Sunday, August 28, 2016

SPEDtacular Sunday Freebies!!!


It's time for some more SPEDtacular Freebies!!! Welcome SPED teachers SLPs, OTs, PTs...and anyone else who can use some free resources for their classroom! Every Sunday I host this freebie link up here on my blog! Visit each week to download free resources for your classroom! If this is your first time visiting, you can access the previous link ups by clicking on "SPEDtacular Sunday Freebies" under "My Files" on my right sidebar. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

If you're a TPT seller, blogger, or resource creator, I hope you'll link up and share your own freebie with us! 

Link Up Rules

1. All resources must be FREE! It can be free for the day, but please delete your link once you mark it back to paid.
2. Your freebie may link to your blog or store.
3. Freebie does not have to be related specifically to SPED, but should be practical for SPED.
4. If you are linking up from your blog, using this image in your post and linking back to my blog is not required, but is greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to share this image on your social media so your other SPED friends don't miss out! :)

*I recommend using an image of your freebie & not your button when linking up. 

Link up your free resources below and/or download the free resources you can use in your classroom! The link up tool will close on Saturday each week, but freebies will remain accessible! Come back every Sunday to link up or download new freebies!


Sunday, August 21, 2016

SPEDtacular Sunday Freebies!!!


It's time for some more SPEDtacular Freebies!!! Welcome SPED teachers SLPs, OTs, PTs...and anyone else who can use some free resources for their classroom! Every Sunday I host this freebie link up here on my blog! Visit each week to download free resources for your classroom! If this is your first time visiting, you can access the previous link ups by clicking on "SPEDtacular Sunday Freebies" under "My Files" on my right sidebar. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

If you're a TPT seller, blogger, or resource creator, I hope you'll link up and share your own freebie with us! 

Link Up Rules

1. All resources must be FREE! It can be free for the day, but please delete your link once you mark it back to paid.
2. Your freebie may link to your blog or store.
3. Freebie does not have to be related specifically to SPED, but should be practical for SPED.
4. If you are linking up from your blog, using this image in your post and linking back to my blog is not required, but is greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to share this image on your social media so your other SPED friends don't miss out! :)

*I recommend using an image of your freebie & not your button when linking up. 

Link up your free resources below and/or download the free resources you can use in your classroom! The link up tool will close on Saturday each week, but freebies will remain accessible! Come back every Sunday to link up or download new freebies!



Friday, August 19, 2016

Phenomonal SmartBoard Website


Do you have a SmartBoard or other interactive whiteboard in your classroom?? Then you need to know about Smartboardingschool.com. Smart Boarding School is a website that I use in my classroom nearly every single day! It's a website that has over a thousand primary educational resources for use on interactive whiteboards. And it's free! 

Resources are divided into 4 subject areas and by age level, so you can easily choose appropriate activities for your students.
Once you choose a subject from here, you'll be taken to a page to choose what skill in that subject you want your student(s) to practice. 

This particular skill page for numbers has over 40 activities alone! As you can see you can also choose to have your students practice addition, subtraction, money, place value, patterns, and so much more!

Here's a peek at the Literacy and the Science categories for 6-8 year olds. 





Just click and play! It also allows students the opportunity for choice if you want to allow your students the flexibility of choosing what they practice. It's super easy to use. I love that everything is right there and I don't have to scroll through my flashdrive SmartBoard file looking for SB activities for each group as they rotate to the SB center. 

I LOVE using the SmartBoard in my classroom and this is the best online SB resource I have found! If you're not using your SB, get over to Smart Boarding School and start! Your students will love you for it! :)

Happy Smartboarding, 

Sunday, August 14, 2016

SPEDtacular Sunday Freebies!



Ready for more freebies? Welcome SPED teachers SLPs, OTs, PTs...and anyone else who can use some free resources for their classroom! Every Sunday I host this freebie link up here on my blog! Visit each week to download free resources for your classroom! If this is your first time visiting, you can access the previous link ups by clicking on "SPEDtacular Sunday Freebies" under "My Files" on my right sidebar. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>

If you're a TPT seller, blogger, or resource creator, I hope you'll link up and share your own freebie with us! 


