Taskbox Time: Seasonal Taskboxes

Do you have students who master taskboxes quickly or get bored easily with repetitive tasks? Seasonal taskboxes are a great way to incorporate basic skill practice in a novel way each season! Today's Taskbox Time features taskbox ideas from across the Miami Valley for every season!

Summer

Pineapple Water Bottle Straw Task (Fine Motor)

Ocean Animal Subtraction Task (Math)
Laura Frank
Valley Forge Elementary, Huber Heights

Fruit Sorting Task (Sorting)

Fall

Buckeye Necklace Task (Fine Motor/Vocational)
Kirsten Johnson
Greene INC, Greene ESC

Spider Rings on Pencil (Fine Motor)
Debi Gnau
Mad River Preschool, Mad River

Spiders in Yarn Web Tong Task (Fine Motor)
Tracey Cooper
Tecumseh Elementary, Clark ESC

Winter

Candy Cane Pipe Cleaner Beading Task (Fine Motor)
Robbie Whorton
Trotwood High School, Trotwood-Madison

Mitten Sort Task (Sorting/Vocational)
Laurie Maravetz
Schaffer Middle School, Springfield

Holiday Cookie Sort Task (Sorting)
Debi Gnau
Mad River Preschool, Mad River

Calendar Picture Matching Task (Matching)

Felt Christmas Tree Task (Fine Motor)
Rylie Jarrett
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Valentine's Day Heart Tangram Task (Matching/Math)
Debi Gnau
Mad River Preschool, Mad River

Spring

Garden Glove Match with Clothespin Task (Matching/Fine Motor)

Easter Egg Matching Task (Matching/Fine Motor)

Baby Animal Packaging Task (Packaging)

Easter Egg Figuring Packaging Task (Packaging)

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

Taskbox Time: Household Chores and Vocational Tasks at Home

Taskboxes are a great way to organize work tasks for individuals who need predictability and structure. Typically taskboxes should be mastered work tasks that students are capable of completing independently. They should have a clear beginning and end and should only contain the necessary items to do that task. Taskboxes do not need to be contained in a single box. Often as students get older they still need the structure but are able to adapt to larger scale tasks. 

We know with the shift to remote learning it may be hard to share classroom taskboxes and vocational tasks with families so today's Taskbox Time provides some ideas for vocational and household chore taskboxes using common household items:

CDs in disc sleevesLaurie Maravetz
Schaefer Middle School, Springfield

Sorting RecyclingLaurie Maravetz
Schaefer Middle School, Springfield

Sorting couponsBrittany Wendling
Valley Elementary, Beavercreek

Assembling papers with paperclips
Brittany Wendling
Valley Elementary, Beavercreek

Sock folding
Brittany Wendling
Valley Elementary, Beavercreek

Assembling notecards with paperclips
Brittany Wendling
Valley Elementary, Beavercreek

Sorting plasticwareBrittany Wendling
Valley Elementary, Beavercreek

Sorting Bowls

Sorting coins

Sorting cups

Sorting writing utensils

Sorting light and dark laundryRobbie Whorton
Trotwood-Madison High School, Trotwood-Madison

Click the image below for a printable handout that can be shared with families:

Taskbox Time: More Vocational and Life Skills Tasks

Earlier this week we discussed Vocational Tasks and School-based Jobs to help students prepare for life after graduation (Find that post here: Around Town Round Up: Vocational Activities at School). Sometimes students are not ready for jobs that require a sequence of multi-step tasks. They may still need to focus on completing a multi-step task in a structured work format. Luckily we see lots of examples of these tasks as well so we have gathered them in today's Taskbox Time.


Food Service Tasks
ALIST partner Brittany Wendling at Valley Elementary in Beavercreek shared some of the food service tasks her students practice. including organizing food on a lunch tray, sorting foods by food group, and sorting utensils.

Clerical Tasks
Brittany also shared a variety of clerical tasks including filing index cards by date, creating packets, and stuffing envelopes.

A very special thank you to Brittany Wendling for sharing these awesome vocational tasks with our team!



For more vocational task ideas don't miss our previous post:

Taskbox Time: Vocational and Life Skills Tasks

And check out our favorite book of vocational tasks: 

Tasks Galore for the Real World