Saturday, March 16, 2013

So many calendar boxes choices and only a DOLLAR!

I was strolling through one of my favorite stores today, Dollar Tree, and looked at their entire back wall with a big smile: it's a wall of calendar boxes and they are only a DOLLAR each!! 
Side note: do you shop at the one and only Dollar Tree? So many wonderful things for us and it's always just a dollar (shiny red wrapping paper, Easter eggs for cause and effect play, calendar boxes, black sharpies, curly red shiny ribbons...so many projects that this side note could easily turn into another new post!)

There are six rows in this picture. I'm gonna give you some ideas, row by row, starting from the top.
Row 1: The red baskets on top of the yellow--excellent for calendar boxes that go side by side and fit on a shelf (plus they are in the perfect colors!). The upside down orange, blue and green ones are great for finished boxes. 
Row 2: The narrow baskets (probably commonly used for utensils) are also nice side by side calendar boxes (these were the ones I had in my classroom). The blue, green and red ones are also nice ones too!
Row 3: The blue and green ones are great for organization. The last one on the far right (blue ones) are all stars.
Row 4: My favorite row!! There are so many great ones on this shelf!! The pink ones are perfect because you can tie a finished basket to a wheel chair (saw that great idea at a school). This way the tied on finished basket stays with the chair. If the student has a severe impairment, just pulling (or touching) the rope to the finished basket could keep the constant contact. I hope my description makes sense! Lastly, the yellow boxes--so bright and wonderful and perfect!! CVI!
Row 5: The larger green and red ones are nice finished boxes that sit nicely on a work table. They might be too big for a tray on a wheelchair. 
Row 6: Lots of baskets, handled baskets and buckets! These are nice for toys at home. 

I know, my faithful readers, that you are not just thinking that calendar box systems only happen at school. Look at all the possibilities!! Make sure you have a calendar box system at HOME! You can make SO many things happen at home and school. Don't stress out if you are thinking "I can't do a whole calendar box system at home!!". How about just starting with a simple finished box? Calendar box systems teach anticipation, time concepts, language, literacy---I could go on and on! If you can get a finished box going successfully but still can't get to a whole system, go to Now and Finished or Now, Next and Finished. Read up on all the posts with lots of great information for more information. 

Do it at home: Start using a finished box in your easiest, lowest stress routine at home. 

2 comments :

  1. Thank you for reminding me I could do this at home! I just realized it: my son at his age (2 1/2) is at school only 3 times a week up to 3 hours each time. More opportunities to learn start and finish at home!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yep, you can do it at home too! You can do "now" & "next" boards/boxes if it is too complicated to always do several boxes. The main idea is to teach start & finish and time concepts. Let me know if you need any ideas or have some that you want to share!

    ReplyDelete