Link Up Rules

1. All resources must be FREE! It can be free for the day, but please delete your link once you mark it back to paid.
2. Your freebie may link to your blog or store.
3. Freebie does not have to be related specifically to SPED, but should be practical for SPED.
4. If you are linking up from your blog, using this image in your post and linking back to my blog is not required, but is greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to share this image on your social media so your other SPED friends don't miss out! :)

*I recommend using an image of your freebie & not your button when linking up. 

Link up your free resources below and/or download the free resources you can use in your classroom! The link up tool will close on Saturday each week, but freebies will remain accessible! Come back every Sunday to link up or download new freebies!




Until Next Week,

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Whole Group Token Board for Teaching BTS Procedures



Today I'm sharing how I use a "Whole Group Token Board" to teach beginning of the year procedures in my classroom.

I start with this simple template. Each sheet is set up for 5 students, so I have printed two sheets and taped them together for 10 students. There is even a third one taped that you can't see for when I had 12 students one year. I hang this on the wall where I do whole group instruction. 


I place their pictures down the left side as shown. These are their Life Touch school photos that I obtain from the office every year. They come in so handy! Check to see if your office has them for your students. Most offices get them to use in Cumulative folders and such, but my office doesn't use them, so works for me! 

I keep a basket full of tokens by the token board. These were so easy to make. I just placed smiley face stickers on copies of the token board itself, laminated, and cut them out. I'm always getting these stickers free in the mail from Highlights. 





So how do I use it? I use it all throughout the day to reinforce students for following beginning of the year procedures, and for as long as necessary. 

Here are some examples. So I've taught the rules and procedures. We've reviewed the procedures and practiced the procedures. Now it's time to start catching them following the procedures on their own.

Teacher: 
"I love how you stayed in your seat and raised your hand, Jo." Give a token. 

"I really like the way you cleaned up your class materials, _____." Give a token.

"I love how you pushed in your chair when you stood up." Give a token. 

I may even give multiple tokens at the same time.

"I love how Dan, Jo, Sue, and Lily are all following directions." Give all 4 a token.

"I like the way everyone lined up without talking." Give whole class a token. 

It's very effective because once other students see a student receive a token, it becomes contagious and they want to try to earn a token too. 

Once a student has earned 5 tokens, I may decrease this number for more disruptive students, they choose a reinforcer of their choice. No time is spent pre-determining this. They choose once it is earned. It might range from a hershey kiss to 7-8 minutes on iPad. I'm not really worried about them missing out on too much classroom instruction at this time, as my main focus is teaching the rules and procedures these first few weeks. 

Generally, my students are following the rules/procedures appropriately within 2-3 weeks, and especially since most of my students were with me the previous year. So, I am able to fade it within a month or so. But in some cases I'll continue to use it for whole group lessons throughout the year to keep students engaged and following along, or to remind them of the rules and procedures. 

You can get an updated version of the token board template for free here. It now includes 7 students to a page and the tokens. 

Have a great year and don't forget to practice those rules and procedures! :)


Friday, August 12, 2016

Back to School with Oriental Trading


Have you heard the news!?! Oriental Trading now has an educational page loaded with teaching resources....and you can even create a wishlist to share with others! They were always my "go to" for party supplies and classroom rewards, but I had such a blast shopping their educational store and can't wait to put these goodies to use when school starts back! Check out what I got! 

Time Matching Puzzles

Happy Birthday Bracelets

Happy Birthday from your Teacher Pencils

Compound Words Center

Synonym Match Center

Types of Sentences Sorting Boxes

Animal Attributes Sorting Boxes

Dry-erase Number Lines. 
We use number lines every day in my classroom, so we can never have too many! And I love that they go up to 30!

Scientific Method Posters
You all know my students and I are obsessed with Science experiments, and I'm obsessed with real life photos, so these are going to be a nice addition to my classroom.

