Congrats! You got the job! Now what?

Be it your first job or a new position or program, setting up a new classroom can be overwhelming. If you don’t know where to start, The Autism Helper’s got you covered. Here are my top five must-haves for starting a new classroom.

Leveled Daily Curriculums

These are worth every single penny. If you are overwhelmed by your students’ diverse abilities and you are wondering how you’ll teach everything, this is your answer. I use every single level and curriculum The Autism Helper makes in my own classroom. They are lifesavers. Leveled Daily Curriculums are easy to prep, easy to use and easy to teach. Paraprofessionals could easily teach these curriculums. I give you tips on how to use them in this blog post. TPT has a sale a few times a year, making the Leveled Daily Curriculums 25% off. Stock up when this happens! 

Independent Work

Independent work has saved my classroom over and over. You can read more about it in this blog post. I’m a firm believer that every well-run classroom has a system for students to work on independent work. The Autism Helper offers a ton of different resources for you to use for independent work. Some of my favorites include Easy Matching Workbooks. These are basic matching and errorless tasks. Interactive workbooks are perfect for targeting more specific reading and math skills. Speaking of reading skills, Adapted Books are the perfect addition to any classroom. Any of these would make perfect independent work. 

Leveled Daily Homework

Another zero prep solution! Find your student’s level, print, and you are done! You can check out my homework mantra and the differences between the levels on this blog post. Once again, all the academic levels in my classroom are covered. Our jobs are way too difficult to spend too much time planning and prepping homework. This is the perfect solution. 

Paraprofessional Training Manual

One of the hardest parts of running a classroom is managing all of the other adults. Paraprofessionals are essential to the functionality of our classrooms, but they have to know what you need from them. The Paraprofessional Training Manuals are the perfect guide to training your paras. If you find that you are uncomfortable approaching training topics, this is a must. There are two parts to the guide, I use both!

Social Skill Rubrics

Tracking academic data and goals is hard enough. Tracking social skills and behavior goals is even harder. We all know that having concrete data is a must. These editable rubrics are perfect for measuring student progress with social skills and behavior goals. They give you a way to collect authentic, accurate data all on an easy to use rubric .

With these five tools in your hands, you’ll be set up and ready! You’ll have academics, behavior, social skills, para training and homework DONE! There is nothing better than a smooth running classroom, and these tools will help you achieve that goal.