About this activity
Fourteen symbols for the school day: bathroom, lunch, recess, help, finished, my turn, break please, I need a pencil, line up, water, music class, go home, I don't feel good, more time please. Fringe vocabulary rather than core — these are specific to a setting, and the setting happens six hours a day, five days a week.
How to use it in a session
Prioritise the ones with consequences. Bathroom, help, break please and I don't feel good are the messages whose absence produces a problem rather than a missed opportunity, and they should be reachable in one hit. Model them during the actual routine — line up at lining-up time, not at a table — since fringe vocabulary is tied to a context and learned fastest inside it. Eight minutes on the board, then use it all day.
What to listen for
Watch for break please and more time please being used before a difficulty rather than after it. A student who requests a break when they are already overwhelmed has the vocabulary and not the timing, and the timing is the target. Notice which requests are made to adults only — my turn is a peer message and often has no route to a peer.
Carrying it home
The school-day vocabulary mostly stays at school, but the routine translates: bathroom, finished, more time and I don't feel good all apply at home. Modelling them there gives extra repetitions with no extra effort.
Questions
- What ages is this for?
- Kindergarten through fifth grade, for AAC users in a mainstream or specialist school day.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all fourteen cards play with no account.
- Which symbols should be easiest to reach?
- Bathroom, help, break please and I don't feel good. Those are the messages whose absence produces a real problem, so they should be one hit from wherever the student usually is.