First day of school Image Hunt Sheets
Love these for the first day of school. I will have these at my students' seats upon their arrival. What better way to engage them as they arrive. They would even make a great "Back to School Night" activity too!


Dry-erase large hundred boards
These would have come in so handy last year! Can't wait to use them this year!
Character Development Pocket Dice Cards
I love using pocket dice (photo cubes) in my classroom, so I already had the cubes. These cards do not come with the cubes, but Oriental Trading has them available on their site here. They also have lots of other card sets that can be used with these cubes.

I even have a set available in my store that can be used with their cubes.

 Oriental Trading has such a huge selection of educational resources that there's still so many things that I still want! So, I used their new feature and created a wishlist. You can view my entire wishlist here. I love that you can choose to keep your wishlist private, or you can share it with parents and families! It makes buying super easy for your donor's and you get the things that you really need!




Give it a try! Create your wishlist and share it on your website or social media. I'd love to see what other teachers are requesting and using in their classrooms! 

Just visit Oriental Trading and click on "Wish List" in the top right corner of their page.


Make your year even better and on a budget with BTS with Oriental Trading!


Disclaimer: Oriental Trading sent me the products listed in exchange for this blog post. Regardless, all opinions are mine and based on my experience with these products.

Sunday, August 7, 2016

SPEDtacular Sunday Freebies!!!



Welcome back SPED community! Ready for some more freebies!?! This is the 3rd week since the launch of SPEDtacular freebies and the response has been spectacular! If you missed the previous weeks, you can always locate those link ups by clicking on "SPEDtacular Freebies" under my files in the right sidebar.  

Every Sunday I'll host a link up here on my blog for "SPEDtacular" freebies! Bloggers and TPT sellers can link up their freebies each week from their blogs or stores. Those that don't have a blog or store can visit each week to download free resources for their classrooms! 



Link Up Rules

1. All resources must be FREE! It can be free for the day, but please delete your link once you mark it back to paid.
2. Your freebie may link to your blog or store.
3. Freebie does not have to be related specifically to SPED, but should be practical for SPED.
4. If you are linking up from your blog, using this image in your post and linking back to my blog is not required, but is greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to share this image on your social media so your other SPED friends don't miss out! :)

*I recommend using an image of your freebie & not your button when linking up. 

Alright, GO! 
Link up your free resources below and/or download the free resources you can use in your classroom! The link up tool will close on Saturday each week, but freebies will remain accessible! Come back every Sunday to link up or download new freebies!




Saturday, August 6, 2016

Data Collection Simplified!

Today I'm here to talk about how I've simplified and found the perfect academic and IEP goal data collection system for my classroom. Data collection! Such a struggle right? We're always looking for ways to simplify it and make it doable! We try this and we try that. It always seems unmanageable! 

Well last summer I perfected my academic/IEP data collection system and I can finally cross it off my to-do list for GOOD!! My year ran so smoothly with this system last year and my data was so thorough, timely, and organized. 

I started with a 2 1/2 inch binder! I kept all of my students' academic/IEP goal data in this one binder. If you're wondering, I separate behavior. My students with behavioral goals have separate behavior binders, as there is so much more data involved for behavior. This post strictly focuses on academic data collection. 



Here's a peek at the inside of the binder. 

I love these pocket dividers! They are vinyl and very durable. I labeled a pocket divider for each of my students. I label them in pencil so that I can easily reuse them year after year!

I use the pockets to store their test items and work samples for easy access! Everything else is 3-hole punched and placed behind their pocket. I use AIMS web to progress monitor my students academic goals whenever possible. They have so many progress monitoring tools available that even my lowest students working on letter recognition and basic number recognition can be progress monitored and assessed with AIMS Web. It's easy and reports and graphs are so easy to print! Fortunately, my district provides AIMS Web. It is largely used across the states by numerous school districts for progress monitoring and accountability; however it seems few special education teachers use it. If your district has it, I highly recommend using it. If your school doesn't use AIMS Web, they may use DIBELS. This program is very similar to AIMS Web. Either way, check to see what your school uses and take advantage of it.

