When I was teaching, I hosted an Autism Acceptance Day for my entire elementary school. It was the best way to get involved with my staff and get my whole school involved in celebrating all of my students. If you want to do something school-wide but you don’t know where to start, I’ve got 4 ideas for you!
Design and Sell a T-Shirt
I know this sounds overwhelming, but with websites designed to help you make custom t-shirts it is a lot easier then it might seem. Both Custom Ink and Bonfire have templates that you can build from and a quick search on Pinterest will help you find a quote to use. I have used both vendors in the past.
Custom Ink is a great website if you are just making one style of shirt and you just want to sell it at the base price. It’s easy to design, fill the orders and have them shipped to you to distribute. Bonfire is the perfect choice if you want to offer the shirts in multiple sizes and colors and if you are selling the shirts for profit or part of a fundraiser.
Host a Book Read and Q & A
This was my other go-to when I was teaching. This was tough to arrange, but my colleagues and I would work together to find pockets of time when I could step out of my classroom to join another classroom. In the younger grades (K-2) I would read a book. My favorite book to read was A Friend Like Mine. This was just a good way to get my face out with students. After I did this more students would say hello to me, which turned into saying hello to my class!
For the older grades (3-5) I would host a Question and Answer. Before my visit, teachers would have their class fill out KWL charts. They would write what they know (K) and what they want to know about Autism and what they want to know (W). I could review the sheets to figure out what kind of questions to answer. That would base our Q & A and afterward, students would fill out what they learned (L).
Incorporate Acceptance Activities into the Day
I found that a lot of my coworkers were eager to incorporate activities into their classroom but they didn’t necessarily have time to plan activities. By having a couple of different options available, I made it easier for my coworkers to get involved.
I just made a free mini party pack for this purpose! It has a couple of different activities that teachers can do with their classes to help promote Autism Acceptance across your school. Download it here!
Host an Acceptance Library
Again, having something already set up makes it so much easier for coworkers to get involved. Alyssa from Simply Special Ed has a blog post and free resource you can use to get a library running in your school. Check it out here!
You can listen to the corresponding podcast here! How will you celebrate Autism Acceptance Month in your school?