When your students have community experience IEP goals, addressing them during distance learning can be tricky. Check out these community trip ideas that are perfect for distance learning!
Enter: The New Look of Community Experience IEP Goals
Unlike past years when heading out into the community made addressing community experience goals easy, distance learning requires creative solutions. It may mean bringing the community into the classroom, either in-person or virtually.
The good news is that multiple options might work for your school and classroom, so it is just a matter of choosing which one you think is best. Remember, no matter how you choose to address the goals, be sure that you show yourself and your students ample amounts of grace!
Ways to Meet Community Experience IEP Goals
Grocery Store Recon
Since heading out to the grocery store is not a great option, bringing the grocery store into the virtual classroom is a better idea. Link up to weekly grocery store ads and have students scour the ads for the best and worst deals. Task them with creating a shopping list and adding it up to see how they could pay for their groceries. If your store has a map of their aisles, you may even have students map out their shopping trip aisle by aisle.
Create a Community Book
Using Google Slides, have students create a guidebook about the community. Have slides for a map, favorite restaurants, community resources, and more. This is also an excellent opportunity for students to work collaboratively and to share their work with others.
Partner with a Bank
If your school allows you to have guest presenters, ask a local bank representative to give a short presentation on checking and savings accounts. If guests are prohibited, use the bank’s website to explain the differences and research how to set up each type of account. Knowing what is needed to open a checking account is especially important for older students.
Take a Virtual Tour
You may not be able to go and visit a business in person, but ask local businesses if they would be interested in doing a virtual tour for your students. From a live tour during a class call to a pre-recorded video tour, the possibilities are endless for community businesses to share their locations and expertise.
Map It Out
Have students study maps of the community online and create directions for getting from one location to another. They can include points of interest or community resources (police station, library, etc.) for added depth to the assignment.
Planes, Trains, and Buses
It might not be safe to travel at the moment, but there is no reason why students cannot map out a trip using plane, train, and bus schedules! Most schedules are available online so that students can work on them while distance learning or when doing independent centers after they return to the classroom.
While addressing community experience goals may look a lot different than you are used to, it is still possible to meet your students’ needs and help prepare them for the outside world.
How will you be sharing community experiences with your students during distance learning? Share in the comments below!
