Its Marvelous MATH Monday today!

Hi Friends - Its a great Monday here today! So much going on and as usual, never a dull moment in the classroom. Just thought I'd share this in hopes it may give someone else a chuckle today.

I have a little one that is a very prolific complainer. Most of what she says is nonsense and just a way to get some attention.You never know what she is going to say next. She came in today telling me her finger hurt - nothing new there- she wanted a band-aid. I just dismissed it as there was no cut, nothing to bandage and we went on our merry way.
Next, she told me her head hurt and she just couldn't do her work. When I told her she could put her head down for a few moments, she said, "No, Ms Reeve I need to play with the iPad. I explained (again) that it wasn't choice time and she had work she needed to do. She need to get her work done then she would be able to choose a choice (freetime) activity such as the iPad. She returned to her desk and was suppose to be doing Math, but her sitting was short lived as she popped right back up and walked up to my desk, raising her hand as she came. I called on her, and she continued to approach me...coming right up to my face, putting her pointer finger inside her mouth. As she continued to get closer, she pulled her cheek aside as if she wanted me to look at something and said...Ms Reeve, my brain is hurting. See, its right here and it hurts! Well I lost it. I can keep a straight face through a lot of  things with students,  but not this time! I totally cracked up! I mean totally LOST IT!

So whether your brain is in your head or inside your mouth like my little one's was today, I hope YOUR Monday was a good one! You just never know what will come out of their mouths.

Reading is coming along and everyone seems to be making good progress. My focus this week in planning and making materials is  Math at the moment. I am trying to find some new activities for four of my little ones that need extensive repetition of numbers 1-10. They need help with everything! Rote counting, one to one correspondence, and number concepts just to name a few areas in need.
I made them a set of touch number cards that can be pair with card having counting dots on them. Each day they must pair the numeral cards with the counting dots cards that match. 

5 sets of number 1-9

The students must also put the numerals in order, provide me with the correct numeral when I ask for it out of order and we also play GO FISH with them. It works great and provides lots of versatility for a skill set that needs to be worked on frequently.

Next I developed a set of worksheets to complement the cards. Below you will see an example of the worksheet on the left. I am please with the way it worked with the students. They loved it because all the activity sections were short.

The set also includes other worksheets for number recognition such as this matching sheet that matches number words to pictorial representations (in this case dice numbers) and then to the numeral. It will be a little bit before my young ones are ready for this one because of the number words on it, but who knows.



For your Marvelous Monday Freebie, please stop by my TPT store and download the freebie of this product. Click the worksheet above or the Marvelous Monday FREEBIE title. It will take you straight to the FREEBIE!

Don't forget to check out our friends at Manic Monday this week!
 

   

Thanks for stopping by!

Hope you all have a fantastic week! I look forward to sharing again real soon!

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Math Skills

Hi Everyone!
Its Marvelous Monday again  and I wanted to share a little with you about part of my math class. One of my math groups in my classroom consists of 4 girls ranging from kindergarten through 4th grade all working on number recognition and some form of counting. A couple of them know how to rote count, one of them understands one to one correspondence.

One of the best things I have found to help these girls is touch point counting. It works so well for so many students. The touch points are on the numbers so once they have learned the point system, the counting system is always there for them, whether the points are visible or not.

So this is what we have been working on that since the beginning of the school year. I feel like I have had them count just about everything, realistic objects, pictures, touch points, and pennies.  

What do you use that has worked for you? I would love to hear from you!

However, we are far from mastering this skill at all so I have infused the counting into everything in the classroom. I made a set of touch point numbers 1-9 and laminated them. I redesigned my work systems task boxes so they were number driven and labeled them with touch point numbers.
The girls have a schedule on the board with numbers denoting which task boxes they are supposed to do and in what order. These numbers include the touch points so they can count and read their numbers.
I've incorporated the touch points into a line up system so I can tell them to find a certain number to line up on it. I also incorporated the number words for exposure even though they don't read the yet.

What ways do you use to work on concepts such as counting when you need to repeat and repeat? I am always looking for new ways to work on concepts such as these.

