Painting our Names and Go AWAY Big Green Monster!

We have been so busy! Sorry it has taken me a while to post again! <and for some reason blogger wasn't working>...But in all of this craziness...we have had some fun!

On Monday's in my class, we have a minimum day. My kids leave at 1:00...AND half of my class mainstreams into PE on Monday! Which means...I only have a short period to spend with my students. On Monday, I try to make their day a little bit of fun! We try to do an art project! Last Monday, our art project was pretty cool...and the kiddos had a lot of fun! Here are some pictures of this project!













Here are some pictures that I took of the finished projects! We started by taping of the first letter of their name. I used masking tape, but you could try it with painters tape (it might come off easier in the end). Then the students were given the direction to paint! Most of my kiddos started out by painting just on the tape...and took a lot of convincing to paint the paper. Others painted just around the outside of their letter...

My N to the left, took the direction "Paint the entire paper" to a whole new meaning...and made sure she left NO paper showing! I also love how she did not let her colors mix together!

I only gave them red, blue and yellow, so that if they wanted to mix colors, they could!

When the we were done painting, we had to let them dry! Perfect thing for lunch! When we got back from lunch, it was time to peel off the tape! The kids were so excited to see their letter! I added their full name to a nameplate...and the students LOVED finding their name with their letter!

I get at least one comment every day about their names!

 Also last week...I introduced our first book from Donors Choose...Go Away, Big Green Monster! Each day  of the week, we read and re-tell the story! The students seemed to really enjoy putting the story together on the hand puppet...

 

We use our puppet to work on proper face placement...the eyes go next to each other, not one on top of the other!

 Every one got to take turns putting the pieces on the puppet, and telling the story! Sometimes it was done as a group, other times students would ask to look at the book and put the pieces together alone! They have done a great job using the book to tell the story!

This week, I will introduce the book and pieces to Elmer, the second book we got from Donors Choose. I am excited to see if the students are as excited about this book as they were about Go Away, Big Green Monster!

Our first week back...

Welcome back to school! Being on a C-track year around school has its benefits...one is that we just went back on track...kids started back to school on Tuesday. This week has been spent reviewing rules, procedures...and we even had time to get to work!

 But...no need to worry...just because we were off for a month, I still spent some time in my classroom! I spent a day making some sensory bottles...I made a wide variety of them that I am introducing to my students a few at a time. They currently live in the Stress Free Monster Basket!

                                

Here are my 7 bottles. Most of them had settled at this point...the first one is water, melted glue and glitter...I dyed the water purple...the second and third bottles are corn syrup and glitter. The corn syrup is thicker, which then settles and flows to the bottom! The light blue bottle is vegetable oil and glitter dyed blue. The two blueish bottles on the right side are made with water and glycerin. These give a very cool swirling effect. The green bottle in the middle are water beads. I had actually started by filling it with water, and realized that you couldn't see anything. So I strained out the water, added green food coloring, and some glitter. This one is interesting because it moves around more.

I have only introduced my students to the purple bottle and the light blue bottle with glycerin...so far...they love them! I am working on teaching my students to use them when they feel anxious or stressed out! So far, it seems to be working. One of my students really likes the purple glitter bottle. I have also donated the red corn syrup bottle to a student next door...he rolls it on his desk and is beginning to use it to calm down!

                                      

Here is a picture of my Stress Free Monster Basket! It is a blue plastic basket that I picked up from the Dollar Store! Inside, I put some things that I also picked up from the Dollar Store or the dollar spot at Target. Inside the basket are two teddy bears, some squishy balls, and two of the calming bottles! I will introduce this to my students more this week...I want to start introducing them to ways to self-calm, since many of my students do not have those skills yet!

Some other fun things that happened this week:

I got my DonorsChoose project funded and most of it was delivered! I will post about the fun things that we use them for soon! My project was titled "Read and Re-Tell" and included a bunch of felt board items to retell books. The books that I included in the project are: Go Away, Big Green Monster, Elmer, It Looked Like Spilt Milk, Mouse Paint, and the tree from Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. I also received a felt board story set that my students can create...and I am waiting for a Poem of the Week book! I am very excited to begin using all of these in my classroom!

