Communication Considerations with a Special Education Blog Hop Freebie!

Welcome to day 9 of the Special Education Bloggers Sweet Treats!

With it being the month of friendship, I figured what better sweet treat than aided language boards for 10 of 20 of Our Favorite Games and Toys so friends and classmates of all abilities can join in the fun!

CLICK HERE TO GET YOUR 
AIDED LANGUAGE BOARDS 

If you are new to the Considerate Classroom blog and are not familiar with aided language boards, you may want to visit these two past posts:  Improving Communication Skills for Non-Verbal Children Through the Use of Aided Language Boards and Personalizing Communication Supports for Individual Success.

You will be amazed at the social communication that aided language boards can facilitate.  I began using aided language boards after attending a wonderful training by Linda Burkhart in regarding to Gayle Porter's Pragmatic Organizational Dynamic Display (PODD) system.  From day one, I have found that aided language boards give students, who are nonverbal the ability to participate and express their needs, wants and opinions more effectively with less behavior.  They have also been helpful for students with limited verbal communication for a variety of reasons: lack of exposure, communication and/or social deficits and disabilities or because English is their second language.  

One of the most important things to remember about using aided language boards or any communication system is INPUT BEFORE OUTPUT! In the words of Linda Burkhart, "How long do we speak to baby's before they give us anything back? We speak for 11 to 12 months of before they say the smallest approximations of words like Bye-Bye or Dada-Dada.  We must model aided language boards and other communication supports for just as long or longer with students who have significant disabilities and delays.  They need to see the form of communication we are expecting them to use in practice consistently and with fidelity. 

Here is a sample aided language board:  

Below is a video example of my three year old son and I using the board.  Given Payton has language but notice how I use the aided language board to facilitate and expand language. Also note that I strategically put all the swords in a fabric bag labeled take one so I had more opportunities to model language and Payton had more opportunities to communicate.  

For example if we each just picked a color of sword to be at the beginning, we would have only had one opportunity to request, "I want to be the blue swords."  Instead by putting the swords in the fabric bag and drawing one out on each turn, we had the opportunity to label several colors throughout the game.  

It feels a little awkward at first but I encourage you to give it a try!  What better valentine to give your students than the gift of a VOICE:) 

One final tip before I sign off, a great way to keep yourself organized and always have your aided language boards available for those who need them is to laminate or slide them into page protectors and tape them to the box of the game. . .

or the inside lid of the storage tub the game is stored in. . .  

Voila'! You have language at your fingertips and your students'!

That is it for now, stayed tuned by liking Considerate Classroom on Facebook, as I have some great aided language boards and visual supports for facilitating communication between home and school in the works!

Happy Communicating!  Best wishes, Lindy

PS- Don't forget to come back tomorrow for a freebie from You AUT- a Know.

20 Valentine's Ideas Perfect for Parents & Teachers

For Home: 

#1.  This year we are going to start a new Valentine’s tradition.  The idea came from Pinterest and Better Homes and Gardens.  I am going to modify it slightly. Every day from February 1^st until Valentine's Day the boys will have a mystery love message to uncover.  I programmed 14 hearts for each of them with messages from people they love (aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, and teachers). 

I then wrote the name of the person that said the message on the front with white crayon. The boys will paint each heart with watercolor to solve the mystery of who gave them the message.  

 

Mommy Tip:  To save on mess, simply spray the watercolor paints with a spray bottle rather than using the traditional cup of water.  Prang glitter paints are our favorite right now. They dry so pretty!

#2.  Along the same idea as #1, this year we have added mailbags to the back of our dinner table chairs.  The mystery heart messages can go inside as well as other messages the boys, Daddy and I write to one another along the way.  

They were originally clinch bags I found in the craft section at Walmart for a dollar.  The boys loved coloring them with fabric markers.  

They are definitely not as cute as some of the chair mailbags you find on Pinterest but they serve the same purpose and will save both time & money.
    

#3.  Now an idea for the big day (or maybe a few days before I have not decided), this year I plan to do functional Valentine's gifts for the boys.  They get a lot of candy and toys so instead, I got them all sorts of things they use with their favorite characters on them and then added special notes.  I have not decided whether I will spread the gifts out over Valentine's week or just put together one huge Valentine's basket.  

Regardless of their delivery, here are the contents I've come up with:

Underwear:  "Our love for you will never 'wear'!"

Toothbrushes:  "We have a sweet tooth for you!"

You can see another version of this at LOVE TWO TEACH.  Super cute idea! 

Socks:  "You knock our socks off!"

Valentines T-Shirt: "You are 'Tee' rific!"

Character Band-Aids:  "Our Love Sticks Together!"

Bubble Bath:  "Don't burst our bubble! Be our Valentine."

Stationary Set:  "You are the 'write' one for us!"

Leap Frog Flash Cards (that I got for $1 at Target--Love those $ Bins!!):
  "We love how smart you are!"

