He's on Fire!

Kids with autism have a hard time understanding idioms. We had a great example of this in class today. One of my students, who typically takes a while to get going in the morning, was answering every question correctly and raising his hand for every answer. I was so impressed with him! I turned to my assistant and I said, "Man, he's on fire today!" My one student immediately put his hands to his cheeks (in sheer terror) and said, "Oh no!" Haha. I explained that when someone is doing a good job, getting all of their work done, or answering lots of questions you can say they are "on fire." He listened patiently, but kept glancing over at the other boy to be sure he was okay.

We made some friends at lunch today! After a "mean girl" episode, we did have some luck with the other students. As soon as we sat down, a little girl immediately got up and moved to the table to the right. She turned to her friends and said, "Ew! I am NOT sitting with THEM. Sick." I stood up and asked if there was a problem. She said, "No." I asked why she moved tables. She said, "Because I wanted to sit over here." I told her that I heard what she said that type of thing would NOT be tolerated at _ Middle School. She said she was sorry. I said that everyone has feelings that can be hurt. We got back to business at our table though. I let my boys eat while I worked my middle school magic. I made friends with the girls at our table. They all went around and said their names, then I prompted my guys to introduce themselves. Then, one of my boys asked the little girl across from him for help with his salad. She politely helped out and handed it back! As we were leaving, they all said goodbye, and my guys said goodbye back! We've got a few friends, score! Later, we saw one of the girls in the hallway and she was surprised to get a very cheerful "HELLO VICTORIA" as we were walking by. She smiled and said hello back. We'll get there!

Today was Day 1 of the EARTH unit. The kids had a blast! First, we talked about the core, mantle, and crust of the Earth. We did this by cutting open a peach.

The "core" was the pit. The "mantle" was the "peach" of the peach. The "crust" was the skin of the peach.

Then, we got our own Earth "models" to paint. The kids painted the core and the mantle, and the remainder was the crust.

We used yellow for the mantle, red for the core. The white outside was the crust.

We also had vocabulary cards that we practiced. In my classroom, it is all about exposure. Some of the kids have articulation goals and this is a great time to practice repeating words correctly. MMMMMMMMantle. What letter does it start with? M. So, even though learning about the Earth may not be a functional skill, I am able to incorporate sensory, art, music, and IEP goals into my science lessons. The kids love it! They deserve to learn about the same things the other sixth graders are learning about!

Another successful day! Let's just hope I don't get any concerned parents calling about a "student on fire."