Journal Rules

In my advanced morning group, we have been working on writing "journals" for a couple years.  My kids are now at the point where they can come up with 3-5 sentences about a topic on their own.  So, this year, I decided to let my students work on their journals during an independent work time.  We also switched over from using my journal template to actual notebook paper.  Over the course of the year, I have started to notice some slip-ups in basic things such as spacing, sizing, punctuation, etc.  These are things we have targeted in our direct instruction time, so I know my kids are capable of it.  When they are left to work independently, they just go back to their old habits.  So, in order to keep this an independent task, I created some "journal rules" for my kids to follow to ensure their journals are still good quality.

Valentine's Day Activity Ideas

Valentine's Day is coming up quick!  And since I was out all last week, this is really the only week I have to do all my fun Valentine's Day themed activities!!  In today's post, I just wanted to share some ideas we will be trying out!  

  

We will be making Valentine's Day cards using this fun art technique using pencil erasers from I Like to Decorate.

We will also be doing this fun bingo-stamper activity from Your Face is Like the Sunshine and this paper tearing activity.

We will be cooking "Cupid's Crunch" which I found on This Mama Loves

I also love this math activity involving candy hearts from Learning Ahoy.  These are free…so definitely check them out!  It involves estimation, sorting, even/odd, addition, and graphing!

Of course, no month would be complete without a holiday Bingo!

I also have a fun "pin the heart" game where kids get blindfolded and have to try and stick the heart on the target.

Many of these activities will be for our Valentine's Day party on Friday!  Check back then to see how ours turn out…we may have some Pinterest Fails on our hands!

Setting Up for a Sub

Leaving my kids with a sub is so hard for me.  Even though my aids are great and my kids can practically run a most of our activities themselves, I still struggle.  (I guess I have control issues??).  Anyways, this week, I have training EVERY SINGLE DAY.  A whole week without my kiddos!  My assistants have been good at telling me what works best when I am out.  They like when I leave activities at my stations that the kids can practically do alone.  That way, the sub can be "me" and run my stations and the kids don't need to interact a lot with them (since we all know how hard social interaction and challenging academic tasks can be for our kids…they need to be approached in just the right way…and most likely my sub hasn't been trained in how to work with kids with autism).

LIFE SKILLS Product Preview

Many of you have emailed me asking about resources for setting up your own Life Skills Classroom.  I have some great news….I finally have a TPT product that supplies you with everything to start your own life skills classroom!

This product includes:

*4 Labels for different areas of the room (Kitchen, Bathroom, Laundry, and Office).

*14 Tasks (3-4 from each different area).  All of the directions/visuals are included for each task. 
(NOTE: You will still need the "real life items" for tasks…i.e. silverware, containers, clothes, etc.).  

*Color-Coded Schedule System (enough task labels and schedule pieces for 20 tasks).

*Editable Schedule to add in students' names.

*Data sheet for tracking level of independence on the life skills tasks.

*Real life photos of all tasks.

Data Collection on the iPad: Implementation

In yesterday's post, I wrote about how to set up your data collection system on the iPad.  In today's post, I want to show you how I utilize this data collection in my classroom.

We take data on all of the IEP goals in our classroom as well as other behaviors of interest.  We do not chart it all onto graphs (with 13 kids X 8 IEP goals each, we are talking about at least 104 graphs….and we don't have that kind of time!).  So, the main things I graph are my students fluency flashcards as well any significant behaviors we are tracking.  I also try and teach my students to take their own data to encourage self monitoring.  Here is one of my student's graphs for math facts.  See this post to get this free graph template.

Data Collection on the iPad: Set Up

Several of you have emailed me about how I take data on the iPad, so I am here to share the nitty gritty details with you!  First of all, I use the app called Numbers.  This app is Apple's version of Excel.  

Currently: February

I know I am a few days late with this, but better late than never!  To join in the Currently fun, go on over to Farley's website and link up!