For Marvelous Monday Freebie today, I'm giving you a set of touch point numbers that can be used as a choice board for non verbal students when questions require a numerical answer, used in schedules as seen above or any way you can think of.

Don't forget to check out Manic Monday Freebies!
 
Take it easy everyone! Have a great week!

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Objectivity

Step Back to get some Objectivity


Last week I took a few days to travel with my sister to the wonderful state of North Carolina. As a native Floridian, life long resident and dedicated teacher, I have had few chances to view the wonderful spectacle known as Fall. So as I was traveling last week and enjoying all the beautiful fall colors, I was communicating with my classroom on a few behavior problems that came up, mostly because of the routine changes.
As I was traveling up and down mountains and going in and out of good cell reception, I realized that I was able to come up with solutions and ideas to try, much quicker than when I was in the classroom. I was shocked and surprised at how quickly I could come up with some viable solutions for them to try in the classroom. I got a social story written, visuals made and sent back to the class for them to use. It made me aware that objectivity is so important! Perhaps even when I am at school and dealing with the behaviors, I need to find a way to step back from the situation and determine the best course of action sometimes. I might want to find a way to obtain more objectivity.
Do you have students that run away from class? I have two right now that like to do it and of course, they try it when I am not at school. So when I received the information that they were attempting to run, I first determined, from information my paraprofessional gave me, what the cause was. What are they getting out of the behavior. Once I had the reason behind it, I was able to tell her what needed to be done to help stop the problem. One child was running to get attention and one was running to escape the disruption of the classroom schedule caused by my absence and just different people doing things differently. I adjusted the frequency of the the reinforcers to an reinforcement everytime he did something correct instead of every other time. This helped and things got back to normal...well close to it.
Through this experience, I came to realize that sometimes stepping back from situations such as behavior problems in the classroom can actually give you more  perspective you need to see what really needs to be done and see the behavior for what it really is.
Take a look at these visuals for a variety of behaviors. As I was traveling, I realized there were many behaviors that I needed visuals for...poking, hitting, too close, and pinching, just to name a few.




One of the things I did was put together a social story for running away from class. Check it out.

Here is your Monday Freebie for today Enjoy.

Have GREAT week!

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Choice Boards For Lunch Time

Dear Blog reading friends; You know I appreciate every time you visit my blog and every time you share it with others. This is awesome and I appreciate it so much. I am currently on a short vacation seeing fall leaves and visiting friends of the animal kind. This "guy" I just met today. Cute, huh?

So my blog friends, this is going to be short and sweet. And while I'm not in my classroom right now, I  did want to get this to you for this week.

Last week I was sharing a little about how I was using choice boards in my classroom. I'm still focusing on choice boards this week because these have become especially helpful for two of my students.
Another type of choice board I am using is a lunch time choice board. The board has items from the cafeteria on it the student is allowed to pick from.
He selects the items he wants and places them on his own lunch time board which he takes to the lunchroom with him. This helps him make his decisions prior to going to the lunchroom which facilitates time in line, and helps him communicate his wants to the lunchroom ladies.

Enjoy this choice board freebie and have a super week!

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Fostering Communication Through Choice Boards

A delightful 1st grader on the autism spectrum entered my classroom and my life this year.  He can cry, but beyond that, has no verbal communication skills. He can sign a few things, but those signs are often poorly executed and difficult for others outside his world to understand. He often runs through his repertoire of signs when asked to use them just to see if he "hits" one that will work. So here I am! I am a new person in his world and I need to communicate with him and him with me. Where do I start?
I chose to start with things he liked. His preferred items.  Luckily, I have one of the most awesome paraprofessional and together we have walked this path together of working our way into his world and him into ours.
 We systematically introduced him to items in our classroom finding a variety of activities he demonstrated interest in doing. One of his first was a 2nd hand office chair I had gotten from a fellow teacher to use at my teaching table. Fortunately, it is very sturdy and safe because we soon discovered he loved to spin in it. The preferred item we found was through his behavior analyst. He shared that he enjoyed gummy bears.
Once I had found 2 items he preferred, I made a choice board with those two items. We set up a schedule for him that alternated work time and choice time. At the end of each work time we asked him to "make a choice".








