Monday, August 5, 2013

Monday Made it!

I'm so excited to be a part of this link up today with 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made it!  The main reason I am excited is because I have finally been making some new things for my classroom!  We still have 2 weeks off, but I feel like they are going to fly by before I know it.  Plus, I snuck into my school this past week and the whole school is a construction zone...this makes me feel a bit anxious about what it will look like when we get back!  The payoff will be our new air conditioners and a new white board (at least that is what I could see so far).  Supposedly new furniture and paint is coming our way too?!

Anyway, onto my Made-Its!!

Made it #1: Visual Necklaces
I posted about these last year on my blog.  They are a great way to give directives to your students with autism in a visual way they can understand.  We had stopped using them in my class since my kids had pretty high verbal abilities.  However, this year, I will have a lot of non-verbal/low-verbal students, so I thought it was time to re-instate the visual necklaces!  Also, I will have my largest class yet (13 students and 4 assistants), so I am hoping these will cut down on the talking in the room.  It is hard to do a read aloud at one station while 4 other adults in the classroom are repeatedly asking the kids at their stations to go get a pencil or sit down, or clean up, etc.

I made 2 versions.  The necklace for classroom behavior, has directives and school rules (sit, walk, line up, clean up, etc.)  These will be worn by all the adults in the room at all times.  

The other necklace has pictures of school supplies.  The school supply necklaces will be hung on a hook at each station for all of the adults to use.

These are super simple to put together after deciding on what pictures you want to use.  I started with 38 pictures, but cut it down to 18 for the behavior necklaces and 7 for the school supply necklaces. After printing my visuals, I laminated them, cut them out, and punched a hole in the corner.  Next, I added them all to a binder ring and attached the ring to the stylish boring lanyards I bought.  

You can buy these visual on my TPT store.  The set comes with 38 visuals...although for my necklaces posted here, I only used the pictures relevant to my class.  I have the other pictures laminated, punched, and ready to go in case we need them throughout the year.  I just like to start with 15-20 pictures on a necklace so you can actually find the ones you need! 

As you can see, I added a name card to the backs of each necklace as well.  This way, we can always keep track of our necklaces and if they get lost, they will hopefully find their was back home!


Made It #2: Hallway Banners

I found these cute backgrounds from Ashley Hughes' store, and I love them!!  I also downloaded some new fonts to make these!  Thses 2 banners are for our hallway.  I laminated them using these amazingly cheap laminating sheets from Amazon (check them out here!!)  They are 12" by 18" and only cost $17 for 100 sheets!!!!!!  They are big enough to laminate file folders!!!  The only glitch is, you need to make sure this size laminating sheet will fit in your laminater.  I bought an extra wide laminator, so they work perfect in mine!!

This banner will go above my bulletin board in the hallway.  It says "welcome."

This banner will go above my student work display.  It says "Wow Work."

Made It #3:
And next, I needed new numbers and an alphabet for the inside of my classroom.  My old one is so old and scraggly.  And it was a train theme from when I taught first graders...now a little age inappropriate as I have 3-5 grade.  So, I decided to make my own on these cute backgrounds from Ashley Hughes.  I made numbers 1-20, and letters A-Z (upper/lowercase).  These have all been laminated and cut out as well...now just waiting to get into my room to hang them all up!


If you made it this far....thanks!  I have a Freebie for you!  This whole set of banners, numbers, and letters is available on my TPT store FREE today only!

8 comments:

  1. My nephew would greatly benefit from those visual necklaces. Thanks for sharing your creations.

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  2. Thanks for the freebie banner set! It is very cute and I love it! :)

    Janelle

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  3. I need to make those necklaces. Next year I have 11 students (so far) and 5 aides...it gets way too noisy with that many adults so a new rule I have is "Whisper while you work".

    The banners are super cute! Thanks for the freebie!

    Becky
    Lesson Plans & Lattes

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  4. Thanks for the freebie! I am thinking of using the letters to set up my classroom library!

    Danielle
    Growing Special Seeds

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  5. Love the visual necklaces. My nephew, like Miss Nelson's nephew, would definitely benefit from these necklaces, as he is non-verbal.
    Alison
    Rockin' and Lovin' Learnin'

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  6. Hey, some teachers at our school also use visual necklaces. although they are convenient, I find them very dangerous. Some of my students are fairly aggressive, and I have seen an aide have her necklace grabbed from the back and pulled-choking her. Luckily the student was young and relatively small, so it didnt end badly. I use a ring of visuals that I clip to my shirt, belt loop, or just juggle in my hands with the rest of my stimuli. Just be careful.

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    1. Thanks for the head's up. We don't currently have anyone that aggressive, but that is definitely something to keep in mind. I also like those retractable clips that clip onto your clothes. Maybe that is what you were talking about...but those are a little more expensive when I'm buying enough for all the adults in the room. Some of my assistants have those kind already and use them instead. I am not picky either way, as long as the visuals are readily available for my assistants and me to use.

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