With that, it is  late! Time to get ready for bed!

Technology Tuesday

 

                                                       


Technology Tuesday...

As a special education teacher, technology is crucial in a variety of aspects in my classroom! 

I use a variety of technology in my classroom: iPads, iPods, switches, standers, walkers, ELMOs, projectors, etc! You name it, I have used it...but for here, I am going to focus on Assistive and Augmentative Communication (AAC). These include buttons, switches and other devices that can work on assisting communication for students that have difficulty with communication. Some examples:

These are all samples of the GoTalk Systems. They are a great introduction for students to use assistive technology. They can start anywhere in the spectrum (4, 9, 20, 32) with a variety of boards. You can make the templates for each one using Boardmaker-allowing you to personalize each page for an individual child.

As students continue to progress, or require more exact, or if they can spell, students can use programs like ProLoQuo, which uses your iPad or iPod to run ProLoQuo. An added bonus to PLQ is that if students are able, they can type words or sentences to speak! AWESOME!

Thank you for letting me speak towards a different type of technology! 

Must Have Monday (or Tuesday)

Here we go again...

What Must I have in my classroom?? This is hard...but here it goes...

Some of MY go to items...

1) File Folders: I use them for everything. I have file folder activities for my students to complete during independent time. I have file folders for student data and completed work. I have file folders with lesson plans. and worksheets for my students to complete. I use them all the time.

2) Sharpies: I use sharpies all the time. I love to give my kids colors. My personal favorite is black, but I will use any color I can get my hands on.

3) Stickers: My kids love to get stickers. I use stars, monsters (to go with the theme of my room), good job stickers, anything. My kids will get stickers for working hard, listening, lining up, anything. Sometimes they go directly on their hand, sometimes on a piece of paper...

                                                   

4) Page Protectors: Because I teach a moderate-severe special education class, we work on the same skills over and over. My page protectors save a few trees....I especially use them for things like writing their name and tracing or writing their letters and numbers. This way, they can practice over and over...if I want a sample to keep and put in their files, I just pull one out of their page protector and print out a new one...Something I have learned about page protectors is that quality matters...you have to get the smooth finish ones-dry erase markers work better and erase better. This year, I have upgraded to these...They are usually used to display student work, but I like the durability of them!

                                                            

5)Boardmaker: Boardmaker is a program that is used to make icons (pictures). I use them for my schedule, I use them to provide directions for students during work stations, I use them to help students make choices. I also use them for communication...

                                                      

These are probably my MOST absolute needed items in my classroom! I think what is also interesting is that this list changes based on the year and my students...some years I NEED to have a trampoline or other stress reliever for my students...some years paints and other arts and crafts are a must. This year, although I may use those, they are not a MUST!

Off-Track!

Sorry I have been out of action. I went off track...being on C-track, I start the year for 1 month, but then go off track for 1 month, before doing a 3-month on, 1 month off schedule. It is nice to give the kids a break...but before I went on vacation, we worked hard on setting the schedule, learning about each other, teaching new routines and getting some work done. Overall, I think the kids did pretty well.

Now...for one of my new activities that I tried out. I think the kids did pretty well. I got the initial idea from PINTEREST (don't all great ideas come from there these days?) We might try to make these little monsters later in the year...because the LOVED being able to blow the paint around the paper.

   

 This is the picture from pinterest. I really liked the splatter paint idea...but I put my own spin on it...

We made fish. 

In one of my previous posts, I talked about using pocket chart poems to lead my students in a variety of activities. We focus on tracking text, answering questions, identifying sight words, etc. It also makes for some fun art activities.

Here is the poem that I used...

"Five Little Fishies

Five little fishies swimming in the pool

First one said, 'The pool is cool.'

Second one said, 'The pool is deep.'

Third one said, 'I want to sleep.'

Fourth one said, 'Let's dive and dip.'

Fifth one said, 'I spy a ship.'

Fisherman's boat comes. Line goes ker-splash.

Away the five little fishies dash."

Here are the steps that I used to have my kids make their own little fish.

First, I taught the kids to blow their paint threw a straw. They loved this part. This actually works on strengthening the jaw muscles, which encourage speech and eating. 

