Having a plan when heading into a new school year in the elementary special education classroom is essential to setting your year up for success. It reduces anxiety, establishes routines, and provides guidance for paraprofessionals.  Let's face it... in August the days are LONG! Especially without related services pulling students yet. And your students have a lot to learn about being at school… especially your Kindergarten students and students transitioning to a new building or classroom.  Don't worry! I have gathered some great ideas and resources to save you time and get you started off on the right foot this August! Click on an image or caption to find the resource in my TPT store ! ...

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 shoul......

A popular activity each morning in an early childhood classroom is writing the morning message. For several years, I gathered all of my students on the carpet and had them help dictate while I wrote out our morning message. I finally realized that this was a waste of time for my classroom of mostly non-readers.  Once I was finished with each daily message none of my kids could re-read what I had written and it really was not meaningful at all! Plus, many of them lost focus because they did not understand what I was writing or a lot of the questioning. To solve this problem, I created an interactive morning message where students put up picture cards to symbolize important information about our day (such as month, lunch, theme, group activity). This has been SO much more meaningful and the best part is that my students are now more engaged because they each get a turn to put up a part of the morning messag e and the picture format is much easier for them to understand......