We started with a board with just two items. A food item of gummy bears and a picture of the chair he LOVES to spin in. It took several weeks to get a good pointing action from him and the moment we got a close proximity of indicating a response as to what he wanted -he got the item.

It was AMAZING to watch this learning in progress. I've worked many years and in many ways with kids with disabilities but I am still in awe and humbled every time when I see learning taking place like this.
The next thing we did was increase his items. We found he like grapes and jumping, so those were also added to his choice board. The jumping was an fantastic find, as it added to his physical activity and seem to funnel some of his energy into an appropriate physical outlet.
Here is an example of the 4 item choice board I made.

 

As you can see I try and use real pictures when at all possible, but sometimes, its quicker and easier to use clip art.

Now we have built up to a choice board with 12 items on it. 

Here are some other examples of choice boards. 

Thanks for stopping by. Check out our Freebie using the link below.

 

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TEACHABLE MOMENTS!

The clock is ticking! Use every moment

!

As teachers, we know that time is precious and we strive to use every moment of our instructional day. We are experts at finding every little niche in which to teach and/or reinforce skills. We want to get in one more thing.

In my classroom mealtime isn't just an eating experience, its a teaching moment. Every minute is spent teaching something, even meal times.
Recently, I was pondering my long list of things I needed to do before returning to school for the next day and wondering where all the planning time at school was going and why I had so much to do at home.

I was thinking of how much more "planning" or "down" time I could gain  if my paraprofessional ( by her own choice) and I didn't eat with our students, but then last week my precious kindergarten student reminded me of how important even the smallest teaching moments even at lunchtime.

This precious girl is Language Impaired and entered my class in March of last year using only nods of her head as communication. It wasn't that she couldn't speak, because she could, but just didn't. She would come up to me and put a lunch item in my face for me to open it. She almost never spoke to peers and if she did...only one word. If she wanted something she often would just take it.  The other day, I was amazed when lunch started and I overheard this little one ask another student "Mary, what do you have for lunch today?" As soon as Mary answers her, she turns to Laura and asks the same question and waits for her answer. That one lunch time turned into an awesome revelation of how those little moments  we had taken in our day to work with her on verbal requests and conversation or that one last moment in our day to pass along a little morsel really do  count!
 The next day, the same little kindergartener  initiated a complete sentence request of me by first raising her hand, waiting to be called on and requested, "Will you open this please?"  TRIUMPH!!! HALLELUJAH!!! SUCCESS!!
Now on a daily basis, she has become interested in her peers and regularly is asking them what they have for lunch, do they like it and if she can sit next to them.

WOW I LOVE this job!!!  

Everyone have a GREAT WEEK! Don't forget to get your Marvelous Monday Freebie First though!

NUMBERS

Numbers are something we are ALWAYS working on in my classroom. Understanding number concepts and one to one correspondence are such hard things for some of my kiddos to grasp. I am always looking for ways to integrate numbers and counting into everything we do. One thing I have done is to create some spinners we use for games. I am planning to use them also for things such as lining up, taking turns, as well as math activities.
Anytime I can slip in the counting skill, I will. The more practice the better!
So I thought I would pass it onto you as a FREEBIE on this MARVELOUS MONDAY! ENJOY

Don't forget to check out our friends at MANIC MONDAYS

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THE SIMPLEST THINGS!!!

Its the little things sometimes that get noticed and work so well in a classroom of special education students. Don't get me wrong, general education classrooms need to work well also, and the little things count there too, but in special education, the littlest things can make or break a day sometimes.  Sometimes its colors of chairs, pencils, who touches your lunch box or moves your chair.

This summer I found a  simple, but cool pin on Pinterest. It was one of those things that seemed so simple, it was like "How did I not think of this before?"