Then, I traced the fish outline around their fish, making sure to keep as much of the color as I could in the fish. I also cut them out to make the cute fish. I added googly eyes to each fish. 

We also had an opportunity to talk about mixing colors. I only gave them blue, yellow and red paint. They got to mix as much as they could. 

Overall, I think the fish look GREAT! When I go back into my classroom, I might try to take a picture of all of the fish. They are currently on the wall right now. 

Up next, our last project that we completed before we went on vacation. 

My "Teaching" Story...

This is my first Linky Party...Kind of excited to be a part of it!

So here it is...How I became a teacher...

I guess I have to start at the beginning. Some would say that they have known I would be a teacher since I was in elementary school. My first "job" was a babysitting job of a boy that was blind. My main volunteer job in junior high and high school was for an infant and toddler center that worked with children with disabilities. I will never forget walking into that classroom, and feeling at home. In college, I was a camp counselor at Camp  Friendship--a camp for children and adults with disabilities...I spent three summers working at Camp! Definitely a home away from home.

When I originally went to college, I wanted to be a physical therapist...but picked a college that had an OK PT department...but the only problem was that I did NOT like science or math. So instead, I got my degree in English...I wanted to be an English teacher...not really, but that is what I said. I didn't complete my student teaching, and graduated college 1/2 year early. I started working as an instructional assistant for a local school district and was an in-home provider for a few kids in my neighbor. (The vision is becoming clearer)! When my partner got a job in California, it was very easy to pack up and move with her.

Insert a break in the education field. I became a photographer for about 2 years, then worked in a group home for youth that were in trouble for about 6 months. Then I got pregnant and had to leave. My doctor said that my job was not a good fit, as the youth could get violent. And where did I turn...I became a substitute in the school district. I long-termed subbed in an special day classroom for almost 6 months, then floated around the district for the rest of the year...and most of the next year....Then a position opened in the school district as a special day class teacher. I applied, had my interview, and was accepted for the position. Then I had to complete the interview process for my internship program (that is crazy--you have to be accepted to college, then have a job, then be accepted into the internship program)! All of the pieces fell into place.

So like I said...some would say that I have come full circle. I would say I knew where I was going, I just took the scenic route to get there! And now that I am here...I would not have changed a thing...each stop along the journey is as it was supposed to be...providing me with the tools and the focus to be where I am today!

Trees and Monsters...

Sorry I have been MIA...I started school, went on vacation, came back to open house and a busy week...whew! I am glad that I am starting another week tomorrow though. My kids are slowly coming together, and I think that overall, they are a pretty good group of kids! They will definitely keep me on my toes this year!


Here are two of the activities that we have done so far...


Chicka Chicka Boom Boom...Who is in our Room?


On our second day of school, we read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and I had the kids make these really cute trees! They used construction paper for the tree trunks, and I made some easy leaves that I had them color (either green or yellow) and then I had packaged the letters of their name into baggies. They had to identify their name and then spell it out. I got the foam letters from Michael's for pretty cheap...and we will use them again and again I am sure. Here are some of the end projects...I didn't have time to take pictures throughout...oh well!

Overall, I think they did pretty good! They were very proud of their work though!


Monster Rolls
On my first day back, which I also learned was Open House (only one parent showed up...) I had my students make some monsters to go with the classroom decor! I had saved my empty toilet paper roles for a while, and finally had enough. I used foam rectangle pieces from the Dollar Tree (Love THAT PLACE!), googlie eyes, markers, and construction paper. We wrapped the toilet paper roll in the foam piece, after it was decorated, added on 1, 2, 3 or 4 eyes (it is a monster after all), put on some hair, and VOILA...we have our own monster! Here are some of the finished project...and BTW: my kids LOVED these! It took some convincing, but they were able to stay at school for Open House, but went home the next day!

 My favorite part about the monsters is that they are all unique. 


Up next, I am starting a new idea...I discovered (or uncovered) a full set of pocket chart poems from an OLD curriculum that my district used to use...I get to take them out, cut them apart, and use away. They are perfect for my kids...as we work on a variety of pre-reading skills with them...The first one is about fish...I am planning an art project and even some cooking (I am thinking blue Jell-O...we will have to see!