Holiday Classroom Stress

As the end of the year and holidays approach, class time can become a place of stress if not managed with some extra things in mind.

Students become antsy from the excitement that surrounds the Christmas holiday and it is hard to remain on track in order to meet curriculum needs.

With the thought of extra time off and the excitement of holiday festivities it is important to try to stick to as much routine as possible and reinforce the rules that were given at the beginning of the year.

The following article explains how to keep the learning going and hopefully bring a stress free environment before holiday break.

https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/article/keep-learning-going-during-holiday-vacation-times

Keeping Kids Hands-On In The Classroom

It is so fun to see students wanting to do hands-on tasks in the classroom when so much technology is surrounding them. This skill is also important to help with their pincer grasp and manipulation.

Making tasks fun and offering great visuals and variety is also key to stimulate their desire to do the tasks. We now have a group of students that can't wait until vocational time so they can pick one of many tasks to work on.

Here are a few of the latest tasks added to our shelves. You can find these and more to fit your classroom needs at my store.

Make Learning Daily Life Tasks Fun!

Task time in our classroom is looked forward to everyday. Presentation can be made simple by using these wonderful Classroom Keeper boxes.

Tasks are stored in the boxes with name of task and pictures of my task cover pages offered in the task downloads. Check out some samples below of what I offer in my store and make learning fun for your classroom needs!

This is a sample of our Lunch Trays for School Days task:

Next is one of my newest tasks Cosmetic Bag Assembly Vocational Task

Here is one for the upcoming holiday Thanksgiving Family and Friends Meal Serving Task

Busy Days

What busy weeks I have had! With school and product making for my store as well as keeping up at home, I have not connected here on my blog very often.
I must say that I am really enjoying the students in our class this year. I am proud of each one of them and what they are learning and accomplishing every day.  One of the favorites in our room is our task time.  I have had fun creating new tasks to meet the needs in our room and hope that you will enjoy them as well.
This is a fun task that helps students with tool recognition, assembly, and matching:
Vocational Task Fill the Toolbox

The toolbox task compliments my Construction Tasks and Worksheets/Lifeskills

 Another fun new task that is a hit is my Fast Food Employee Vocational Task

I posted this one earlier but wanted to provide a visual of how it works in the classroom to teach customer service skills.
I am sure you all have had a busy Fall as well. Thank you for taking time out to read my post. I wish you all a wonderful day and upcoming week ahead!

Importance of Character Education

Each year as I see students rotate in and out of the school system, I see more of an importance to incorporate character education along side assigned curriculum.

I work at the high school level with life skill students and I must say that I am so proud of how each of our students are respectful of their teachers, show manners, and have a true joy of learning.  I am sad to say I do not see a lot of these good character traits with several of the other students within the school system. I am not saying this for all students...just that I am seeing more and more of them as the years pass.

It is so important at an early age and all through the school years to teach character education simply because some students may not be taught this within the home and it is so important for educators to teach them before they transition from school to college as well as entering the workforce.

I came across a well written blog post by Laura Gurley that shares why it is important to teach this valuable concept.  Here is the post: http://www.the-teachers-lounge.com/blog/2011/11/why-character-education/  I encourage you to take the time to read this.  If you are not already teaching this to your students, I would encourage you to do so.

"Character is the firm foundation stone upon which one must build to win respect.  Just as no worthy building can be erected on a weak foundation, so no lasting reputation worthy of respect can be built on a weak character."   --R. C. Samse

Keeping it Real

Offering products in the classroom that are in color and make use of real images is something I like to offer our students. Beside the fact that the students love any task that involves food, presenting real images gives them a realistic experience when learning life skills and vocational skills.

Many classrooms are unable to offer field trips to show students how to shop for groceries or eating out and learning how to order and pay for purchases, so I enjoy making products to bring these types of real world experiences into the classroom.

I work with students in a high school setting so many of them are learning how to do various jobs and basic skills to be more independent.  These skills can also be introduced with younger grades as well.

I just completed two new fun vocational food tasks that have turned into class favorites already! Who doesn't like food right?  Our students go to these choices before any others because they are drawn to the visuals and can relate with their own experiences while preforming the tasks. What is wonderful to see is the encouragement they feel when they complete the tasks with little or no help.

Here are 2 of my newest tasks that are popular in our classroom:
 
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fast-Food-Employee-1445377
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Build-a-Breakfast-Fast-Food-Vocational-Task-1469507

These new products can be purchased individually or in my newest real image bundle:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Real-Image-Customer-Service-Task-Bundle-1469642

Morning Break Donuts, Chinese Take-Out, and Ice Cream Parlor are also sold individually or as part of other bundles available.

1st Day of Fall Savings!

Stop on by my store tomorrow for a 1st Day of Fall Sale on September 22nd!
Enjoy 15% savings on everything in my store at Adaptive Tasks.

Thanks for stopping by!!