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

Making Thank You Cards Educational

We got several Donors Choose projects funded this winter/spring which is super exciting.  We got new sensory toys, reading/writing activities, printer paper, headphones, and more!  Part of the Donors Choose process is for the kids to make Thank You cards for the people who donated to the project.  This can be difficult in my class, since I have very few students who can write very easily.  But it is also a perfect, functional opportunity to target writing skills.  I have some kids working on everything from coloring in the lines, to tracing, copying words, copying sentences, and even others working on coming up with their own sentences.

Everyone's skills could be targeted through the simple act of making thank you cards.  I threw some simple clip art on the cards and the kids got to color and write.

Here are some students working on coloring.  For the picture on the right, I traced the outside of each petal in a different color and the student had to find the correct markers and color the petals.  For the picture on the left, the student colored independently.

Lakeshore Love

I was going through my closet the other day looking for something new and different to use with my students to target some slightly more difficult matching skills.  I found these two treasures from Lakeshore.  They were an awesome change to our regular activities, and the kids loved them.

The first one is an "Object Matching" activity.  It has a bunch of picture mats and objects to go with them.  The kids match the objects to the different outlines on the mats.

Tackling Grammar: NOUNS and VERBS

I am beyond thrilled that my kids are starting to work on identifying nouns and verbs!  We have been trying to get to this for awhile, but other things kept coming up.

Spelling Folders

Yesterday, I wrote a post about how we are working on spelling with my beginning readers.  Today, I will show you how my more advanced learners work on spelling.  

These spelling folders are simple to set up and amazing at keeping my higher functioning students organized.  This bunch is the type that, if they actually clean up after themselves, throw their materials everywhere.  So, I have to be extra prepared with lots of labels and visuals to stop that from happening and to teach them how to be organized. 

NEW Reading Center Set-Up

**UPDATE 08/03/16: These reading centers are now posted on TPT as a year long product!  There are reading lists, worksheets, additional activities, and multiple assessments for you to utilize to teach your students how to read functional words!

My reading center is set-up and differentiated for several levels of learners.  In the beginning of the year, I had a group of students who were working on learning letters.  I am proud to say, they have mastered all 26 letters now and are ready for the next challenge…READING!  

With my students, I often start with teaching functional words instead of traditional sight words since these are more meaningful to them and (hopefully) make reading more motivating!  The first list we started with was Color Words.

I was trying to think of the best way to set up this reading center for an aid run station (the assistant has 2 kids with her at a time), and of course ended up putting everything in a binder.  The spelling list is velcroed onto the front cover and can be removed easily for all the different daily activities.  On the other side of the binder, is the "mastered list" of words.  We will use this to track all the words they can read/spell.

Tracing Worksheets

Sorry I have been MIA for the past couple weeks.  Mostly, I have been on vacation...and I needed a break from everything!  But now I am back, and refreshed, and ready to blog away!  First up, my newest classroom activity and product on TPT.