And lastly, not a gift my boys will be receiving, but rather one they will be giving to their baby cousin for Valentine's ... new jammies!

"Happy Valentine's Day, Sleeping Beauty!"

If you would like the Valentine's tags that have been shared above, just send me an email.  Please specify if you would like them as a Boardmaker file or in pdf format.

#4.  Each year we make a Valentine's card or gift for Daddy.  In order not to spoil the surprise of this year’s gift, I thought I would share EJ’s very first card to daddy.  It was based off an idea I got from Family Fun magazine.

Mommy Tip:  I often take pictures of the boys’ special projects, certificates, worksheets and crafts, and then put the photo of them in their yearly scrapbooks.  (To learn more about our yearly scrapbooks click here!)  This helps with storage because I don’t have to keep every little project...just the really special ones!  p.s - The special card above reads "To the King of my world!  Happy Valentines Day!  Love, Emmitt James" and has a picture of EJ glued over the Kings' images. More daddy gift ideas are available on my previous post, 5 Fun Father’s Day Gifts.

#5.  I stole the last Valentine's home idea from Miss Penny’s family tradition.  It's a heart-shaped breakfast on Valentine's morning. :) Thanks, Miss Penny!  So Cute!  You could also do Valentine's lunch or supper complete with heart-shaped sandwiches, apples, and strawberries. 

For Students:

First, here are five fun student valentines.

#6. Watercolors - "You paint my world with happiness."  (You can get cheap paint sets during Back-to-School sales or from Oriental Trading.)

#7. Socks - (This year’s valentine!)  “I hope you have a Valentine's Day that knocks your socks off!”. I found the socks 3 for a dollar at our local dollar store. Then, I picked up the cute little boxes at Dollar General 5 for a dollar. 

Mommy Tip: Payton is giving socks to his daycare friends, too. His sock gifts have this little picture message. 

I love how they turned out so I definitely wanted to share them with all of you! 

#8. Crazy Straws & Kool-Aid packets - “Slurp into a Super Valentine's Day!”

#9. Rainbow Loom Bracelets - “A friendship bracelet just for you!”  These are actually EJ’s valentines to his class this year.  Click here to see my inspiration over at Plumberry Pie.   EJ got a Rainbow Loom for Christmas and has been making bracelets like they are going out of style so I figured why not put them to good use. I just taped the rest of the bracelet to the back with white Duct tape.

p.s. Bracelet making is a great fine motor practice and could be used for student motivation.  You could have students earn the colored bands for good behavior and good work and then work toward making themselves a bracelet.  You don’t have to have the loom...it only takes two pencils to start!  Search for a how to video on youtube for more details. 

#10. And finally, EJ and Payton’s valentine from last year .  It is so cute that I couldn’t resist sharing!

EJ gave it to his class with a little sticky moustache attached inside.  

I got the moustaches from Oriental Trading.  

Mommy & Time Saving Tip: If you open your paint program on the computer, you can have your kids write their signature. Then, copy & paste it into a word document on your card.  For me, it saves the headache of forcing my boys to sign every card! :)

For Staff Members:

#11. A Lottery Ticket: “We won the lottery when we hired you!”

#12. Hand Lotion: “I would like to give you a hand for all your hard work.”

#13. A DIY Notebook with a little inspiration from HelloCuteness – “You are the ‘write’ one for us!” 

Notice I made my own scrapbook paper by copying and pasting the para's name and messages over and over again in different fonts and colors.  To get you started, here is the word document I work from. 

#14. The motto of our classroom. . . Everything's better with chocolate!! :)  

I found these cute tins in the dollar bins at Target and immediately thought of my wonderful team. I filled them with chocolate and was all set!

#15. A personalized mug inspired by A Beautiful Mess - I simply took a quote from one of our students whom said “Girls are Excellent Doers” and made it into a mug.  I had one student draw Miss Molly, one draw Miss Penny, and one draw myself. Then, the student who I quoted wrote it on top with a sharpie marker.  Finally, I baked the mug in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. 

Fun School Party Ideas:

#16. Beaded Friendship Necklaces - An oldie but a goody!  Here's the previous post that details this party idea.

#17.  Valentine's delivery with a mail carrier twist- Another previous post but worth sharing!  The kids love it!

#18.  Friendship T-shirts! - I love this idea.  We are doing it with EJ’s kindergarten class this year.  I simply purchased white t-shirts at Hobby Lobby (for 33% off!).  I then ironed on this quote with t-shirt transfer paper from Wal-Mart.   

If you would like a copy of the poem document, just send me an email.  Remember for the print setup, be sure to go into print properties and change them to t-shirt transfer so it prints as a mirrored image for ironing on. 

Then on the day of the party, we will set one shirt with a cardboard insert on each students’ desk.  The students will draw themselves with fabric markers inside the heart and walk around to their friends' shirts to draw his/her face on each classmate's shirt.  Hopefully, their shirts will turn out something like this. . .

