Garden Themed Bulletin Board~ "Positive Thinking and Reading”

This is the bulletin board outside of my hallway. I created a pocket full of copies of positive quotes for students to take, colorful poms and thanks to the wonderful clip art I found on Teachers Pay Teachers, I created my own posters and banners using publisher!

This is a pocket full of quotes and inspiration, students can take one or share one with a friend.

All of the printables are available on my Teachers Pay Teachers or Teacher's Notebook Store for $4.oo

How to make tissue paper poms...

Tissue paper flowers or poms add a pop of color and are really easy!

Choose your colors and layer the tissue paper (2-3 pieces).

 Fold the paper like and accordion...Remember those fans we made as kids? You fold the tissue paper just like that!

Fold to find the middle and cut the tissue paper in half .

Cut about six inches of floral wire from the roll.

Lay your first half on the second and secure with floral wire in the middle.

Carefully separate your layers of tissue paper. Enjoy your colorful pom!

 A Reading Bulletin Board by

Classroom Tools: "Breaking the Ice" ...

Clip-art Credit:

Write an Opening-Day Letter…

I love this idea!

What to do:

Write a letter to your students. In that letter, introduce yourself to students. Tell them about your hopes for the new school year and some of the fun things you'll be doing in class. Also, tell students a few personal things about yourself; for example, your likes and dislikes, what you did over the summer, and your hobbies. I might even share some of my old class photos. (It will give them a laugh!) Ask questions throughout the letter. You might ask what students like most about school, what they did during the summer, and what their goals for the new school year are, or what they are really good at.

{For my group this year, I am looping up to 5^th with them. Since I had them all year as 4^th graders, we know each other pretty well. I still want to take the time to catch up, so I am going to write a letter about what I did over the summer and include who I saw from the class over the summer and where!}

I am going to project my letter on the big screen and have the student write back and share their letters about their summers!

Want to know more about students?

Try a student survey.  This one asks students to share their preferences regarding classroom environment and gives the teacher a chance to get to know the social and emotional needs of the students before class work begins.

This is a student survey designed to help you to “get to know” your new students. It’s the quiz the students cannot fail! 

Its multiple choice format makes it easy for all students to participate. 
It asks the students questions about their attitudes and feelings towards school in an effort to reveal their thoughts and provides information for goal setting. 

I hope you enjoying the last few days of summer vacation! 

Wishing you the best,

Shannon 

Teacher Tools: Collecting Baseline Data

Special education teacher's have a special task at the beginning of the school year--developing a program to meet the needs of each student.  This requires an understanding of a child's current strengths and weaknesses. Of course, a  description of "present levels of performance" is already in the  IEP document. However, have you noticed that at the beginning of the year, the students aren't usually quite at the "present levels" they were when they left school in June? 

At the beginning of the new school year, it is important to gather new "baseline data"!

"Baseline data" is a way of referring to the where the child is performing on a specific skill at that time. It is a "starting place" based (hopefully) on concrete, understandable information derived from measurements of the child's performance in that area. Understanding, and including, the baseline can give the the teacher to develop a program that will allow them to work with the student on clear, measurable goals that will allow the child to make  progress.

Baseline data can be taken from a variety of places. Baseline data in the IEP could come from standardized tests, or statewide / school-wide testing. It is important to remember that often children with learning or attention difficulties do not perform well on standardized test. This is a snapshot of how the child was performing on that day, given those circumstances.  (Oh and don't forget to factor in the possibility of test anxiety, the length of the test, the child's ability to attend to task for that length of time, the skill level of the standardized test and so on...the results of this standardized test may not provide what you want! 

Classroom based assessments may be your best bet for gathering genuine baseline data that truly informs your instruction! You can control the content, length, testing times, and take your time to jot down behavioral and developmental observations. After administering classroom based assessments and making pertinent observations, NOW you have realistic baseline data and are ready to develop your program! 

