Extended school year begins!

This was the first week of the 2010 extended school year for my students. For those of you who have no clue who I am or what I teach, I have severely autistic students with limited to no verbal skills.  Extended school year for us is Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday from 8:30 to 11:30.

Monday was a complete disaster. Aside from the new students we got sobbing, running down the hall screaming, slapping me, or standing on their head in my newly found "comfy" chair; two of the buses got lost, one of the bus attendants didn't show up, two kids didn't bring their snack, we were an assistant short, and I have apparently lost my absolute mind for choosing this profession. When 11:30 came around, this is dismissal time, we had actually made it through 1/2 of our schedule, which was absolutely amazing considering that we started the day about an hour and a half late. We got the kids on their respective buses, to the daycare at the school, or in the cars with the parents, and somehow, we did not lose or misplace a single child. I was impressed. When you are working with 80+ kids, and most of the teachers don't know their students, we just pray that the system that our supervisors works, and it did. After standing around and complaining to my fellow teachers and assistants about what an insane day and how unhappy my kids were, I left.

Tuesday and Wednesday were so much better.  Much more calm, and we completed so much more.  Everyone was much happier to be back in school.  

Overall though, I was glad I got to see my students. It is amazing how much you get attached to the little boogers. You miss their smiles, their laughs, and sometimes, you even miss them grabbing at your throat in protest to something you are trying to have them do. That may sound like I am being sarcastic, But I am not. Sometimes, the things that the kids do in protest bring so many things that I do in my life into prospective. How many times when I am mad at my husband do I want to grab his throat to express my displeasure? What about banging my head on the table when I am frustrated? Or throwing something that isn't working the way it should be? This is one of the reasons I think I work well with my students. I get them, I get their behaviors, I get the way they act. Sometimes I think that we think alike.

On a side note, I get a lot of people who want to know what my classroom looks like, so I'm going to post a couple of pictures for you!  I hope you enjoy.

This is my book/break center.  Lots of bean bags, pillows, a nice cozy rug, blinking christmas lights, and board books for my students to look at.  I also have the option to turn off 1/2 my classroom lights, and the one directly over this turns off, which is nice.

Circle time!!  We do between 2-3 circle times each day.  We do morning circle, language circle, and story circle.  Most of what you see on the board is for morning circle.  Normal things you would do with kindergarten like weather, calendar, what to wear, recognizing their printed name, etc.  I got that rug for 50 bucks thank you very much! :D

This is the workbasket center, which is modeled off the TEACCH method.  On both sides there are sets of workbaskets for the students to complete.  Each set has 4 workbaskets, but two of my students complete two sets (or 8 workbaskets).  All of the activities in the workbaskets are self correcting, and things that have already been taught to them.  This is kind of like their "drill and skill" time.