2 for Tuesday

Its another terrific Tuesday and time for  2 For Tuesday and 2 more fantastic products discounted just for you.
As much as I hate to say it..but in awhile school will be starting again. Have YOU been working on school items? I have been thinking about things that will be needed to get started for a new year.
When teaching students in special education one of the things you especially want to make sure you have is items ready for helping
with teaching the kids the routines you expect them to perform.
For instance, teaching morning routines of what you expect when they arrive at school or get into the classroom. With kids with disabilities, it isn't just a matter of telling them what you want them to do.
Sometimes the students will learn better if you use visuals with pictures to show them what you want them to do.
A couple of ideas I have used and found particularly useful is a picture schedule or picture word schedule depending on if your student can read or not. Sometimes pictures are more understandable by some children.  An example might be like the ones to the left. You'll notice that I have included pictures and words for very minute steps in arriving in class I want this child to complete. These visuals include zipping and unzipping the backpack and going to their desk.
I cut these pieces apart and put them on a schedule board in the order I want them completed.

Another time of the day I frequently use visuals at the very beginning of the school year is for teaching what behaviors are appropriate when arriving at school in the morning. What should the student do when they get off the bus or out of the car?
When students don't know what they are supposed to do, it can add stress and anxiety to the child's day and can increase inappropriate behaviors in some instances.
To the left, you will see an example of visuals for arriving at school telling the child some steps such as walking when the exit a bus or car and that they should wait quietly and listen to the teacher.

Teaching, reinforcing, reteaching and reinforcing is of course needed to make the visuals work but these are awesome tools for teaching beginning of the school tasks.

Today for 2 for Tuesday's please visit my store for 2 great items for you.

Thanks for checking in! Be sure to stop by check in at Chalk One Up for the Teacher to catch other great 2 for Tuesday offers.

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2 For Tuesday

Happy TUESDAY everyone!

I am really excited to bring you two really great products for this week's Two For Tuesday!

One of today's products focuses on greater than and less than. Those sometimes dreaded symbols that students have difficulty distinguishing between. Although I have most recently been teaching Special Education, I have also taught general education for many years. Even in general education, the more than and less than skill has been a topic that can difficult for students to grasp. It often seems to require skills that their young brains aren't quite old enough to grasp just yet. However we are faced with teaching this skills to younger and younger students each year as the standards are amended and moved to a younger age. So what are some tricks and tips to help students with this skill? 

One of the difficulties in learning this skill is remembering which sign <, > is which. I know it took me awhile when I was in school. Anyone else have that difficulty? 

Everyone probably knows the cute alligator signs to help the kids remember which sign means less than and which is greater than. With the alligator signs, the larger number of course always go in the alligator's mouth

One thing I have done in the past to help students remember the difference between these two symbols is begin by giving them a manipulative they can actually use between two numbers when they are first learning the skill. 

In order to do this, I have made "alligator jaws" in many different ways. Here are some of the ways that have worked for me. 

1. One of the most successful and durable was using 2 popsicle sticks or tongue depressors. I would join the 2 sticks at one end with hot glue making certain the opposite end was open wide to symbolize the open mouth of the gator. Depending on the age of my students at the time, we would sometimes draw teeth on them or use a black marker to draw the signs on the sticks. 
2. On other occasions we gave the symbols names such as Greta Greater Than and Lucy Less Than.
3. As I moved up in grade levels, of course the alligator was looked on by some kids as childish so I would move directly to the symbols themselves. Colors often help jog memories about things so I assigned colors to the symbols - such as coloring greater than  green and less than was colored lavender. 

What ways have YOU used to help students with this skill? I would love to hear from you!

In honor of greater than and less than , one of my 2 for Tuesday giveaways today is a discounted game for practicing the skill. Be sure and check it out in my TPT  Terrific Tuesday Store or click the graphic below.

The other product that's on sale this week, continues from our last few weeks of practice activities for sight words. I have included another set of review sight word practice. These worksheets have multiple ways to practice sight words on each page. They range from tracing and reading,  to writing and also matching words written in different fonts.

 Check them out! They are discounted for just this week.

Be sure and share the blog so everyone can get in on the sale prices. 

Thanks for stopping by! See you next time!

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Teaching Math

What's 2 For Tuesdays? 

Its a group of bloggers linking  together  to offer YOU 2 special items for sale in our TPT stores this summer. Check out the link above to go to the reserved place in my store where I have 2 different items on sale each week just for you. Be sure and check back each week because you will want to CATCH that special item YOU need next school year ,or even for Summer School or Extended School year.

Teaching Math
Today, for 2 For Tuesdays, I wanted to share about Touch Math. I want to talk  specifically about
teaching counting and number identification and naming. This past year, I taught  several students that had a particularly hard time learning number and counting to 10.
As a teacher of special education working with students with significant disabilities,  many of the kids I work with have great difficulties learning to identify their their numbers and correctly use one to one correspondence to count items.
Many teachers even in general education classes also have students with this problem in learning numbers. One way I have used over the years has been the Touch Math program. This program has been around for a quite awhile and has proven to be quite an effective tool for teaching student with math difficulties.

