LifeTown Lessons

On Time

This is the place to start for every student. We have created a lesson that introduces the student to learning at Life Town.  The students use the lesson to follow to find the various places they need to visit. They will withdraw money from the Bank and visit the Medical Office and many other places.  This lesson has multiple versions that can be used for different learning styles.  There are versions that suit non-readers to advance learners.

Students work on skills in the areas of money management, socialization, time management and making choices.

Making Plans and Changing Plans

This lesson is designed for students who have been to Life Town several times. Students create their own plan for where they want to go and what they want to do with another student that they have been paired with by the teacher. We provide the worksheet for the students to use in setting up their day. The surprise in this lesson is that things don’t always go the way you plan. Along the way students will encounter a few situations that call for them to make alternative plans with their partner.

Students will focus their work within this lesson on problem solving, money management, time management, socialization,  and decision-making by consensus.

Money Matters 

The goal of this lesson is to further the students’ understanding of various denominations of money and improve their budgeting skills.  It is a great second lesson after the students’ first experience with “Introduction to Life Town.” Students are expected to follow a plan and complete each step before moving on to the next.  Basic reading skills are required.

The students will continue to practice the skills of  various denominations of money and improving their budgeting skills.

Creating a Spending Plan

Students can work on this lesson alone.The focus of this lesson is on planning and budgeting. Therefore, the students will work on planning,  money management, communication and socialization. Once the student has completed the worksheet, he/she will have time to spend money on his/her own.

The students will be working on the skills of planning and budgeting.

Keeping Track

Students must record all purchases and keep receipts for all of their purchases. They can keep these in their wallets, which we provide. Before they can deposit at the end of the lesson,  the student will add up their purchases with their teacher, volunteer or independently. Calculators are provided if needed.  They can move on to deposit, if money left over.

The students will work on budgeting, money management and communication.

Special Friend

This lesson is all about relationships, especially friends. Students will gain skills in socialization, communication, following directions, and money management. This is a great lesson around a holiday or as a special class project. This lesson can be customized to your classes needs.

The students will work on socialization, compassion and communication.

A Taste of Etiquette (see School Coordinator for lesson availability – available for MS/HS only)

Today, students will practice many facets of manners.  They will wait in line for a table, order from a menu and have a guest at their table who is acting as an etiquette coach.  This lesson will continue back into LifeTown as they practice their manners.

This lesson  involves skill development in the areas of manners,  money management, interpersonal relationships, communication and making choices.

Learning to Care  (Available for High School Students Only)

In this lesson, students will practice the art of caring for other  individuals.  We will be having  different Preschools visit LifeTown so that the students will have the experience of working with young children.  In addition, we will be asking some local senior centers to “share” their residents with us so that the students can have the opportunity to interact with elderly people and spend some time with them at LifeTown.

This lesson  involves skill development in the areas of interpersonal relationships, communication and making choices.

Excuse Me

Students follow the worksheet provided and visit every venue asking various questions and recording the answers. Every question begins by “Excuse Me” and followed by “thank you” before exiting the venue.

This lesson  involves skill development in the areas of socialization, communication and manners.

Taking Care

The Taking Care lesson will work towards teaching the students about the importance of a healthy lifestyle. The focus of this lesson will be visiting different venues to learn about self awareness and self care working  towards independence. The students will learn different exercises, healthy eating habits, proper oral hygiene and proper hand/face care.

This lesson  involves skill development in the areas of  healthy choices, independence and socialization.

Which Way

This lesson focuses on basic directions in a unique way.  Concepts such as  left, right, enter, exit  and cardinal directions are practiced throughout Life Town. Students follow a sequence of clues to get them to each destination.  They must go to the correct location to complete the task.

Communication, problem solving and following directions are all key in this lesson.

Watch Out

This lesson is about  safety in your community. Students will navigate through various obstacles that are a part of everyday life; orange cones,  tape to avoid areas, power outages and wet surface signs are a few of the safety items to be used during this lesson. This lesson ends with a guest lecturer who will speak to the students about safety in their own community or at home.

Students will gain skills in communication, problem solving and following directions.

Show Me a Sign

It is very important that students be able to recognize what  signs mean and to act accordingly.   The goal of this lesson is to walk around LifeTown and match the sign on the card to the sign posted in the village. Students should be able to identify what this sign means or ask the volunteer for the answer.  Students can write the meaning of the sign on their worksheet.

Students will gain skills in communication, safety, identification and following directions.

Job Exploration

In this first lesson, the students will explore various jobs in the LifeTown by visiting several places of business and asking questions of the workers.  They will be given a clipboard and will have their list of questions that they will ask.  When they finish asking the questions, they will indicate whether this is a job that they would like to apply for in the future.

This lessons stresses job preparation, time management, communication and making choices.

Application and Resume

This is the second in a series to focus on writing a application and resume.  Using the choices that they made in the previous lesson, they will complete an application either at school or here at Life Town. Using an online resume generator, students will create a personal resume to be used during their next LifeTown visit.

This lesson stresses job preparation,, communication, self knowledge and making choices.

Interview

This is the third in the series of lessons that focus on employment. Students will go through the process of two to three interviews.  The students will find out their job assignments at the following visit to LifeTown.

This lesson stresses job preparation, communication, self knowledge, confidence and making choices.

On the Job Training

This is the fourth lesson in the series that  focus on the student’s’ employment.  Today the students will be  working at jobs in Life Town,  based on their interviews. They will work at a certain venue for a portion of their visit.  They will receive a paycheck which they will cash and use in LifeTown.

We recommend that students work at different jobs in Life Town at different times to give them exposure to trying out doing a variety of tasks and becoming familiar with different employers.