IEP Tubs Makeover!

My IEP Tubs have received a makeover!!

BEFORE

AFTER

What a difference, right!? I'm so in love with how they turned out! Not only eye-pleasing and clean looking, but I love the more spacious storage and no lids to deal with. I can fit a lot more into these, as well as larger resources and keep full sheets of paper and cardstock flat rather than having to curve them like I did in the Rubbermaid tubs. 

You can get this awesome Trofast storage system from IKEA here.

If you haven't read about how I use IEP Tubs in my classroom and would like to learn more, read on to read the original post.   

I've used IEP Tubs in my classroom for four years now and love them for keeping all of my students' learning materials neatly organized in one place. I'm not constantly grabbing from here and there. It also gives them the freedom to pick and choose which activities they would like to work on. 

Original Post 

Hello There! I'm here to talk about IEP Tubs today and how I use them in my classroom! I've used them for two years now (update: four years now) and I really love the simplicity of them and the effectiveness!!

Each student has their own customized box, which I call "tubs"...and no I don't have 15 students in my self-contained classroom! Thank goodness! I co-teach with our Resource Room Teacher and 9 of these belong to his students. (Update: I stuck my foot in my mouth. I have 13 students of my own this year.)

Inside each tub I place hands-on activities that are based on each student's IEP goals, or activities for other concepts they may be struggling with. Here are a few examples of what the inside may look like.

This student is working on short vowels, base ten addition/subtraction, and telling time to the half hour. I also include sight words on a ring and a book in EVERY student's tub.

Here is a peek at another tub. This student is working on beginning blends, nonsense word fluency, and also base ten. They also have sight words on a ring and a decodable book.

This student also has a decodable book along with sight words, and is working on word families and final -e was just introduced so I added that to his tub. He is also working on learning to write his last name on the sheets you see behind the tub. These sheets fit nicely into his tub.

 Each student's tub is customized to meet their needs!

Twice Daily! It is worked into my math and reading center rotations each day. Every day we do one hour of math and one hour of reading center rotations and one center is IEP TUBS. I call the center "AT YOUR SEAT," but it is when they work from their IEP tubs. You can read more about how my daily centers run here. 

That depends on the student. As often as needed! Most of my students need repetition and lots of practice, practice, practice, so the materials are not changed out that frequently. I would say on the average maybe every 3-4 weeks for most of my students. So not time consuming at all.

I have two aides and one of my aides manages this center. We try to collaborate as much as possible, but you know as a sped teacher how hard that can sometimes be. So I have a communication log in each of my centers for this purpose. 

They write me notes that allow me to adjust the tubs as needed. For example, one of the notes she wrote me above are that a particular student is having a difficult time with consonant digraphs. So I may add that into their tub. Another comment mentions a student needs help with counting money by 5's (nickels) so I may add counting by 5's resources to his tub.

You can grab a copy of this communication log here.

I also change out tubs based on students' assessments, new IEP goals, and my own observations.

That's it!! Super simple! Highly effective!!

Do you think IEP Tubs could work in your classroom?

End of Original Post

If you'd like to purchase the Trofast storage system for your IEP Tubs, here is the link again.

I also just recently purchased another one for my printer station.

I hope you'll give IEP Tubs a try in your classroom!