though an intruder is in the building.  With all the current issues with school shootings, etc. I am surprised we have never done this type of drill before...but I am glad we are at least starting them now.   How do you prepare your students for a lockdown drill?  I really have no idea.  However, I figured I would make a brief social story explaining the drill as well as practice the drill a few times. 

Coco the Therapy Dog

This week, we had Coco (a therapy dog) come into our classroom.  Coco is a Bernese Mountain Dog....and she is BIG.  I have several students who are very scared of dogs, so I was very interested to see their reactions.  I had two students stand on top of chairs the entire time she was there, however, they remained very interested in watching her and never got upset....they just preferred to watch from a distance.  

Sorting by Seasons on TPT

After a recent post on a sorting task I was created, several people requested I put it up on TPT.  So, now that I am done with graduate school and have a little extra time on my hands, I was finally able to do so!  This product (find it on TPT by clicking here) consists of 2 sorting tasks.  The first sorting task is sorting by season.  For each of the 4 seasons, there are 10 pictures to sort (for a total of 40 pictures).  The pictures consist of seasonal activities, weather pictures, and holiday pictures.

PLANTING!!

Although this weather is quite confusing (75 degrees one day and 45 degrees the next?), we decided it was about time to do some planting.  Our science theme this month is plants (I am hoping to get this unit up on TPT soon!), and our experiment is planting/taking care of our own plants.  So, last week, my students did a sequencing activity where they cut and pasted the order to follow when planting.  

Draw a Picture

I recently added a new product to my store to work on following directions and reading comprehension.  The whole packet comes with 20 total worksheets, and is made up of 3 different levels.  You can purchase them at my TPT (click here to go directly to this product).

Special Olympics: Spring Games

This is a week my students look forward to all year!  We usually have 4 days of Special Olympics fun, but this year, due to scheduling conflicts we were only able to participate in 2.  But boy, did we ever get the most out of our first day!  We played on the playground, jumped in bouncy houses, had a giant dance party, watched an awesome tumbling team...oh, and we ran individual and relay races as well as did the long jump! Whew!  We had lots of gold, silver, and bronze medals.  And ribbons...However, this year, my kids realized that ribbons aren't as "good" as a medal, so there were quite a few tears shed over not getting a medal.