Surviving the "Jungle"!

We survived the first week of school!

What an amazing and challenging first week for all of us!  The kids did great considering all the demands we put on them.  As I lovingly tell David's mom and dad, " I know its a good day when the kids are mad at me....it means I did my job!"  But yet they still all hug Ms. Krystal and I at the end of the day.  We keep them safe, we keep them entertained and we keep on chugging along so we can keep learning.  OK so what did we do this week?  On our first day we took a few pics....some of our guys were not willing to stand still, who would want to in a bright new room of fun things to explore.

Chase L. On his first day in K-1 room!  He didn't want to give his award winning smile right here....you just wait.  Melt your heart he will!

C. D. has a question..."So Ms. S can I keep the hat?"

"I don't know about this lady.." says Jonathan!

Andre had never met me....these other guys have known me for awhile so kudos to him for having such a great first day!  Trust me he smiles too!

Welcome back Chris I missed you!!!!!!

Hey Keegan!!!  I got a huge hug after this super sweet grin!

Hmm where is Kaenan? I swore he was here somewhere....

We also made Kissing Hands...from our first book!

WHY CAN'T I FLIP THIS!!!!!!!

In a CSS unit ( or autism class) rituals, routines and consistency are key to a child understanding and accepting their surroundings.  Is it going to happen over night? NO...will it happen in a week? NO....but small steps towards a much larger goal are in the works, and these boys did GREAT!  

Early in the week we just moved center to center learning the class and learning Mrs. S's rules and whats a " no-no!"  With Ms. Krystal helping to block certain areas, and redirecting children we were able to get a pretty well moving class!  Is this hard work parents? YES!  You know how hard it is at home....well we have 10 kiddos!  How does that Duggar lady do it!!!  I'm exhausted!

Andre is learning no chairs on the rug....we sit outside the cirle to make room! He loves the smart board!

Always a favorite, sort and find miniatures!

C.D. loves the horse puzzle and will work one on one with me to do it!

Matthew is having a blast with this "GIANT computer" he loves the smartboard....

All our guys learning to sit outside the circle.  It makes circle time more fun when we can see!

Chase L. LOVES LOVES hugs and squeezes from Ms. Krystal!

Mid week we were starting to push a little harder having them sit longer in each center.  We started doing group activities and introducing more and more to each child based on ability.  We even made play-doh!  That was a time consuming but awesome activity that all the kids loved to do!  Keegan was a super star even making a Chicken out of the playdoh....and my goodness does it ever look like a chicken!!!

Flour and salt...

Measuring and mixing

molding the clay

Forming the chicken....

Keegan's CHICKEN!

By Friday they were all checking schedule some with assistance and some on their own.  We completed our first true academic based project on Friday in work with teacher time and I was SUPER impressed!!  In our room we run the gamut of ability from matching letters in our name through error-less choice, all the way to writing our own name with visual support.  We practice name writing on the smart board so it is nice and big and the children can use a pen or their finger, then we practice on paper with a visual.  Being able to recognize your name is crucial in the classroom setting as everything is either color coded or has their name or picture.  

 After this we worked on actually either matching name letters or writing their names...

David matched all the letters in his name even when they were out of order! Awesome David!

Chase L. loves mini pop tarts and would match each letter of his name when I gave him a special treat! Way to go Chase! (I work for food too buddy....)

Jonathan did a great job writing his name!

What is a K-1 room without a little structured play time?

Keegan LOVES to sort... Ms. S does NOT like to clean it up though! lol

David has been camera shy all week...I will be getting one of his toothy grins on camera....I am determined!

Keegan said, " Say cheese!"

David loves our new home made playdoh!

Don't let that pouty lip fool you.  Time out with Mrs. S often leads to wearing her glasses ;)

Snack is a structured learning time too!

Just so there is no confusion!  We work on making sure everything is on the place mat where is belongs for breakfast and snack time!

We also had the opportunity to do a structured art project based on our new book of the month, " Wild About Books".  We read the book and showed images of wild animals.  We then chose another story about a wild animal called  a panda and we used black paint to create their own version of a Panda.  The best part was the googly eyes....who doesn't love huge google eyes!

Well I hope you enjoyed your child's first week in K-1!  Feel free to leave me any comments or send them in your childs planner!!!  So happy to have them in my room.  They are all a joy!

Class challenge of the week: 
Not enough hours in a day!
Class goal of the week:
Using safe hands
 (I was not going to put this goal initially, but I think it is important to be honest and to work with our kids to understand acceptable behavior.  Nothing to be ashamed of, all children need to learn safe, quiet hands.)

Parent question of the week:  
"Where are the academics?"  For our class the academics come through real life exploration and social skills training in the room daily.  Once they learn the rules and routines in the classroom they can be pushed harder to work on more academic based activities.  For now, keeping them engaged and willing to work in any capacity is most important. Each child is individualized and I work with them to their fullest current potential!

 Please keep the questions coming I love to answer them and they keep the blog interesting!


Coming up next week?   More to do with wild animals to round out and finish our book of the month which technically is all of September as well.  We will soon start our introduction to Fall.  Seasonal concepts are difficult for our friends so we really go over the top with fall decor and what not.  Feel free to donate any decorations to the class to decorate our seasons bookshelf!  We will be exploring apples and even making applesauce in the class crock pot! Apples are always welcome too!  Stay tuned!


Special thanks this week to my mother who really helped support me on a daily basis via telephone/texting.  She is my personal free editor for the blog too! Thanks Mom!