Monday, March 29, 2021

Around Town Round Up: More Jobs & Vocational Tasks

Many of our students begin learning essential life skills through completing classroom jobs in early years and eventually these classroom jobs evolve to more vocational and independent living-based jobs as the students get older and prepare for transitioning out of school. 

When out in our districts, we have seen a variety of classroom jobs and systems for organizing them. Today's Around Town Round Up highlights some of our favorite ideas!



Classroom Job Charts

The most traditional classroom job organizational system is a job chart listing each job and assigning a student to the job for the day/week. 

Rachel Engle
Horace Mann Elementary, Springfield

Allysson Leapley
Tipp High School, Tipp City

Rylie Jarret
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Sarah Janosik
Tipp High School, Tipp City

Visual Supports

Visual supports can be an effective, evidence-based way to help build independence when students complete jobs. 

Color-coded Visual Supports for Cafeteria Table Cleaning
Brandy Beirise 
Wayne High School, Huber Heights

Food Prep Steps Visual Supports
Bill Reinhart
Wayne High School, Huber Heights


Kitchen Storage Visual Supports
Pam Ellender
Mad River Middle School, Mad River

Dirty & Clean Laundry Visual Supports
Bill Reinhart
Wayne High School, Huber Heights

Laundry Collection Visual Support
Steve Mahle
Miamisburg Middle School, Miamisburg

Reinforcement Systems

Many of our classrooms also incorporate reinforcement into their classroom job organizational systems to introduce the concept of earning for a job well done. In Korie Jacob's classroom, students get to choose the job they want based on the job description and payment details. Each day they complete a sign-in sheet which is checked weekly by staff when students receive payment in the form of tickets to be turned in for rewards.

Korie Jacobs
Mad River Middle School, Mad River

The students in Lindsey Landis' class also practice real world earning and exchanging classroom money for items in the class store. 

Lindsey Landis
Twin Valley South Elementary, Twin Valley South

For more examples of jobs and vocational task we have seen in our districts, don't miss our previous posts:

Organization Station: Jobs

Taskbox Time: Vocational and Life Skills Tasks

Taskbox Time: More Vocational and Life Skills Tasks

Tuesday, March 23, 2021

ALIST Spotlight: Emily Beck, Speech and Language Pathologist at Bradford Exempted Village Schools

Many of our referral students are supported by teams of professionals including intervention specialists, occupational therapists, counselors, paraprofessionals, physical therapists, and speech and language pathologists. Sometimes we meet a related service provider who truly goes above and beyond for the students they support. Emily Beck at Bradford Exempted Village Schools is a perfect example of a Speech and Language Pathologist who goes the extra mile for her students. Emily is skilled at collaborating with other team members, individualizing supports, and always being willing to help. In addition to communication skills, Emily works with her students on social skills, emotional regulation, and executive functioning. This is essential to student success! Keep reading below to learn more about Emily and the fantastic supports she has for students in today's ALIST Spotlight.






I graduated with my Masters degree from The Ohio State University in 2015.  I started my career in the Reynoldsburg City School District where I was fortunate enough to gain a wealth of knowledge and experiences, not only in the many areas under the “speech and language umbrella”, but also in all of the “other” areas that affect our students’ daily lives.


This is my fourth year working for the Darke County ESC, and my fourth year in the Bradford School District.  I believe in using a collaborative team approach by working closely with my team of intervention specialists, related service providers, and school staff to provide our students with a safe learning environment where they can feel successful and confident in their learning.  My favorite saying is “Teamwork makes the dream work” because in the educational setting all of what we do as individual educators carries over to all aspects of a student’s life.  When you work as a team, it’s so exciting to see all of the “wheels” turn on a student’s ride to success.  One way, and maybe my most favorite way, that I collaborate with my colleagues is by pushing into our special education rooms anytime they are doing functional activities (i.e. cooking, having parties, etc.)  This allows me to target speech and language skills that are natural but skills that we don’t always have an opportunity to target in the speech therapy room; such as making invitations including key information, greeting guests, giving a presentation using clear speech, listening to a speaker using our whole body…...the list goes on and on.

Another way I like to give my students real-life opportunities to apply their skills is through school fundraisers (i.e. FFA fruit sales, school-wide item collections, etc.)  Doing these things can be taxing on your daily schedule and does require collaboration with others, but students want you to see them succeed in all that they do and to me that’s makes it all worth it.




I also believe that parents/caregivers play an important role in the success of our students.  I strive to keep the “lines of communication” open with our parents with the goal of not only providing our parents with resources but also allowing them to feel comfortable with asking questions.  To keep the lines of communication open, I provide each of my students with a “speech folder”, which contains information about me, therapy, and their current IEP goals.  I use this to send home work from our therapy together, parent handouts, etc.  




As our world becomes more and more digital, I’ve tried to adapt by making informational bitmoji classrooms where parents can go to for resources in the different areas of speech and language.


   





It’s been a goal of mine to find a way to incorporate vocabulary into my therapy room.  This year I’ve made it a point to make a monthly newsletter, outlining different vocabulary terms related to what is going on that month and promoting reading by providing a list of books relevant to the month. 





Interventions:


Executive Functioning Supports

To promote confidence and independence in the classroom, our academic teams have brainstormed many ways to implement visual schedules, checklist, organization strategies, etc. to meet the needs of each of our students.

