The first few days of school in a self-contained classroom are HECTIC to say the least. It is hard to pinpoint what your daily schedule will look like until you “live it” for a few days. Even so, it is vital to provide a structured, predictable environment for our students with autism from Day 1.
I have students that are with me in the classroom all day, and some students who come to me for 30 mins – 2 hours at a time. I don’t always know what their schedule is going to be on the first day of school. Even so, you must have some sort of schedule on Day 1. My classroom is center-based with some whole group activities (calendar time, social skills, etc.). The first few days of school, we practice using or visual schedules and rotating to each center. The important thing to remember: focus on the routines, not the actual activities during the first few days of school.
Plans for Centers
For the first week or two, my students are not doing academic work at centers. They are doing activities that can be done independently such as shaving cream, play-doh, puzzles, coloring pages, etc. It is essentially busy work, but again, this is the time to train your paraprofessionals and get to know your new students. This is also a good time to figure out how you want to group the students.
How Do I Know How Many Centers to Have?
First, you must take a look at how many paraprofessionals you have. For example, I have myself and one other para. I know that I will be able to have two “teacher-run” centers. Depending on how many groups you have, this fact dictates how many independent centers you will need to have. My classroom has 4 groups of students, therefore I have 2 “teacher-run” centers and 2 independent work centers. I will share a look inside my independent work centers in the future.
Teach Everyday Routines
Focusing on routines such as unpacking, going to the bathroom, washing hands, lining up, packing up, are all integral parts of the day. Just like in a general education class, it is a good idea to practice these skills. Make sure you have visual schedules ready! You want to start off with the least prompting possible. Visual schedules make that possible. Pointing to the next step on a visual chart is so much better than verbally telling the students what to do!
As the days go by…
As the days go by, I slowly add academic work to center time. We start out with all centers being “fun” independent things, then change one of those centers to academic work. Have you ever heard the saying “slow and steady wins the race?” If the days are slowly turning into October, that is okay. You will not be able to teach your students anything if you are constantly showing your staff what to do.