A daily classroom schedule for a Kindergarten Autism classroom is ESSENTIAL for students to have success in school. With a daily schedule in place, everyone will benefit including the teacher, staff, subs, and most importantly the students! Imagine if you had no schedule!? It would seem like udder chaos! Errands would be overlooked and appointments would most certainly be missed. I bet you would feel disorganized, anxious, lose track of time, and have no motivation. Well, the same goes for our students. A structured day will have less on-the-fly lessons, more confident students, no last minute plans, and clear expectations – which will, in turn, give ease to your day!
Daily Schedule Do’s and Dont’s
When creating a daily schedule for a Kindergarten Autism classroom, it is important to keep it as consistent as possible. Students thrive in knowing what to expect and relying on routines. Don’t forget when creating your schedule (especially at the beginning of the year) that for the most part, it is trial and error. It will take time for you to create a schedule, put it in place, and see how your student’s react. At times, you may think a whole group lesson would go great after lunch but then realize your students are too rowdy to sit in a big group. This is where trial and error comes in, you may need to move the whole group lesson to another part of the day or nix it all together!
Make sure not to forget service providers’ schedules. I have found it easiest to plug in services in place of what I had on the schedule. For example, if I had puzzles at 9:00 on Monday, but speech is doing group at that time, I simply do not do puzzles that day. I have found it easier to do this than trying to squeeze in puzzle time. Don’t forget that you may need to make individual schedules depending on student needs. Be sure you figure in all staff breaks, as this may take some time to figure out. The advice I have for this is to make sure recess and lunch with students are fully staffed. We all know how fast something can happen and you will want all hands on deck!
Daily Schedule for Kindergarten Autism Classroom Explained
Looking at this example of a schedule for kindergartners with Autism, it probably seems jam-packed. Don’t worry- it’s beneficial to our students because of the short attention spans and the need for movement breaks. Let’s dive deeper into my schedule and how it helps my students be successful and more independent by learning routines. Our school hours are 7:45-1:55, and 7:45-12:40 every Wednesday. Since I have a few TK students, their hours are 7:45-11:38 every day.
As you can see in my schedule, I split up my class; TK goes to snack/recess with general education TK students and my Kindergarten students go to lunch with general education kinder. Keep in mind that my ratio is 2:1, giving myself enough staff to do this safely. Having the schedule posted in a central location is necessary to staying on track. I also like to make picture icons for the students who are unable to read.
Another important aspect of implementing a daily schedule is keeping on track. The best way I have found to do this is the use of a visual timer. I love this one because as time passes the blue disc disappears, you can find it here: Visual Timer! (Affiliate link)
*Teacher Tip: Dedicate a portion of your white board to list all staff breaks as well as an “Important Information” spot. I like to list the month we are in, along with the following month. I like my para-educators to be well informed and I feel like this technique creates a more cohesive environment. In addition to having a daily schedule for a Kindergarten Autism classroom, I find this to be a very important aspect of a well-run classroom.
7:45 Backpack Routine, Morning Tub
Rise and shine!! I like to have a slow start to the day. I feel like our students do best when we ease into our schedule. Often times students have a hard time transitioning to school, so an expected morning routine helps a lot! Above is a visual of our backpack routine. Staff refer to it when students arrive with as minimal prompting as possible. Remember, we are trying to teach our students to be independent.
After they finish the backpack routine, students then choose a morning tub. These consist of manipulatives that students have high interest in. Students choose a tub and sit at a table and although I don’t have individual desks, the students end up sitting in the same spots! Some examples of what’s in the tubs are: color sorting, play-doh, magnetic toys, kinetic sand, alphabet popsicle matching, stringing beads, etc.
- During this time, if students did not eat breakfast (per parent) or seem hungry, they are able to eat. I also use this calm, quiet time to take attendance and respond to e-mails.
8:15 Calendar and Walk
Calendar is in our circle time area and whole group. I offer different types of seating that students can choose and I hand out fidgets when needed. I use a lot of songs that include days of the week, months of the year, weather, shapes, time, counting and letter sounds. During this time, I am constantly asking students questions to check for understanding. Overall, calendar time usually lasts about 20-25 minutes. After they have been sitting this long, I send my students and staff on a walk (for a movement break) around the campus while I get ready for centers.
SSE’s calendar is available here.
8:50 Reading and Math Centers
When planning my centers for this population, I like to keep them small – about 2 students per center. I have a full class, so I do 5 centers at 5 minutes each. A timer is projected on the whiteboard so that all staff is aware of the timing. The different centers that I do at each table include fine motor, academic, iPad, floor time and functional play. I, as the teacher, run the academic center- which is usually ULS or Unique Learning System. Other examples are cutting, learning to play certain iPad games appropriately or using Starfall, puzzles on the floor, and working together to build a train track.