#19. Following the t-shirt making, each student will check the color of heart located on the tag of his/her shirt.  Based on that color (red or purple), they will divide up in two groups.  One group will play Valentine's bowling and the other will play a beanbag toss game that my mom purchased from Current several years back. 

Each student will have a party favor bag to match their group color. 

I picked these up at Dollar Tree.  This will help the students stay with their group and serve as a place for the kids to put their candy and treats as they earn candy or treats for the number of beanbags they knock down. 

#20.  Valentine's party snack ideas -  As you may remember, I am not a cook or baker so my ideas are super simple. 

• A popcorn and conversation heart snack mix

• And a valentines milkshake or float complete with either red soda or milk and strawberry syrup. 

The best part is that the bowl, cup, and silly straw serve as a party favors also! 

And there you have it...20 fun Valentine's ideas perfect for the home or classroom!! 

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Valentine's Day in an Early Childhood Classroom

Valentine's Day is quickly approaching!  So for those of you who are new to my blog, I would like to share with you some previous Valentine's Day posts. 

• Valentine's Friendship Necklaces
• Valentine's Pretend Play Center 
• Valentine's Party Idea
• Valentine's Exchange Idea

During this time of love and friendship, I would like to thank my friends who follow the Considerate Classroom blog and Facebook page.  Your kind words and support keeps me motivated and encouraged to share what is happening in the Buddy Bear classroom and with the McDaniel boys. 

Speaking of which, my son and I are starting a new project.  We are using a dry erase marker map that I purchased at Home Depot to plot out where all our correspondence from the blog comes from.  So with that in mind, my son is requesting I reach out to "my school people" to kindly write a little bit about where you are from and what your classroom or job is like when contacting Considerate Classroom via Facebook, email, or through the comments section of this post.  

Again, thanks for all your support and kindness.  May all your loved ones share their love for you on the 14^th in a big way. 

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Classroom Valentine's Party Idea: Special Deliveries

It's an annual tradition in our classroom to let the children dress up as mail carriers to deliver their valentines to each other. 

We invite parents and other family members to join us for the Valentine's Day celebration.  The children sit in a circle in the large group area.  Then each child dresses up as a mail carrier and delivers his/her valentines.

  

A few days prior to the party, the children make valentine boxes or bags at the art center.  Here is a picture of what last year's valentine bags looked like.  

In the past, I have had the students make their boxes out a variety of things like milk jugs, cereal boxes, shoe boxes, oatmeal containers, etc.  This year, a parent is donating large tins from her restaurant to paint and decorate for our party.  I am looking forward to seeing how they turn out. 

Teacher's Tip:  To make the process runs smoothly, check the student's valentines the night before the party to make sure everyone has a valentine for each student.  I also take out the teacher's valentines and have the kids hand-deliver them to the teachers prior to the party.  This helps the students get a little advance practice and shortens the time required to pass out valentines.

   

Instructor's Insight:  In advance, think about which students would be good models to deliver their valentines first.  Have students who have a hard time waiting go toward the end so they spend their wait time anticipating the activity. If they go first, they might lose interest and have a difficult time waiting for their friends to deliver their valentines.

 

To support the students in being successful with this activity, I velcro a schedule to a paint stick as a reminder of how to deliver their special valentines.  There is velcro on the back of the stick too so as the children do each step we can remove that step by velcroing it to the back.  Turn the stick over and we are already to use it for the next student.   

  

If you would like a copy of this schedule send me an email and I will email you a boardmaker version of it.

Valentine's Pretend Play for Pre-K Classrooms

It is an annual tradition in our classroom to transform the pretend play center into a post office a few weeks before Valentine's Day.  

We add individual mailboxes that were created and given to me by a well-respected mentor and dear friend, Louise Younger.  I believe she got the idea from Mailbox Magazine several years back.  

We add a wooden mailbox made by Melisa and Doug and a small free standing plasticmailbox made by step 2  In the play center, there are a small scale, cash register, a few boxes and small packages, as well as envelopes programmed to work on specific skills.   

The children pretend to be mail carriers and customers getting their mail.  We incorporate academic concepts by having the students place mail in the correct boxes.  Some children work on matching the pictures of friends to the correct mailboxes, while others work on matching the correct address number or reading & matching their friends' names.    

Number Recognition:  Matching envelopes to the correct mailbox number.

Face Recognition: Matching envelopes to it's corresponding photo.

Name Recognition:  Matching envelopes to the correct name.

To make the center even more fun, the students have the opportunity to dress up as mail carriers.  They wear postal hats, button down shirts and a mailbag.

Extra Credit: We have also incorporated a field trip to the post office in recent years.  It allows the children to see what real mail carriers and postal workers do. Rework:  Another option is to plan a trip to the school's office to hand-deliver our parent valentines to our school mail carrier and watch him leave in the mail truck.  The students then see how the process works a few days later when their parents valentines arrive at home.