Inclusion Box

I have talked before about what I carry around in my inclusion bag, but I also keep an inclusion box in some of the classrooms I work in.  This box is usually for students who are working below grade level, have 1:1 adult support, and in larger districts may be in a self-contained classroom.

The contents of the box are various activities that the student can work on while in the inclusion classroom,  when the work being done by the class may be too much or when the class has some free choice or independent centers.  The items are often review and activities that I have already provided direct instruction with.  The box I currently have set up is for a Kindergarten student so that activities I am going to share are based around that particular students needs.

The Essentials:

The first thing I always include is a pencil box (or a zipper pouch) with dry erase markers, an eraser, a die, and sometimes pencils/crayons. I also may include fun erasers or counters.   I try to make sure that everything needed to complete the tasks is in the box.   This makes it easier for the adult working with the student and the student to stay on task.

Math activities:

The first thing I have is a number puzzle.  This is just a basic puzzle that I bought at the dollar store.  Sometimes my student does this for fun, sometimes to practice their number identification. 

The next activity is self-correcting puzzles that I found on the giveaway table a few year ago.  The student has to count the dots and match with the correct number.  At this time, we do hand over hand to help the student count the dots. 

Another number activity is simply the numbers 1 - 10 that can be traced with dry erase markers.  The numbers are printed 1 to a page and put into sleeve protectors.  I then put all of the pages into a binder. 

Other times during the year I may include shapes, count a clip cards, and simple addition activities.

Language Arts Activities: 

This particular student is still working on letter recognition so they have a letter puzzle, again from the dollar store. 

There is also 2 sets of uppercase letter cards that allow the student to match letter to letter. 

Another activity is the prewriting pages.  I have various levels of difficulty of these and I have ones for different themes and times of the year.  

The last thing includes is another binder.  This one has all of the letters of the alphabet for the student to practice tracing.

Extras:

I also include a folder that has simple worksheets in it that can be used as needed.  These include tracing practice, cutting practice, number identification, letter identification or anything else that I may add in there. 

Do you keep anything particular in classes where your students are in the inclusion setting?

Clothes Pin Color Match Work Task

I was working on another literacy box similar to the ones I made when I developed the pirate hand puppet and the pirate rhyming  and made this activity to go with it.  The box I was working on was focusing on Planes and Trains with a particular focus on color words.  I dug out some of my kids Popsicle sticks (I couldn't find the colored one!  They are buried in a box somewhere.) and used  markers to color one of each.  I then made another stick that had the same color words on them.  I used the small clothespins that I found at A.C. Moore and colored three for each color.

  

I had both my 3 year old and my 6 year old try it out.  The loved it and both were able to complete the task.  This task works on fine motor skills, matching, and reading color words.  You could differentiate a bit more by using larger clothes pins and Popsicle sticks. 

Count and match hearts

I made this task for one of my kiddos who is working on 1:1 correspondence.  I am hoping that being able to feel what he is counting will help with the input and make it easier for him.

To make the hearts:

I used foam sheets and heart die cut.  I have also seen heart foam shapes at Target and the Dollar store.  I then cut the hearts in half using various craft scissors (just like these ). Next, I took some left over puffy/fabric paint that we had from another project and started making dots on the left side of the heart.  I then wrote the corresponding number on the matching right side of the heart.

To use:

The student counts the dots and finds the matching number.  The student then needs to try to match the heart halves together to see if they fit.

My student was able to count up to 5 dots independently, but needed hand over hand assistance to count the higher dots.

This was a well-liked task in my classroom and I am planning to make a few more just like it using different die cuts to fit into our various themes.

I am linking this task up with Christine over at Autism Classroom News for her monthly Workbasket Wednesday. I am just a few weeks late. Oops!!!

To find more great ideas head over to the Linky to see what else has been shared.  You can also find more work boxes I have made by clicking here!

Also, don't forget to see what freebie is in store for you today through the Special Education Secret Valentine hop!

Work box Wednesday.... A few days late

            

It is time for the monthly linkup at Autism Classroom news for workboxes..... I am just running a few days late.  I made a work box for one of my students this week.  He has not started it yet, so I am hoping it goes ok!  

I will fill you in later this week.  My students have been working on sorting by size, but only two sizes: big & little.  I want to add to their vocabulary and challenge them a bit.  I came up with this work box to sort these bears by size.  I have no idea where these bears came from as they were in the room when I moved in.   The sorting container came with a train set my son got for his birthday.  I saved it just knowing I would use it someday.   I made the labels in board maker, laminated them, and just taped them down.  I did not make them showing pictures of the Bears so that I could easily change out then manipulative.  I wrote the word, small, medium, and large instead of using boardmaker because I wanted it in color and I didn't have a color printer to access. To do the task the student simply sorts by size in the appropriate section of the tray.  I honestly do not expect them to stand the Bears up all neatly like I did, but you never know!   I can't wait to see how this goes tomorrow!  

To find more great ideas head over to the Linky to see what else has been shared.  You can also find more work boxes I have made by clicking here!

 

Using old magnets quick tip!

Hello!  Raise your hand if you thought I was a gonner!  Sorry about that, things have been a bit crazy.  I am teaching K-2  this year along with a 2 year old class.  I also started Grad school.  I have been working on trying to balance everything out.

 I have done really well with getting my school work done at school and today while making a task box I thought "I should blog about this!".  So I just want to share a quick tip with you on how I get magnets to create magnetic stuff.    

You know all of this magnetic business cards you get for free or the magnetic calendar that the PTO gives out every year (maybe it is just my school)?  Those magnets are perfect for repurposing!  All I do is cut the magnet to size, then put hot glue on the used side (the side with writing).  Then I stick it to whatever I need to be magnetic.  Simple right!?

I hope this little tip saves you lots of money.  Ask your friends and family for all of their old business card magnets.  Put a post on Facebook or Freecycle.  I am sure there are plenty that can be reused!