Miss Allison's SpEd Spot: FREEBIES

Back to School season is upon us! I know I can't believe it either. To make heading back to the classroom easier I have compiled my top 10 special education resources for your classroom. Click on any of the cover images below to find the resource in my TPT store!

Resources for Teacher Organization

Before the students even start, it is essential to get organized! So much of the SpEd world revolves around paperwork so these resources are great time (and sanity) savers!

1. NO PREP IEP Organization Kit: This kit provides helpful resources for IEP planning and progress reports. Check out this blog post for a page-by-page snapshot of what's included: Must-Have IEP Organization Kit

2. NO PREP IEP Progress Monitoring BUNDLE: This bundle includes over 100 progress monitoring sheets covering TONS of skills in Math, Reading, Writing, Communication, Vocabulary, Daily Routines, and Fine Motor that are ready to print and go!

Resources for Routines

The first week (or two!) of school should mainly focus on establishing classroom routines. Once students learn these expectations it will be easier to begin introducing academic content.

3. Location-Based Interactive Visual Schedule: These visual supports are essential for students who need assistance with transitioning more willingly and independently. Students match icons to corresponding location signs to get them from place to place all day long! Learn more in this blog post: Student Schedules

4. Number of the Day Math Corner: Practicing basic math skills every day in my math corner was a total game changer in my classroom! The daily repetition allowed students to demonstrate skills beyond what I even imagined when we first started out. For more information on implementing this resource in your classroom check out this post: Number of the Day Math Corner Bulletin Board

5. Differentiated Morning Meeting Book and Worksheets: Morning Meeting was always my favorite way to ease into task demands each day. It was an easy activity to keep predictable and differentiate especially through this resource.

6. Interactive Morning Message: My favorite part of our Morning Meeting was our interactive morning message. I loved watching my students build confidence in completing the message and reading it each day. It was always a popular classroom job! Learn more in this post: Morning Message

7. Differentiated Home-School Communication Reports: These communication reports made daily home-school communication more meaningful and created authentic communication opportunities for students. A win for everyone! Learn more in my recent post: Why I Ditched Communication Notebooks in my Special Education Classroom... and Never Looked Back!

Resources for Instruction

8. Back to School BUNDLE: This is actually 3 resources in one! My Back to School Thematic Unit (to learn more about why I love thematic units don't miss this post: ) and Picture Book Communication and Comprehension Supports for No, David! and David Goes to School by David Shannon.

Resources for Paraprofessional Management

9. EDITABLE Paraprofessional Role Sheets: This is one of my most popular resources! It helps communicate expectations not only to paraprofessionals but to subs and volunteers too. Plus they are super cute!

10. Paraprofessional Survival Kit Gift Tag: To start the year I always liked to give my paras a little something. These gift tags made an extra cute addition and you can grab them for free in my TPT store! And you can learn more on this post: Paraprofessional Survival Kit- FREEBIE

Do you have students with significant learning needs in your math class or self-contained special education classroom? I have been there! Keep reading for some great tips on meeting their needs and also for some great freebies!

This year I have 7 students who are just beginning to learn their numbers. Initially, I tried finding cutesy number activities that aligned with our weekly theme. However, I quickly learned that these activities were too complicated for this particular group of kids.
This group has many needs. Most of them struggle visually, either due to vision issues such as difficulty with tracking or visual attention or due to visual sensory sensitivity. Therefore games that featured apples or buses that just happened to have numbers in the middle of them were too hard for these students to process visually and they were unable to focus on the most important aspect of the activity, the number.

Additionally, this group needs TONS of repetitions and structure. They need to repeat saying the number, seeing the number, and counting that number of objects. Additionally, I needed to find a way to present the new information/number in a similar way to how I taught the previous number. This eliminates several variables such as needing to teach them new directions to an activity or the students needing to learn to process information given in a different way. The most important goal was for them to learn the numbers. After they master the numbers, then I will begin using other activities to assist with generalization.

Finally, due to their visual and processing needs, these students also struggled with any one-to-one correspondence activities. Again, I felt I needed to find a way to teach the act of counting in a very structured way.

