Angela Kulcsar tours her K-1-2 autism classroom, showing how she set up whole-group and small-group zones using a horseshoe table, two small-group tables, and three one-to-one divider stations. She uses color-coded shelving with task cards and the Autism Helpers Level 0.5 curriculum to keep spaces flexible and low-distraction.
We are sweaty and gross, but friends, we got it done! It is the final push before school starts. Students arrive in just 1 week and I finally have my classroom all together, and I am going to show you the last 2 zones we had to set up. That was independent work and student instruction zones. Here we go! I have so many different learners in my K-1-2 classroom. So many different learners. I have learners who can do whole group, I have learners who need small group and one-to-one. I have students who only need one-to-one. I have students who need a mix of all of the above. I have students who are learning to sit on the carpet. I have it all, friends, and so I have to set my classroom up that way. I set my classroom up with whole group spaces, small group spaces, and one-to-one instruction zones. So I'm going to show you all three of those methods. This is where the majority of my whole group instruction happens. Between this carpet where we gather for morning meeting and social Skills to this table over here. I can comfortably seat all 8 students— they're small bodies, what can I say— right here at this giant horseshoe table. Um, the teacher chair in the middle can be moved, and we can actually fit 2 students on either end, and it works really, really well. And I can have assistance here too if we all need to fit at one spot. But the carpet That's my main source of whole group, you know, location if we're going to have a spot where we all come together for instruction. It's at the carpet so we can see the Promethean board. If we need to though, we have a spot to be able to sit at the table and then copy from the board. Small group, I have 2 small group tables. I have a table right here, I have a table right over here that I mainly use for assessment, but I will use for small groups and also centers. When I run centers, I have 3 centers. I have a math center, a reading center, and a fine motor or art center. So this is 1 center, this is 2 centers, and because my classroom's not huge, we use the horseshoe table as a center. You have to think flexibly in your classroom about how your spaces can be used in more than 1 way, and so we use our horseshoe table all the time for all different things. Including independent work. If I've got a bunch of students doing independent work, I'll pull kids over here and they'll do independent work over here. When I come around the corner, I have a little cubby area. You can see there's lots of egress, lots of room, but this is minimal distraction zone. When a child needs to focus or struggles focusing in the main classroom area, we have these quiet zones to where we can work one-to-one with an adult. If a child needs direct instruction, this tends to be where we start, especially for students who have not been successful in the classroom environment before. This really kind of removes all of those distractors. It removes, you know, the visuals of the other kids or the adults that walk in and out of your classroom. And these are super simple. We actually have a video on how to make these. These are 2x4s and a sheet of wainscoting, and then we just put a 2x4 down on the bottom and some brackets to hold it together. Voilà, you have a divider. And I mean, we just painted these and they're good to go. When a student is in here, most of the time an adult is in here with them instructing the student unless they're doing independent type work. So this is really that direct instruction zone, or a student who needs intense one-on-one learning environment with a lot of distractions reduced. And then not only do I have one of those, but I have another one over here. As you can see, lots of egress. And if I come around the corner, guess what? I've got one more over here. So I actually have 3 of those zones in my classroom outside of my tables. My independent work shelf is coming along nicely. I did an entire video on how I set up independent work. I have a little desk right over here, and I've got a shelf right over here that is color-coded. If you are looking to start independent work and you've got really early learners, I'm talking like preschool, kindergarten, color-coding is the way to go. I've got a whole video on how I set this up and what I do in my classroom to make it functional. And we will tag that below, but my independent work is set up and ready to go. I have 3 different items on my independent work shelf. Depending on the student, these vary greatly, but just in general, I have task cards, I have adapted books and file folders, and then I have a reinforcement item down at the bottom. So once students finish their work, they have automatic reinforcement that they have chosen. So there you go, classroom set up. Next, Paperwork. I am working on setting up our curriculum for the year. I use the Autism Helpers Level Daily Curriculum. It is so good, saves me so much time every single year. Level 0.5 is perfect for my students who are just coming into my program, beginning writers, non-writers. Don't worry, we've got a curriculum for that. Um, I love it and I am so excited to use it again this school year. Up next, I am going to be sharing with you our morning routine from the minute my babies walk into the door to the minute they sit on that carpet behind me. I'm going to be sharing what we do in the classroom, um, everything from unpacking their backpack to morning work to what our morning meeting looks like. And I'm so excited about that. It's one of my favorite parts of the day because we all get to be together. When you run a classroom that is multi-grade, it is really hard to get all your learners in one space at one time. And this is one time that we all get to come together as a classroom family And I just, I, I cherish that time together with my students and my assistants, and it makes such a difference to be able to build our team and create that classroom family environment. So I'm going to be sharing that with you soon. Happy back-to-school season! If you've got any questions, be sure to drop them in the comments below. I'd be happy to answer.
