New Years Sale

To thank you all for being such wonderful readers, I wanted to throw an end of the year sale!  Please enjoy 20% off my entire TPT store today and tomorrow (12-31-1/1).  You can visit my store by clicking the picture below or by clicking here!

The  newest additions to my store are my Christmas File Folders (stock up for next year!)

Also, my newest science unit on the Solar System!

 These letter and number worksheets have been a hot seller ever since I posted them this fall…and I use them every day in my classroom, so I am a huge fan!

Happy NEW YEAR!!

Science Unit Preview: Solar System

I was a real slacker and didn't post a science unit for December (sorry!!).  In my class, we did animals and animal habitats.  I will definitely post this unit at some point…but just didn't get to it this month.  But, on the bright side, I am posting January's unit a little earlier than normal!  This month's unit is on the Solar System (recently posted on TPT).  This month's unit revolves around 9 vocabulary words related to the Solar System (moon, sun, earth, telescope, planets, stars, telescope, space shuttle, and astronaut).

The packet includes:

-3 Levels of assessments
-Materials to create a vocabulary velcro-matching activitiy
-Flashcards
-18 Different worksheets
-2 Games (Solar System Bingo and Memory). Multiple versions based on level of difficulty. 
-1 Adapted book (with matching pieces and comprehension sheet).
-1 Note home about the unit.
-1 Cover sheet for kids to color and use as a cover for all their completed work (wither to send home or for in the classroom).

This unit has materials for learners at different levels.   Also, it includes a variety of worksheets which allow my students to work on their science IEP goals as well as a variety of other goals (language arts, math, speech, and OT).  I use this unit over the course of an entire month.  The kids repeat some of the work, but the repetition seems to help them learn the concepts as well as work on becoming more independent.

Throw Back Thursday: Drama Time

While I am on vacation, I am doing some Throwbacks to old posts that are some of my favorites!  This is one I wrote almost exactly 1 year ago!  It is very relevant, since we just started doing drama time with my new students!  It can be a very frustrating activity to start, but knowing I have been through it before and seeing how much it helped my other students, I am definitely motivated to keep going….so enjoy this post.

So as I was getting ready to leave my classroom last Friday, I was thinking about some things I could share on my blog over winter break.  One of the first things that came to mind was Drama Time, our weekly drama activity where we work on addressing the social and emotional needs of our students.  I attended a training on this from the people at Red Kite (a play designed specifically for kids with autism) who had been doing drama with some students for several years and saw lots of great gains.  A lot of the ideas I will be sharing, came from them.  I have adapted them or added to them with some games of my own to meet my students' needs.

Scented Rice Scavenger Hunt

This activity involves so many skills and is super hands-on to help keep kids engaged!  Students practice reading, following directions, taking turns, fine motor skills, writing, and more! 

Items you will need: 
-Gallon Bags        -Rice         -Food coloring        -Peppermint extract      -Items to hide                

Merry Christmas!!!  My students had a blast with this 2-part activity last week.  We spread this across two days because I see my kids for direct instruction only 15 minutes per day.  On the first day, we made the rice.

Secret Santas

Well people…I am officially on Winter Break…and Officially on my Honeymoon.  Don't worry, I still have some fun posts to share with your while I'm gone including some new posts, some oldies, but goodies…and maybe even a sale!!  

Sorry I am only sharing this post with you now…but it was our first time doing secret santas at school and I wanted to make sure it wasn't an epic fail before I spread it all over the internet.  Now, it wasn't perfect, but it was pretty fun anyways!

We had a big discussion on what "secret" means and then had the kids pick another student's name.  Of course there were a few that shouted the name right as they read it….but others did a great job keeping it secret.  

Punctuation Unit

I noticed several of my students were struggling to write sentences appropriately.  They were adding capital letters in the middle of sentences and forgetting to put punctuation at the end of their sentences.  Also, since we have been working on answering "wh" questions, I wanted my kids to be able to differentiate between a period, question mark, and exclamation point.  Check out the activities we did, complete with links to the FREE products!

I found this cute FREE book from Erin Palleschi about punctuation on TPT called "Meet the Puncs."  It is great because we could practice reading, learn about punctuation, and the book even has little exercises to work on the concepts.

