February Themed Task Boxes for Special Education

It's almost February, so it was time for me to knock out some February themed task boxes! I normally keep these posts super short and full of pictures, so here we go!

Holiday Themed Task Boxes for Special Education

The last month or so has been WILD in our classroom... I had a paraprofessional resign at the end of October and we got a new student last week... So we are officially very understaffed and bursting at the seams with students and their needs. I've basically said goodbye to my lunch and planning period until my administration can figure out a plan to cover my class at these times/ to keep my students safe so I can take a lunch and planning period again. So, needless to say, with all the business of the last few months, I haven't had much time to knock out new task boxes. Last week I realized we were still using Halloween task boxes (oops! :-0 ), so I finally made some new December/ holiday themed task boxes!

Check them out!

Functional Task Boxes

Every school year, I identify a few "grows" that I want to work on over the course of  the year. This year, I want to improve my relationships with families, continue to learn new ways to teach core vocabulary and to incorporate more functional skills for my kiddos! I decided to make some new task boxes to work on some basic functional skills.

Check out my new sorting and put-in independent work/ task boxes! Everything is made from stuff I already had in my classroom or from the Dollar Tree.

Independent Work Station Organization in Special Education

Organization in special ed classrooms can be tricky! If you're like me and have a lot of adults in your classroom (we have 5-7 staff in the classroom depending on the day!), then organization is even more important! You're busy enough and can't spend any extra time looking for supplies/ materials or trying to explain to someone where materials are in the classroom. I've changed how I organize my independent work SO many times the last few years because I was struggling to find a system that worked for me and my staff. I think I'm finally happy with our organization system and don't think I'll be changing it much anytime soon!

Simple Task Box Ideas for Special Education

If you follow my blog or TpT, you know I have a serious love for task boxes and independent work ;) I'm working ESY again this year and have students who have Autism and have very significant needs. All of my students need 1:1, and of course we don't have enough staff to provide that, so we are really using independent work to our advantage so we can get work done with other kiddos at that time. Kiddos are running independent work stations 3 times each day at ESY, so I had to make some task boxes to keep the kiddos busy.

Check them out!

Simple Put-in & Sorting Task Boxes for Special Education

Surprisingly, I've  been slacking a little with making new materials. Spring IEPs & re-evavls, closing out the year, progress reports have me sooo overwhelmed! I found some time to knock out a few more sorting and put-in task boxes, check them out!

Spring Themed Task Boxes for Special Education

I love making new task boxes to keep these fresh for my kiddos. I try to make a few new boxes a month. Here are some of our latest spring task boxes. All of the materials are seasonal items from the Target dollar spot, but they aren't super springy.

Check them out! 

Cheap & Easy Task Box Ideas in Special Education

Making task boxes is like therapy to me... there's nothing like spending a few bucks at Target or the Dollar tree and making new tasks! Here are the latest we've made in my classroom!

Task Boxes Ideas for Special Education

Here are some of the task boxes I've knocked out since we went back to school after winter break. Most of the materials came from the Target dollar stop. If you need a few tips for making task boxes, check out this post!

Tips and Tricks for Making Task Boxes for Special Education

I've had a few questions/ comments on some of my task box posts, so I wanted to share some of my responses, tips and tricks!

Put In Task Boxes for Special Education

With so many of our students only doing level 1 or "put in" task boxes, we are constantly making new boxes to keep the students from getting bored. We have also been trying to use materials that make noise because we have a few students with vision impairments this year. Here are the latest boxes we've made all from cheap supplies from the Dollar Tree or items we already had in the classroom.

Quick & Easy Leveled Independent Work Activities for Special Education

Creating new independent work activities is important so students don't get burned out on work, but it can be VERY time consuming! I'm all about creating quick and easy materials for independent work time/ task boxes. In this post, I wrote about how I use free printed worksheets, charts, etc. to create cheap and simple work activities.
I love using printables for work activities, but I felt like I needed a way to differentiate or level the materials so more of my students could use them. So... I set out to figure out a way to created EASY leveled work activities!

Dollar Store Task Boxes for Special Education

I've been a little MIA, but I wanted to share the latest task boxes we made in our classroom! The cool thing about these is they are all made with cheap supplies from the Dollar Tree! We are focusing on increasing our supply of "put in"  or level 1 task boxes because we have a lot of younger kiddos this year who need them.

Task Box / Independent Work Organization in Special Education

I was happy with how I had our task boxes/ independent work activities organized (you can see the post and pictures here), but it just wasn't giving us enough space. We would often have activities and work stacked on top of the cabinet and it was so visually distracting!

Put In Task Boxes in Special Education

I have quite a few students who need level 1 task boxes this year. My go-to for many of these students are "put-in" tasks because it allows them to do the tasks with as little prompting as necessary.

Check out the "put in" tasks our classroom is full of now!

Target Dollar Bin Task Boxes for Special Education

I love task boxes that are easy and cheap to create. A few days ago, I found a bunch of great deals in the clearance dollar bins at Target (they were only $0.30 each!!) and got to work! It's great to buy and use pre-made materials, but it's also important to remember that they will often take a bit of prep and adaptations to get the materials ready too. 

Task box/ independent work time organization for Special Education

I've had a few comments asking how I organize and switch out my task boxes/ independent work activities. My organization system is super simple- All of the actual task boxes (like the "put in" boxes and others with manipulatives) are stored in their boxes in this storage cabinet.

Simple Task Box Ideas for Special Education

There's something exciting and refreshing about creating new task boxes... I literally make new ones on a weekly basis. Here are some of the latest ones I've made-

Color sorting boxes with color bears and manipulatives. I bought the cups and teacups at the Dollar Tree and used manipulatives that I already had in the classroom.

Quick and easy task box ideas for special education

I realize that creating task boxes/ independent work time activities can be VERY time consuming. So I wanted to share a few tips for making some really quick and easy (and cheap) tasks.

Setting up independent work stations in special education

It's important to give students opportunities to work completely independently, it increases their self-esteem and allows classroom staff to have a chance to work with other students who have higher needs.