Michelle, a TK-1 special educator, shows how to set up independent task boxes using color-coded schedules and recycled materials like creamer bottles and pom-poms. Students match icons to bins, complete three tasks, then earn iPad time or a play center. One paraprofessional floats between centers while another runs teacher-led instruction.
It's no secret that special education teachers work incredibly hard. We just don't have enough time in our day to do it all, so we end up spending so much of our own time and money planning, prepping, and resetting for the next day. But we don't have to live like this. I'm Michelle with The Autism Helper. I'm a TK through 1st grade special education teacher, and I want to show you one of my favorite centers that is super easy to prep and reset for each day of the week as well as differentiate for each of my students. This is my independent task box center. I love this center and so do my students. Now, I need to utilize as many independent centers as possible in my classroom because my autistic students thrive on small group instruction, but there's only one of me and I cannot be at every center with every child throughout the day. This independent center teaches my students to follow a schedule match visuals, open containers, and perform a non-preferred activity for a sustained amount of time. I also like to think of independence as a super important life skill because someday my students are going to be working members of society, and independence can start right here in kindergarten. Okay, let me show you how this center works.
So every student has their own color in my classroom, and that includes their independent center schedule. So students come to their schedule, they take off the first icon, and they match it to one of the bins on the shelf. Here's the bin. They're going to bring it to our task box table, and they're going to perform the task that's inside. This is an old creamer bottle and some pom-pom balls I found at the dollar store. And students are just placing the pom-pom balls inside. Once they're done, they put the task bags in the— back in the box, close the lid, and bring it to our all done box.
Students will do that for a total of 3 boxes on their schedule.
When they have completed all 3 of their boxes, they are able to get iPad time or we have a built-in reinforcement, which is our play center.
They can go straight to the play center early.
Okay, you may be wondering what each of these symbols symbolizes on the task boxes. These shapes indicate that it's a fine motor box or an errorless box. The numbers over here are all math or science, and the letters are language arts or spelling tasks. And I want to show you some of my tasks that I have made over the years. This is a recycled box I wrapped in duct tape. I printed a piece of paper with colors, and I cut slits into the box. And students are just placing these colored sticks into each of the slots, so they're sorting by color as well as fine motor by turning their hand. This was a box that was found in my classroom when I moved in, and and I'm like, this is gonna be an amazing task box someday. It has all of the compartments already separated, and I found these stickers at Target, and students are just matching or sorting by color. This is a creamer bottle that I recycled and little fishies that I found again at the dollar store, and students are just putting the fish inside. This is a seasoning bottle. Students are placing these little sticks inside. Of each of the holes. And these are tiny food containers and magnet letters, and students have to find the letter, open the little container, and place the correct letter inside of the box just like this.
What I love about this center is that it is very manageable in a high student, low staff ratio classroom. My classroom has 12 students, but but only 2 paraprofessionals. I also have 2 one-on-one assistants, and they're able to help with the center just a little bit, and I'll explain that in a minute. Um, but to get back to my 2 paraprofessionals, I have one of them running a teacher-led center, and then the other paraprofessional is floating between my 4 other independent centers. Now, when my paraprofessional has time, she is going to my All Done box taking out the tasks that the students have completed. She's checking to take accuracy, and then she's resetting them and putting them back on the shelf. When my one-on-one assistants are here with their students, they are also able to help with that resetting process. That way, once the tasks are all reset, we're able to pull the icons and put them back on the schedules at the end of the school day. Very easy, very time efficient, and manageable. I'd like to note that the visuals that are on my student schedules and my bins are from Simply Special Ed. However, you can check out the Autism Helpers version on their website. Alright, so that's my super easy to reset task box center, and if you like what you saw, please subscribe. I'm here to make your life easier, and I have so many more special education teacher tips coming for you.