Christmas Tree Crafts!

Last week, we completed a variety of candy cane themed activities, and this week, we did a Christmas tree theme! We each made our own small tree and them put them together to create a class tree in the hallway!

Simple, but Magic Behavior Intervention

This week in my morning group, we had a new student join us.  So, we have been reviewing some basic rules like sitting upright in our chairs and raising our hands without screaming "ME!!"  This is a very squirmy and competitive bunch!!  We have been having a hard time getting through our reading lessons, because I constantly have to remind one of the kids to stop laying on the table or to stop shouting out all the answers.  

This week, I decided to review the "rules" with them and make "following the rules" into a game.  We listed the rules on the board and came up with a prize for the winner (this group loves drawing pictures…so that was one option to choose as a prize).  Every time I caught them following the rules, they got a point.  Every time they broke the rules, they lost one.  In the end, we had one winner and several losing students crying.  However, on day 2, everyone was on their best behavior and they even asked to "play the point game again." (!!!)  This is not a game I will use every day, but it is great to bust it out when you are working on teaching new behaviors to your students.

Reading Station

We cover reading at a variety of stations in the classroom.  I run reading groups with all my kids (whether the group is working on learning the alphabet or making inferences).  However, we also have a station specifically called "reading."  This is an aid run station, where the kids get to work on reading every day in a group of 2 students for 15 minutes.  I have 3 levels of work at this station which I will go over today.

Candy Cane Craft-a-palooza!

Last week, we had a little candy cane theme going on!  Check out these cheap and easy crafts we did…

We started the week with these finger print candy cane pictures.  

Holiday File Folders

I have had some requests to post some file folders on TPT over the last couple weeks…so now you have them!  This first set I posted is holiday themed, but I have several more sets in the works which I will be posting soon!  I printed these out and put them together last week and my students were chomping at the bit to work on them as soon as I was finished!  Gotta love my little worker bees!  

CYBER TUESDAY and FREEBIE!!

Just a reminder that today is the last day of the CYBER Holiday Sale!!  28% off everything in my TPT store!  Click the picture below for a link directly to my store!

Currently and CYBER MONDAY SALE!!

Happy Cyber Monday!  And Happy December! I am so excited for this month!!  I already have all my fun holiday activities planned out for the month, and yet, I just keep finding more ideas!  I don't know how I am going to fit everything in!!  

Anyway…onto this month's Currently! Hop over to Farley's Blog to join in!

Listening:  My husband and I had over 14 hours of driving this weekend, so we rented an audio book from the library to listen to!  I love that I can download things to my iPhone for free from the library!

Loving: I had the best long weekend at home spending times with family and friends!  

Thinking:  I am so pumped about my Christmas break! I am going on my honeymoon to Australia and New Zealand!  If you have any tips or suggestions on what we should do, please let me know!!

Wanting: I am so close to finishing my Christmas shopping and hope to finish this week.  I have never done my shopping this early before, and I have got to say, it is really refreshing!

Needing:  Since I basically ate my face off for the last week, I really need to eat some fruit and veggies (and maybe just that) for a couple days to detox.

Favorite Tradition:  My favorite Christmas tradition is something my family has done forever!  We cook up some rice pudding and put a blanched almond in so it is hidden.  Whoever gets the almond wins a prize.  The actual rice pudding isn't even very tasty…but the tradition is still my favorite!

Also, did I mention my excitement for CYBER MONDAY??  I have created my wish list and will be buying my items when I get home from work today…this was great motivation to get me planning my activities for the winter! 

Here is a link to my store or click the image below in case you are interested in saving some money!!  The sale lasts today and tomorrow!  My store is 20% off and when you enter CYBER at checkout, you will get the full 28% off the original price!  Happy Shopping!

Let's Make Holiday Patterns FREEBIE

We have been working on patterns with my mid-level math group.  We started by working on copying patterns, then extending patterns.  Now, we are onto identifying patterns by "ABA" or "ABB" and then creating our own patterns using these identifiers.  