When school rolled around and my tennis ball solution for my chair and table legs scraping on the tile floors began to be a problem because the balls were falling off the legs when the chairs were moved, I remembered this pin. While I cannot claim this as an original idea, I have modified it and wanted to share it with all of you.


An idea of putting felt booties or socks as we call them in my room has been the BEST thing since sliced bread.
They are quiet, easy to install, economical and easy to replace if they get too dirty. My tennis balls were so dirty. I had tried to dress them up by drawing faces on them but it really didn't help. The cuts in them were expanding and I needed something different.

Here's how I did them.
1. Materials:

• 1- 9" x 12" piece of felt cut into 4 equal pieces. 
• 1 zip tie at least 7 inches long (length helps in ease of fastening) Mine would work with a 4 inch zip tie, but it took longer to get it fastened and secured. Depends on your chair leg circumference also.
• Pair of scissors to cut felt.

chair socks

2. Turn the chair upside down and cover one leg glider with one piece of felt.
3. Use a zip-tie and fasten it around the felt and pulled tightly to secure.
4. Cut off any loose end of the zip-tie.
5. Spread out the felt as seen with the yellow sock on the right in the picture above. You can choose to leave it gathered like the purple sock on the left.



The possibilities are endless I think as to what you could do with these. I did several color variations in my classroom just to add pizazz and to satisfy certain color preferences of a couple of my students.
We have a couple of chairs with football team colors, one chair with all pink feet and chair socks coordinated according to the location in the room to which they belong such as the reading table, computer center or individual centers.

Coordinated Center Chair socks

I have several center areas specified by color. You can see by the picture to the right how I color coordinated the center colors with the chair socks. This red center table has red tape around the edges. The chairs have red tape on the back to designate the chair belongs at that particular center and NOW, the chair at the red center has red chair socks. All color coordinated!!! 

Over the years I've tried many things on chair legs but so far this is my favorite. Sometimes simple is the best!

Last week I showed you a preview of a product I was working on for my students to improve reading comprehension. It has simple 1 sentence text with basic WH questions. This activity has limited clip art so as not to distract from the content and includes answer prompts that can be cut out and placed in the answer square or they can left intact on the card and used as a worksheet. They can even be laminated and then you can use wipe off markers for students to draw a line from the answer space to the correct answer.
So as promised, just for you, my blog readers, here is a FREE sample of this new product.

Its a SALE!  Its a SALE!  Its a SALE! Its a SALE! 

Are you still needing those last few things to make your classroom complete?  Check out Superteach56's TPT store!  I am having a SALE this week!  15% discount on practically everything. Be sure to check it out! Sale starts Tuesday September 24th through Friday, September 27th.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Superteach56

Don't forget our friends over at Manic Monday as well! Check them out for all the great freebies. I"m posting early this week but Manic Monday won't live until tomorrow so come  back and visit again.

Until next time!

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MARVELOUS MONDAY READING COMPREHENSION

Do you have those students that are really good at word recognition skills but their reading comprehension skill are significantly deficient? 
Students with autism commonly have difficulty with comprehension.  They are excellent word callers often reading well above their reading level.  Many students can have a word recognition grade equivalent commensurate to their grade levels, yet have a comprehenion grade level equivalent one, two or even three grade levels below their word recognition levels. In fact, often with students I have worked with, its amazing to me how they figure out exactly which words are which. They just seem to know them. Almost like MAGIC!  Well we know it isn't magic but how do we help these students? Comprehension is the substance of reading. Without that-are they truly reading? NO!
We need to acknowledge the strength they have in word recognition while improving the deficient skills in reading comprehension.
I use many ways in my classroom. I would love to hear about how you tackle this issue as well. What stratagies do you use? What  materials and activities do you use to help YOUR students master reading comprehension?
Here are some favorites of mine that I use.
Direct Instruction
Direct Instruction is breaking down skills manageable tasks in order that they can be presented through demonstration repeated action until the task is learned. Its using simple direct language easy for the students to grasp and understand. The tasks are successfully taught when they are are generalized outside the lesson environment. Many Direct Instruction (DI) materials have built in repetitions and repetitive language that make it easy for students with disabilities to master. Commericial products such as the SRA line of materials that incorporate Direct Instruction have proven highly successful and are just one of many. You can check out their lines of products at McGraw Hill SRA Direct Instruction
Autism & PDD Picture Stories
Another product that I have used successfully many times is Autism & PDD Picture Stories. You can find them at Linguisystems.  This set is comprised of very simplified stories about the characters Matt and Molly. There are sets of questions to accompany the stories along with Question prompting cards such was WH words and YES/NO cards.
Teacher Made Materials
Even with great commercial products out there, sometimes I find they are not addressing exactly what I need to work on with a student. So having started creating products to sell, I'm setting out on making a simple sentence comprehension activity. Its going to look something like this.

