So...what is BASICS?

Working with students with moderate-severe disabilities can be a challenge....meeting their unique needs (a variety of them) each day can be difficult...but our district created a framework for our moderate to severe population...BASICS...in its second edition. Here is a picture of it...you can find the BASICS2 book at Lakeshore.

BASICS is broken into 5 domains: Functional Academics, Community, Recreation and Leisure, Vocational and Domestic. Each domain focuses on different aspects of functional living skills that our students need to learn to be successful. So I will spend the next couple of posts trying to describe the curriculum that I use, the programs that I incorporate, and some of the activities that my students work on each day...as well as how they fit into each domain. 

Incorporating BASICS into every task, every portion, of my day...has become easy. BASICS will guide my instruction...overall, I focus on two things in my day...progression of skills and independence...tow things that my students are working towards each day.

Enough about BASICS today...I will work out more tomorrow. 

Happy Halloween!

With Halloween right around the corner, we have been creating like crazy! And my kiddos have LOVED the art projects! They get even more excited when they see their work displayed around the room...Here are some of our work from the last few weeks....

On one side of my room, around my kitchen....is our spider web...with paper plate colorful spiders!

Here are some close ups of some of our spiders...I used colorful dots, pipe cleaners for the legs, and googlie eyes. Most of my students chose two eyes, but a few got a little carried away with eyes! I think it adds some interest to their spiders.

  

And as we all know, the most important aspect of art projects is the process. For me, the most important part of our art projects are the skills involved! With our spiders, it was all about Fine Motor...to get their fingers to peel off the dots and then stick them on the plate was a lot of work for some of my kiddos. Some added benefits: asking for help (a skill that can be difficult for my students), color recognition, and showing pride in their work!










This week, we made pumpkins! We laced them and hung them over the window in our classroom! Here they are...simple and GREAT!

And of course...some of the close ups of some of our pumpkins!

The best part about each pumpkin is that they are all very unique! All of the supplies that we used were bought from MICHAELS a few years ago! There was a large set of foam pumpkins, and then I found a set of foam jack-o-lantern pieces...students were allowed to mix and match all of the pieces that I had. Some used just foam...some added googlie eyes and feathers! 

And finally...we tried our first GAME! I found the game board on the internet...and had candy corn and extra dice hanging around. We only covered the numbers 1-6, which was a lot of work for my kiddos. After rolling the dice, counting the dots, they got to removed only the candy on that number. A hard concept for them! But it will definitely be something we practice. Playing games like this works on many skills: turn taking, counting, following directions, and asking for help, just to name a few!

What a busy few weeks we have had! And we are started conferences today...

Donors Choose and ELMER

I have shared that I am a big fan of Donors Choose (donorschoose.org). If you do not know who/what they do, I would love to tell you! A teacher can create a project of items that they need/want for their classroom...then, donors (family, friends and people you do not know) can donate to your project! When your project is funded, Donors Choose will place the order and ship it to you! Then, your final step is to take pictures, write an impact letter, and send thank you letters from your students! What a great idea!

My last project was titled "Read and Re-tell." I received a variety of books and manipulatives to make the stories come alive! Little did I know that we could do so much with the stories.

This week, we focused on the story Elmer. Here is the stuff that came with my project:

 

I purchased the book (this is the picture from Amazon) as well as the collection of Elephants from the story. The blue felt board that the elephants are on, I already had in my classroom. If you do not have one, you could purchase one, or you could make one...cheaper and easier! On a side note, I had never read the story of Elmer, but now that I have, I am completely in love with the message!

 Throughout the week, we read the story, both in large group and small group. Students use the elephant props to retell the story! They get to manipulate the pieces, create the elephants, and play with the elephants. In the above picture, one of my students is matching the decorated elephant to the body (working on matching sizes).

Since basic concepts are difficult for some of my students, we used the Elmer elephants to work on the concept BIG and small! This is one of my students working on big and small!

Now that we have spent a week on this book, students will have the opportunity to explore the Elmer elephants on their own! 

Fall Trees

It has been a few weeks! And what a busy few weeks it has been! Now that we have mastered our routine, the different activities are in full swing!

My favorite part of our schedule is Monday...partially because it is a half day-kiddos leave at 1:00...and partially because I call it MANIC MONDAY...which means everything is CRAZY! I use it for art...so each Monday, we work on an art project. It is a nice way to bring in each week...and it makes sure that I always have current work up on my walls.

2 weeks ago, we made fall trees! What a great way to bring in the fall! And who knows...maybe it worked! Our temperatures in Southern California will finally drop this week! Here are some of our pictures of our fall trees...

 We started with their hand print as the base of the tree! For my kids, this is an exercise in a few things, the least of which is sensory integration. So many of my students have a variety of sensory issues, that allowing me to take a paint brush, and paint their hand, and then put that on paper, was an exercise in control! Overall, they did pretty good with this part. One of my students told me that he "looked like a bear" and growled and howled while we made his tree trunk! A fun time in imaginary play!

 My kids had a variety of techniques to complete their trees. We, of course, had to add leaves. Because we were making fall trees, our leaves were red, yellow and orange (working on color recognition.) The above student used a full hand method to put her leaves on! The student to the right and below used a one finger method to put their leaves on their trees!

Overall, I think their trees turned out GREAT! I did trim some of the leaves, if they got a little carried away, and mounted them on construction paper.

What a fun way to get my students interested in fall! What do you do to help your students enjoy fall