For the holidays (I can't believe winter break is only 3 weeks away…I have so many thing I want to fit in and not enough time!!)  we are doing some patterning worksheets using christmas themed pictures.  I posted this FREEBIE so you can use it too!

Math with Bingo Dabbers!

Ok people…I am pretty sure I have talked about my love for Bingo Dabbers before…and this Math Unit (available on TPT) using Bingo Dabbers was just as AMAZING as I had imagined!  This packet of math activities is created by Teach With Laughter (check out her blog!).

I have been wanting to use these from the second I got them…but it took my kids a while to settle into their routines this year.  Now that our math groups are up and flowing nicely, I thought this would be the perfect time to use these activities.  

I love that each activity comes with simple directions that are easy for the kids to understand.  This activity was perfect because we were reviewing the numbers 1-100 before moving on to skip counting.

Our math period is about 25 minutes long, and it took my kids about 2-3 days to finish this! So many of my kids are such speedy workers, so I love activities that slow my kids down and really challenge them!  This was perfecT!  The kids had to search  (in order) for the numbers 1-100….

Thanksgiving Party

I am so grateful that today is my last day of school for the week!  I have NEVER had the Wednesday before Thanksgiving off before…and I am so excited to have it off this year!  Right after work today, I am heading to my parent's house to relax, eat, and shop for the rest of the week/weekend!

Yesterday, we had our annual Thanksgiving Party!  We usually take the kids to the grocery store to buy all the ingredients to make our Thanksgiving Feast, but this year, due to a student having some explosive behavior problems, I didn't feel comfortable taking my class into the community.  So, instead, I went shopping this weekend for everything!  Hopefully my class will make it to the grocery store later in the year (because I really do LOVE that field trip!).

Similar to most parties, we set up stations around the classroom.  At each station, we were cooking a different dish (or dishes).  Some of our stations were turkey/gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, pumpkin pie, sweet potatoes, green beans, and cranberries.  We used real potatoes this year (instead of boxed).  They were a huge hit!  Our higher guys made stuffing following the recipe on the box this year (instead of a Boardmaker, visual recipe!).

Turkey Craft

We started these turkey crafts last week, and of course we were interrupted in the middle by a FIRE DRILL!  My kids were not too happy (and neither was I!).  

Simplifying PECS in the Classroom

This is going to be a short post, but I thought this idea was worth sharing.  I have a student who is completely non -verbal that really struggles to discriminate between Boardmaker photos in his PECs book.  So, I have been putting in real picture of things, and that has helped a lot!   

Updating All About Me Books!

My All About Me Books have been one of my top sellers on TPT.  This week, I was busy printing, laminating, velcroing, cutting, and binding these books….I'm sure you've all been there!  (Don't mind my pile of Cheetos next to my laminating!)

Pattern Tray

I love this patterning tray from Lakeshore!  As of today, it is still available on their site for $9.99.  I use it with my table scatter that I got from the Target dollar spot and Dollar Tree.  That way, we can use seasonal objects (like leaves, acorns, and pumpkins for fall).  We can review vocabulary while working on patterns!

NEW Spelling Worksheets and Data!

Last year, I used my spelling worksheets for part of my students' homework packet.  This year, I was able to incorporate them into our school day, so my students complete them during the independent part of our morning group.

My school uses Words Their Way and the associated Word Sorts for spelling instruction.  I have photo copied the different word sorts onto different colors (depending on the spelling pattern…i.e. short vowels, initial sounds, etc.).  Then, I laminated them, cut them out, and stored them in baggies.  All of the baggies from the first book fit into this bin from the Target dollar spot.  

Spider Unit: Part 2

Today, I will be sharing some more fun, and Free spider activities that my class completed last month.

Our biggest project in this unit was researching different types of spiders.  The kids had to come up with a description of each type of spider, find out where it lives, and whether or not it was poisonous.  This took us 2 days to complete (our group lasts 30 minutes).  The first day, we used the iPads to find the information.  We used the kid zone website about spider facts (http://www.kidzone.ws/lw/spiders/facts.htm).  The second day, to practice research in another way, we used a spider book we had checked out from the library to do research the remaining spiders.  This activity is available for Free on TPT here.

