Making Critter In A Soap!

The students made "Critter In A Soap! This was a fun activity and very easy to do. 

The ingredients and supplies

We melted glycerin soap in a microwavable measuring cup, added fragrance and color, and then poured into the plastic egg.  

Duct tape was used to seal holes and opening of the egg to make sure no leaks occurred. The glycerin was pour in one side of the egg and cooled for an hour or so, and we did the same thing to other side of the egg and connected both pieces. The kids removed the soap from the egg. We did have issues with filling the glycerin inside of the plastic egg and connecting the two parts. Overall, they turned out nice.  

Painting In The Classroom

One of the main relaxation activities I share with my students is the love of painting and drawing.
I found this activity on Pinterest, and my students had a great time painting on canvas. I found packs of 10 (8x11) canvas on sale for less than $10.00!

Look at what they created:

Use painters' tape to form designs before painting

This student decided to paint a police officer

Sewing With Felt

For this project, the students made pillows using templates for the letter of their first name. I was extremely nervous about allowing the students to use needles and pins! As extra precaution, they were given expectations for use of tools and materials. 

The students practiced on their blanket stitching abilities prior to cutting and sewing the pillows. For my younger students, I cut out the letter and had my para-professionals to work closely with them. 

Here is an example of one of the pillows:

Templates used for each student

This student added dots!

Jewelry Art In The Class

Often I am on the hunt for activities that are creative, fun, and relaxing for my students to enjoy. Each week during the school year, students are able to participate in Fun Friday. This is part of my positive behavioral management system in which students earn additional activities and other rewards. 

This activity involved the students making necklaces and earrings for their mothers and caregivers. It was interesting to see the level of student engagement and stamina while creating their sets. They were able to collaborate ideas and help peers that struggled with design or construction of their sets. Here are the finished projects!

Students creating patterns and color schemes

The finish project

Crafting In Class!

Each month we feature a class crafting project. It is the highlight of the month, and the students really enjoy having the chance to express themselves creatively. I view this time as a way to teach the students activities that assist them with relaxation or "calm down" activities.  The students take great pride and ownership of their talents and abilities. 

I found this painting project on Pinterest and decided to share it with my students. Here is some of their works.

 Working with students with emotional and behavioral disabilities can often be a challenge with fostering a class environment that promotes compassion and tolerance of all students. One of strategies used with my students is called "Peer Praising." 

This strategy helps students in building the level of self-esteem of other peers through positive comments and feedback about their work and efforts. This has been a powerful social skill building tool, and it is amazing to see the reactions of the students after receiving a compliment from their peers. 



The students did an amazing job!

Wholistic Teaching: Weekly Positive Parent Contact

Wholistic Teaching: Weekly Positive Parent Contact: My first job teaching was at a center for students with severe emotional and behavioral disabilities.  One could say that the job...

Weekly Positive Parent Contact

My first job teaching was at a center for students with severe emotional and behavioral disabilities.  One could say that the job had its share of demands and complexity. I learned in college and through my own life experiences that parents were key to a successful school year. During my first year of teaching, I noticed that 85% of my calls went directly to voice mail. Often times the calls to parents were never returned or parents were not exactly cheerful about hearing from me. 

One day when calling about a student’s inappropriate behavior, at parent gave me an ear full. In short, their message was “you people only call me for the bad things my child does. Has my child been successful in doing anything good?” The response impacted my life, and I put myself in that parent’s shoes. How would I feel if the teacher or school only contacted me with negative phone calls about my child? I would be reluctant to answer calls and would probably be on the defense when it came to dealing with concerns of the teacher.

Since that day many years ago, I have strived to build better teacher-parent relationships. I have made it a mission to call parents weekly to inform them of the awesome qualities of their child.  Each Friday I make time to contact each of my parents to address their child’s strength and amazing qualities they possess.  When the class engaged in a special project or activities, I text the parents pictures of their child learning or having fun. The feedback is simply wonderful. Every once in a while my students are instructed to call and check on up on your parents day. Each student contacts their parent to see how their day is going and to let them know students are thinking of them during the day.  This seems like a lot of work and it is! 

There are benefits to a good teacher-parent relationship:

1.          Demonstrates a supportive and caring environment.
2.      Parent observation of the time and effort that invested in their child.
3.          Establishes a collaboration that is mutually respectable
4.          Maintains an open line of communications
5.          Builds the level of parent trust
6.          Helps greatly to improve student behavior
7.           Increases parent volunteers

This job is not easy and it does not help matters if I’m defensive when addressing a parent concern. Sometimes we have to grin and bear it, but try to avoid personality conflicts, miscommunication, or misconceptions about what goes on in the classroom. I have learned to listen because often they need a shoulder to lean on. An effective teacher knows the value of effective and positive communication.