Mrs. Paal’s Pals are a group of students who come to our classroom once a month. They help us with conversations, making crafts, cooking projects, and help us to be good sports while playing games. We have a lot of fun with our Pals!
This page is dedicated to all the Pals who helped make our program a success.
Each month our Pals visit. We start with a snack and conversations, then move to the monthly activity. Activities include playing board games, arts and crafts, and simple cooking projects. Each typical peer is paired with a student in my classroom. Each month we rotate Pals. I also took pictures of our Pals and placed them on a bulletin board in our classroom along with their names. This served as another visual support to help my students remember the names of their new friends.
Sample Rules Each week our typical Pals review the rules with my students.
Pictures & More Printables
Communication Folder Page 1 Print, glue to folders, and laminate. Can be used to help your students with conversations. You must have Boardmaker to view this file.
Communication Folder Page 2 Print, glue to folders, and laminate. Can be used to help your students with conversations. You must have Boardmaker to view this file.
Data Sheet Page 1 Our typical Pals track data for me during conversation time. This is the sheet they use. You must have Boardmaker to view this file.
Data Sheet Page 2 Our typical Pals track data for me during conversation time. This is the sheet they use. You must have Boardmaker to view this file.
Being a Good Sport This is used during game time to help my students be good sports. You must have Boardmaker to view this file.
I take pictures when our Pals visit. Each of my students are given copies of the pictures to cut and paste into their scrapbooks. My students write sentences about the pictures. At the end of the year they have a beautiful book of memories.
This year I added a progress monitoring booklet. Feel free to print the pages to use with your students. We tracked our progress for answering and asking questions.
Modified visuals to help students answer and ask questions of their peers. Feel free to print the pages to use with your students. You must have Boardmaker to view the files.
Modified data collection sheets to track student's progress. Feel free to print the pages to use with your students. You must have Boardmaker to view the files.
Halloween Pudding Direction Sheet I found this cute pudding idea on Pinterest (Blog: A Turtle's Life for Me) and made a direction sheet for the Pals. You must have Boardmaker to view this file.
November Activity
Gratitude Turkey I found this Gratitude Turkey on the Little Family Fun website. They really turned out nice, but I made the bodies ahead of time. The Pals helped with the cutting of feathers and writing.
Picture prompts for Gratitude Turkey feathers I made some picture prompts for my students to use if they needed help thinking of what they were thankful for. You must have Boardmaker to view this file.
December Activity
Cookie Ornament Decorating Kit This month we will be decorating cookies. I found these cookie decorating kits at Aldi Grocery Store. The kits are $4.99 and contain 12 baked sugar cookies, icing and decorations. Each one of my students will get their own kit to decorate with their Pals. Each student will be able to take home 6 cookies.
January Activity
January was game time. My students and their Pals played games, practiced being a good sport and conversations. We had a great time!
Feel free to use our "Being a good sport" visual with your students.
Being a Good Sport This is used during game time to help my students be good sports. You must have Boardmaker to view this file.
February Activity
This month we made Valentine's Day card boxes with our Pals. They helped us wrap the boxes and add decorations. The photo below is an example found online.
In celebration of St. Patrick's Day, our Pals helped us make leprechauns. I enlarged a leprechaun body for the students to color. I printed out the faces of my students from photographs and used the pictures for the face of the leprechauns. They turned out so nice and everyone did a great job sharing and helping one another.
April Activity
April was game time. My students and their Pals played games, practiced being a good sport, cooperation, and conversations.
Feel free to use our "Being a good sport" visual with your students.
Being a Good Sport This is used during game time to help my students be good sports. You must have Boardmaker to view this file.
May Activity
Pals Writing Project
An end of the year writing project for writing about your buddy program. Paste a picture of your student's Pals on each page. Students write about each Pal, then put them all together to make a book.
In May we also have a celebration to thank our Pals for all of their help during this school year. The celebration includes a slideshow of pictures taken during our times together, snacks and drinks. Our Pals did a fabulous job! Thank you for everything!
I LOVE Model Me Kids videos and so do my students! I highly recommend this resource! Designed as a teaching tool for children, adolescents, and teenagers with Autism, Aspergers, PDD-NOS, Nonverbal Learning Disorder (NVLD or NLD), and developmental delays, the videos are used by parents, teachers, and therapists. The videos are also helpful for teaching children with developmental disabilities such as Down Syndrome.