Spider Unit: Part 1

October may be over….but we just finished wrapping up our Spider Literacy Unit from last month!  In science, we studied insects as a whole class, so to go along with that, my higher guided reading group did some reading work centered around spiders this month!  This also worked well with the Halloween theme!  Many of these activities were FREE…so I have included the links below incase you want to do them in your classroom!

We started out this month filling out a KWL chart on the board.  This was our first time doing a KWL chart, and I think they did very well!  Once we filled out the "K" and "W,"  we looked up our answers in a Spider book we had in the classroom so we could fill in the "L" section.

Veteran's Day Sale

Happy Veteran's Day!  I have the day off today and am so grateful!  I have so much catching up to do for work and my own errands!  So, while I am busy blogging, lesson planning, doing laundry, writing IEPs, and working out today, my entire store will be 20% off!  Hope you find something useful!

Click here to go directly to my store!

Five For Friday

TGIF!!  I am so looking forward to this weekend after this busy week.  I had an assistant out, so I constantly felt like I was trying to be 2 people all day long..Not to mention having an IEP meeting over 3 hours long….Phew!!  

Today I am joining in 5 for Friday with Doodle Bugs, where you post 5 random things from your week!

Additional Dinosaur Activities!

Yesterday, I shared my Dinosaur unit with you (check it out here!).  Today, I will show you some of the other cute dino activities we do during this unit!  I store all of these activities in a plastic tub for my kids to utilize when they finish their daily work (worksheets, experiment, etc.).  This comes in handy when you have kids in a group who work at different speeds....or if you have kids that need to be worked with one-on-one.  One kid can engage in these "extra" activities while another student gets 1:1 attention, and then you can switch.

I have this adorable dino puzzle from Melissa and Doug!  Today, I found it available on Amazon for $9.99.

November Science: Dinosaurs

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you are probably familiar with my monthly science units.  My kids, even those who I have had for multiple years, look forward to the new topic each month.  The other day, one of my kids made me list out the topics for the entire year just so he could hear them all!  Anyways, the thrill they get out of science inspires me each year to add some new activities to keep their interest!  This year, I am recreating all of the units for Teachers Pay Teachers as well so other people can utilize these units in their classroom!  

This month, we are working on DINOSAURS (recently posted to TPT).  This month's unit revolves around 9 vocabulary words related to dinosaurs (T. Rex, pterodactyl, triceratops, stegosaurus, plants, meat, egg, extinct, and fossil).

The packet includes:

-3 Levels of assessments
-Materials to create a vocabulary velcro-matching activitiy
-Flashcards
-18 Different worksheets
-1 Game (Dinosaur Bingo). 2 versions based on level of difficulty. 
-1 Adapted book (with matching pieces and comprehension sheet).
-1 experiment comprehension sheet for making fossils with play-doh.
-1 Note home about the unit.
-1 Cover sheet for kids to color and use as a cover for all their completed work (wither to send home or for in the classroom).

This unit has materials for learners at different levels.   Also, it includes a variety of worksheets which allow my students to work on their science IEP goals as well as a variety of other goals (language arts, math, speech, and OT).  I use this unit over the course of an entire month.  The kids repeat some of the work, but the repetition seems to help them learn the concepts as well as work on becoming more independent.

Do 2 Learn Fine Motor Activities

I love finding out about great resources out there (especially when they are FREE).  Don't get me wrong, I buy lots of great stuff for my classroom as well, but since we are always creating new curriculum and activities, Free ones can really help out!  I also love sharing these ideas with you guys!  The activities I am sharing with you today are some simple fine motor activities from Do 2 Learn.

I use these activities in a variety of ways.  They can be great to use at an assistant run station, or used for a kid to work on independently while you are working with another student.  Of course, none of my kids could do these independently at first.  It took some direct instruction to teach them how to do these initially.  They are a fun and engaging way for kids to work on fine motor skills.

This first activity gives step-by-step VISUAL directions on how to draw simple pictures.    Here is one of my kids who drew a boy and a dragon.  The website includes a variety of different pictures to draw.  You can find them here. 

