I can't seem to find the original sources anywhere, just the pictures people have posted on blogs and facebook, so if you know the original source please let me know so I can give credit.
Monday, February 20, 2012
What do you think I do?!
These things are popping up all over the internet and I am obsessed! They are perfect for a good laugh after a long day at work.
Future Van Gogh's?
 |
| Source |
I absolutely love creative art. You know, where you give the kid some material, let them get crazy, and then have them tell you what it is...
The problem is a lot of kids can't tell me what they are drawing. If they respond at all they might say something like "black paint". Although I think that this creative artistic form is very important for my little growing minds I also find great value and importance in more realistic paintings. I realized that if a student is given the write tools, a good model, and very explicit directions they are able to come up with a picture that actually looks like something.
Aren't these great?! I was so impressed with my students.
The next step is to get them to make realistic paintings without a model and tell a story about their painting using a compete sentence. Maybe we can get there by May?!
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Better Late Than Never... Fall Fun
Okay, so it's clearly not fall time, in fact, its starting to feel a lot like spring here, even though it's still February. But, I realized I never posted pictures from my classroom in October, so enjoy...
Spider Hats- Fine Motor Skills, Art, Shapes
Pumpkin Shakers Filled with Beans- Sensory, Art
Dramatic Play Area- Farmers Market
Fake and real fruits & veggies, grocery lists, grocery ads for cutting coupons, cash register
Fall Leaves- Marble Paint
Corn- Art, Sensory, Fine Motor
Produce Signs- Spelling, Handwriting
Paper Flowers- Art, Fine Motor
Egg Basket- Math (counting)
Calendar- Counting & Patterns
Halloween Necklaces- Fine Motor, Math
Pumpkin People- Art, Fine Motor, Shapes
Harvest Market Bulletin Board- Giant Hay Stacks- Fine Motor (cutting)
Background- Veggie Prints (bell peppers, potatoes, pumpkins, celery)
My Never Ending To-Do List
My brain hurts. It's about to explode. My mind is going 10 million miles per hour and it won't stop.
I am at an amazing autism workshop this week and the amount of information is absolutely unbelievable! I wonder how I got through my undergrad and graduate programs without learning all of these great strategies and techniques! Actually, the fact is that I already knew a lot of this stuff, but hearing it from new people has given me a new prospective.
I could honestly go on for hours about everything I am learning, but the truth of the matter is that I can't implement it all right away. There is not enough time in the day and its unrealistic to turn my classroom into a new program with less than three months left. I have begun to prioritize the projects I am going to implement as soon as I get back. Then, this summer I can focus on setting up everything for the fall.
Priority #1: Create Areas in my Classroom
Students with autism are very visual learners. They are also very unorganized by nature, so it is important to create different spaces that they can relate certain tasks or activities with and to help them organize their tasks. In my classroom these seems completely unrealistic. I have 2 horse shoe shaped tables that are used for many purposes including snack, centers, art, and 1 on 1 work. The important part is to differentiate the tasks so that students don't get confused. I didn't think that this was a problem in my classroom until I really began to think about my little non-verbal guy with autism. Every time we go towards the tables he pulls out his goldfish snack card. Is it possible he isn't always hungry? Is it possible he only associates those tables with snack time and not work time? The first think I am going to do when I get back to my classroom is create place mats specifically for snack time. This way, the students can associate the table AND the place mats as snack time. I am also going to consistently use a blue table cloth on the table during art projects to help the students associate that it is time for art. The rest of my room seems to be set up pretty nicely. I have a free explore area, a books & puzzles area, and a circle time area.
Priority #2: Circle Time Signals
Students with autism have a difficult time processing language and learn much better from visual cues. Often times during circle time I have students shouting out with they should be thinking or starting off topic conversations. I also have a difficult time with my general education students shouting out answers without giving my lower students wait time. I often pair a verbal prompt such as "turn on your listening ears" with a motion, but not all of the students get it. I am going to create signs for circle time to prompt students to listen, think, and talk. For "listen", used during story time or directions, I will have a picture of a giant ear. For "think", I am going to have a picture of a student "tapping his thinker", and for "talk" I am going to use a picture of a student raising his hand. Hopefully this will be a quick success and help with classroom management!
