Saturday, October 20, 2012

Work Box Weekend part 4

"How do you make all your work boxes?"  I get this question a lot from people who come into my classroom.  For me, making work boxes has become almost an obsession.  Everywhere I go, I look for things I can use in a box!  I am addicted to dollar stores and dollar sections of stores.  I love going to the hardware store and roaming the aisles.  I spend an inordinate amount of time looking at items and wondering, "did a person have anything to do with packaging/making/coallating that?"
Ok, so here's a picture of last weekend's dollar tree trip.  Actually, to be honest, this was trips to 3 different dollar trees.  Yes, you can visit 3 different dollar tree's in one day and yes, you can make purchases at all 3!!!  :)
As you can see, I purchased a wide array of items.  I love, love, love the small containers with lids.  I use these as packaging containers in multiple boxes.  I got a few puzzles, which will go into our leisure section.  The bowling ball games became a color matching and packaging activity.  The pencil erasers, grips and sharpeners went into a pencil assembly task.  The ice trays became a sorting activity.  The color pencils became a color pencil package activity.  The regular pencils (which are packaged as 5 each of  5 different colors) became a pencil package activity.  There are small beads in there that are used for a bead pattern activity.  The fall stickers are used for arts or for fine motor.
The way I choose tasks really depends on my kiddos at that time and my mood.  I try to look at items and think "is that something someone would ever have to package or make?"  Sometimes the answer is yes and I make sure to purchase that.  Sometimes the answer is no, but I know it can address some target skills (following a template, following written directions, counting, fine motor, etc) sos I purchase that.  Sometimes it is no, but it's just pretty, so I either purchase if I'm feeling the addiction, or I skip it!  :)

Here are pictures of some of the finished boxes I made from the above materials.  

 
 Pencil Pack - Students package 20 pencils into a box.  Higher kiddos can follow the visual above and kiddos who need a little more support follow the visual to the left.










 





 Color Pencil Pack - Students follow the visual cue card to package one of each color into their box.

Bowling Pack - Students follow the template to package a mini bowling ball set




 

Color Pack - Students follow the color template to place pom poms into a small container with lid.



 

Bead Pattern - Students follow the picture cue to put beads on in a certain pattern.

















11 comments:

  1. Great ideas! I have started making my own boxes and will be using the pencil ones. Thanks for sharing...it helps me a great deal. It must be the weekend for it as I went to the similar shops here and got about $70 worth of bits and pieces.

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  2. Thanks Kelly, so glad the ideas are helpful! If you have any suggestions for boxes, let me know. I'm always looking for new things to create for my kiddos!

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  3. I am learning as I go so mainly take great ideas from others, lol. Pinterest is my current obsession! The box I made today was specifically for a student with an intellectual impairment. I got great plastic cutlery sets for $2.50 that came with their own study trays for separating. I am not sure if it is a good thing to get so excited when you find things like this...lol.. Anyway, I have put corresponding pictures in the trays and he has to sort them out. He has a lot of trouble in the kitchen and every week he asks me where the utensils go...so we are going to practise this one :-)

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  4. Thanks so much for sharing how you do work boxes in your classroom! I am your newest follower - I teach a classroom of students with severe/multiple impairments and am always looking for more ideas.

    Kara
    Spedventures

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    1. Hi Kara,
      So glad you found me! I found your blog a few weeks ago. It is so awesome to be able to "collaborate" with others who work in this population! I've gotten so many resources and ideas!
      Thanks for following, look forward to sharing and discussing ideas.

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  5. Omigosh Erin I feel you on the dollar store obsession! I had to ban myself for a few years. It's so addicting!

    - Sasha
    The Autism Helper

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    1. Ha! I love it. I'm on restriction from dollar stores by my husband. . . though if he's out of town, I sometimes go anyway! :) It's amazing how you can walk out with $75.00 of JUNK!!

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  6. I love your ideas....I bought all the same supplies for my class!!

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  7. I love these ideas! WAs just thinking I needed to refresh some of my work tasks!

    Hailey from Autism Tank

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    1. Yay! I am looking all over the web today for some new fresh ideas. I follow you and Sasha closely to get ideas! :)

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  8. These are great, thanks for sharing!

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