Organization Station-- Lesson Materials

Storage and organization of lesson materials can sometimes be an overwhelming task! We hope today's Organization Station provides some practical solutions for organizing everything from thematic units to the smallest manipulatives! Many of the most organized teachers utilize uniform bins and have a great labeling system!

We have seen tons of great ideas for organizing thematic and monthly unit materials in self-contained, resource, and general education classrooms. 

Rene Dyke
Arcanum Butler Elementary, Arcanum

Taylor Ruef
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River Local Schools

Kathy Timmerman
Fairbrook Elementary, Beavercreek

Kathy Timmerman
Fairbrook Elementary, Beavercreek

We love the use of curtains to cut down on visual clutter when storing various materials. 

There are many different ways to organize group materials. We love how many of these options allow you to "grab and go" so that you can quickly take materials to where you need them. 

Amy Beanblossom
Arcanum Butler Elementary, Arcanum

Kathy Timmerman
Fairbrook Elementary, Beavercreek

Look at these great neutral colors of the bins for the 9-Cube Organizer shelf. Another great example of reducing visual clutter!

Kendall Koehler
Normandy Elementary, Centerville

IKEA

A popular favorite is the use of the Trofast shelving system from IKEA. 

Carrie Prickett
Jane Chance Elementary, Miamisburg

Look at this great use of adhesive-backed business card holders for labeling individual bins. Labels can be changes and the holders can be removed and reused if needed.

Lesson materials may be organized by week, day, or particular group. 

Amazon

Gallon-sized plastic baggies can be used to hold all of the materials needed for a particular group or lesson. 

Smaller manipulatives should be stored and labeled as well for easy access by staff or students. 

Kenzie Bruggeman
Versailles Elementary, Versailles

Carrie Prickett
Jane Chance Elementary, Miamisburg

For easy access to frequently used items, install a curtain rod and hang IKEA Bygel containers under your whiteboard tray or near a group table. 

Amazon

Many of our classrooms also label their storage for functional materials in the kitchen area. 

Tabitha Eaton
Main Elementary, Beavercreek Elementary

Jennifer Jette and Amanda Gallup
Vandalia-Butler High School, Vandalia

Around Town Round Up-- MORE Reinforcement Systems.

Earlier this year, we featured an Around Town Round Up on Reinforcement Systems. We are thrilled to share that we have gathered even more examples of this fabulous evidence-based practice to share with you!

To read our first Reinforcement Systems post click HERE! Read below to see our new ideas.


Many of the teams we teach are working with students who need an immediate system of reinforcement and respond well to edible reinforcers. One of our favorite containers for holding edibles is a pillbox labeled to match the corresponding tasks.

find these at Walgreens

We also love this creative use of magnetic spice containers at a structured work station.

Beth Young
Snyder Park Elementary, Springfield

To store student-specific edible reinforcer storage check out this great idea from Little Miss Kim's Class. Each student's initial is on the top of the craft caddy filled with their favorite goodies!

http://www.littlemisskimsclass.com/

Once students are able to delay reinforcement, it is a good idea to use a token system to help them visually see how many repetitions or tasks need to be completed in order to earn reinforcement.

Tabitha Eaton
Main Elementary, Beavercreek

Brittany Sword
Valley Elementary, Beavercreek

Some classrooms use a token or point system to earn reinforcement at the end of the school day. Typically, these types of systems are used for general classroom behaviors and not solely work completion like the token systems and edible rewards above.

Tabitha Eaton
Main Elementary, Beavercreek

Using the systems below, students can earn or lose reinforcement. Reinforcement was given for different amounts of Dojo points or depending on what color the student was on the penny chart.

Carrie Prickett
Jane Chance Elementary, Miamisburg

We love this schedule-specific token system from The Autism Helper!

http://theautismhelper.com/

For older students or students with strong reading skills, it is important to still incorporate some type of reinforcement!

We love this use of our Get Ready-Do-Done visual contract. Students with executive functioning deficits benefit from the detailed list of items to gather. This example also incorporates forced choices to help the student feel more in control of their learning. And finally a reinforcement menu is provided at the bottom for the student to choose from before getting to work.

