Thanksgiving Dinner at School

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. How did you celebrate Thanksgiving with your students before the long awaited break? My classroom hosted our first annual Thanksgiving dinner yesterday (11/ 26/ 2019). We worked on this event all month to make it extra special for everyone. Our dinner served approximately 20 guests including parents, grandparents and administrators.

For the month of November we focused on appropriate table manners, setting the table, and trying new Thanksgiving foods. Each week students had the opportunity to try a new Thanksgiving food. To tie academics into our food tasting activities we worked on opinion writing. Students wrote about their favorite Thanksgiving food based on the food they tried. Students with autism often have food inversions and limited tastes in food. In our classroom I encourage students to try new foods daily. We have a two bite rule in our classroom. If you do not encourage students to try new foods they will eat the same one or two foods daily.  We also made place cards for our dinner and students worked on writing their names and family names on place cards. This was a great way to connect learning across environments.

The day of our dinner students worked on preparing our table and food. Using a can opener students worked on opening cans of green beans and corn and poured them into crock pots. Students worked on appropriately using the correct measuring cups to make instant mashed potatoes and stuffing as well. These activities included math and fine motor skills. I have found that students with autism and disabilities need practical applications of their learning. They need to see how their learning applies to their everyday life. 

Working with our classroom speech pathologist she constructed communication visuals for students to share "What they are thankful for?" At dinner parents, students, teachers, and administrators each shared what they were thankful for. Using visual picture icons students shared they were thankful for food and their Ipads. One particular students shared that she was thankful for her mom using her communication device. It was so heartwarming to hear many parents shared that they were thankful for their child's teachers and the existence of our school program. Let that be a reminder that we are appreciated for what we do each day for our kids at school. If you do something with so much passion something good will always come of it. Let what you love be what you do. Have a wonderful week. See the possible for all students. 

Dulce XOXO