If you haven't heard of this program, you should look it up. You can click here to see more about it.

Its the best program I have found that works children with many different types of math problems.

It works for children of different ages; from Pre-K through 3 grade. Primarily what TouchMath has done is  assign points to each number that corresponds to the value of the number.TouchMath  provides students with  a multiple sensory way for kids to learn math. The points are single dots in numbers 1-5 and double points (dot plus a ring around the dot). Each number has assigned dots that are affixed to a specific place on the number. The important part of this program is to teach the student HOW to count the dots for each numeral from 1-9.
The Touch Math program uses pictorial objects and dots for the The Touch Points as the students learn to count. First the students can use the pictorial dots (apples, ducks, ladybugs) to learn to touch, count and say the numbers then as they progress, the pictorial objets are faded to dots. Once your students have learned the touch points they have something tangible to touch (the dot) and say the count aloud(say the number). Then using the dots and/or pictorial objects the students can move from counting to adding, in which they use the dots and counting forward to add, In subtraction, the student count backwards and in multiplication and division they count in sequences  to multiply and divide.

Check out this great program! I have seen wonderful things happen when kids realize they really can count or can add!

This week in 2 For Tuesday, I am offering a set of number counting and matching cards with counting points on them. I use them as a supplement to the Touch Math program and it has helped immensely. I also made a set and put them in a work center.
Item 2 today is a review set of worksheets for sight words. These words particularly come from the PCI Reading Program Level 1 but they are also on the Dolch Sight Words list and can be used with any reading program.
WAIT!  Be sure and check out other items in Two for Tuesday!
Click the picture below to go to  Chalk One Up for the Teacher where you will find other links for

2 For Tuesday

Have you every thought of opening a store on Teachers Pay Teachers? Earn extra money for the resources you create for YOUR students!
Use the following link below and start YOUR store today!
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Signup/referral:maryann56

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2 For Tuesday #2

Reading Instruction in Special Education 

What do YOU use in your classroom?

PCI is one of my preferred reading program to use when teaching my self contained class. I love the repetition of the words being  presentation paired with the repeated practice of reading the words.
I have seen many students become fluent readers because of the PCI reading program.
This past year I found some of my students needed a little reinforcement in reading and writing the words after they had been presented in the program.


I developed some supplemental worksheets that can be used in conjunction with the program. Each worksheet gives the student the following activities to practice the words.

1) Trace and Read presents the each word in dotted font
to trace first with arrows to guide correct letter formation
then without the direction arrows. 
2) Find and Circle presents a variety of words in different 
fonts/sizes in which the students must circle the focus
word.
3) Write gives the students practice writing the focus word 
on their own.
4) Cut and Paste provides practice pasting the letters in order to form the word after cutting them apart.  



In my store you will find supplemental reading worksheets sets for all 140 words in Level 1, and Level 2 was well as review sets for both levels. Coming in the near future will be both reinforcement and review sets for the new level 3 that is out. This week for you - I am offering my level 2 PCI word worksheet sets at a discount price just for 2 For Tuesday.

The other item I'm offering is a set of Number Counting Worksheets 1-10. These worksheets provide multiple opportunities for students to practice counting, coloring in squares to match the numbers, and matching items with the numerals. 





Check out Chalk One Up for the Teacher's Blog for the this weeks' Entire Two for Tuesday Lineup.

Check out both these great products with the link below and snatch while they are on sale. 

Thanks for checking out the blog today. 

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2 For Tuesday!!!

Hi everyone!

First thing on my To Do list this summer is to be more regular about posting on my blog. I love blogging and getting to know other bloggers and teachers out there.

CLICK HERE TO TAKE YOU TO THE LINKY

Today I'm linking up with a summer long linky called

 2 For Tuesday. 

Every Tuesday, 2 items in my store will be on sale. The discounts will vary from week to week and product to product.
This week's products are great products to start next school year with!  I know I know....really early to start thinking that way.
PRODUCT 1 Sight Word Worksheets Level 1.
This set of worksheets give easy sight word practice in multiple ways. Practicing includes reading, tracing the word, search, find and circle the words among other known words and cut and paste letters to make the words.
PRODUCT 2  Alphabet Assessment Packs
This product includes 5 different ways to assess letter naming and identification. You can use individual letter assessment, or choose from letter identification from groups of 2, 3, 4, and 5 letters.
An assessment sheet is included for each packet so you can track progress over several different assessment times. I used mine for assessing students at the end of each grading period.

2 Great Products on sale just for you! Click on the link below to take you straight to the custom category in my store.

While you are visiting, don't forget to hit the follow button. That way you will know about all my sales first.
Until next time!

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