Halloween Party

This year, our Halloween party was a little different because my coworker was out of town.  We started in the morning by trick-or-treating around the school.  We practiced saying "trick or treat" and my nonverbal students exchanged a picture for "trick or treat."  I think this is helpful for kids to practice at school.  That way, if their parents want to take them trick or treating at night, they will be prepped and ready to go.  Also, for those kids whose parents cannot take them trick-or-treating (do to safety of the neighborhood or behavioral issues) they still get the chance to experience this fun activity that is such a big part of the Halloween experience for kids!  

Monopoly and Math

Yesterday, I showed you an activity I was working on in math with my mid-level and low-level math groups.  Today, I am going to share our new favorite activity in my high-level math group!  One day, in the beginning of the year, we were trying to figure out what to do in math before we had our monthly plans put together.  We decided on playing a game...and since we were all so tired of Bingo, we went digging in the game closet for something different.  We came out with Monopoly.  

Halloween Themed "More and Less"

This week in my mid-level math group, we are going over the concepts of more and less.  I found this FREE activity on TPT from Andrea Wells (check it out here!)  I actually ended up using this with my low-level math group too to work on basic counting.  A lot of my kids in this group also receive occupational therapy to work on fine motor skills like cutting and writing.  So, we started this activity by having the kids cut out all the pieces.  

Halloween Party Planning

This is an old post that I did last October, but I find very fitting since we all have Halloween coming up this week!   I have updated this post and added in some new ideas that we completed last year.  This will be our first holiday party of the school year and we will be having a party pretty much every month of the year from here on out.  When approaching a classroom party in an autism classroom, it is super important to have structures in place before hand to make your party a success. 

I have tried every type of set-up for parties on my classroom (whole group, small group), and most left me leaving work frustrated and vowing I would never have another party again.  Finally, I have found a set-up that works!  It works so well, actually, that we use it for every holiday party we have.  Basically, we split up our kids into small groups and have stations set up around the classroom with different types of activities (art, cooking, games, etc.)  During parties, we combine with another autism classroom.  This allows us to have at least 6 adults running stations (usually some of our therapists help run a station as well). 

Setting Up Inclusion

My classroom is a self-contained classroom for students with autism.  My 13 students are with me for pretty much the entire day.  Even the service providers (like speech and OT) usually push-in to my classroom.  This is great for helping my students maintain their structure and routine.  However, it doesn't give them many opportunities for participating in activities with other students or experiencing "changes" inherent in real life.  In order to facilitate inclusion in a way that works for my students, they go to gym, music, and library with their gen ed peers.  Since I teach 3 grades (and I want my students included with their appropriate grade), this can be quite confusing and complicated to add to our daily schedule.  My students also need an aid to go with them, so this adds another layer of complexity to making inclusion work.

Colorama!

I have a group of students who are working on following 2-step directions and identifying multiple attributes of objects.  This game, COLORAMA, is perfect for working on these skills while addressing social skills involved with playing a game (such as turn taking, waiting, and rolling dice).  Today, I found it at Walmart (online) for $14.

Wh Questions: Who, Where, and WHAT

Well, we are continuing along our way with learning how to answer "Wh" questions.  The past couple weeks, we have been working on "What" questions.  I used a lot of the same activities as I did for Who and Where (see this post).  

 This is a really interesting concept to teach our students.  When teaching "who" and "where" it was easy to say the answer is almost always a "person" or a "place."  What is a little harder to explain.  I decided to tell me kids what is usually "actions" or "things."  (I feel like all of this is going to lead in very nicely to learning grammar concepts such as nouns, adjectives, and verbs later on this year!).  The first day, we brainstormed a list of things and a list of actions.  We also created sentences with a "who" "what" and "where" about our trip to the zoo.  I forgot to take a picture, but here is an example.

Five for Friday

It's been awhile since I did a link-up!  So, I figured this week, I would join Doodlebugs for her 5 for Friday linky!  Basically, you just post about 5 random things from your week.  Hop on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to join in!

ABLLS Assessment

Many people have asked me what type of assessments I use in my classroom.  For my students who are reading, spelling, and writing, I use similar assessments as the rest of the school (such as Bear Spelling/Word's Their Way and the Rigby Reading Assessment).  With my kids functioning below a kindergarten level, I use the ABLLS.  This stands for The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills.  

