Classroom Photos and Video Tour 🙂

Woohoo! I worked my little tush off all week and my classroom is done! It’s not 100% but it’s ready for my kids. I’m excited to share it with you all and hear your feedback!

I’m going to go section by section with photos and video tour (sorry about what a sweaty disgusting mess I am in the videos – it was 95 all day yesterday which means my classroom was about 970 degrees).

 

Schedule area:

Morning Group Area:

Work Station, Language, and Reading:

Teacher Desk, Computers, and Break Area:

 

 

 

AM Routine and Teacher Time:

 

 

Table Time and Storage:


 

Thanks for checking out my home away from home 🙂

 

 

Check out other classroom photos at Teaching Blog Addict’s Blog Hop!


19 Comments

  1. Wow! I am in awe of your organization, structure, and expertise. Your room is AWESOME! Thanks for taking the time to make a video and share your resources on TpT. Just a couple of questions:
    1. When using “I am working for…” cards – after the student earned his reward, I assume he goes immediately to the reward. This is a diversion from his written schedule, so do you set a timer? How does he know when the reward time is over and it is time to check his schedule again? 2. Do the station names remain the same all year? For morning group, is ONLY morning group done at this table? When it is time to cook, do students just know to come to the morning group table? I guess I am asking if the students do the same activities at the same station all the time. My room is not that big, and we need to do several types of activities at one large table. It would be hard to call that table “reading” or “morning group” because multiple things are done there. Any thoughts on what I can call that multi-purpose table? Thank you again for sharing so much. I have ordered many of your resources on Tpt. I don’t have Boardmaker access! Thanks for providing resources and so much help on ways to use them. I check your blog daily. Have a great year!

    Reply
  2. Thanks so much for your super sweet feedback Mary!! So great to hear 🙂

    So your questions:
    1. “I am working for …” card – yes, the student gets the reinforcer immediately after earning all stars. If it’s an edible (candy, chip, etc.) he gets it at that station and then continues on his schedule. If it’s an activity like iPad, computer, break etc. I sometimes use a visual timer – for students with higher receptive language I usually just give them a minute warning for when they will be done and then prompt them to transition to next thing on their schedule. For students with lower receptive language/more problem behaviors – I sometimes use the “I am working for …” card to help transition to the next activity. Ie. they get a star for handing over iPad cooperatively when adult tells them they are done, they get another star for checking their schedule, another for going to next center, etc. That way they are always ‘working for’ something. Again for students who are higher, once you get into this routine and they know they will be able to earn reinforcer again (you can use simple language such as first work time, then iPad again) they are usually cooperative about checking schedule when you tell them. You could always add a punishment or response cost aspect if this is becoming a problem (maybe losing a star or losing time with next break etc.).

    2. Same stations all year? More or less yes – the work just changes based on students’ progress. For example for our flashcard station once the students masters 1st grade dolch they go on to 2nd grade Dolch or if a student is working receptive body parts, once they master 5 we add a new 5 etc. The writing station I will change content throughout the year. Science and social studies are thematic units. My work tasks (table time – the ones in the small bins) remain the same (kids just get new #s each day). 3 bin drawer work tasks we switch based on achieving mastery criteria (ie completing whole task with less than 2 prompts in 5 mins).

    Using tables for multiple use: Honestly I think this is totally okay, especially if you have limited space. We do use our morning group table for other uses such as guided reading groups and speech. My recommendation would be to use some kind of signal to indicate the switch. If you are using a picture schedule, you could velcro up the label picture and switch it out for stations. Or use certain tables for certain tasks based on times of the day, for example first thing in the morning we always use the main table for morning group but after lunch we always use that table for reading groups. I think as long as there is some kind of regular routine, your students will be able to pick up on that and then know what is expected of them at each station – which is the whole point of using tables only for specific activities.

    I hope this helps!!

    Reply
  3. WOW! I was taking notes while watching your videos:) Thank you so much for taking the time to make and post your videos. There were so many ideas I want to immediately implement in my classroom. If there were only more time in a day!! I will definitely be “favoriting” this post and coming back to it. This will be my 2nd year with a classroom for students with autism and I have so many things I want to differently and better than what I did last year!

    -Amy
    http://www.thepuzzlingworldofautism.blogspot.com

    Reply
  4. Wow! Your room looks great! I love how organized it is and I love your supply area. Thanks for linking up!

    Swimming into Second

    Reply
  5. Thank you so much for the video tour! I am moving from a resource room setting to a self-contained room this year and I was feeling really overwhelmed. This gave me so many ideas for how to manage centers while I work with small groups!

    -Becky
    Lesson plans & Lattes

    Reply
  6. I work with kids with disabilities. I am a recent grad. I have done some work with kids with autism, not a lot as my specialty is physical disabilities. but I am in love with your blog!!! I love how organized you are and how much you truly care about your students but also about helping others understand and be the best that they can be to help who they are working with!!
    I hope you have an awesome year!!! and an awesome first day

    Reply
  7. Thanks Courtney! Thanks for hosting the linky party!

    Reply
  8. Thanks Becky! Glad it was helpful 🙂

    Reply
  9. Thanks so much Amanda 🙂

    Reply
  10. Thanks Amy! I know – I’m always wishing for more time in the day! So glad you found the videos helpful!

    Reply
  11. Your site is great, you are so organized! Question for you – for your “Social Time” area, what are the three folders? “My Info” is one but what are the other two? I think that is a fantastic idea and I am going to implement that in my classroom!

    Reply
  12. Hi Katie!

    They are Greetings (pictures of the kids with different greetings on them – for nonverbal students to use to greet each other), My Info (personal info questions – what’s your address, what’s your age, etc.) and Social Time (variety of questions ranging from what’s you favorite food to how many brothers do you have to what season do you like etc.). We use these all the time and I think it really helps me students’ social skills! Adding the visual/script makes such a difference!

    Reply
  13. Wow! Thank you so much for spending time to take pictures and make these video clips for us. This is extremely helpful! I am a new grad and about to enter my first year of teaching kids with autism (K-2 grade). Most of my previous teaching experience was in Pre-K, General Education and Resource Room classes. So, while doing researches on how to set up an autism classroom, I came across your site. This post was the first one that I ve checked out from your site and I am going to implement these ideas definitely. I’ve learned a lot from you. I can’t help leaving comments to say thank you. Thanks for a zillion times!

    Reply
  14. I think the other comments summed it up but I just have to say it again WOW! I love your structure and organization. Thank you for sharing I will definitely be using some of your ideas. Thanks again Ewa

    Reply
  15. Thank you so much for your comments! I am so happy you have found it helpful! Good luck in your new position 🙂

    Reply
  16. Thank you for reading and so happy you have found it helpful! 🙂

    Reply
  17. Thank you so much for sharing this site. I have been looking at various autism sites to help with organization and room structure and your site has everything I was searching for. I am so grateful you chose to share your expertise to help others be the best teachers possible for our students.
    Thank you again,
    Sabrina

    Reply
  18. Absolutely amazing job, and so helpful!

    Reply
  19. Thanks!

    Reply

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