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.
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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. |
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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