October is one of my absolute favorite months! I love when the weather gets that chill and you can break out the warm sweaters, fluffy socks, and spooky decor!
My students thrive off of themes. Because it takes them so long to acquire skills, the work would become just plain boring after months and months of the same tasks. Themes give us the chance to spice up the work, get our kids more engaged, and make working on skills FUN! I change out my work each month with thematic, engaging, materials!
Here is what I have up my sleeve (and in a giant stuffed box in my teeny tiny teacher closet) for October!
Okay, first things first, adapted books! If you know me, or have read my blog before, you know I am absolutely in love with using Adapted books in my classroom! I make this a big event in my room, on the last day of each month my students help me pack away the books from the month before and set up the new books for the new month! This helps teach them about change, transition, and also teaches them not to become attached to certain books, because new ones will come 🙂 You can grab the October Bundle at a discounted price HERE!
SENSORY BIN!
I WOULD like to change my sensory bin every 2 weeks…. but we all know that time gets lost in paperwork and it ends up just not happening. So I’ve been sticking to a bin a month. My new kids have only ever had the same old sand and shovels in their bin for years…. when I changed it up they were SO MOTIVATED to work to earn their sensory bin time! This month I used the cobwebs you can get at walmart of target, googly eyes, spider rings, pom poms, bats, and shredded tissue paper!
My kids comprehension goals are booming with these comprehension sheets! They come in field of 3 and field of 2! Simple, short, quick stories to assess basic beginning comprehension sheets. I use bingo dobber from amazon to up the engagement factor even more. If they complete the sheet they can earn 1 minute with the dobbers on the back! You can grab the bundle HERE and it includes a years worth of thematic picture comprehension!
Comprehension is SOOOOO important for our kiddos. It is THE LIFE SKILL that they need to be successful in life! It is involved in each and every skill and job they will ever learn. I take comprehension one step further with a little bit longer text than my comprehension sheets with these comprehension mats. The kids can play with the playdough as they listen to the story. When they get the question right they can fill in that picture with playdough. It’s just another way to increase motivation to practice the skill and add a sensory factor to keep kids engaged! You can grab the fall Tell Me Mats for FREE HERE!
These cut and paste sheets have been a LIFESAVER (and your OT will thank you!). These sheets allows the opportunity to practice MAJOR fine motor skills that our kids need to learn, color, cut, and paste! I have been highlighting the lines to cut on for YEARS to help kids visualize- and then it finally came to me to create some sheets that SPECIFICALLY target this skill, without targeting any other skills, as to bring the focus to the cutting and pasting. The set includes highlighted lines, black lines, color, and black and white versions and when the growing bundle is complete, it will be a years worth of thematic fine motor sheets! You can grab them HERE!
I have been LOVING the October breeze and motivating my kiddos to learn! Remember to take some time for yourself too, these beginning of the year months ae TOUGH and we need to remember to make time for ourselves, even when our focus is all on those little faces!
I think changing your sensory bin once a month is great! I really want to make one, but I’m not sure how it would work in my classroom. Right now I only have students in my classroom for 1 hour a day (the rest is inclusion). I have a few students I think would love it and benefit from it though. Thanks for the inspiration.
Sarah