Our classroom is being transformed into an apartment, complete with a tree and doorbell at the "front" door and an aquarium(or fireplace, depending on the time of the year) in the "living room." In this space, students are learning how to be more independent in their daily living skills. We learn concepts, such as, how to safely answer the front door; how to clean our kitchen, bathroom, living room and then we practice these concepts within our "apartment." Students practice conversations over meals, sharing their space with others, fair play, good sportsmanship, etc. around our large family table. We practice preparing meals for ourselves and guest, cleaning are spaces, as well as sorting, organizing, and planning our daily lives.
We start our class at the family table, by greeting each other and asking/ answering inquiring questions. We move forward by introducing or recalling a concept that we are working on (recently it has been about rights and responsibilities- for example we have a right to have a job and to seek reasonable accommodations but we also have a responsibility to do our work well and professionally.) Then we move into practicing our newly introduced concept, such planning a football party, how many participants, sending out invites, how to appropriately respond to an invite, appropriate attire, will all of our friends be able to access what we are doing or do we need to think about altering anything, should we discuss any of those potential needs with our friend, food and supply list, do we have enough money in our budget, preparing the food, serving the food, answering the door, conversations, fire extinguisher use, first aid use, clean up, saying goodbye. Each aspect is practiced and worked through to help students be able to function at a more independent level.
About my class
Our classroom is being transformed into an apartment, complete with a tree and doorbell at the "front" door and an aquarium(or fireplace, depending on the time of the year) in the "living room." In this space, students are learning how to be more independent in their daily living skills. We learn concepts, such as, how to safely answer the front door; how to clean our kitchen, bathroom, living room and then we practice these concepts within our "apartment." Students practice conversations over meals, sharing their space with others, fair play, good sportsmanship, etc. around our large family table. We practice preparing meals for ourselves and guest, cleaning are spaces, as well as sorting, organizing, and planning our daily lives.
We start our class at the family table, by greeting each other and asking/ answering inquiring questions. We move forward by introducing or recalling a concept that we are working on (recently it has been about rights and responsibilities- for example we have a right to have a job and to seek reasonable accommodations but we also have a responsibility to do our work well and professionally.) Then we move into practicing our newly introduced concept, such planning a football party, how many participants, sending out invites, how to appropriately respond to an invite, appropriate attire, will all of our friends be able to access what we are doing or do we need to think about altering anything, should we discuss any of those potential needs with our friend, food and supply list, do we have enough money in our budget, preparing the food, serving the food, answering the door, conversations, fire extinguisher use, first aid use, clean up, saying goodbye. Each aspect is practiced and worked through to help students be able to function at a more independent level.
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