We're back to share the second half our day with you...
After lunch, we come back to the room, brush our teeth, practice our personal information and do our daily Question of the Day activity (more about this later!).
Depending on the day, we start science at 12:30 (on Tuesdays we visit the library, and on Thursdays we visit the computer lab). Our science lessons come from the Unique Curriculum too; most of the chapters are about a boy named Simon who explores all different scientific topics. We love that Simon- who wouldn't love a boy who wears his lab coat even when he's hiking in the Alaskan Wilderness or touring an old coal mine?!
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| Simon and his uncle at the coal mine... |
At
1:00 we start our jobs. Some of the kids have jobs in the classroom
while others work out in the school. A few of our current jobs include restocking the pencil machine and rolling coins, cleaning cafeteria seats and dusting in the library. The goal of these vocational experiences is to help our kids become more independent. Our end-game is for EVERY student to be employable!
After jobs we come back to the room for a short group activity (usually a lesson from Unique relating to our monthly theme).
Before we pack up and head home, we work on our Daily Buzz (another Unique activity, and no, I'm not a paid advertiser!). The Daily Buzz is different from the communication notebook that travels between home and school because it is a STUDENT-DRIVEN piece. This worksheet helps students recall events from the day like meals,
jobs and activities. It also gives the kids an opportunity to rate
their activities. Some of the responses crack me up~ one of my kids regularly rates his lunch as "gross" and his job as "boring".
We take another break and pack our backpacks. We make sure to take our homework (yes, we do daily homework too!)...
Then we spend some time with a few general education peers that visit our room at the end of each day. More on our peer program later, I promise!
After a busy, busy day, we are happy to head home on the bus!
Even though my child is just 6 years old so this is her first year in a kindergarten life skills classroom, I enjoyed seeing a peek into what your day is like. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteFound you via Love That Max, fyi.
Sounds like a great day! My son is in special ed preschool right now. Do you work in a regular special education class, or is this a special employment program? My MIL works for a program for HS students where many of the kids with special needs from a variety of districts come and learn job training, whatever that might mean for them.
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting and for your sweet comment, AlongCameTheBird! I'm really excited to share our lifeskills experience; it's amazing how little people know about it, even when they're in the same building ;) Hope you'll visit again soon :-)
ReplyDeleteHi Maya!
ReplyDeleteWe are definitely a busy bunch- so much to pack into a short time each day! We are a middle school, self-contained (for the most part) class for students with moderate cognitive disabilities.
Very cool about your MIL; I love the vocational side of things too...I have a few posts planned in the future that talk about what our program's vocational focus looks like.
I'm loving your blog, btw. Found you through Love That Max a few weeks ago. Hope you're feeling better - I can't believe how long you had to wait before your surgery!