Make It Monday: Finishing Touches

On Friday, I put 20 file folder activities into the boxes of four classrooms. It was a huge stack of binder pages with various matching, communication, letter sound, and errorless tasks. I also gave away about 12 safety sign mini folders to another group of classrooms. All of this while the HVAC people have to crawl around in my ceiling so my office is disordered to make space for them. I find it ironic that my broken HVAC system is controlled from my office ceiling space. It took them about 3 years to even find the hub and now people have to interfere with my planning, preparation, and office space to make my room feel very hot or very cold. There is no inbetween. It is really annoying right now because they have smushed my desk space. I cannot get in there easily because they have to access the ceiling system several times a day.

It is now time to put some finishing touches on some social stories that I have downloaded that are all about school. I need to take my binding machine in to cut holes for the plastic combs that I have to keep everything together. Once I cut the holes, I can bind things, Velcro them up, and then give them away.

I enjoy making things for other people to use. For me, the fun is in the creation rather than the use. I enjoy cutting things out, putting on the Velcro, and then releasing things into the wild for use.

I will have to start looking for other things to make and release. I have seven months and two weeks left to make things for my current facility before I leave and retire from that job. Seven months and two weeks before I head into my future - without a steady 7-3 job in the school. We will see where I end up because I cannot imagine a life where I am not working somewhere doing something. I just know that I cannot continue at my current facility. It is hurting my body way too much.

This week will be Musicians of the Month and leisure choice time for my groups. Most of my students who have more developmental symptomology are unable to engage in free play, so I will have some more traditional music experiences for them. They do like strumming and twisting guitar strings, so I may just offer the guitars instead of making other options available. My other groups are capable of finding things that they like to do without my structure, so I just open up the cabinets, set the expectations, and watch to see what they choose.

For now, though, I am thinking about the things that I like and how to turn those things into money making opportunities. I wonder if there is a market out there for someone who enjoys the making of file folder activities to make folders for others. 

I wonder. 

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