Yes and No Activity

We have been working all year on getting one of my non-verbal students to indicate "yes" and "no" through nodding her head.  She is starting to approximate nods in the correct direction, but it is hard to tell the difference between the two and therefore to know if she is really understanding the concepts.

So, the other day, I came up with the quickest fix I should have thought of sooner.  I literally ripped a note card in half and wrote "yes" and "no" on the 2 cards.  We were working on these concepts while playing a letter recognition game.  I would ask the student, "Do you have the letter __?" and she would answer "Yes" or "No."  Then I would ask her the same question about her peer or myself, "Does Ms. Hailey have the letter ___?"  When given these simple little notecards, she was able to indicate a correct answer every single time.  Not that it isn't important to continue working on nodding her head, but this quick intervention, helped me ensure she was at least understanding the concept of "yes" and "no" as related to this activity!

The Day the Crayons Quit

Have you read the book,   The Day the Crayons Quit ?  We read it during a professional development day and I fell in love!  It is the cutest book about crayons who write letters to the little boy who owns them.  They all come up with reasons why they are quitting (i.e. the boy colors to sloppy, he never uses them, etc.).

 My co-teacher and I were getting ready to do a big drama unit with Mr. John from Red Kite, and I thought this would be a good book to use to create our own play adaptation.  We started by reading the book altogether.  

Reinforcers Come in Unexpected Places

Often, we forget the TRUE meaning of reinforcement.  We assume that praise should be reinforcing and yelling should be punishing...but that is not correct.  Reinforcement is defined as something that occurs after a behavior which increases the likelihood of the behavior in the future.

Special Olympics

Special Olympics is a very SPECIAL week to me.  And since we just wrapped up this year's Spring Games, I wanted to share with you a little bit about how much it means to me.

Learning about Others

One activity my students loved, was learning about different staff members in the school.  We polled all of the staff about their favorite things (like food, color, etc.) and some personal info (their birthdays, names, etc.).

Teacher Appreciation Sale

Happy Tuesday!!  And, Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!  In honor of Teacher Appreciation Week, my entire store will be 28% off with the promo code shown below!  You can find my TPT store by clicking here or on the image below.  

Some of the items I will be using these last months of school are:

My Plant and Landforms Science Units.

    

My BBQ Unit (which includes flash cards, games, an adapted book, and some fun worksheets)!

Some of my Top Sellers this year have been:

All About Me Book on Learning Personal Info

50 Worksheets for working on Letter/Number Identification

Visual Necklace for Behavior Management in an Autism Classroom

To see a list of all my products here on my blog, click on the MY PRODUCTS Tab above.  Here, all my products are sorted by type of activity/resource.

Lesson Planning in an Autism Classroom

Lesson Planning is very different for autism teachers in a self-contained classroom than other teachers.  After posting about my different stations and schedules, I got a couple emails regarding lesson plans.  So, this is how I lesson plan and my principal is very accepting of the fact that my plans are done in a slightly different manner than the other teachers in the school.

First of all, I have all of these pieces (as well as my weekly schedule for each student and adult and evacuation plans) posted in a top-loading sheet right beside my door for easy access for anyone who comes into the classroom.

Currently MAY

I am SO HAPPY it is May…now I am just waiting for some warm weather to stick around!  Hop on over to Farley's website to join in this fun link-up!

Listening: to Parenthood.  I am about to finish the last episode on Netflix!!  Now, I need to find a place to watch all of this season's episodes stat!

Loving: that I get to stay home this weekend...in the past month, I have been to Dallas, Miami, San Diego, and Wisconsin (twice!).  I need a little R&R and time to catch up on the rest of my life...like laundry!

Thinking:  about too many things...I have so many dates going around my head, I'm struggling to keep them all straight.  From my principal observation, to field trip dates, our "class play" rehearsals/date, and end of the year meetings...sheesh...and that's only the work stuff! 

Wanting:  WARM WEATHER!  Seriously…I need some vitamin D in my life. 

Needing:  to eat healthy.  I've been indulging a little too much lately.  Gearing up for some healthy eating this month!

Surprise:  www.teachloveautism.blogspot.com  Jenn is new to the blogging world!  We have all been there as new bloggers and trying to get followers, make connections, etc.  So I wanted to feature her blog to help her gain even more exposure. She has been blogging for just about 1 month now and I have really enjoyed reading her posts.  I especially have loved her posts about new work task ideas...they are very creative!  Click the image below to be linked to her site :-)

Classroom Stations and Schedule

I have had several pro-active readers email me recently asking about my classroom stations.  These readers are already planning their classrooms for next year!  And, I agree with them, this is the best time to start.  The beginning of the school year is always so stressful and crammed with things to do, so I always love prepping stuff at the end of the school year for the following year.  

These readers were mostly interested in an overview of the different stations in my classroom.  I realized that I have posted about each stations separately, but I haven't posted a summary of them as a resource for you guys.  So, below you will find a brief description as well as a link to a more detailed post about each station.

AM Group Area: Our morning circle which consists of going over the weather, calendar, social skills, and academic skills each day.  We also use this area to store our schedules (in a binder on each student's desk).  And, the kids gather here to sit and wait for transitions out of the room (recess/going home).

http://autismtank.blogspot.com/2013/09/classroom-tour-morning-group.html