 

   

     



Binder for student organization

   





Social Stories

Social stories have been helpful for a number of my students who need that visual reinforcement when learning a new skill.  I am a huge fan of “Autism Little Learner’s” blog and have learned so many great things about making social stories for my students from her.




Data Collection

In order to maintain that team collaboration, I am a big fan of using rubrics to collect data on these types of skills that are not always “black and white”.  The great thing about rubrics is that we can tweak them to match the uniqueness of each of our students, all team members involved know exactly what we’re looking for, and are able to measure student success in a uniform way.  Rubrics can also be made to meet the needs of our staff, as we can make them digital or paper/pencil!



Zones of Regulation

I first learned about this curriculum in my first years as an SLP, and was excited to bring my knowledge to Bradford.  The ZOR has helped so many of our students here, and helping students apply what they’ve learned about this curriculum in their classrooms has become a big part of my job.  

         




Sensory Breaks

Many of our students here benefit from sensory breaks.  Facilitating scheduled sensory breaks for a number of our students has become another big part of my role; however the “collaborative team approach” is huge in working together to find something that will not only be beneficial for the student, but also is feasible for school staff.  This year, our team has had to be extra creative in finding “socially distant” ways to provide our students with their scheduled breaks.





One of the many reasons that I love my job is that I am always learning.  In college, I was told to take as many educational opportunities that I could.  That has been some of the best advice that I feel still applies to my life today as a professional; advice that I would pass on to any educator.  Learning from other professionals is so powerful, and I’m so lucky to have a great team to learn things from each and every day.


Thank you, Emily, for sharing all of these wonderful supports and for all of your hard work each and every day for your students. They are so fortunate to have you!

Thursday, March 18, 2021

Academic Area: Math

Teaching math can be so much fun because there are so many creative hands-on activities you can use! We love seeing all of the different ways our districts engage students in math activities in the classroom. In today's Academic Area, we have gathered a variety of engaging math activities from around the Miami Valley.


Shapes & Colors

Learning shapes and colors is a common math skill practiced by young learners. 

Shape Matching Velco Board
Jenna Fitch
Demmitt Elementary, Vandalia

Ruff's House Color and Texture Game
Tracey Cooper
Tecumseh Schools, Clark ESC

Shape Matching Bulletin Board
Tracey Cooper
Tecumseh Schools, Clark ESC

Tangram Shape Matching
Debi Gnau
Mad River Early Childhood Center, Mad River

Sticker Matching Lock & Key Task
Kate Pennington
Kettering ECEC, Kettering

Foamie Shape Matching


Number ID

When learning numbers, it is important for students to have many repetitions. We love these multisensory ideas for practicing number identification.

Number Easter Egg Hunt

Multisensory Tactile Number Flashcards

Touchmath Dot Tactle Flashcards
Emily Ottmar
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Place Value Visual Support
Pam Ellender
Mad River Middle School, Mad River

Matching Number Word to Numeral Taskbox

Counting

Counting is an essential numeracy skill. Luckily there are tons of great ideas for practice!
Number Communication Board
Emily Ottmar
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Counting Fries Taskbox

Counting Out Sets of Beads Taskbox
Taylor Ruef
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Counting Out Sets of Erasers Taskbox


We love how the ideas below use physical boundaries to provide cues for one-to-one correspondence for students who are just beginning to count sets of objects. 
Unifex Cubes Counting Taskbox
Jamie Minnish
Prass Elementary, Kettering

Block Counting Taskbox
Jamie Minnish
Prass Elementary, Kettering

Figurine in Muffin Tin Taskbox

Bouncy Ball in Ice Cube Tray Taskbox

Computation

Manipulatives can be a great support for modeling addition and subtraction problems for students. 

Farm Animal Addition Center
Laura Frank
Valley Forge Elementary, Huber Heights

Sea Animal Subtraction Center
Laura Frank
Valley Forge Elementary, Huber Heights

Unifex Cube Addition
Ashley Holtz
Kleptz ELC, Northmont

For students working on more advanced computation skills, it can be helpful to use visual cues to help them remember multi-step processes such as when solving word problems.
Word Problem Checklist
Taylor Ruef
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

CUBES Acronym for Solving Word Problems
Sara Timmerman
Bradford Elementary, Bradford

Fractions

When teaching fractions, visuals are key to helping students understand each concept. 

Bridges in Mathematics Number Corner
Lindsay Hixson
Charles Huber Elementary, Huber Heights

Magnetic Fractions Manipulatives
Pam Ellender
Mad River Middle School, Mad River


Time & Money

Telling time can be a complex skill for students who struggle with multi-step tasks. Visual supports can be a great way to break down the steps to make them easier to follow. 
Telling Time Visual Support

Visual supports can also be a helpful strategy when teaching money. We love these TouchMoney posters with poems. 
Coin Identification Poem Posters
Pam Ellender
Mad River Middle School, Mad River

There are a variety of math taskboxes ranging from sorting to making purchases that can be a great way to practice math skills. 

Money Sorting Taskbox
Kristin Johnson
Greene INC, Greene County ESC

Snack Purchasing Taskbox

Quarter Counting Sequencing Taskbox

Menu Math Taskbox
Brittany Wendling
Valley Elementary, Beavercreek

Daily Practice

A highly effective way for students to learn math skills is through daily practice. We love these bulletin boards for daily practice at Stevenson Elementary in Mad River!
Rylie Jarrett

Taylor Ruef

For more math taskbox ideas see our previous Taskbox Time posts!

Math

More Math