Coffee Filter Coral Reef

A simple little project that was not only fun, but also therapeutic!!!

Supplies:
1.  Coffee filters (about 30 per kid)
2.  Food coloring (Gel color creates more vibrant colors)
3.  Large bowls with about 1 inch of water
4.  Wax Paper
5.  Pipe Cleaners

Simple steps:

Squirt a good amount of food coloring into each of your bowls.  Dip a test filter into your color to see if you like the color!  Too light?  Add more color!  Too dark?  Add more water!!!

Once you have each color to your liking, dip a small stack of coffee filters into the water, curly side down.  Pick them up from the flat sides of the filters when the color almost reaches the top and set on your wax paper.  The color will continue to bleed.

Let the filters dry overnight.

The next day assemble them!!!!  I prepped by poking a hole with a toothpick through each of the stacks of filters and making a little curl at one end of each pipe cleaner.  If you don't curl the ends, then the pipe cleaners will just slip right off!!!

Your dried filters! We talked a little science about how some of the colors separated.

Start stringing!!!!  Here's the kids stringing them through.  String only one on at a time (really working the fine motor skills when you peel the filters apart!!)  and give a little crunch at the base.  Hopefully the pictures show you how they did it!

Just "crunch" the bottom of each filter.  You want your corals to be nice and curly and fluffy on top!!!!

We used about 6-7 filters per coral, so each kid had several little corals to add to the reef!

Look at these sweet smiles!!!!

This little one held hers in a giant bouquet!

And the finished board :) 

Comment if you need a little more explanation!
But I'm telling you, what a fun classroom craft that can be used really for any underwater theme. 
Enjoy!!!!

~Sticka

Printable Sticky Notes

I love sticky notes.  They are probably one of my favorite school supplies.  I go through them like mad!

This year, I have discovered my newest addiction....Printing on sticky notes.

WHAT?!!?!!  YOU CAN DO THAT?!!?!!

The answer is YES!  And it's really easy!!!

Thanks to pinterest, I found this site (you can find it here:  Sugardoodle) that has templates for printing on your sticky notes.   The site gives great instructions.  Really all you do is open the template and print out the blank squares on the a piece of paper.  Then you can add text to the boxes on your computer and add little images.  When you are ready to print, put the sticky notes (facing the same way) onto the squares and run it through the printer!  Since I'm a perfectionist, I went ahead and made the boxes on the template white when I was ready to print so they wouldn't print black squares around the sticky note.  

Here are some examples of how I have used mine:

1.   Seating arrangement.  Our theme this year is Superheroes, so I printed out everyone's name and put a super hero picture on it.  In the mornings, I have about 10 regular ed students come in my room and I teach an intervention class along with my students.  It's crazy.  I gave all of my students their own superhero and used the same ones for the regular ed students.  This made making small groups very easy, and the kids just thought it was a coincidence that everyone was in a group with one of my students.  I just said, "Everyone who has batman on their sticky note...You are a a group."

So as not to violate FERPA, here are the extras I had printed out just in case new faces not on my role showed up and needed a name tag too.  The kids loved them, and I can easily just pick them up and move them to another seat the next morning with their sticky notes! 

2.  Student Behavior Intervention

 I have a student who has difficulties controlling his behaviors.  When you verbally redirect him, he starts arguing and become very defensive and aggressive.  So, I thought, what else can I print on sticky notes...Behavior Reminders!  I made 3 to start out with to address his most difficult classroom behaviors.  It worked like a charm.  

I introduced the sticky notes when we were going over his work, so it was non-threatening and I presented them to him in a fun way.  He liked the sticky notes, and thought the pictures were funny, especially the yoga girl.  We acted out how to be calm, how to pay attention, and how to work at an appropriate pace--not quickly like the Tasmanian Devil!!  So, he knew the expectations and thought this would help him.

Later on in the day, when he started getting too crazy at his seat, I would put the "Calm down" sticky on his desk, and he would sit still, take a deep breath, and refocus.  Then, when I felt he was calm, I just put it back on the wall.  He started to self-regulate his behaviors by taking Calm Down sticky himself when he could tell he was about to get out of control.  And this was only day 1 with them!!!  WOW!!!!!  I was so happy!!!!!

 

He faces the doors (it just hold the AC unit inside...not storage) because he is the kind of student who actually benefits from having a wall in front of him.  So I just have the sticky notes up there so he can see them and know what he is supposed to be doing, and if he is not doing one of those, I will not say anything but instead, take one off the wall, and stick it on his desk.  The proud teacher moment really came when he was taking care of it himself.  

Classroom Set Up

It's back to school time!
Some teachers are back in school.  Some teachers are sitting in professional developments secretly wishing they could be working in their classrooms.  And some are still soaking up the last bits of summer sun!  Oh how I envy you!  There's few things I love more than summer sunshine! 

Here in the 405, we finished up our first week of school.  My new incoming 6th graders are so sweet, wonderful, and precious!  They are social little bugs who just want to love and be loved!

In this post, I'll share some pictures of my classroom and general set-up.  Most self-contained teachers typically have larger rooms, with sinks, kitchenettes, washer dryer hook ups, fancy furniture.  Luckies.  Nope, I rock the standard square room with single student tables.

