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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Where Have I Been?

Oh my blog friends and readers - I have missed you!  Its been a rough couple of weeks in Superteach's classroom. Yes, newbies and neophytes, even the experienced ones have them.

Ever have one of those times when no matter what you did; no matter how organized and prepared you were - nothing really went your way; nothing really worked; everything was harder than it should be?
Well that's just what has been going on in my neck of the woods recently and I'm sorry but the blog writing fell by the wayside.  But I have missed it and you, my followers and readers. There were times when I thought  I would get a blog post up, but then something else would come up with a more pressing need.

Well one intensive student  and many consultations and reports later....PLUS one exhausted brain..I'm baaaaccck!
I have never been so glad that I am somewhat of a data person than in the recent month.  Data saved me! It gave me a true picture of what was going on in the classroom and at school. It saved me  a tremendous amount of work to already have my data recorded. At least all I had to do then was tally it, graph it and put it into a report.
I would have to say right now that collecting data is one of the most important things we as special education teachers do. Its like an artist with a brush. Recording that data and having it ready to summarize it so you can "paint" a picture of what your students are doing will speak volumes when presented.

Here's a little Freebie to get you going on my next project! Level 2 of the PCI Worksheets. Even if you don't work with PCI Reading, these words are all Dolch and Fry common sight words.

 

PCI Reading Level 2 Sight Words Worksheet FREEBIE

See you soon!
Superteach!

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FAVORITE THINGS

Well its back to work today for me!  Hope some of you out there are still enjoying summer for a little while longer. As I hopefully get to dig things out of my cupboards and shelves I know I will come across some of my favorite things. #1 on my list I actually have at home ...MY LAMINATOR!!

I wanted to publish several other posts last week, but ended up really working hard to get things created, printed and laminated for school this coming week. Early in the week, I found out the air conditioning into my classroom broke down last week spilling water everywhere. When the A/C was finally repaired and the ceiling tiles replaced; as the ceiling is where the A/C lives, the custodial staff was getting ready to rewax the damaged floors and a portion of the school my classroom is in had an unexplained electrical outage.  GO FIGURE!!!
Should I take this as  bad omen for the year to come?
Or am I just getting the "bad" out of the way now!
Anyway, as of this morning, the floors will be having their last coat of wax applied and hopefully I will have access to the room following our welcome meeting.
Since I wasn't able to go work in my room and start my setup, I concentrated on getting all my centers ready to go and laminated.

Laminating!! I LOVE laminating!  I LOVE MY LAMINATOR!  There I've said it. I know! It seems silly! But here is the truth.  My laminator is one of 5 things I could NOT teach without. It saves me so much time having to remake things because the games and cards are protected from damage.

One of the first things I did when I returned to special education 10 years ago was to invest in a good heavy duty laminator and that turned out to be an excellent purchase. I purchased it from www.usi-laminate.com .

This laminator has seen me through every visual I have ever wanted to make. This is a pouch laminator which will take laminate up to 15 ml thick. I usually use 5, 7 or 10 ml. This laminator has variable temperature settings for different thicknesses of film and one of the best things is, it takes only 5 minutes to warm up and be able to use it.

Its such a fabulous dependable machine. Whereas I splurged somewhat on my laminator, I have consistently used some of the most inexpensive laminate around until earlier this summer when I saw some laminate my sister had done and it was pristine. So after finding out that she was using laminate from the same place I had purchased my laminator, I decided to try a test.  So I tested my cheaper laminate 7 ml with USI Opti clear 7 ml.

Here is a picture of the Opti Clear Laminate I tested.

 

The Opti-Clear laminate is almost invisible. It totally clear and is even easier to cut.

This is the cheaper version. I have noticed it tends to warp more and bubble a little as well. I may just be sold on spending a little more money for better quality.

Today is Marvelous Monday! So be sure to check out your freebie

DECOMPOSING NUMBERS ACTIVITY CARDS

 Today's freebie contains 12 activity cards with crayons on them. Cut them apart, laminate them and the students can write on them. All the students need to do is count crayons and enter the amounts on the lines on the cards.


and checkout Manic Monday with the button below for more free items from other bloggers.

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In the End - Get What Your Students Know!

Hi Guys!  Happy Marvelous Monday!!!
Hope everyone had a great weekend.  Today I thought we'd finish up our series on differentiation by talking about the final product.
How many of you when you went through school always demonstrating your knowledge to  the teacher by taking a test to show what you knew?  I know I did!
Now how many of you were not good at taking those tests?  I sure wasn't good at it!

Today we still have those tests and hardly anyone is good at showing all they know through them. Even in today's world of test, test, test, we need to remember that our kids can not demonstrate all they know on paper/pencil tests.

Differentiation is the answer. Differentiating the outcome, the product, of how the students show you what they have learned is one way to combat this. What is the best way to get the most out of your students for the topic you are teaching?

Ways to differentiate Products 
Most of my students dont like to write, so practicing/test  their spelling/vocabulary words can be a battle. . Some of them have difficulty writing legibily due to fine motor problems, some aren't at the writing stage developmentally yet and some have vision issues. So when I  develop a lesson for them to practice words on a daily basis, I take these issues into account.
What are some ways I can differentiate this lesson? Here are some things I do for this subject, but they work for others as well.

Whiteboard

1. Let the student write on the white board. Some kids love writing on whiteboards, smartboards, tablets and more.  
2. Have them write the words in sand.
3. Use clay to spell the words.
4. Use magnet tiles. I have blue magnet letter tiles from Lakeshore Learning that have been absolutely wonderful for many years. I also purchased a small magnet board from them that is easily portable and stands on a desk.
5. Student love working on projects. We did plants last year and instead of asking them to give me the plant parts on a paper/pencil test, we used the real plants. They loved it and I loved it.
6. Technology is an awesome way to differentiate. I utilize iPhones, iPads and computers in my classroom daily. This year I am incorporating QR code in my classroom. QR codes will be part of daily activities as well as assessment and end product.
   
   
   

   

   Plants

   
   

   

   Rubber Stamps

   
   

As part of Marvelous Monday Freebie - please find a below a link to my latest QR product for Alphabet Letters and sounds. Check it out and let me know what you think. If you like the freebie you can find it in my TPT store.

QUESTION OF THE DAY - 

What are some ways you differentiate the end products of units you teach? I would love to hear what you do!

 

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MARVELOUS MONDAY FREEBIE!!! - Differentiating

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.

For our Marvelous Monday Freebie please enjoy a sample of my counting task cards. 
Click for your Marvelous Monday Freebie:

Its Marvelous Monday  and here is your Freebie for today!

 

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