One of my favorite tips to share with other teachers using table mats in a special education classroom. When I say this people always come up with a bunch of different ways that I may be talking about.. But nobody actually manages to come up with the way that I personally use them in the classroom.
In our classroom, like with special education classrooms all around the world.. It’s really important to provide consistency for our students. But also to provide ways to help them follow the daily routine and know what to expect. Visual schedules can be great for this. But there are also other ways that you can help your students with this too.
And I’m going to show you how.. With table mats!
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What is Your Table Mat Method?
My table mat method is basically where we have a table mat for each different activity/subject in the classroom. And the best part of this method, is because it is so visual, students are able to pick this up very quickly.. They are able to link the table mats to the different activities and start to recognize and identify what is coming next.. And what the table mat means.
In this blog post I’m going to show you examples of the table mats that I use and for what subjects. I like to purchase the PVC table maths.. Just because I find them longer lasting. They’re also great for cleaning up and are really durable.
1. Arts and Crafts
This table mat I use for arts and crafts. It’s one of my favorite table mats because of the design of it, even if it gets messy.. You’ll never know! Because paint stains/splatters etc all blend in with the design.
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2. Math
This table mat we use for math activities. I like the different colors and sizes. I wish it had different shapes but I do love this one for our math activities anyway.
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3. Parties and Celebrations
This one is probably the favorite table mat that we pull out.. And it’s for birthdays and celebrations! Basically anything that involves a party is when this table mat comes out..And it’s easy to see why.
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4. Snack Time
This is the table mat that we use for breakfast and snack time. It’s food themed and helps students know when their snack is coming next.
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5. Literacy
This table mat is one that we use for all of our literacy activities. It’s also a great one for having students work on their letter recognition skills too.
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6. Directed Choice
Green signifies choice activities in our classroom. And while ‘choice’ time is ongoing.. I like to use a directed choice table. This is where we pull out some fun activities / toys that our students like.. And then students can use these as part of their choice time.
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7. iPad Work / Technology
For iPad and technology work, I tried to get something that wasn’t so busy. This silver table mat actually worked perfect!
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8. Science
This is the table mat that we use for science. It’s actually perfect for science experiments because it hides any stains really well too!
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9. Cookery
This is the table mat that we use for our cookery sessions.
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10. Geography
I love using this table mat for geography. It has a nice calming feel to it and is perfect for our geography work.
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11. History
History was one that I actually really struggled to find a table mat for. In the end I opted for this dinosaur one. It seems to fit it really nicely and my students really enjoy it too.
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12. Life Skills
This is another table mat that was quite hard to pick out. In the end I opted for quite a plain one because these activities can be quite hard for my students to work on.. And I didn’t want the table mat to distract away from them.
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13. Music
This one is one of my favorite table mats. It looks really great in person. We use this one for our music sessions and putting instruments on the table.
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You May Also Like:
- Morning Meeting in Special Education
- Behavior Management in the Classroom
- Free Special Ed. Emergency Go Bag List
- 5 Tips for Transitioning Students
- Special Ed. Classroom Schedule
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Nikki