There are many classroom based assessments that can be used. Particularly in math I find that the length & scope of many assessments is a deterrent in gathering what accurate baseline data. I developed an assessment that can be given in whole or in part and has a skills checklist that allows the teacher to track the skills and areas assessed. It is designed for special education students from grades 2-5 & covers basic areas of mathematics. 

Kind Regards,

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Fabulous First Day Link Up

An InLinkz Link-up

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Successful planning for the r-skills assessment {Read 180}

 It took me nearly all of my first year teaching Read 180 before it occurred to me...know your end point BEFORE you begin each workshop. Print out the R-skills assessment and look over the objectives that are to  be taught...a starting from the end approach to lesson planning. It  improved the quality of planning, aided me in determining when to reteach, and the student's R-skills scores and levels of confidence increased immensely!

We are required to display our teaching objectives. I think it is a great idea. It is a nice visual reminder of "where you are going", providing focus to lesson planning. I created a bulletin board displaying all of the objectives that should be mastered before taking the R-skills test. It proved to be road map to our learning.

Knowing that the year will quickly get busy, I thought it would be wonderful to have the objectives and bulletin board materials right at my finger tips.

So I did. I created 100 + posters to complement the Read 180 {stage A} classroom.   They are ready to go! I am sharing them on my TpT store. (Well, you know...I have to raise a couple of bucks. The linoleum in my kitchen has to go. It's avocado, blue and gold. I hope you understand!)

 



Feel free to click around and explore the store. The posters are available in pink, blue, light green and white with green lettering. There are posters to display objectives as well as a colorful workshop # and title poster set.

 

 It's going to be a great school year!

First Day Of School Activity: All About Me~ Back to School Student Survey

I know, I'm thinking about the first day of school already!

I really want those first days to go smoothly.

Here is the latest addition to my TpT and Teacher's Notebook store:

 

 

 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/All-About-MeBack-to-School-Student-Survey-761776

 

 

I think that will be a great way to get to know the kids and discover any areas where I can help or  encourage!

 

 



Organizing your IEPs {Individual Education Plan}

Today I had the following question about organizing IEPs on my TpT store questions and feedback section:

"Hello!
I just bought your Special Education Teacher's Survival Guide and I love it! I just had some questions: I am a brand new teacher in a high school setting and I am trying to figure out the best way for me to organize my student's IEP's. I thought about having a binder for each student with tabs and then store them in crates behind my desk. Or I know that in your guide you say to have one binder with all the student's IEP's....just wondering what you have found that works best.

Thank you!"

It is  a good question and it made me think..."What is best practice when it comes to effectively managing special education paperwork?"  In my efforts to keep on top of the state and district forms, I have tried many different organizational strategies. One of my favorites is (as mentioned above)  keeping a binder of all of the IEPs for students on my caseload.  I wanted to find out what everyone else found helpful! {So leave comments!}

My reply was...

"I have always kept an extra copy of my student's IEPs in a large binder. Though one of my colleagues had a very large caseload (servicing students in speech therapy) and she found that keeping all of the IEPs in a binder was impractical! She uses a folder system for each individual student, which worked best for her.
I used the large binder with IEPs for my entire caseload for a few reasons:
**I could jot down notes on them rather quickly at the end of the day (without pulling out all of the working files, folders where I keep IEPS and other paperwork)
**I could have the paraprofessional working in my room take the whole binder down to the photocopy room and make copies when it came time to send progress notes to parents. It went very quickly!
**If a teacher came to the room with a quick question about the student's program, all the information was up-to-date and at my finger tips...I didn't even have to leave the group I was working with!
** I could take all of my IEPs home to read them before the school year started...and not a stack of folders. When it came time to code IEPs, I tossed the binder in my tote bag if I was too tired to do it at school.
**I have had adminstration ask for last minute information (such as how many students have a particular accomodation) and could flip through my binder and tabulate information quickly.
**A binder with all of the IEPs is really handy if the principal calls you to the office for an impromtu meeting about your program. It's happened to me...yikes! I have also been in a meeting with the principal discussing student "A" and then student "B" needs were brought up while I was there. It is not humanly possible to remember every student's indvidual needs! I was so glad that I had every student's IEP sitting on my lap.

