First Full Week

Oh my...I made it through my first full week as well as the students since the week before Thanksgiving! With all the snow days and breaks, this past week was our first full one and you could tell it was a rough one when you saw most students faces as well as many teachers.

It can be very hard to keep students attention when they are tired and boredom can set in very quickly. This is when teaching style is key to cut down on students drifting or possible behavior issues arising.

I found the following article that I believe says it all when trying to be effective in the classroom. It is worth the read!

http://www.smartclassroommanagement.com/2012/01/28/8-things-teachers-do-to-cause-boredom/

Keeping Data for Student Task Goals

Keeping data is an important step in the IEP process. Goals are written for students during IEP team meetings by everyone that is knowledgeable about what is needed to help the student build skills in order to progress in general curriculum settings and ultimately lead them to being more independent.

The tasks that I create are designed to help with the goals of daily living skills and vocational skills. Often times these are very much a part of the goals written in the students IEP. Teachers and para's like myself track students progress by recording scores and other data through the school year. This is the best way to measure students progress or lack of.

I recently posted a generic tracking sheet that works well for most of my tasks and allows you to write in your own steps that the student will follow. These can include everything from taking task off the shelf to clean-up and storing the task.

Since every classroom or home setting is different, you can develop a visual picture system showing each step of my tasks from what the task box, envelope or file folder looks like to each step of completing the task. This will give a visual prompt for students that need this accommodation.

Below is a FREE generic task data collection sheet for you to help with your record keeping.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FREE-Data-Collection-Sheet-for-Student-Tasks-1053134

Grocery Shopping Life Skill Task

The ultimate "in room" grocery shopping experience can be found in this all in one task. for more information and preview please click on the link below.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Grocery-Shopping-Life-Skill-Task-1051674

New FREEBIE!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Ground-Hog-Day-Matching-Activity-1046361

This matching activity helps with visual discrimination and comes with two coloring pages.

Very Inspirational Site

I found this wonderful Facebook page that has many posts that remind us of how we should be and how simple it can be to put a smile on someones face. I recommend that you take a look at it:
 https://www.facebook.com/RippleKindnessCards

Student Blues After Holiday Breaks

Getting students motivated after long holiday breaks can be difficult to say the least.  I found a very interesting article that may help with some suggestions on how to get your students back on track.

http://www.edudemic.com/holiday-motivation/

Meal Sequence Task Bundle

This is a 7 card set in one convenient bundle. Each set is a different meal from the first step of presentation to the last ready to eat presentation.

This task helps with learning meal presentation and following visual order. It also is a great compliment task to my What's for Dinner Tonight? task. If you are interested in more sequence cards check out my Sequence Card Bundle #1.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Meal-Sequencing-Task-Cards-1041790