To help prompt students when transitioning during centers, I have transition cards on Velcro UNDER the table. When the timer goes off, the staff reach under and hand the students the picture icon of the next table. The student then takes that visual to the next center and places it on the Velcro on TOP of the table, matching icons (like the deer icon seen in the above picture). You might also notice a CORE board on my table, those are functional words that staff or students can refer to, if needed! I also have visuals of rules when at the centers, like sit, look, listen, etc. I use white board dots on the table for students to use, which you can find here (affiliate link).
9:20 Play Break and Sensory Room
When centers are finished, the students earn a small play break in our play area. This is so staff can clean up their centers. At this time, I have my TK students go to the sensory room which makes the group smaller and more manageable. As I have 4 TK students, I send 2 staff members with them so that I am in the 2:1 ratio.
9:30 Recess and Bathroom
After my TK students head out, I have my kindergartners line up and we head to recess! During this time, there is a lot of facilitated play, teaching the students how to interact with each other, and practicing social skills. After recess, we head to the bathroom! All of my students need constant supervision and most are in diapers, so this takes us about 10 minutes.
10:00 Book on CD, Whole group
At this time all students are back in the room and sitting in circle time. We listen to Barefoot Books, which come with a CD. ALL of my student absolutely love these song books and you can find them here: Barefoot Singalong Books (affiliate link)! After 1 or 2 books, we play songs where the students listen and follow along. We use an alphabet chart and listen to letter sounds, the students hold sticks and we play the Tap,Tap song and Build My House song. The students love holding something so we do a fun Spider On The Floor song and the students follow along with fake spiders. They also love the Mat Man song, which we play quite a bit with manipulatives to follow along.
10:25 TK to Snack/Recess K does Writing
Again, I split my class so that my TK students are able to mainstream with their same aged peers! While they are out, I conduct a handwriting program with my Kindergarteners. It’s called The TV Teacher and it is a handwriting program with Miss Marnie. There is an online/streaming program you can buy (we split the cost between a few teachers) and the students absolutely love it. She sings chants when forming the letter and has silly songs and videos included. I sometimes print the chants and send them home so that parents can work on them too!
10:55 K goes to Lunch, TK does IBI
Once the TK students return from lunch, my Kinders go to lunch with their general education peers. We then get to work on IBI or Intense Behavioral Instruction with my TK group. A staff/teacher sit one-on-one with a student and work on their IEP goals. I have notebooks and tubs for each student that contain DTT data sheets and items to work on each goal.
11:30 TK goes Home, K does Puzzles
After working on their goals – and one last bathroom trip – we pack up the TK students and they go home. Meanwhile, my kindergarteners are returning from lunch and working on puzzles- anything from shape sorters to floor puzzles. My students love the Melissa and Doug sound puzzles, I think I have all of them! You can find them here: Sound Puzzles (Affiliate link). At this time, I send three of my staff on their lunch breaks.
12:15 Sensory Room
Now it’s time for my Kindergartners to get a turn in the Sensory Room. This is a classroom on campus that holds many items for my students to have their sensory needs met. We have a swing, ball pit, multiple trampolines, a ramp to use with scooter boards, sensory floor tiles, bean bags, body socks and more!
12:40 Recess
My students have recess at the same time as the general education kinder students. At this time of day, I have 6 students and 4 staff. The students get a lot more attention and one-on-one help facilitating play and following the rules outside. After recess, the students use the restroom for the last time.
1:10 IBI
Now my kindergartners have that one-on-one time to work on their IEP goals. The students that are not working with an adult go to the play area for free choice. They are rotated each day!
1:50 Go Home Routine
YAY! We made it to the end of the day! The students pack their backpacks (with prompting from staff) and line up on my color dots, which are velcro and don’t ruin the floor! You can find them here (affiliate link). Though I let my students pick any colored dot to line up, you can assign students to certain colors, add numbers, pictures of the students, or their printed name to the dots. I play a good-bye song and we walk the students out to their parents. After the students are all picked up, myself and my staff go back to the room and stack all of the chairs for vacuuming and perform last minute cleaning.
At the end of the day, I fill out daily communication sheets and send them home. Parents LOVE this and I constantly get complimented at IEPs. Keeping parents informed will go a long way! In these sheets, I add a few things we did that day, notes about any behaviors, how much an student ate, the letter of the week and the word of the week. I’ve also realized parents want to know if their child had a B.M. To help them keep track I will write it down. I use this spot to request wipes or more diapers too!
SSE’s communication sheets are available here.
Flexibility
For the most part, this daily schedule for my Kindergarten Autism classroom stays the same each day. However, please remember to be flexible as you might need to change something if it doesn’t seem to work. I know it may be hard to change something around, but don’t be too hard on yourself. It’ll take time to perfect your schedule!
TIP: Don’t print and laminate times for your schedule until you have worked out all of the kinks.
Routine, Routine, Routine
It is so very important to create daily routines and implement them into your schedule. You will find that at the beginning of the year, it will take a lot of work (and patience!), but soon you will see your hard work pay off when students are transitioning well and following directions. Students with Autism thrive off routines and knowing what to expect.
I hope you enjoyed my daily schedule for a kindergarten Autism classroom. Do you have any questions?
