An affirmation...

The current school year has come with many new challenges.  Our new Superintendent began her work with us in July and she came in with a bang.  There is no doubt that our district needs change, but, she really sent us into a tail spin.  We all started this school year wondering if what we were doing in our classrooms were the right thing.  Say what?!  Veteran teachers were beginning to question their pedagogy and methodology.  Greener teachers, like myself, saw this and began to tell ourselves that we had no idea what we were doing and that we definitely weren't going to make it.

No one wants to start the school year that way.  I knew that I wanted to start the new school year on a clean slate and that I wanted to have a great year.  I also knew that with every year I taught I was finding myself as an educator and that I was perfecting my craft.  So, to have these wants crushed before the first day of school seriously put a damper on things.

Today sometime happened that reaffirmed why I had wanted to become a teacher and that I was in fact a good one at that!

Two years ago I was beginning my second year of teaching.  I had been assigned to a new school.  A BIGGER school.  A HUGE school.  A school where I knew no one.  I hate change and I was SCARED.  I walked into school one week before school started and was told that I was going to have a cluster of Autistic students in my classroom and that I had to attend a "workshop" in 15 minutes to learn more about working with them.

The principal left.  I sat in my tiny, bare room and I cried.  This wasn't supposed to be this way.  I only had one year of teaching under my belt.  I AM NOT A SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER!  I CAN'T DO THIS!!!

I didn't know what to do other than cry and to call a former colleague/current classroom volunteer. I cried to her, I told her the situation.  She comforted me, I dried my eyes and I headed up to the "workshop".  Once I found my way to the conference room (this school is so confusing!) I saw two childhood friends sitting there.  I started to feel some relief.  They too were going to be working with Autistic students in their general ed classrooms at other schools.  Both of them had already had some experience with this; I knew I was in good company.

The meeting ended, I found my volunteer in my very empty and tiny room and we got right to work getting that room into shape.  I went home that night and I sobbed in my husbands arms.  He held me and told me that I could in fact do this and that I would be great at it.

The rest of that week I worked on getting my room ready and talked to my friends about working with the ASD students.  I also met the Speech Therapist, the Occupational Therapist and the Behavioral Therapists.  Talk about overwhelming!

Finally, the first day of school arrives!  I am feeling a bit better about things and I finally meet all 20 of those little people.  I see my four students who are part of the cluster.  "Okay, I can do this." I tell myself.  I soon learn that I do not have a paraprofessional assigned to the cluster yet.  Great.  Now what?  Luckily, my volunteer was with me that day and we made it through.  But, not without some challenges.  This is where my friend K comes in.  He was part of the cluster and by far the lowest functioning of them.  He was non-verbal, he couldn't sit on the rug like the rest of the students, he had a lot of stims, his fine motor skills were very limited and he had no academic skills.

Two weeks later I was finally joined by a paraprofessional and she was great!  She had experience working with students on the spectrum and was a tremendous help.  With the help of the para, the speech therapist, the occupational therapist and the behavioral therapists I began to learn more and more about how to teach students on the spectrum.  We made a fine team and by the end of December K was beginning to answer simple questions, sit on the rug with the rest of the students and was beginning to acquire color and shape recognition.  We continued to work hard with K as a team and by June he was able to carry a quick conversation, make eye contact, ask for help, recognize all colors and shapes, write his name and most letters and he was beginning to recognize some letters.  It was decided that he was to repeat Kindergarten and Mom was very adamant that he repeat it with me.

I was over joyed!  I was EXCITED!!  I was PROUD of myself!!!  When September came around K entered like any other student just beginning Kindergarten.  He had the same skill set that they did.  He continued to make huge gains that year and the team continued to work as hard as we could.  By June he knew all letters, letter sounds, numbers, could write his first and last name, could answer complex questions, could read some sight words and could add.  As I watched him get his "diploma" at graduation I stifled my urge to cry.  Although, they were happy tears!  He had come so far.  He did it!  WE DID IT!!

Fast forward to today, in K walks with the para.  He's holding a level 1 reading book in his hand. 

His para announces that he came to read to us.  My volunteer happened to be in today.  We were in luck.  We were going to need tissues.  Lots and lots of tissues.  K sat down next to me and he began to read.  He read every single word in that book.  He needed some coaching every now and again.  But, HE READ THE BOOK!  HE READ THE BOOK!!!!! Tears started to fall from my eyes as I gave him a big hug.  My volunteer rewarded him with two stickers and a hug as well.  I thanked the para for bringing him in to read to us.

