Celebrating Diversity

I have yet again neglected our classroom blog; my apologies!  We have been EXTREMELY busy for the past two weeks.  We have been learning about different cultures, and we will continue learning about diversity this week.

We finished our community-based instruction at both Faith Rescue Mission Center and the Autauga County Humane Society. We are so thankful they allowed us to come work with them!!

 

 Also, a big thank you to Mr. Dunn for driving us to work one day!  

Not only did we get to finish up our jobs on the work sites, the students also were able to practice more job skills at school while Mr. Victor was out. They did a great job keeping campus clean, and we are excited to show off our great work for Mr. Victor when he returns!

Also, Mrs. Ellzey's psychology class came to help us with some serious social skills.  In preparation for the prom, the class helped us with some different skills: tying ties, ordering from a menu, and selecting accessories!

We have been selling our buttons and t-shirts for "I'm Different!" week like crazy.  Alissa, Sydney, and Leah teamed up to count the money from our sales.

 We also got a special opportunity!  We were invited to read to the preschool class at the ACTC.  We will be doing this weekly!

Another special treat, we got to make homemade ice cream with the chemistry class!  It was so much fun, and a great science experiment.

We have a busy week ahead of us.  We will be celebrating diversity at the high school with "I'm Different" week!  We will also be having our very own pep rally on Thursday followed by a trip to the Special Olympics Friday.  We end the week with PROM on Saturday.  What an exciting week!  Thank you to everyone who has made all of this possible.  We are so appreciative for all of the support!

Communicating Effectively

One important soft skill that we worked on last week (and will be continuing to work on) is the art of communication.  This skill is one of the most important while on the job.  One of our highlights last week was playing a game of "body language charades."  The students were given an action and had to act it out without speaking.

Can you tell what word she was given?? EXCITED!

We spent some time last week adding student input for IEPs using the site I'm Determined.

The students learned about different aspects to IEPs and why they are so important!

 

We discussed letter writing as part of our communication unit.  We made and delivered thank you cards to some prom supporters.  This allowed students to exercise their creativity as well as practice using the different parts of a letter. 

In our reading, we read about Tom Sawyer and worked on our comprehension skills by inferring some tricks Tom played on his friends!  With our groups mastering both skills last week: skip counting and division, we will be breaking to review our lifeskills math (time, money).  We will have three more visits to our CBI locations.  

Prom plans are being finished up!  Please be on the lookout for a letter this week with specifics!  Woo hoo!

ONE MORE BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!  We will be having a week to celebrate our students this month.  We will finish off the week with a pep rally to send our students to the Special Olympics.  More details to come :)

Be sure to visit the lessons page for this week's lesson plans!

With love,

Mrs. McKee

Quick Follow Up!

We have had such a response from our spot on WSFA!  Thank you Kacey Drescher for doing such a great job on our story.  I am having trouble responding to the comments (if anyone knows how to respond direction, please e-mail me instructions!).  Anyway,  if you have any questions about our classroom you can reach me at bethanydmckee1@gmail.com.  I am so overwhelmed by the love and support we have received.

Check out the story here!


If you would like more information on giving (or purchasing a candle) please contact me through the above gmail account.

As always, thank you!!