I rejoiced the day I moved into this classroom and got to leave the chairs-attached-to-the-desks behind!  I'm sure reg ed loves them...but not this SPED teacher!  During a meltdown, I'd much rather have the kid chunk the desk and the chair separately, thank you very much.  The other does way more damage.

Also, I can't stand sterile white Special Ed classrooms.  "Too much visual stimulation," they say.  So far, I've only reaped the benefits of a happy colorful classroom.  I think visual stim is good for kids.

This is the wall you see when you first walk in the room.  Over the "buckets" we post our classroom rules/social contract.  Each student has a folder for each subject.  Their work is always kept in their folders (including bellwork!) and they simply get it at the beginning of class, turn in their work in a separate basket, and put their folders back in the buckets!  It's a great flow and structure for my group.  They quickly learn that the expectation is to walk in, get their folders, and start working!  It's amazing for when I have a phone call or need to handle something with a student in the hall, the kids have their routine and follow it.

I fixed up cheap magazine organizers from ikea (the store adored by college kids and teachers alike).  I keep copies of all class activities or worksheets that are passed out to everyone in the corresponding day's bin.

Above is also my generic scale for student monitoring.  Gotta love Marzano!  Even kids who lack self-reflection are supposed to self-reflect and their teacher gets to be graded on how well they self-reflect.  But, whatever, I'll comply.

The black stacker trays will get the kids names on them and put their graded papers to take home there.  I make the kids put them in the trays to practice filing.  

And in the same corner!!!  Pencil sharpener...Pencils...Turn in basket...Not finished basket...dry erase markers...another red bucket (soon to be used for my intervention class for reg ed kids)...and my favorite poster which I refer to often when the kids are whining about being at school, then they tell me it's sooooo annoying.  Gotta love middle school.

This bookshelf is on it's last leg.  A teacher friend found it for me at a thrift store (they just gave it away).  I tightened the screws and hoped for the best.  The dry erase slates keep it grounded and stable.  If only it were worth spray painting!


Let's see if I can explain this not finished bucket and the use of folders.  In their folders, I have their activities for the week.  If at the end of the week they haven't finished what is in their folders, it goes in the not finished basket and they must work on that when they have down time or a reward day (I'm so mean).  It keeps unfinished work from getting misplaced or confused with their regular daily work.

These were an inspiration by my best friend who teaches one of the autism rooms in Norman.  Little buckets from Michaels $1 each in all of the colors.  They can keep their pencils here, a little calculator, highlighters, and I have a little spiral in them to keep documentation.  It's the best method I have so far of being able to document things when I'm working at their desks without having to stop, get up, find their data charts, and write things down.  Here I can just date it, write in it while I'm working with them, put it back, and it's all good to go.  Boom.  Documentation. Documentation. Documentation.

Also, everything they generally need is in their seats so my one student who, when he used to get up to get something and bother everything along the way, has no need to be up out of his seat during work time.

Back corner.  Materials!!!  We kind of have a theme of cats around here.   And you see my favorite quote.  I heard it at a yoga class and found it totally appropriate for my population of kids.  Ok...baskets for markers, colored pencils, and crayons.  The red bins have things the kids can do when they are done with work (flashcards, little puzzles, picture cards, just little things) as well as all the little manipulatives they need to help them.  The hanging file folders have little academic worksheets there as another option to do when they are finished early.  Nobody ever goes there--hmmm...I wonder why!  But I tell you what, it's good to have when lesson plans fall through, or you need a little something to do for the next few minutes.

This is my work in progress.  More cats.  :D
Passes are behind the actual picture of my cat.
This was a nasty shelf in the hall I just spray painted.
Yeah.  It's a sad little shelf craving purpose.  But we'll get there.
Dismissal checklist--thanks pinterest!!!!!

My desk!  Nothing fancy other than my sweet turquoise rolling cart from...you guessed it...IKEA!!!  And a vintage chair another teacher was throwing out!  Ummm...it's turqoise and oh so cute!  The kids pull this around when they sit at my desk with me and we work on things on my computer.  Fat cat and a bee!!!  My fiance told me I couldn't keep that bee candle holder in our place when we get married, so I repurposed it into a pen holder.  Win-Win.  Also, this is probably the only time it's ever going to be this clear of items.  I'm a piler. 



That's it for now.  It's a long one.  Sorry for the doozy here!!!
Welcome to my little square room where we do extraordinary things happen everyday!



Happy Back To School everyone!!
-Sticka

Hello!

Another teaching blog!  I'm just starting out with the blogging world, writing about the way I run my classroom.  I teach a middle school self-contained Mild/Moderate Intellectual Disabilities classroom which include students of all diagnoses including autism.  I've had as few as 4 students in a given year all the way up to 16, all with one assistant!  If you teach in a classroom like mine, you know there are many victories and defeats in a day.  Sometimes I think I have it all under control, and other times, not a clue where to start!  I'm hoping to share the great things I do in my classroom to help inspire others and be a part of a greater special ed teaching community!

Start of school is just around the corner! 

Let the wild rumpus start!