Organization Station-- More Ideas for Organizing Student Materials

We get so many great ideas for organizing student materials in the classrooms we coach. Last year we featured a whole post on Student Material Organization and this year we have even more examples to share!

Community Materials

For some classrooms, there are community materials that can be accessed by anyone in the class throughout the day. When you have community materials, you can facilitate opportunities for students to request items and/or students can practice social skills by taking turns passing out needed materials. Accessing community materials can often be a quick solution especially in classrooms where the students tend to do the same activities at once. 

Kelli Medina
Monticello Elementary, Huber Heights 

Pam Ellender
Mad River Middle School, Mad River

Jackie Vollmer
Driscoll Elementary, Centerville

Books are often centrally located so all students can access them during free time or during silent reading periods. Books can be organized by theme, reading level, author, or arranged alphabetically depending on the grade level of the students. Many classrooms use containers to hold common books in one place. Labels help students locate the book they are looking for quickly and efficiently. Labels also assist with filing books when finished. 

Kim Kohlrus
Beverly Gardens Elementary, Mad River

Annette Stine
Kyle Elementary, Troy

Kelly Sewell
Kleptz ELC, Northmont

Individual Materials

Having designated locations for individual materials can be helpful when differentiating materials or for when students travel to different classrooms throughout the day because they can take their belongings with them. 

Katie Bigelow and Casey Lathrop
Brookville Elementary, Brookville

Jackie Vollmer
Driscoll Elementary, Centerville

Jamie Minnish
Prass Elementary, Kettering

Brittany Bush
Spinning Hills Middle School, Mad River

Color coding can be a helpful visual strategy to help students find their materials easier. 

Molly Magoteaux
Kleptz ELC, Northmont

Mandy Whitfield from MCESC Learning Center- East uses color-coding to organize all aspects of her students day including their schedules, desks, folders, mailboxes, table spots, lockers and where to line up.

In addition to color coded visual supports, students benefit from organizational visual supports that help them know where to place their materials when finished. These visuals save time and energy because materials are returned to their designated spot without the need for additional time to clean up later. 

Annette Stine
Kyle Elementary, Troy

Annette Stine
Kyle Elementary, Troy

Remember when implementing an organizational system, that it is important to directly teach expectations to students so that they know what is expected. Provide opportunities to practice and use repetitive cuing when needed. 

Regulation Rendezvous-- Kettering Sensory Rooms

In today's Regulation Rendezvous we are excited to share some of the great sensory supports we have seen when coaching in Kettering City Schools. In particular, we will be highlighting the sensory rooms at Beavertown Elementary, JFK Elementary, and Kettering Middle School.

We want to applaud these schools for prioritizing their students' sensory needs and providing a safe environment for proactive breaks to help students stay regulated and to reduce stress.

Beavertown Elementary
At Beavertown, students have a cozy space with reduced lighting, cozy seating options such as a rocking chair or beanbag, tranquil music, and massager fidget options. Students who use this space have their breaks proactively scheduled each day so that they can periodically check in and unwind.

 

JFK Elementary
At JFK, the students' breaks are also proactively scheduled. During a break, students check in using a combination of the Incredible 5 Point Scale, Zones of Regulation, and "How Does My Engine Run" framework from The Alert Program. Students determine if they are running high (rabbit), running low (turtle), or just right.

Based on how students are feeling, they choose activities from corresponding choice boards to help them regulate.

These activities are added to their break schedule strip to help them structure their time.

There is plenty of great options to choose from!

Kettering Middle School
Similar to JFK, the students at KMS are provided with visual supports to assist them in selecting sensory activities that align with their current state of regulation and assist them in getting to the "Just Right" level.

Staff is also provided with suggestions to help guide them when supporting the students through the sensory spaces. This is a great way to encourage consistency across staff members.

The sensory room has a variety of supports for students to choose from including crash pads, weighted blankets, rocking pods, bubble tubes, and calming music. What a great space!