I am going to test this activity in class this week then I will have it available as a freebie next Monday. This set can be used as you see it as a worksheet. It could also be cut apart and laminated, then the answer cards at the bottom and the box in the question card can have velcro attached to it so the students could attach the answers they select to the answer box.
I would love to hear your thoughts on what you use for comprehension or if something like this would work for you?
In the meantime, please enjoy the FREEBIE for Marvelous Monday!  Tomorrow's Marvelous Monday won't be so great without my kiddos as I have a teacher work day to do county Data Day. But, then it WILL BE MARVELOUS for them as THEY have the day OFF!

 

Check out other freebies at Manic Monday

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Marvelous Monday!

As I have become overwhelmed working on IEPs differentiating work for my students, getting prepared for a new student tomorrow, OPEN HOUSE on Thursday and many other things, I am sure all of you are going through as well.
So today I am repeating a post from this summer that bears repeating as it is such a vital piece of what we do.
 Happy Marvelous Monday everyone!

• CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.B.4 Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.
• CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.B.4a When counting objects, say the number names in the standard order, pairing each object with one and only one number name and each number name with one and only one object.
• CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.B.4b Understand that the last number name said tells the number of objects counted. The number of objects is the same regardless of their arrangement or the order in which they were counted.
• CCSS.Math.Content.K.CC.B.4c Understand that each successive number name refers to a quantity that is one larger.

While this is a kindergarten Common Core skill, those of us in special education know we are often working on this skill  beyond kindergarten age and grade level, so it's important to have many types of materials so kids won't get bored  over time, doing the same activity. My students needing to master this skill are a mixture of grade levels; some kindergarteners and some older.

How can I differentiate this concept?  One way I can do this is to vary the product (outcome) I expect from the students in order to demonstrate their learning. I may need to have multiple ways to differentiate this within my group of students, also. So I need lots of options.
Many of my kids groan anytime I show them a worksheet to do, but will volunteer to work on something if the activity looks like a game they can play. For one of my activities, I made a set of counting task cards.  My kiddos love these!
Now, I can look at differentiating this one activity's outcome. How can I differentiate the learning in order to make more gains in learning?
Here are some starter ideas:

1. I can differentiate by having them write down the answers on an answer sheet.
2. Use them as task cards and attach clothespins to the correct answers. 
3. Place them  in a learning center area or independent work area where I assign certain students to complete the cards. Following completion of the cards, I can check the student's work before they leave the work area.
4. Assign certain sets of of the task cards (e.g. counting 1-5, counting 6-10) to specific kids so the materials meet their individual learning needs.   
5. I could also make them into a game such as the card game, War.
   If you didn't played this during your childhood as I did,check out the rules at http://www.bicyclecards.com/card-games/rule/war
6.  With multiple sets of the task cards, you could teach a group of kids to play the card game, Go Fish. See game rules: http://www.bicyclecards.com/card-games/rule/go-fish.

Its Marvelous Monday  and here is your Freebie for today!

Enjoy this Mini-set of my Number Concept task cards for free. If you would like the entire set, please check out the item at my TPT store: 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Number-Concepts-1-10-Task-Cards-604922

  Don't forget to check out our good friends at Classroom Freebies and Manic Monday! You never know what goodies you will find there!

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