Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Putting Kids "In Charge"

I totally meant to post yesterday, but was busy all weekend playing with nieces and nephews and enjoying a (very) belated Christmas with my husband's side of the family.  But, I am back today with a post about the newest change to my classroom.

With my mid-level group of students, we do a full morning group every day that covers calendar, weather, social skills, etc.  My kids have gotten so good at this routine, that if I do something wrong, they come up and correct me.  So, I decided it was time to put them in charge.  I think this helps develop my students' independent functioning skills as well as allows them more opportunities to interact with their peers.

We already have this "Schedule" posted for the order of activities in our morning group.  So, all I did was write my students' names on clothespins and clip one onto each activity.  It worked out that we had the perfect amount of activities to be in charge of.

Greetings:  The student has to go around the group and say "hi" to each student.

Attendance:  The student in charge has to read each student's name (nonverbal students use their devices, pictures, or I talk for them), and wait for their peers to say "here" before moving onto the next name.

Social Time:  The student in charge gets to call students up to the board by name and ask them the question of the week.

Practice:  The student in charge gets to lead the class in saying their alphabet/numbers as a group (nonverbal students point to the letters/numbers).

Calendar:  The student in charge either asks another student the information (month, day, date) and then fills it in on the board, or they just fill it in themselves.

Weather:  The student in charge either asks another student the information (weather, temperature, season) and then fills in the board, or they just fill it in themselves.

For more info on my morning group…check out this post!

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