While many of us are coming to the end of the school year, we begin planning for the Extended School Year.  Whether you have the same caseload you have throughout the school year, or a completely new group of students, the game plan can relatively remain the same.

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KEEP WORKING ON THOSE IEP GOALS

People tend to forget the main reason for ESY is to prevent regression.  Yes, it is fun to do summer themes during ESY, but it is also important to remember to work on those IEP goals.  If you can tie it to a fun summer or ESY theme then great, but don’t beat yourself up if you have to stick to what you were doing during the regular school year to work on that goal.

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STICK TO A MORNING ROUTINE

Start your meeting or day off by going over the date, and weather, checking in on how your students are feeling…etc.  Check out another blog post to get ideas on activities for your morning routine here.

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CURRENT EVENTS

Current events are also great for year-round.  If you do current events with your students, this is also a great way to keep students informed on what is happening in the world (especially now more than ever).  I typically like to use CNN10, but they don’t usually do coverage over the summer.  You can still do read-aloud with current articles.  Click on the post below to see a list of great websites to use:

 

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EXPLORING PREFERENCES

Many teachers may have students that are new for ESY.  This makes it hard to find activities that are fitting for students in such a short amount of time.  Use this opportunity to get to know your new students by doing activities to get to know them.

Here are interest questions with visuals/real images that get students thinking about their rec & leisure preferences as well as bigger interests like who they want to live with, where they want to live…etc.  These types of activities are also great for informal assessment for transition plans.

Here are some activities you can use remotely:

 

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HOUSEHOLD CHORES

Many of the chores we have at home are great independent living and job skills, and this is one alternative to work experience (for those of you that take a break from work experience over the summer) that can easily be practiced in the home or classroom setting. Not only are students practicing motor skills, but also following # step directions. If you are assigning these tasks for students to do at home, make sure to provide parents with the needed visuals and materials to successfully support their child in doing so at home!

Classroom jobs or household chores posters and comprehension worksheets – Posters are simplified descriptions highlighting what they do, the type of skills, the tools or supplies needed for the job and a self-assessment scale. It also comes with a symbol support task analysis version.  These are great for special education students that need visuals to practice essential life skills!

Pair this activity with the life skills homework choice board FREEBIE – Students can pick a different skill to focus on each day or week!  Some of these levels of difficulty may differ from student to student, depending on where their areas of strength are.  This is also a great way for students to find which skills they are good at or enjoy doing (or maybe do not enjoy doing).

 

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HOME & COMMUNITY VOCABULARY (AKA LIFE SKILLS VOCAB)

Check out functional vocabulary activities here.

If you don’t typically teach life skills, ESY is the perfect time to throw in some independent living skills lessons!  Before you dive deep into any lesson, make sure your students have the foundational skills and are familiar with the vocabulary words associated with each area. Some areas include:

cooking, kitchen, cleaning, grooming, community signs, workplace signs, grocery store items, and more!

 

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READING ENVIRONMENTAL PRINT

If your students have mastered identifying vocabulary, move on to the functional reading of common environmental print.  These are things you commonly see in the community or in the home that involve reading in order to retrieve important or necessary information.  Environmental print can include:

reading utility bills, nutrition labels, pay stubs, restaurant menus, weather forecasts, grocery store ads, recipes, advertisements, and more!

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COMMUNITY SKILLS

Right now is a great opportunity to practice the skills that are associated with Community Based Instruction. There are SO MANY different skills that can and should be practiced in the classroom before applying them in the community. Some of the skills that can be practiced include:

• Home & Community Safety – Identify signs in the community or workplace as well as their meanings. If your students are at a higher level, you can do lessons and discussions on internet safety, travel & community safety, and home safety. Here are some digital activities to use in this area:

• Etiquette (Behavior do’s & don’ts) – Practice the different scenarios and social skills students will encounter in the community!  You can have discussions about what is acceptable or unacceptable behavior, hold mock scenarios over video conferencing, ask “How would you respond to this…”, or “What do you do when you are ready to make a purchase…”, etc.
• What to do when you purchase a product (put items on a conveyor belt or counter, give the cashier payment, wait for change…etc)
• Here are some digital activities to use in this area:

• Finding Items on a Shopping List – This skill is more than just finding the item on the shelf. Students should also practice functional reading of aisles to help find those items

• Money Skills- Money skills are an important aspect to independent living.  Not only do students have to be able to identify types of money and their values, or how to budget, but also all of the hand and social skills that come with handling money.  It’s one thing to do worksheets that have word problems involving money,  but being able to transfer those skills in the community is a whole other skill to master.  Here are some ideas to practice these functional skills in the classroom to prepare your students for the community and beyond!

Functional Money Skills in the Special Education Classroom

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Field Trips & Virtual Field Trips

ESY is the perfect time to get out in the community!  Check out these CBI ideas:

Community Based Instruction (CBI) Ideas for Special Education

If you are unable to go out in the community, here are some virtual alternatives you can do in class (or to help prep for community outings!)

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Summer Themed Activities

Doing school in the summer is already hard enough to keep student engagement – make it fun by including fun summer themes to your lessons while also keeping it functional! Here are some resource recommendations with a summer twist! BROWSE SUMMER ACTIVITIES HERE.

Travel Themed Resources 

Planning a trip and traveling involves so many important life skills such as functional reading, math, geography, social skills, etiquette and more! BROWSE TRAVEL RESOURCES HERE.

Get summer-themed resources in a MONEY-SAVING BUNDLE:

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Thanks for reading!