Priority #3: Communication Corner
This workshop has focused a lot on student schedules and using those as the first step in communication. I do use a picture schedule with my students, but some of them are not at that abstract level yet and really need an object schedule. I would like to work on creating a "Communication Corner" where student's schedules can be placed and a collection of objects, photographs, and picture symbols can be kept for choice making opportunities and transitioning students from one activity to another. This project will take a while to create a set up, but I feel it is important to begin this now, so that my students have more opportunities to appropriately communicate.
I will be sure to keep you updated on my progress with these 3 projects : )
I am at an amazing autism workshop this week and the amount of information is absolutely unbelievable! I wonder how I got through my undergrad and graduate programs without learning all of these great strategies and techniques! Actually, the fact is that I already knew a lot of this stuff, but hearing it from new people has given me a new prospective.
I could honestly go on for hours about everything I am learning, but the truth of the matter is that I can't implement it all right away. There is not enough time in the day and its unrealistic to turn my classroom into a new program with less than three months left. I have begun to prioritize the projects I am going to implement as soon as I get back. Then, this summer I can focus on setting up everything for the fall.
Priority #1: Create Areas in my Classroom
Students with autism are very visual learners. They are also very unorganized by nature, so it is important to create different spaces that they can relate certain tasks or activities with and to help them organize their tasks. In my classroom these seems completely unrealistic. I have 2 horse shoe shaped tables that are used for many purposes including snack, centers, art, and 1 on 1 work. The important part is to differentiate the tasks so that students don't get confused. I didn't think that this was a problem in my classroom until I really began to think about my little non-verbal guy with autism. Every time we go towards the tables he pulls out his goldfish snack card. Is it possible he isn't always hungry? Is it possible he only associates those tables with snack time and not work time? The first think I am going to do when I get back to my classroom is create place mats specifically for snack time. This way, the students can associate the table AND the place mats as snack time. I am also going to consistently use a blue table cloth on the table during art projects to help the students associate that it is time for art. The rest of my room seems to be set up pretty nicely. I have a free explore area, a books & puzzles area, and a circle time area.
Priority #2: Circle Time Signals
Students with autism have a difficult time processing language and learn much better from visual cues. Often times during circle time I have students shouting out with they should be thinking or starting off topic conversations. I also have a difficult time with my general education students shouting out answers without giving my lower students wait time. I often pair a verbal prompt such as "turn on your listening ears" with a motion, but not all of the students get it. I am going to create signs for circle time to prompt students to listen, think, and talk. For "listen", used during story time or directions, I will have a picture of a giant ear. For "think", I am going to have a picture of a student "tapping his thinker", and for "talk" I am going to use a picture of a student raising his hand. Hopefully this will be a quick success and help with classroom management!
Priority #3: Communication Corner
This workshop has focused a lot on student schedules and using those as the first step in communication. I do use a picture schedule with my students, but some of them are not at that abstract level yet and really need an object schedule. I would like to work on creating a "Communication Corner" where student's schedules can be placed and a collection of objects, photographs, and picture symbols can be kept for choice making opportunities and transitioning students from one activity to another. This project will take a while to create a set up, but I feel it is important to begin this now, so that my students have more opportunities to appropriately communicate.
I will be sure to keep you updated on my progress with these 3 projects : )
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Beautiful Things
I get so tired of the same art projects over and over again. It seems like every art project we do includes construction paper or water colors. This year I am on a mission to give my students opportunities to create art with as many different medias as possible.
I got the great idea from a co-teacher to create a "Beautiful Things" bucket. At the beginning of the school year I sent home a brown paper bag with each student. The only directions were to fill the bag with any thing they were willing to part with and that they thought was beautiful. We received bags full of stickers, scrapes of materials, old wrapping paper, bows, greeting cards, and even a pair of old pajamas!
Once we had collected all of the "Beautiful Things" we put them in our sensory table and did a sorting activity. The students sorted all of the items by color into smaller bins.
Now, anytime we have free choice art the students can use the "Beautiful Things" as an art tool. Adding a collage aspect to the students' art has been great. 3D art is always fun and creative and the students enjoy using items in new ways.