Here's a peek behind a student's pocket. Each student's may look differently depending on what skills they are working on.   


This is the first page for every student. I always include a blank sheet of paper as the first page. This is where I put notes of things I see they need to work on, or where I can quickly jot down those ah-ha moments that hit me about that student!
This is the second sheet in the binder for students being monitored using AIMS Web. This student has a goal of reading CVC words, so I am progress monitoring her on NWF (Nonsense Word Fluency) and ORF (Oral Reading Fluency). 
AIMS Web also offers basic math computation assessments. This is a 5th grader that I was assessing using first grade probes. She mastered 1st grade and then moved on to 2nd grade.

I love that it provides a running record that is easy to view progress. My students also have open access to this binder so that they can see their scores. They look at their scores before each assessment and try to beat their score!!! Each time they do we make a big deal of it! We shout it out in the class and everyone applause's. I give my student a little something for increasing, like a hershey kiss or a starburst. 

I print the reports I need each quarter or prior to an IEP meeting or conference, 3-hole punch them and stick them in the binder. 

My students that can read also have this assessment behind their tab. This is the San Diego Quick Reading Assessment. I love this reading assessment. It can be administered in less than 5 minutes and is SOOOO accurate in assessing a student's reading level. You can access it here.

For readers, the third page is always this. This is my phonics quick screener. It clearly identifies what level students are at in their phonics skills, where they need remediation at, and where lessons should start. You can get the phonics screener here.  
It also includes their Fry's Word List Recording Sheet, as we practice these daily. You can see our Fry's Word Lists and get access to this sheet here

Some students will have different sheets, such as this student that is working on play skills.

Here are the sheets I use to track IEP goals in my classroom that I can't use AIMS Web for. I like to track goals using trials when the goal allows for it, as it is much easier to track. Some goals require a percentage criteria. You can still use this sheet to track those goals. So for example, if a student got 6 out of 10, that would be a 60% achievement. For students that have a mastery criteria of 5 trials, I use a sheet with only 5 trials listed. The goal tracking sheets allow for 6 goals so you can keep each student's goals on one page for simple organization. I rarely have a student with more than 6 goals. I typically stick with one goal for each area. This keeps it manageable.

So when do I fit all of this in!? Simple! I collect academic/IEP goal data every Friday, but each student is every other week. So for example, I'll do half of my students this Friday, then the other half the next Friday.

I decided to stop wasting my time trying to collect IEP goal data daily or every few days. Let's face it, most of our students do not make progress at that rapid of a pace. So in order to see growth for my students and simplify my data collection system, I assess (progress monitor) my students every two weeks. One of our classroom centers is "Teacher Table" where I do direct, explicit teaching Monday through Thursday. On Fridays, "Teacher Table" is cancelled and I call students back one at a time to do my assessing. Rather than my students coming to their "Teacher Table" center on Friday, they go on iPads or computers during this center while I assess.

My school is on a quarter system, so there are approximately 9 weeks in a quarter. So if I assess my students every two weeks, for example, on week 2, week 4, week 6, and week 8, this allows me to have a good amount of data by the end of each quarter. 



Lastly, I can't forget the front of the binder. In the front of my binder I keep my benchmark targets, norm charts, standards, etc. in sheet protectors so I can easily refer to them when I need them. 

And that's it! My data system simplified! One binder, some pocket tabs, a few simple recording sheets, and you too can simplify and organize your data to make it manageable. I'm at school to work with kids, not take data all day! Stop letting your data consume you and take the fun out of teaching! Remember you don't have to take data every.single.day and on every.single.thing!!

Grab the student progress monitoring and goal tracking sheets here for free and start simplifying your system!

If you're in need of more support on simplifying and managing behavioral data, check out this post.

Stop back tomorrow for some SPEDtacular Freebies!