Letter boards and marquee signs are everywhere and lots of fun to use! They also provide a fun way to develop job skills and expand literacy for our students in the special education setting. Though it goes without saying, actual practice with changing out marquee signage can be limited. The easy solution is to create similar materials to practice within Vocation Stations.
We always level out our vocation stations and teach the basics first. A letter board or marquee sign has a few rows. We give our students a model and have them recreate the model on their own board, either a real board or a page that looks similar. The model starts with a single letter or number in each of the rows. We then expand to full words, phrases, and symbols.
Teaching the Skill
We teach the basics of this activity before we add Letter Boards into the rotation of independent job skills. Before we decide how to teach it to our students, we think through the smaller skills our student will need to have to be successful.
Look at the model and track from left to right, top to bottom
Select a letter, number, or symbol from a large array
Manipulate letter tiles into the letter board or marquee
Clear current message from board
Sort letters back into the container
Each of these skills may require us to be thoughtful in how we teach. We may want to start with only a few letters available and gradually increase the array the student must scan to select the next needed letter. Our student may need an object to help keep track of which letter is next. We may need to use physical guidance to support students with getting the tile securely into place. Every student is different and will require you to assess their current ability and develop a teaching plan. Be sure to track progress so you can adjust your plan as needed.
Check out the Filing System we created to add to your Vocation Stations.
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You can also try out a free version of this activity by following this link.