I am now in the process of creating a modified numeration curriculum for this set of students. This is what I have created so far:

1. Daily Powerpoint Review

(requires 1 copy of PowerPoint/Slides presentation to be projected)

Project number review PowerPoint on the whiteboard (I've created a FREEBIE to tackle this first step for you!)
Have students take turns identifying previously introduced numbers.

Hide any slides of numbers that have not been introduced.
Various colors are used to address visual sensory needs.

For additional sensory input have students stand on an uneven surface (one foot on phone books, rocker board, etc.)

I adapted steps 2-4 from the book Teaching Reading to Children with Down Syndrome. I have found this match, select, say method to be extremely useful when teaching basic concepts (sight word reading, vocabulary, numbers, letters, etc) to my neediest learners and it is my form of Discrete Trial Training since I don't have a specific DTT program. In my opinion, the most important aspect of this method is keeping it very fast-paced. This keeps the student engaged and trains their brain to work quickly to ensure automaticity.

2. Match

(requires 2 sets of flashcards, copied on cardstock and laminated for durability

Introduce target number flashcard, say the number, and have the student repeat
Lay flashcard in front of the student.
Introduce identical flashcard, say the number, have the student repeat
Give flashcard to student and instruct to match (“Put 3 on 3”).
Repeat 5x.

3. Select (Receptive ID)

(requires 1 set of flashcards, copied on cardstock and laminated for durability)

Lay out a field of 3 number cards (1 target, 2 mastered)

If introducing number 1 use 2 blank distracter cards

Direct student to touch cards in random order (Touch 2, Touch 1, Touch 3)
Rearrange cards and repeat 5x

If students struggle with this step, return to Matching and repeat steps

4. Say (Expressive ID)

(requires 1 set of flashcards, copied on cardstock and laminated for durability)

Shuffle cards and have the student identify each one
Place easily ID’d cards aside and shuffle missed cards back into the stack

If student struggles with this step, return to Selecting and repeat steps

I have created a set of flashcards with 6 different fonts needed for this Match-Select-Say sequence as part of my 15-Minute Multisensory Math and Reading Lesson Templates for RTI & SpEd.

5. Multisensory Generalization Activities

Finally, I work on generalizing and practicing numeration skills through multisensory activities. These are also a staple of my 15-Minute Multisensory Math and Reading Lesson Templates for RTI & SpEd which includes:

Weekly lesson plan templates for letter and number skills
Easy reference multisensory activity lists
Data collection forms

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Some additional generalization and multisensory practice resources I use in my classroom include:

Matching: sort number flashcards, sort Touchmath TouchNumerals, Vizzle sorting activities
Receptive ID: SPLAT, Touchmath StepNumerals, DTT Numbers app
Expressive ID: Trace and Say Multisensory Flashcards (sandpaper, pipe cleaners, glitter, puffy paint), Touchmath Texture Cards
Counting: Vizzle counting activities, themed counting activities, counting bear counters or blocks

6. Multisensory 1-20 Number Practice

Finally, I created a workbook for numbers 1-20 which includes a very predictable format for continuous practice, independent work, review, and/or assessment. I love materials that follow a similar format with changing content because then my students only have to worry about learning to content and not the expectations of the activity. These number practice workbooks include the following steps:

Color Number

extra exposure to number
repeat number several times while students color (“I like how you colored number 2”, “You’re 5 looks great”, etc)

Touch and Count

Have students point to the numbers as they count

Color and Count

Have students count as they color the stars
MODIFICATION: Use bingo dotters if the student is unable to color quickly while counting

Cover and Count

using counter discs or tokens, have students cover black dots as they count out the designated number of items

Number Writing (#11-20)

For the teen numbers, I included some number writing as students are typically demonstrating higher-level skills at that point.

My Multisensory 1-20 Number Practice Workbook for Special Education also includes the TPT Digital Easel Activity so students can practice using technology too!

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Check out these digital features here:

Some parents really enjoy carrying over the same types of activities you are doing in the classroom, with their children at home so I created these FREE Multisensory Activity Lists for Practicing Basic Math & Reading Skills at Home. I love sending these home during parent-teacher conferences, IEP meetings, or for summer practice.

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Tuesday, August 16, 2022

10 Back to School Resources for Special Education Classrooms

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