Autism Classroom Setup PART 3: Sensory, Management, & Data Zones

2 weeks on the dot and we are back in session for the 23-24 school year, and I am setting up my classroom so it will all be ready when my students come back. I am Jen and I am one of the bloggers here at The Autism Helper. I thought it would be a great idea to bring you guys along on my classroom setup this school year. So far in my series, I've given you a rundown of my classroom and I've also broken down 2 zones for you: the adult zone and the student zone. So today we're going to tackle 3 zones. I've got about an hour and a half, but it's not gonna take long. We are gonna do the tech zone, the management zone, and the sensory zone. Let's go! The easiest zone to set up is technology, so that's where we're gonna start. In my classroom, we have one-to-one iPads, which is fantastic for not only students but also staff. So I repurposed a rainbow cart for things like cords, headphones, and they hold iPads. I've got a couple extra up here, so I'm gonna kind of reconfigure what is down here, consolidate validate that and move those extra iPads down. My Promethean board is up and working. I'm going to save my preferences here, and then I'm going to get my cables and everything out of storage and set up so my computer is ready to hook up. Over in my assistant zone, I've got iPads for them all ready to go and chargers. These are all set and charging. A Chromebook for check-in and email checking, and then of course our staff radios. Over on my zone, I've got kind of a jumble mess of cords. I'm gonna hide these cords so everybody stays safe. I'm gonna move things like this that are kind of around and tuck it in between the desk and the file cabinet so nobody can see it. Technology, check. Next up, let's tackle sensory. I have a couple sensory zones in my classroom, and frankly, sensory is embedded in pretty much everything we do in this space. One of my favorite little activities is this light table. Um, my husband and I built this. It's pretty incredible. It's just a box. There's plywood on the bottom, and then we built a frame around it. I glued LED lights down on the inside, and then we put a sheet of plexiglass up here. And then I've got a bunch of light toys here and a remote. We've got some flexible seating options, and we've got ourselves a sensory zone. This sensory table is always a hit in my classroom. I got it from DonorsChoose. It can be quite pricey. It's the Jonti Craft version. and I'm telling you, it is so amazing because it is clear so the kids can see what they're doing. They can see what's in it. I've got a student who loves to lay underneath so she can see everything. I think that's so cool. I love that the casters lock. I love that it's child height. It's not toddler height. It's just an all-around solid piece of furniture, and the lid— love that. Um, and I got this waterproof mat that goes underneath it, so I'm going to set that all up and then get our first sensory bin of the year ready to go. All right, into the closet of doom. I actually cleaned this out and it feels really, really good. I keep a lot of sensory materials up top in here, but I also keep some in the cabinet, especially sensory items I don't want kids getting into, like Kinetic Sand or the Slimy Stand. Sand in general. I keep a lot of that in individual buckets so they're ready to go. Play-Doh, those kind of tools. But also I keep fidgets down on this bottom shelf, and then I disperse them across the classroom so they're kind of in every work zone so kids have access to them. I also distribute them to gen ed teachers, so I'm going to pull those out and get those ready. I pulled out some of my flexible seating, got it all cleaned up, and sensory Check. So we've got technology done, sensory done. Let's talk management zone. When I think management zone, I think of ways that I need to manage things that come into my classroom and manage the things that I'm creating in my classroom. Two things stand out. One, the way that I communicate back and forth with parents. There's going to be constantly things going back and forth between the backpacks, so I need a system for that. Also, I need a system for data and data collection. So let's get going on the management zones. If I back up so you can see here, you'll see student cubbies are really, really close to what we call the management zone. Over here, this is where we deal with all the papers and the items that come in and kind of go between home and school. It's really important that you set up a management system to deal with these items so you don't miss anything important. I always tell new teachers that little things can become big things quickly, especially with communication, and our students struggle with communication. That's one of the reasons they're in our classrooms. So, I have a communication log that goes between home and school. It is color-coded, so this is for my student who's pink, I've got a green, I've got all the different colors ready to go here. But this goes back and forth in the students' backpacks. And then also a folder with "keep at home" and then "return." They will be put in here and then level daily homework. Parents appreciate explicit instructions, so we put things like papers to keep at home and papers to return clearly labeled on folders. And then in that "please return," we put level daily homework. I love this because it's a print and done. Guys, this is my homework for the entire school year for my entire classroom. I have 2 students who are on Level 1, and this is kind of what it looks like. And then I've got the rest of my students who are on Level 0.5, and this is what it looks like. There's 1 page per day for that, 1 page per week here. This just goes back and forth, um, every day we put a sticker on it when it's done. When the student completes, um, 5 homework sheets in a row, they get a star on their star chart. And I have a huge blog post on my mantra on homework, but I'm going to give it to you really, really quick. You shouldn't fight about it, and it shouldn't be a big deal, and it should be reinforcing skills that students already know. If it's causing chaos at home, it's not worth it. Next up is desk management. I know this sounds silly, but I have a management system for all of my paperwork, and I wanted to show you down here is where I keep all of my data sheets that I need to review for the week. So as we fill one up, that's where they go. And then up here, this is where I place them once they're reviewed to be filed. So just make sure you have a system for paperwork. You might wonder why I'm in the bathroom. It's because setting up bathrooming spaces, that's part of our job as a self-contained autism teacher. We have to think through the whole day, including independent functioning, including things like bathrooming. Toileting, um, even changing. So this is one of my data sheets that I use to log if a child's used the bathroom independently, if they needed help, to just track those things. Also, we track changing in the same way. I get pull-ups, wipes, extra clothes, everything ready to go in drawers so the bathrooms are set and ready. Just another way that I manage the stuff that comes into my classroom. I always ask for extra clothes. I always grab the gloves and, you know, extra bags to send stuff in. All of that stuff, kind of think through, have a plan, have management for it. Get your data sheets ready so you can manage all of that. Along with managing— well, we manage behavior, and part of having a management system is managing data. And so I have these ABC charts. They are color-coded, ready to go. and that way if we have any behaviors that we need tracking, each child has their own tracking system, and this is on a clipboard so it can follow the student wherever they go, because if it's not accessible, your assistants, or you, you'll not take data on it. So make sure that your data collection is accessible. With those 3 zones done, we only have 2 more to go, and they are just as important as the other ones. In fact, they are probably the most important in the classroom. That is independent work zone and instructional zones. I save those towards the end because I find that if I have a system in place to manage all the other stuff, to manage the adults, to manage the stuff coming in the classroom, to manage the kids, to manage space, I can instruct pretty much anywhere. So now I'm gonna carve out those spaces in my classroom. I'm gonna carve out that independent work, I'm gonna carve out that instructional zones for one-to-one instruction and also small group instruction and whole group instruction. Some of those just naturally occur, but that's what we're gonna dig into next time. If you've got any questions, definitely leave them in the comments and I will get to them as we continue on through this series.