I have also used the "Beautiful Things" for more structured activities and lessons. As a class, we created a "Kaleidoscope of Beautiful Things" for our wall. The students matched "Beautiful Things" with colored hexagons and glued items on. Then, we arranged the hexagons to look like a giant kaleidoscope. The students used water colors to decorate the borders.
The students love looking at the giant kaleidoscope through their mini-kaleidoscopes. This collage art has been a big hit, everyone who visits our room comments on how great it looks, and the kids loved making it!
I got the great idea from a co-teacher to create a "Beautiful Things" bucket. At the beginning of the school year I sent home a brown paper bag with each student. The only directions were to fill the bag with any thing they were willing to part with and that they thought was beautiful. We received bags full of stickers, scrapes of materials, old wrapping paper, bows, greeting cards, and even a pair of old pajamas!
Once we had collected all of the "Beautiful Things" we put them in our sensory table and did a sorting activity. The students sorted all of the items by color into smaller bins.
Now, anytime we have free choice art the students can use the "Beautiful Things" as an art tool. Adding a collage aspect to the students' art has been great. 3D art is always fun and creative and the students enjoy using items in new ways.
I have also used the "Beautiful Things" for more structured activities and lessons. As a class, we created a "Kaleidoscope of Beautiful Things" for our wall. The students matched "Beautiful Things" with colored hexagons and glued items on. Then, we arranged the hexagons to look like a giant kaleidoscope. The students used water colors to decorate the borders.
The students love looking at the giant kaleidoscope through their mini-kaleidoscopes. This collage art has been a big hit, everyone who visits our room comments on how great it looks, and the kids loved making it!
Forever a Student
Once I graduated with my Master's degree and decided to jump full time into teaching I surprisingly missed going to school. Okay... I kind of missed going to school. I mean I didn't miss pulling all nighters to finish a paper or studying for exams, but I really, really missed the learning part. I missed having discussions with classmates and learning about new teaching strategies.
I am lucky enough to work for a school district that has an amazing professional development program, but recently I have been craving more information about my population of students, and my district doesn't offer workshops on severe and profound students because their are only 4 of us who teach severe and profound in the district.
Luckily, my district has seen the value in sending teachers to conferences and workshops, as long as we commit to teaching a workshop on the topics covered to others in our district.
Just as a began to feel really burned out on my morning class (severe students) I was given the opportunity to attend a 3 day Autism workshop. Day 1 has been a great success. I feel like by the end of the week I will be re energized and ready to jump full force into my morning class, which has tripled in size over the last month.
Stay tuned for some great Autism tips and teaching strategies, I'll be posting again after the conference!
Monday, January 2, 2012
"If it ain't broke, don't fix it"
So, school starts back up tomorrow and I thought it would be a great idea to make up a few batches of fresh playdough for the kiddos.
I have a super great recipe that I love, but I found a recipe on Pinterest (my fav!) that includes jello and just had to try it.
I followed the recipe exactly. I was so excited that I ended up making two batches, one with lime jello and the other with raspberry. First I mixed all the dry ingredients and it smelled soooo good! But, soon I ended up with a huge mess! The mixture started to burn immediately and the playdough ended up so gooey and yucky!
I have a super great recipe that I love, but I found a recipe on Pinterest (my fav!) that includes jello and just had to try it.
I followed the recipe exactly. I was so excited that I ended up making two batches, one with lime jello and the other with raspberry. First I mixed all the dry ingredients and it smelled soooo good! But, soon I ended up with a huge mess! The mixture started to burn immediately and the playdough ended up so gooey and yucky!
So, I've decided to stick to my trusty recipe that I've been using for years.
3 cups flour
1 1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 cups water
food coloring
Mix all ingredients together. Once mixed, heat in a sauce pan over medium heat (3-8 mins). Stir constantly. The dough will begin to get very stiff. Once all the dough is a stiff consistency remove from pan onto a board. Once cool knead dough until it has a cohesive "playdough" consistency. Store in a plastic container or ziplock bag.
This recipe is my all time favorite and I promise to never cheat on it ever again! The teacher I did my student teaching with had it scribbled on an old note card, so I'm not sure who to reference for this great recipe!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)