Emily Ottmar
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River Local Schools

This simple Now & Then T-chart is a great way to display natural reinforcers this teacher has built into the day. The question mark denotes a special surprise for students.

Natalie Griffen
Smith Middle School, Vandalia-Butler

This written contract was a great way to keep track of ongoing reinforcement over the course of a week. Each day the teacher would sign off on the paper once the student completed the agreed upon 35 minutes of P.E. class.

Laurie Maravetz
Shaefer Middle School, Springfield

We hope you have gotten more ideas for incorporating this evidence-based practice in your classroom! Thanks to all of the teachers who have welcomed us into their classrooms and allowed us to share their great resources!

ALIST Spotlight-- Stephanie Foreman, South Vienna Elementary School, Northeastern

Northeastern Local School District's South Vienna Elementary is home to one of our fabulous ALIST teachers, Stephanie Foreman. We are excited to highlight some of the strategies in Stephanie's room in today's ALIST (Autism and Low-Incidence Support Team) Spotlight.

Stephanie uses some of our favorite visual supports with her students including a Visual Contract (or "Working for" folder) and the visual countdown. The contract is a great way to incorporate positive reinforcement especially for students who are tangibly motivated. The countdown provides a visual way for students to see the passing of time when they are waiting for something or preparing for a transition.

Stephanie also uses visual supports for student schedules. Additionally, she differentiates schedules based on student needs. Students who have limited reading and/or comprehension skills benefit from a picture symbol schedule, while students who can read and comprehend written words get a written checklist schedule.

Students also benefit from Stephanie's differentiation of sensory supports. In her classroom, each student has a designated bin of sensory items individualized to meet their specific sensory needs.

Stephanie also knows the importance of reducing visual clutter for her students through the use of covered shelving so they do not get overwhelmed visually and aren't too distracted when learning.

Another important element of Stephanie's teaching is data collection. As an ALIST teacher, Stephanie knows how critical it is to track student learning to determine their progress and determine appropriate goals.

She also can quickly access the data to communicate with other staff memebers and parents through the use of these great data binders.

We want to thank Stephanie for welcoming us into her classroom and for being such a wonderful example for other teachers in the region!

Organization Station-- Centers

Many of the teams we coach have time dedicated to their day to small group and 1:1 rotations frequently called "Centers". Today's Organization Station will share some of the great ideas we have seen in the region for organizing staff and students during these centers rotations.

When organizing the classroom layout for centers, some teachers have a designated location for each center.

Rachel Hatton
Normandy Elementary, Centerville

Jessica Ward
Rolling Hills Elementary, Northeastern

Brittany Sword
Valley Elementary, Beavercreek

Jody Chick
Yellow Springs High School, Yellow Springs

Other teachers use the same areas for multiple centers and will use visuals to indicate all of the different uses.

Jennifer McGowan
Smith Middle School, Vandalia-Butler

Kate Tipple
Helke Elementary, Vandalia-Butler

There are also teachers who use generic visuals to mark one location so that it can be used for a variety of centers.

Jessica Ward
Rolling Hills Elementary, Northeastern

To help students transition during centers times, many teachers use location-based schedules.

This team combines structured work with their student schedules and designates the tasks to be completed using numbers next to each scheduled subjects.

Carrie Prickett
Jane Chance Elementary, Miamisburg

Toni Mallott
Jane Chance Elementary, Miamisburg

We love this use of schedule cross-bars for the centers times.

Emily Ottmar
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River Local Schools

For students who are readers, a written checklist is a great tool for organizing centers time. In this resource room, students rotate to different centers daily so each day has a different written checklists which students can get each day when they come in for their intervention block.

Sandy Beck
Broadway Elementary, Tipp City

In some classrooms, the centers may only change daily so a chart can be used to group students and let them know where to go.

Kate Pennington
Kettering Early Childhood Education Center, Kettering

It is important to organize staff each day as well and to provide them with schedules and reminders. Adults need visuals too!

Amy Beanblossom
Arcanum-Butler Elementary, Arcanum-Butler

Amy Beanblossom
Arcanum-Butler Elementary, Arcanum-Butler

Carrie Prickett
Jane Chance Elementary, Miamisburg