Every day at 9:00 we march down the hallway (quietly with safe hands) to our special for the day. What does that actually look like? ArtMrs. Arem plans weekly classes that excite the students. She is able to adapt lessons to meet the individual needs of the students. Art is all hands on deck. It is not rare for our Occupational therapists, speech pathologists, and assistants come in to support students so that everyone feels success. MUSICDuring music class, Mrs. Tsintzos helps us practice making choices, requesting songs, and taking turns. The students are also able to dance and experiment with musical instruments. ADAPTED PEAdapted PE is a unique special for us. Most students have IEP goals that Mr. Smith incorporates in to our classes. The students work on locomotor and object control skills, staying on task, remaining in an assigned area, imitating a model, and following visual schedules. SpeechWe are very lucky to have Speech class built in to our schedule. Mrs. Cannup comes to our class to teach core vocabulary and concepts that we are able to continue using throughout the week (and then through the entire year!) to increase the communication skills of our students. She finds ways to engage each student with a total communication approach. We post our core concepts within the classroom as well as outside our door. We encourage the use of our core vocabulary words in the total school environment. MEDIATo simply say that Mrs. Bahnweg reads a book to us during Media class would not even begin to cover the skills she practices with our students. Mrs. Bahnweg prepares books that engage students and she creates SmartBoard activities that align with the storyline. She demonstrates taking picture walks, practices making predictions, and answering comprehension questions.
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September and August flew by! We are already getting started with our next unit of study, Movement. We will be looking at the way things move, starting with hot air balloons in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In math we will be working on ordering and sequencing numbers. We have started comparing objects (big and small, more and less) and will will soon be comparing numbers! Our social skills will focus on real and make believe. We will look at fiction and nonfiction text as well as different costumes! During our look at real and make believe, we will practice sequencing stories and using phrases like first, last, before, and after. During speech we will introduce concepts and core vocabulary including over, under, no, don't, that, it, this. Important Dates in October:
Most of us will agree that a consistent schedule and routine is key to success for our kids. However, we will also agree that life happens and it happens without warning. Your daily route to school could change because of construction or because you're hoping to avoid an accident. The grocery store may be out of a particular brand of snacks. And of course, natural disaster occurs! In our case, Hurricane Irma came to town and threw everyone's schedule off. CMS had a 2 hour delay in week three of school, and we definitely had to change our routine and bend our expectations. It will certainly happen again and it's important to be prepared. In the classroom after a two hour delay my goal is to keep everything as close to normal as possible, but that is not always achievable. Luckily, this time we were able to still complete each part of our day- it was simply shorter. My time in the classroom has taught me the importance of teaching 'something different' as something exciting! You build it in to random parts of the day and when disaster hits you can pull out your exciting 'something different' card and spin it as a positive. For example, during the writing portion of our day I may say something different, throw our typical routine out the window, and pull out the Play-Doh and stamps. I'm still able to teach the vocabulary words on my lesson plan, but I am able to teach something much for important.
The next time we are not able to go to PE because the school is hosting voting I can use something different when we have to extend our math and writing lessons. It can be helpful in your home as well. Teach change or something different with a positive spin now and forever reap the benefits when you aren't sitting in traffic on Providence when there's an accident a mile ahead. And it doesn't always have to be a positive change in routine- you can use something different as a way to teach flexibility to your children. I cannot believe the first week is over and it is time to start week two. I am beyond impressed with the students that fill my classroom this year. It is very rare for a teacher to be able to complete every lesson planned for the first week of school. We Did It! -We earned a Star in the hallway for walking quietly. -We read, practiced, and demonstrated Whole Body Listening. This class is ready to learn! -We painted Kindness Rocks to hide around the school to bring smiles to others' faces. -We tried something new! I loved watching all of the students try Pop Rocks. In the coming week, we will continue to learn the expectations, routines, and procedures in the classroom. We will be reading about pizza delivering drones and making English muffin personal pizzas. Welcome back to school! I am excited for everyone to get settled in to the classroom routine and get started learning. Our first unit will be: I Can Grow (Learning About Self) We will take a look at our baby pictures, ourselves now and look to our future to see how much we can grow, physically and in the educational world. I was little. Now I am big. Let’s look at how we’ve changed from a baby to now. For September, we will be looking at Government for social studies. We will Introduce rules at home and in school. We will be practicing our routines and procedures and learning how to be students that are ready to learn. When I am at school, I use my whole body to listen. You can download a supplemental reading list here. Every Sunday I go to Target. I grab a coffee and get my shopping for the week done. I start in Bullseye's Playground (aka The Dollar Spot) and make my way past the kid's clothing section before heading to the practical sections that are more adult specific and boring. I love seeing the bright colors and empowering statements that are seen on the clothing options Target offers and I always hope the outfits will make an appearance in my classroom. More than ever, I am so proud of the things that Target is doing. Their brand, Cat and Jack, now offers sensory friendly clothing options.
I am sure that as parents you have experienced the same scenario at home that I have in the classroom: brand new outfit, it is adorable, but your child does not want to wear it. Something doesn't feel right- the seam folds weird, the tag is itchy, the printing is sticky. In the classroom it becomes an issue because the child's sensory needs are not being met- his or her system is overwhelmed- and learning can not occur. Target now offers sensory friendly clothing and adaptive clothing. Sizes range from XS-XL (big kids) and 2T-5T. Read the article here: https://corporate.target.com/article/2017/08/cat-and-jack-sensory-friendly-pieces |
TeacherI am Ashley Allred. This is my second year as an Autism Teacher at McKee Road Elementary and my fifth year teaching in CMS. Archives
October 2017
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