Santa came early!!

Santa dropped off a package for our class today - NEW headphones! Everyone was VERY excited about this new gift.  Thank you, thank you to our mystery Santa :) It made everyone's day.

 We made Hoover do a retake because he has a much better smile than this first picture shows.  :)

Gift Exchange

Earlier this week we drew names  from our class and Mr. Krause's class to be our partners for the holiday gift exchange.  On Monday, we traveled to Dollar Tree to pick out two gifts to give to our partner.  After shopping for a little bit, we returned to school and wrapped our gifts to put under our class tree.  Could you please share how you feel about giving gifts to other people? Try to give at least two reasons why!

Research Projects & Presentations

We are currently working on reading some books that we checked out from the library last week.  Students are preparing presentations in Google Slides that we will then present in January at Traditions Senior Living Facility in Palmyra, PA.  This will be one of our volunteer activities for the year.  In January, we will also be going there to play some card games with the residents.  This activity is targeting our reading comprehension skills, functional writing, technology development and social skills goals.  We will post the videos of our presentations on the blog! What are you excited or nervous about for our visit to Traditions in January?

Shopping in the Community

Today was a big day.  We have been talking about the importance of dressing for success.  We've also been talking about how to shop for the right clothes.  In the first few pictures, we were practicing where to find sizes on certain clothing and what different sizes mean (i.e. LxW). We put together hygiene kits today too.  We now have checklists for "freshening up" before work and after gym class/physical activity that includes brushing teeth, combing hair and re-applying deodorant.  We faced some challenges with clothing shopping - it wasn't as easy as some thought.  However, we discussed WHY it is important for us to practice skills like this BESIDES just practicing using money.  Can you share 2 sentences n the comments below: 1.) What was most difficult about the shopping trip today 2.) Why did we practice these skills today?

Wildwood Park Hike

Today we took a trip to Wildwood Park.  We went on a long hike around the lake and stopped to enjoy a healthy snack along the way. It was a beautiful day! What was your favorite part?

Planning a Leisure Activity

This week we are working on all of the logistics that go into planning a leisure activity in the community.  We decided that we wanted to do something outside before the weather really gets cold.  We looked over the list of leisure activities and chose some that were outside.  Potential options included mini golf, hiking, and going to a yard sale.  We researched mini golf places that were close by and discovered that most were closed at the time we were trying to go.  We researched the van schedule and decided that the longest span of time that the van was available was on Monday from 9:00am-12:00pm.  We also had to take the weather into consideration. As a group, we picked a hike at Wildwood Park.  We picked a friend to invite and wrote them an email or asked them face to face.  This is a wonderful way to address math, reading, writing and social skills.  We will post some pictures from our hike on Monday! Remember to dress warm! Your question is: is a hike something you could do as a leisure activity? Why or why not?

A Successful Tailgate from Start to Finish!

For the past several weeks, we have been coordinating and planning a tailgate in the spirit of football season.  First, we had to research exactly what a tailgate was.  Then, we had to vote on food, research recipes, make a grocery list and budget for supplies, and decide who we were inviting and invite them.  We invited some people face to face and some via email.  Then, we set the party up, socialized during, and cleaned up afterwards.  An awesome time was had by all!  Can you please share in the comment thread 3 things that you would see or do at a tailgate party and what your favorite part of ours was.

In the freezer section...

On Friday, we visited Giant for our weekly math lesson.  We did some comparison shopping amongst different brands within the freezer section.  We compared different brands of ice cream and found which brands are more or least expensive.  We also figured out what the difference between the two brands was by subtracting.  Next week, we will be in the canned section of the grocery store checking out different things. What is your favorite part about doing math lessons in the grocery store?

Functional Math at Country Meadows

This morning, we took a class trip to Country Meadows Restaurant in Elizabethtown.  In math, we have been working through our community-based instruction curriculum called "Stepping Out." The current concept is on how to calculate sales tax as well as tip when you go to a restaurant that provides table service.  Everyone did a great job figuring out what their total bill would be (with tax and tip) as well as figuring out what bills to pay with and whether or not to wait for change.  We had good conversation at the table about what we did over the weekend and what we had going on for the upcoming week.  We were all smiles :) What a great way to start the week!  What was your favorite part about going out to breakfast?  What other community trips could we take to practice the math skills we have been discussing?