
Next, I decided how often the coffee cart would be open, I mean we still need to teach reading and math right!?! I personally decided to open a shop once a week on Fridays for the staff in my building for .25 cents a cup. The teachers LOVE this and are so excited to have my students arrive at their door with a steaming hot cup of coffee. I make sure to let the staff know this money goes into the student’s “paycheck” and to purchase coffee cups. This money is not for classroom supplies.
The student’s paycheck is my favorite part of the coffee cart! I was told over and over again by parents in many different meetings how difficult going into the community and shopping can be. Their children want to buy all the things! So once a month we take a field trip to the local grocery store to buy our cooking supplies for cooking lessons and then we walk down to the Dollar Tree, which is in the same complex) to buy something with their paycheck. The kids LOVE this and it truly connects working hard —> Earning money —> buying fun stuff!
So let’s start back at the logistics of it all!

Now we are off! we deliver the coffee to each teacher, ask for a payment, and work on so many different speech skills. Students that use AAC devices get an opportunity to have conversations with people outside the classroom. Again I use visuals to help prompt verbal interactions while limiting verbal prompts!
When the students are done passing out their coffee they are able to work on the important life skill of cleaning up! We do the dishes and put all of our materials away until next week.
I have created a product to help implement a coffee cart in YOUR Classroom! You can find it Here
Here is a little preview of what is included in this pack!
Employee rules posters to keep the students on track while at work
An employee of the Month/Week. This is a HUGE motivator for the students in the classroom. I also like to use this in place of a student of the month. I try to keep things as age appropriate as possible and typical 3-4 grade classrooms often do not have a student of the month!
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Another great way to facilitate conversation while delivering the coffee is by giving out coupons and implementing a coffee club. We like to give out coupons randomly and on holidays! The teachers loved getting the free coffee coupon on the last day before winter break!
The teachers are also given a coffee club coupon. They hand this to the students each week and once they buy 10 cups of coffee the next one is free!
This product also includes a tutorial for google forms, a non-editable order form if you do not have access to google forms, visuals (as pictured above), and a social story to help the students learn how to work at the coffee cart!
There are also a TON of other bloggers who have talked about a coffee cart in their classroom. I personally love Brie from Breezy Special Ed’s post! She is the queen of high school life skills so make sure to check her post out here to learn more!
Happy Coffee Making Friends!