Letter/Number Identification!

Every year, I have some students who need to work on letter and number identification.  Before this year, I addressed this need mostly through flash cards and a few random worksheets/file-folders I had collected.  This year, I have a larger group that needed help learning letters/numbers, so I decided to come up with a more comprehensive list of activities.  So, now you are in luck...I have compiled this list of resources for you in this post.  Some cost money and some are free....but all have been extremely useful in my classroom so far this year!

I have found a way to incorporate these activities into a variety of stations in my classroom, so my kids have the opportunity to work on these skills multiple times a day.

During our morning group we complete "Practice" time, where we say (and/or point for nonverbal students) to each letter/number as we say them.

PREVENTING Problem Behavior: FCT

This week, I am discussing antecedent interventions.  These are strategies you can use to prevent problem behaviors from occurring in your classroom.  Check out my posts on this topic all week long! Today, I will be talking about Functional communication training!

Lack of communication skills can be a huge part of why problem behaviors occur for kids with autism.  To prevent these behaviors from occurring, we need to pro-atively teach communication skills.  This is called Functional Communication Training.  Again, with this type of training, knowing the function of the behavior is essential. 

PREVENTING Problem Behavior: Reinforcement Systems

 This week, I am discussing antecedent interventions.  These are strategies you can use to prevent problem behaviors from occurring in your classroom.  Check out my posts on this topic all week long! Today, I will be talking about Reinforcement systems!

Even though reinforcement occurs after a behavior occurs (a consequence), setting up a reinforcement system can be a preventative measure for problem behavior.  Most often, I use an "I am working for" card with my students.  They earn stars as they engage in appropriate behaviors.  When they earn all of their stars (the number of stars can vary based on the child), they earn their chosen preferred item or activity.

PREVENTING Problem Behavior: Schedules

This week, I am discussing antecedent interventions.  These are strategies you can use to prevent problem behaviors from occurring in your classroom.  Check out my posts on this topic all week long! Today, I will be talking about SCHEDULES!

Schedules are also ridiculously important in helping prevent problem behaviors.  Again, with the lack of language skills inherent with autism, visual schedules are essential to helping create a predictable environment.  It helps students understand how events are sequenced (and therefore help simplify the concept of "time").  They also help students understand that preferred activities will occur (even if they are a few activities away). 

PREVENTING Problem Behavior: Structured Environment

 This week, I am discussing antecedent interventions.  These are strategies you can use to prevent problem behaviors from occurring in your classroom.  Check out my posts on this topic all week long! Today, I will be talking about creating a structured environment.

Due to language difficulties inherent with a diagnosis of autism,  students require a TON of structure to help them make sense of their environment.  This structure needs to be provided in a visual way, since verbal language can be so hard for our students to understand.   Two main ways structure can be provided is through the physical environment and schedules.  This allows the environment to be predictable, which makes it easier when  

PREVENTING Problem Behavior

Wouldn't it be amazing to prevent problem behavior from occurring?  People often come into my class to observe and ask what my behavioral intervention strategies are.  I have such a hard time answering that question, because the way we do everything in my room is "an intervention" of some sort.  I spend a lot of time setting up my classroom and putting structures in place so that we can be PRO-ACTIVE in preventing problem behavior, and so that I can spend less time later on being REACTIVE to problem behavior.  It is so much harder to deal with problem behavior in the moment...I would much rather prevent it in the first place.  

Throughout the rest of the week, I will be sharing some techniques for preventing problem behavior (also called antecedent interventions).  Antecedent interventions allow you to spend more time teaching (and kids learning) while spending less time dealing with classroom management and problem behaviors. 

The main preventative strategies I will discuss are:

Structured Environment

Schedules

Reinforcement Systems 

Functional Communication Training

WH Questions: Who and Where

In my guided reading group, we have been focusing on answering "WH" Questions.  I thought we would fly through a brief review of the different questions types, but it is proving to be a bit more challenging!  I found this great "WH" visual from Lisa Geary (FREE ON TPT)  which I used to introduce the topic to my group.