First CBI Trip of the Year and We ROCKED IT!

Today was our very first community-based instruction trip of the year! For our loyal readers, you may remember my soapbox spiel about how or CBI trips are NOT field trips- you friends can go ahead and scroll down now! For our new friends, CBI trips are a way for students with disabilities to generalize skills they learn in the classroom (money, communication, gross motor, time telling, survival signs...the list goes on!) into different environments. There's no better way to reinforce learning than through practical application, so every other Friday our class heads out into the community to practice what we learn at school in restaurants, stores, business, etc. Not only is this great for our kids, but it is also an excellent opportunity for the community to see us in action! We've made new friends and showed others how independent we can be!

Can you tell we're looking forward to it? The awesome student below has been in my class for three years, so he is used to my frequent photo-taking. Poor kid had the misfortune of sitting next to me on the bus. When I said his name to chat about our trip, he turned around, smiled and said "Cheese!".

 We divided up into groups and were off to find items from the grocery list our parents sent.

Blurry but hard at work!

 We grabbed carts and headed off to shop!

 First, we headed over to the toiletries and picked up a few items to bring home. We checked out all of the body wash, shampoo and conditioner, finding exactly what was on our list.

 Then we hopped over to the food section and bought some snacks. The kids did an awesome job finding the items on their list. We were careful to look at the packaging and find the right items.

 We even had a chance to stop and mug for the camera!

When we were done shopping, we made our way over to the cashier to pay for our purchases. We practiced the Next Dollar Strategy (rounding up to the nearest dollar when paying) and made sure to use our best social skills to interact with the cashier (who was awesomely patient and kind, I have to add!)

 We made sure to wait for our change before grabbing our purchases and heading back to the bus.

 We love going out in the community to practice our skills! It's such a great experience for everyone, and we can't wait to share more of our CBI trip adventures with you as the year progresses. 

HAPPY FRIDAY!