That little visit reaffirmed everything for me.  I reminded me that I am a good teacher and that I do know what I am doing.  I feel blessed.  I feel so proud.  I feel like a true educator.

Finding Something They Like

  One of my ASD students is a repeater.  He was with me last year as well.  He came in without any language/communication skills, distracting stims and no basic preschool knowledge/skills.  By the end of the year last year, he was carrying conversations, wasn't stimming and was able to identify shapes and colors.  Unfortunately, he needed much more than that to go on to first grade.  This year I knew that we had to get him to master letter recognition, letter sound recognition, number recognition, etc.  I first wanted to tackle letter recognition. Last year, I had sent home a set of flashcards.  They were just handmade oaktag flashcards with just the letters on them.  This year, I had a great idea.  He loves superheros; all of them!  From Spiderman to Batman to the Incredible Hulk; he knew and loved them all.

  So, I jumped on Google and started searching.  I was very excited to have found a wonderful set of Superhero Alphabet Flashcards on TeachersPayTeachers!  If you'd like to check them out yourself, click here.  I printed and laminated two sets of the uppercase set.  I kept one at school and I sent the other set home.  He has been using them for almost a month now and he has gone from recognizing only 3 letters to recognizing 16 letters.  It has been AMAZING!  I am pretty sure he's going through a growth spurt because he can also recognize numbers 1-6 (numbers we have covered thus far) and he can also recognize all of his color sight words as well as the word "the".

  Myself as well as the other support staff keep marveling at how much he has changed over the last year.  It has been such an amazing transformation and he often brings tears to our eyes with his accomplishments.

What Are You Thankful For?

November is a month to reflect on what we are truly thankful for.  I center my Thanksgiving lessons around this as well as the history of the holiday.  Every year I have done a "Thinking Thankful Thoughts" lesson.  I begin the lesson with reading Thanks for Thanksgiving.

  Then, I discuss with the children what I am thankful for.  Once I have given them my list, I have each student tell me one thing that they are thankful for.  Sometimes this can be a difficult concept for the students on the spectrum, but, with the help of our para and some visual cues from the book, they can usually tell us.  After we have all taken a turn, I introduce the craft that we will make.  It begins with a piece of white paper that has been cut into a circle to fit on the inside of an orange paper plate.  This is where the students will draw what they are thankful for.  Once they have drawn their picture, they will then explain to the teacher what they are thankful for.  We write in their responses and help them to glue the paper into the middle of the paper plate.  When they are all completed, we put them out in the hallway into a pumpkin patch.  It ends up looking like this:

  So, there you have a fun and simple craft to display what the students are thankful for! 

Welcome!

  My name is Mrs. Sommer and I'd like to welcome you to my blog.  I am in no way a professional blogger, but, I thought that keeping a blog would help me remember the activities that I use each year.  I also thought it would be a great way to share my journey and my ideas as a teacher in an inclusive Kindergarten Classroom.

  This is my second year teaching an in and inclusive Kindergarten classroom.  This year I have a cluster of five students on the Autism Spectrum.  Their abilities range from very low to very high which definitely keeps me on my toes.  In addition to the five students on the Spectrum, I have 2 other students on IEPs (Individual Education Plans).  These students receive both Speech Therapy as well as Special Education Tutoring.  Aside from those 7 students, I have 15 other students who are not in need of any services at this time.  You might imagine that planning lessons in my classroom can prove to be a challenge!

  I am very lucky to have such a great set of colleagues who work as the support staff both in and out of my room.  With us everyday is our wonderful paraprofessional who works mainly with the 5 students on the Spectrum, although she does go above and beyond and helps with the other students when she can. I also collaborate with the Special Education tutor who works both in and and out of the classroom.  She has such wonderful ideas and suggestions on differentiation that I am so glad to have her as a colleague!  I also work closely with a Speech Therapist, an Occupational Therapist as well as some ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) Therapists.

  As this is only my second year teaching in an inclusive classroom, I still have lots of things to learn and I am always open to ideas and suggestions!  If you'd like to share them with me, please do!  My e-mail is: Mrs.Sommer12@gmail.com.  If you've stumbled upon my blog, I hope you enjoy it!