PECS Wallets & Monday Made It

Last year I was able to get a personal iPad with the Proloquo 2Go app for two of my nonverbal students to use for communication. The students carried the iPads back and forth between school and home. 

While one of the students used hers daily to communicate, she continuously kept getting into the settings and wiping things out and messing up programs. Once, she even permanently disabled it, and it had to be sent in to be unlocked! Unfortunately, even though there are ways to restrict students from deleting apps and from performing other functions....there is no way to lock them out of the settings. 

My other student simply refused to use his. He didn't think it was cool and found it too laborious to locate what he wanted to say. He also doesn't really see himself as different, and doesn't understand why his speech is not intelligble to others. I am very concerned for him as he is going to the middle school next year and I feel it's very important that he have an alternate way to communicate. I have had him for 4 years, and while I have learned to understand his language pretty well, the middle school teachers are not going to be able to and he is going to get frustrated!

Our speech pathologist came up with the idea of PECS wallets! I had never heard of them. She thought this might be something my student would think would be cool.....having his own wallet!! So I retired the iPads and started using these wallets this week. 

So far they are working well!! Both of my students LOVE them and have carried them everywhere! Even my boy that didn't think the iPad was so "cool," thinks his wallet is "COOL!" I'm working on getting another set for them to keep and use at home. I've also been working with the middle school teacher to add some words that he will be needing in middle school.

Now to announce the winner of my Prefix Centers!!
Brenda, you won!

If you're still looking for a Cinco de Mayo activity for tomorrow, check out my Cinco de Mayo mini activity booklet. It's perfect for kinders and preschoolers. 

And now for a "Monday Made It" and a housewarming idea you might like. I made this yesterday for my nephew that just got his own place!

Flying Kites With May Currently!

Listening to hotdogs sizzle....

yes my son is making hotdogs at 10:00 at night!

Loving Friday!!!! Of course!

Thinking....my students had so much fun flying kites today!! We are so fortunate that our community has the most beautiful park and it is right beside our school with a little side trail that leads there. 

My kids had such a BLAST!
And 5 of them said they have never flown a kite before!!??? huh? I just love creating memories for my students!

Wanting a personal housekeeper.....who doesn't, right!?

Needing another tutor for my student. 

I am so excited.....I got one of my Autism students qualified for in-home therapy services through my school district and the Lovaas Center. I'm so excited for her and the family. It is probably one of my biggest educational accomplishments to date. 

The Lovaas Center is going to train two tutors to go into the home and provide ABA therapy to one of my Autistic students 40 hours a month for a year. My district is paying the lead tutor $14 an hour and the secondary tutor $12 an hour. The only catch is that the family and I are responsible for locating the tutors, and the teacher, which is me, is not allowed to do it. One of my aides has volunteered to be the lead, but I am still searching for a secondary tutor. 

I am so excited about this amazing opportunity for this child and just hope we can get it all into place before summer break!

Surprise......have you checked out "Educlips" clipart sets?? I just love her clipart! Formerly known as "Educasongs," which was famous for her songs, is now creating the most darling kid clipart sets ever! 

This is my most recent favorite! 

And her clipart is always 50% for the first 24-48 hours after she posts it on TpT! She also has a new clipart store you should check out {here}. 

Head over and link up your "Currently" with Farley!!

Prefix Centers & A Birchbox

I recently canceled my maven subscription with Julep and then decided to try out Birchbox this month. I just love getting surprises in the mail each month. It's so fun and about the only thing I really do to even come close to spoiling myself! 

If you haven't heard of Birchbox; it's a monthly mailorder program you can subscribe to and they send you a surprise box each month of samples of various products! It's only $10 a month to join......and

My very first box arrived today!!

It's like a kid at Christmas....cause let's face it, who doesn't love getting gifts in the mail!!?

There were 6 samples in the box. They even included a card with details and prices of each item if I were to like a sample so much that I wanted to order it.

Here's what was in the box.

"Number 4 High Performance Hair Care" Shampoo
"Number 4 High Performance Hair Care" Conditioner
"Harvey Prince" Yogini Perfume
"Color Club" Nail Polish
"Sumitas" Eyeliner
"KIND Snacks" Grain Bar

I'm a bargain shopper, not a brand name shopper, so I know very little about any of these name brands, but I know I love everything in my Birchbox. The perfume smells fabulous and I can still smell it on my wrist 5 hours later! I only wear perfume on special occasions, so I figure this cute little spray bottle sample will probably last me for months!!

Already excited to see what will come next month!! :)

I'm also very excited about finishing up my new prefix centers!!

Here you can see some of the centers in action in my classroom!

Visit my store {here} for more details!

You can also win a free copy! Leave a comment below telling me you can use these and I'll pick a winner on Saturday!

Make Your Desks & Tables Dry-Erase....For Free!!!

How awesome would it be to have these in your classrooms???

Whiteboard tables!!!!
I think pretty awesome!! I have been wanting a horseshoe whiteboard table for my small group ever since I saw one last year being used on "The Teaching Channel."

But, they run around $300. Yikes!!!

So I looked into the possibility of painting my horseshoe table using whiteboard paint.

But while you can purchase it for under $30, the reviews on the quality and issues applying the product are horrible!!!

So, I wasn't so sure I was ready to tackle this project!!! Not to mention, take the chance of ruining a school table and having to get prior approval!!!

And then I got to thinking! Dry erase marker will erase off of just about any laminated surface!

Right?!

And it just so happens that I had dry-erase desks and tables the whole time, and didn't even realize it!!!

Gotta love that backwards 9!! :)

But hey, she got it right and they are all so engaged in math now!! Every day now when they come to small group, they ask, "Can we write on the tables again today?" And of course I say, "Of course." 

Whatever it takes to get them engaged in learning! 

And btw, it erases just as clean as your whiteboard, if not a little better actually! We all know that certain colors don't even erase nicely on our traditional whiteboards. 

And any smears left are gotten at the end of the day by our classroom table washer! 

Five for Friday, Freebie, & A Giveaway You Don't Want to Miss!

I made it through my first week back from spring break! That is always a rough week as my kids are always so needy and starving for my attention! I am not kidding when I say I heard my name called, "Mrs. Bender," at least 55 times within the first hour on Monday! But while it can be hectic at one point, it is so loved! I love that my students missed me and are so happy to see me! It truly melts my heart!

My hubby and I had a super great time on our spring break! It was very relaxing! We stayed 3 days at Pirate Cove Resort in Park Moabi, California.

Our Cabin was VERY nice and right on the Colorado River!!!

I got to spend some time with this precious little guy! Meet my
2-month old nephew, Ben! He was born on my wedding anniversary! :)

My high functioning group tested out these 5 new prefix centers I made during my spring break! My students are truly my best editors! They always catch any mistakes I may have made! This set is not available in my store yet as I'm adding more to it, but will be available next week!

We found this little baby bird in my yard Wednesday night after a huge wind storm blew a nest out of one of our trees! We also found 5 cracked eggs. Poor little baby! Just broke my heart! He was so scared! He is gone now, so hopefully mommy came for him!

We did some really cute Earth Day activities this week that included making hats and lapbooks! I wish I could show them all, but there's always so much going on in my multi-leveled diverse classroom that it's hard to always take photos!

But I was able to capture our Earth Day cupcakes!!

The picture really doesn't do them justice!! They turned out spectacular!!! And tasted yummy too!

There's an amazing teacher appreciation giveaway going on over at "Tator Tots & Jello." $1,000 in Michael's gift cards!!! 

You can enter {here}.