Taskbox Time: Back to School Themed Taskboxes

We always seem to start the year with plenty of office supplies which are great materials for creating some functional Back to School Themed Taskboxes! Start the year off with some fresh ideas from today's Taskbox Time. 

Sorting School Supplies

Sorting tasks are one of the easiest levels of taskboxes and can easily be differentiated by limiting the number of item types and/or the number of items. 

Kirsten Johnson
Greene INC

One to One Correspondence of School Supplies

This is another great, basic taskbox option for students who are working on matching with one-to-one correspondence. 

Packaging School Supplies

A step above one-to-one correspondence is packaging. In these packaging tasks, students use a visual grid or checklist to package required supplies. 

Brittany Wendling
Valley Elementary, Beavercreek

For more taskbox ideas, check out our previous Taskbox Time posts

Taskbox Time

Taskbox Time: Basic Sorting Tasks

Basic sorting tasks can be a great way to teach foundational skills such as colors, shapes, or visual attention. They can also be a great independent task for students. When first introducing a structured work system, we often recommend that teams use basic fine motor or sorting tasks as the assigned work so that effort can be focused on teaching the sequence of the structured work system and less effort is needed for the tasks. Today's Taskbox Time has a variety of basic sorting tasks that can easily be replicated for use in your classroom!

Button Sorting
Kirsten Johnson
Greene INC, Greene County

Colored Peg Sorting
Kirsten Johnson
Greene INC, Greene County

Colored Counter Sorting
Jamie Minnish
Prass Elementary, Kettering

Lakeshore Magnetic Cookie Sorting
Debi Gnau
Mad River Early Childhood Center, Mad River

Ocean Animal Sorting
Jamie Minnish
Prass Elementary, Kettering

Letter Bead Sorting
Kirsten Johnson
Greene INC, Greene County 

Plastic Link Shapes Sorting
Kirsten Johnson
Greene INC, Greene County 

Color Swatch Sorting
Taylor Ruef
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Colored Tile Sorting
Annette Black
Springfield High School, Springfield

For more sorting task ideas don't miss our previous posts:

Taskbox Time: Sorting by Color, Size, and Shape

Taskbox Time: Life Skills Sorting

Most of these taskboxes can be made simply with common household and office supplies. The Target dollar bins and Dollar Tree also offer affordable materials for easy taskbox assembly. Other organizations provide donations. In the Miami Valley, many teachers volunteer at Crayons for Classrooms or attend the Montgomery County Material Reuse Facility's Teacher Shopping Days.

For more ideas check out some of our favorite structured work system books.

 
 

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