When I was a new Special Education teacher, I saw a great NEED for life skills in my students day. But, with all of the things we are required to teach as special educators- some times it is hard to fit in some real world functional skills. But these life skills are SO IMPORTANT for the development and future of many of our students.
What if I told you that you can practice these real world skills in just TEN minutes a day, that it doesn’t have to take up a big chunk of time on your busy self-contained schedule, AND that it is quick and easy to start implementing right now?
YES, you can do life skills in your classroom, in just 10 minutes a day.
and, the best part is it’s super easy to get started, even when you are starting from ZERO. Life Skills Centers are fun, easy to implement, and encourage independence and consistency, two things we NEED in our self-contained classrooms.
What are Life Skills Centers?
Because our students need lots of time to practice and generalize skills, my life skills centers focus on one skill per month for 12 months. The pack of life skills centers includes a letter home to families, visuals, task analysis, data sheets, and certificates of completion for each month.
What age does this work for?
The thing about Life Skills is …. there is NO magic age to start. Many of these skills are things that children learn naturally and aren’t explicitly taught. Research shows that explicitly teaching and practicing these skills often with the special needs population, leads to more independence in the future. So if I were you, I would start now. For a little bit of insight, I did life skills in just 10 minutes a day in my contained k-4 classroom. You can truly start anywhere, and this resource is appropriate for preschool- highschool.
How do I keep it to just 10 minutes?
There are a few ways you can structure your centers. Here’s what I do: I introduce one new skills a month and we practice is for 10 minutes before we pack our bags to go home each day. When we add a new skill the following month, we practice both skills in a center rotation (5 minutes each skill). As time goes on and you add more skills, you can do 2-3 minute centers and switch out the skills to practice!
Where do I get the materials?
The Visuals and data sheets are available in my life skills centers set and I received all materials via donations. It is perfectly fine to send home a sheet asking parents for gently used donations for this! If that is not possible, then I put a wish list in the teacher’s room to ask for people to bring things in they may just have at home. (and a field trip to good will is always another good idea!). But you’ll be surprised at how many people will want to help for no charge at all!
Do you have a more advanced set if I have access to a full life Skills Area?
If you have a full kitchen or access to laundry, I suggest set 2! You can grab that here.
What are Self- Contained teachers saying about this resource?
This resource has been a bestselling resource for over 5 years. Here’s some reviews from teachers like you!
I absolutely love this resource. We use it daily during our life skills centers and the students and their parents have been enjoying the visuals it comes with!
– Hannah
This resource is exactly what I was looking for to incorporate into my life skills classroom. It is so comprehensive and my parents really seeing their students get the certificates at the end of the skill.
-Alexandra C.
This is an INCREDIBLE resource!! I love that it’s already set up for me and that it focuses on a new skill each month. The parent letters and task analysis are fantastic as well! Thank you!
-Kaitlin
How Do I know if this resource will work for my classroom?
Luckily I have one month available to you for free to try! You can download that here to find out if Life Skills Centers will work for your classroom.
Life Skills Centers Set 1 is available here.
Life Skills Centers Set 2 (advanced) is available here.
One Free Month available here.
Will you be including life skills on your schedule this year?