Kudos to the teams at Beavertown, JFK, and KMS for their dedication to providing these wonderful supports to their students!

Communication Corner- Answering Questions

Answering questions requires a student to simultaneously perform several skills. First, the student has to understand what the question is asking. This includes knowing what the question word (i.e. who, what, where, when, why, how, etc.) means. They also have to listen and attend to the rest of the question to further understand what is being asked. Then, they have to be able to retrieve the possible answers from their memory before formulating a response. For many of us, all of these skills are performed readily within seconds. But for students who struggle with auditory processing, receptive communication, and word retrieval answering questions is a difficult skill! Today's Communication Corner provides tips and tools for helping students with the functional communication skill of Answering Questions.

Reduce Auditory Clutter
To ensure that the student understands what is being asked, an important first step is to remove any extraneous auditory stimuli. Questions should be direct and use simple language. Provide the student with up to 30 seconds of wait time to allow them to process the question before responding. Use visual supports such as question word flashcards or signs to cue the student.

Taylor Ruef
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Provide Response Options
Not knowing the response to a question can often lead to anxiety for students. They may freeze and be unable to respond at all. Sometimes they will echo the part of the question unsure of what to respond or in attempt to process what is being asked. Furthermore, many students with autism have associative thought patterns so it can be challenging to come up with a direct answer to a question. They may scroll through several possible responses or sometimes they reply with an answer that is related to the question but not entirely correct. Dr. Temple Grandin provides perspective:

Forbes

Therefore, when teaching students how to answer questions, it is important to provide possible responses using pictures, word banks, or multiple choice options.

Emily Ottmar
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Use Color Coding 

Students with associative thought patterns may have difficulty retrieving response options because the information isn't clearly organized in their minds. Dr. Temple Grandin provides additional insight into this process of thinking:

Forbes

To assist these students, use color coding to help them with organizing information as it is learned and later when it is needed for retrieval. Color code information according to the associated question word and/or part of speech. Many teams refer to the color coding systems used in a student's communication device. There are two main approaches to doing this, the Modified Fitzgerald Key, and the system developed by Goossens,’ Crain, & Elder.

Modified Fitzgerald Key

• Blue: Adjectives      
• Green: Verbs
• Yellow: Pronouns          
• Orange: Nouns
• White: Conjunctions
• Pink: Prepositions, social words             
• Purple: Questions
• Brown: Adverbs      
• Red: Important function words, negation, emergency words
• Grey: Determiners  

Fitzgerald

This system is commonly used with LAMP Words For Life and Proloquo2Go.

Goossens,’ Crain, and Elder

• Pink: Verbs
• Blue: Descriptors
• Green: Prepositions
• Yellow: Nouns
• Orange: Questions, negation, pronouns, interjections

aacintervention.com

This system is used for Unique Learning Systems and News-2-You. 

There are a variety of ways to color code symbols depending on the level of support needed to help the student efficiently locate the symbol. 

PrAACtical AAC

In the examples below, each question word has an associated color. Pictures responses are arranged according to their corresponding question word. When the student is asked a question, they are directed to first find the corresponding question word and then to select one of the provided responses. 

Brittany Bush
Spinning Hills Middle School, Mad River

Start with Concrete Examples and Move to Generalization
When first teaching question answering skills, start with concrete examples that can be referenced to provide immediate feedback. Use pictures and/or books. Have students select the answer and then provide assistance with going back to the picture or within the story to find the evidence supporting the answer. This can be done with beginning learners using the concept of making the answer "match" the picture/story.

Carrie Prickett
Jane Chance Elementary, Miamisburg

Next, students can begin creating their own color coded resources to refer to later. The class can create wh-question walls (similar to a word wall) by sorting thematic vocabulary by question word.

Have students create their own word banks while reading by using a color-coded board. After reading, students can refer to the word bank when answering questions about what they read.

For more ideas on strategies for Functional Communication Training check out our previous Communication Corner posts:

Escape

Protest
Attention
Requesting Items or Activities
Providing Feedback
Participating in Group Activities