Welcome to my website!

  I am hopeful that this will be a place that you can get more details about what is going on here at school as well as links to valuable information for you to use at home.

Room Setup:
Did you know that our classroom runs on a STACK (structured teaching for autism and communication delayed kids) approach?  This is a valuable asset to our learning environment as it allows for independence and differentiation to be imbedded into every activity.   In our room there is a rotation board.  This has every area of the room and every student's name on it.  As I need them to move I move their names around and they are able to know exactly where to go and what to do just by that.  The areas and activities are directly taught before hand and then they quickly are able to navigate the classroom independently with that one little cue.

Pictures are used throughout the room to help the students better communicate with us and us with them.

Here students use magnets to select what they would like to want given picture and written choices.

Curriculum:  The State of Ohio has come up with an Extended version of the Common Core for students with disabilities that are participating in the alternate assessment instead of the state OAA tests. These standards directly link to the regular standards and are made in grade bands.  K-2 and 3-5.  

To make my lesson plans I am following the regular education pacing guides (what needs taught each semester) and have linked these to the extended standards.   'I can' statements hang on the board each week to give a visual cue to the kids and to myself to our learning targets for the week.  

Behavior and Social Growth:
Our building is adopting the Seven Habits of Happy Kids for our overall core values.  This is very exciting!  Many other schools around the country are using this program and have had great success.  I'm so excited about it I'm even using it with my own children at home.  On our behavior board the Seven Habits are there along with our 'Ready to Learn' chart and our sticker charts.  Students earn stickers based on good choices and can turn in a completed sticker chart for a prize in the prize box. :)

Please let me hear from you if you enjoy using and will frequently check this website.  In the past there has be little to no traffic and therefore it wasn't updated.  Send me an email or write me a note if you have seen this. :) Thanks!!