Welcome to my room!
I teach Functional Life Skills in a centralized classroom, so I will have students from 6th grade to 12th grade. My self-contained classroom provides individualized instruction for students with multiple disabilities, who may be medically fragile, and have varying levels of independence. Our students require significant support with essential life skills like personal hygiene, self-care, social interaction, communication, and participation in daily routines.
Take a look at our room and how I’ve set things up to support students across academic, adaptive, communication, and social emotional areas!
Our “Main” Group Area
In my classroom, we have round tables. This one we consider our main group table. It is closest to the board so that we can do things together. I’ve added a slanted single desk to one side for a student to be able to reach the table and his adapted buttons while in his wheelchair. It’s still a part of the group table.
At our group table, we do morning meeting first. I have adapted my morning meeting slides to interact with switches and pre-recorded buttons for students to respond to the slides. I like to utilize a daily calendar and weather routine because it allows us practice in communication, decision-making, and independence. It helps us to build a daily routine and anticipate upcoming activities on the calendar. I have included music because my students absolutely love it.
Switch Table
When group work is complete, the group table turns into a switch table. We use this same table to interact with switches and sensory crates or sensory stands. Students have fun with these items and it’s good for them to stretch their muscles while reaching for items, as well as interact with items that have a cause and effect. We can incorporate science concepts to this table while interacting with these items as well.
Reading Station
Another round table I have is for our Reading Station. During the afternoon, we meet at this table, in small groups or 1:1. It’s equipped with materials to adapt different reading materials for my students to engage with a variety of texts. I like to use adapted books so that my students can answer with visuals or choose an answer. We also have eye gaze mats ready as well as adapted grasp materials so that students may use these items to choose an answer from a set of visuals.
Sensory Station
I have a sensory station with this sensory table that I scored at a thrift store. When I saw it, I thought, “Oh I have to do SOMETHING with that!”
So I portioned off a small part for a sensory “bin” that includes dry beans, colorful bean bags, and colorful pom pons. I’ve also left some tweezers in the bin so that students can use them to practice those fine motor skills by picking up the items.
The other side of the table is an open space with raised sides. This is a great area for adapted toys. I have an adapted bubble maker (that I made myself!) and an adapted toy duck that walks and quacks when the switch is pressed. I like this table because the duck cannot walk off the side and the bubbles have a safe place to land that won’t make our floor slippery. Bonus – we’ve also done art projects with the bubble machine by adding watercolors to dish soap and blowing the bubbles onto paper. My student was able to push a switch to create bubble art.
Sensory Room
We have a small separate room that is full of sensory items. The floor is lined with mats for student safety and comfort when they’re moving around on their knees or laying down.
We also have some preferred items like a student’s favorite cajon (drum) and keyboard, and the cabinet outside of the room is filled with different sensory and fine motor games and items. The TV was mounted on the wall before this classroom became mine, and we don’t typically turn it on.
Life Skills Areas – Kitchen
We have a classroom kitchen with large appliances. We use the kitchen daily to assist with meal preparation for students’ breakfasts and lunches. I do also like to cook in the classroom with student help. We’ve used a blender with adapted switch to make salsa! I also love the visual recipes like these to include students in making choices in cooking activities.
Life Skills – Bathroom
In our classroom bathroom, we have a shower, washer and dryer, changing table, and shelving (not pictured) to keep student supplies organized. In this area, we can work on students assisting in their daily self-care activities – personalized to their specific needs.
Floor and Movement
We also have soft foam mats on the floor for students to be able to move out of their wheelchairs and safely be on the floor. This area has our sensory bar, which is available for students on the floor or students to come right up to the items in their wheelchair.
Music Station
Because our students really love and respond to music, we incorporate it in our learning frequently. This area is utilized a lot for music. We have a cart of musical instruments, a sensory crate to interact with musical instruments, and an adapted musical tool.
We also use switches to have the students be in charge of playing music.
Task Boxes and Learning Tools
I absolutely love this shelf to organize task boxes! I have many different types of task boxes available for students to complete. With assistance, or with adapted technology, students can complete academic tasks or life skills tasks, all contained in a lovely little box.
Read more about task boxes here, and get these visuals here.
These classroom shelves are where we keep a majority of our materials. I don’t really have a closed closet space, so it’s all open on these shelves currently (which I understand would definitely not work in every classroom!)
Here, we have our art supplies in bins to be pulled as needed for different projects. I love to incorporate art and sensory in where ever I can. I’ve velcro attached this eye gaze frame here with color choices so that students can make choices for their art. So far, we love to use adapted bubble art and art spinner wheels. I’m excited to bring in more and more!
Psst – the crates at the end hold our Morning Meeting binders and Morning Work!
IEP Bins
This shelf next to our board holds a lot of extra supplies, but this is also where I keep our IEP Bins. These are great to grab and have all the supplies you need to tackle IEP goals. Each student has their own color coded bin.
Learn more about IEP Bins here (PLUS a free webinar!)
This is our happy place. Let me know what you think!
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