Though when doing it this way, there were a couple of things I had to remember...
when a new IEP was written, I had to remember to make extra copies. In our district we keep cumalative files and working files (where I keep a personal copy of all forms) and lastly a copy of the IEP for my binder. It became a habit before long and it was no big deal.
When deciding what method works best, it really depends on the size of your caseload and your organizational needs and style. Find whatever works best for you and go for it!"

Classroom Writing Center in the Resource Room

BHG.com

Beginning of the Year...
Setting up your resource room!

 

It is important that students have a place in the classroom that is easily accessible and has all the tool and resources for the writer's craft.  Labeling where items are located helps students find them and helps students know where to return items. This helps the teacher keep the area NEAT!  The area should be easy to maintain...so make sure the containers are easy for students to use and access. Explicitly teach  procedures on how to use the writing center. Post the rules for peer editing and specific procedures and expectations that you have taught students. Remind students of the procedures often, especially  early on in the year!

The writing center should be stocked with a variety of lined paper. Paper with darker lines, larger lines, and handwriting paper. If you do not have this on hand, check with the physical therapist at  your school.

While the writing center must be easy for all the students to access the materials, it is nice to have a distraction free nook for students to write in as well. For students that are  easily distracted, the writing area is ideally away from noise, facing away from active areas such as doors, window or group instruction areas. (Just be sure the quiet work area isn't obstructed from the teacher's line of vision!)
For those students that need adult support in writing, have  an area just for small group instruction and editing.

This year I plan to revamp my classroom writing center. 
I have gathered some plans from Pinterest and created some new labels to complement my classroom theme: vibrant blue and green!
I hope to implement the following ideas (thanks y'all!) and post pictures of the completed writing center when it is finished. These are the ideas that INSPIRED me!

 Click here to view the source!

 

 Love this...

 

I want to use my filing cabinets as a backboard to a writing table.

Then I can use magnetic pencil boxes...like the ones I used to put in my locker...for pens and pencils!

A little inspiration for the students....

 

{Source}

Though  I have a version of my own,

I like this one too!

{Source}

 

etsy.com

Writing Center Labels...

These are the labels I am going to use in my writing center !

.

Don't forget to have tons of graphic organizers on hand that students know how

to use independently, for EXAMPLE...

Narrative Writing from http://whattheteacherwants.blogspot.com/

...or this little FREEBIE I have used from Creative Classroom

Last year I used the activities from a writing journal I put together for students that finished early. It provided more structured writing activities than a free write journal and I included lists of possible topics. This seemed to provide inspiration to students that had trouble getting started too! 

This is another idea that would  be great for storing all of those journals!

 

SOURCE

Classroom environment is so very, very important. Having an organized, user friendly writing center is just one of the many parts of an environment friendly to little learners! 



You might also like the organizational materials for a special education classroom found in A Special Education Teacher's Survival Guide!

Open House/Back to School Night...

Open House

Back to School Night

Parent involvement is important to the success for students. This year to increase involvement, I plan to send a personal letter welcoming the student, encouraging families to become involved and inviting them to the Back to School Night. 

As a special education teacher, my letter as resource room teacher and case manager will be a little different than a regular education teacher's welcome letter, (link to template) but I want to encourage parents to come and see the resource room during open house as well. My open house back to school letter is going to include key details such as where to find my classroom, contact information, classroom rules and procedures specific to the resource room, my homework policy and other important information. 

I am going to create small magnets (laminated labels with a magnet strip on back) with all of my contact information-- the school number, my room number, and e-mail information.  I hope this will encourage communication throughout the school year. This year I am displaying a sign in sheet for visitors to sign. {Later this will help me to remember the families I have met!}  

Google Docs

 

For other ways to get parents check out the links at 1...2...3 Teach with ME! 

If you have some ideas to share from your blog JOIN THE LINKY PARTY!

 Share how you get parents involved!

I hope you are having a great summer!