SPED Tricks & Treats Blog Hop!!!

Are you ready for some great tricks and treats? It's a SPED Tricks and Treats Blog Hop hosted by my blogging buddy at Mrs. D's Corner! Just hop from one blog to another to grab some great tips and freebies from all of us this Halloween!

Easy Peasy Caramel Apples!!!

These caramel apples are great for Halloween and are so easy for the kids to make! Only 3 ingredients are required.

Caramel or Caramel Apple icing, small green apples, and sprinkles (not pictured). You will also need to pick up some wooden skewers and wax paper. I used dowel rods from the craft section so they were not pointy and sharp at the ends.

Now here's how easy they are! 

1. Prepare your apples by washing them and placing a skewer/dowel in the center of each one. Place them on your wax paper.

 2. Take the lid and seal off of the frosting and stick it in the microwave. Microwaves always vary, but I microwaved mine for about 45 seconds. You want it to be somewhat runny like liquid. 

3. The reason I suggest small apples is because students will dip and roll their apple around in the icing container itself. There will be some spillage with the first apple, but not the apples following.

4. Place on the wax paper and let your student sprinkle away. TIP: Allow icing to set for a few seconds before adding the sprinkles, otherwise they will run right off. It doesn't take long for the icing to set, so the dipping process needs to be fast.

That's it! 

Your candy apples are done in minutes and your students will LOVE them!!! :) 

A great and inexpensive treat your kids can make for their Halloween Party! And kids especially love eating things they make themselves!

And now for a little non-related Halloween trick I recently came up with that has helped me in my classroom!

I just love these little book sets from Lakeshore and my students do too....especially the non-fiction ones with real photos. But keeping track of who read what has been a challenge for me. You see, my students will grab books from the boxes that they have already mastered! Like all students they like to make us proud and like to have success! Who doesn't, right? 

So they were getting books they had mastered and showing off to me how good they are reading! When I would say slyly, "Didn't you already master this book?" Of course they would reply, "No." 

So while very simple, It's WORKING! My problem has been solved. 

I had one of my assistants tape this little insert into each book and my students will now write their names here once the book is mastered. I'm also making them use pen now, so my little slicksters can't erase it. 

Since it's gently taped, it can easily be removed and replaced as needed or each year without ruining my books.

If you could use this organizing system for your little readers, download it for free!

You got your TRICKS, now it's time for your TREATS! Click on each freebie pic below to grab all three of your Halloween freebies!!

And if that's not a pretty great Trick or Treat, I'm also having a giveaway!!!

Win this flashdrive bracelet loaded with 5 products of your choice from my store!

Enter here!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

MORE!!!??!

Click on Miss, Hey Miss' Button for more!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

from

THE BENDER BUNCH!!!

Take A Peek At My Day In SPED

Today is my last day of Spring Break (sigh). It's been fun, but VERY UNproductive. We spent the last half camping on the Colorado River...our favorite place to be...and the first half, well, I just don't know where it went!!! Nothing got done! Now, I'm trying to cram all of those school projects that came home in my bag and lesson  plans into this last day!!! Sound familiar?? 

We'll before I show what some of those last minute projects I've been working on in a crunch this evening, I must take a little break and link up with Angie and Ashley, as I did this same linky on my blog last year and only had 3 bloggers link up. :( You can see it here. I love this idea and love seeing everyone else's schedules. 

Here is what an average day looks like this year in the Bender Bunch Classroom.

Our morning procedures consist of jobs that are done in the morning such as watering our flowers and feeding our fish. We listen to the morning announcements and then do the pledge. Each student then begins the work provided in their "yellow" writing folder that they got out as soon as they entered the classroom and hung their backpacks up. Depending upon the student, this may consist of address/phone number practice, number/letter practice, name practice, sentence practice, or journaling for more advanced students. 

We actually stop our writing about 9:22 and do a Go Noodle song before beginning our rotations. 

Our rotations consist of 4 groups and 4 rotations for ELA and Math. You can read more about the set up of my rotations {here}. I have tweaked a few things since that post, but not much. Tweaks happen quite frequently in my classroom, as I'm always finding things that work better, things that don't work, or needing to differentiate more for a particular student. My room is forever changing! Each Friday, my "Teacher Table" center is replaced with iPad or computer...and this is when I assess for progress and IEP goals or work 1:1 with my students. This gives me 2 hours to do this. I just recently started doing this a couple months ago to reach a goal for the new teacher evaluation system and it is working well. 

Morning break is "recess." Then lunch and one of my aides reads to them following lunch while I come back from my lunch and do afternoon attendance. 

Board review is like our morning circle. It is our whole group instruction for the day where we review many concepts including calendar. With 4-5 levels included during this part of our day, student questions are differentiated and fast-paced. 

Our life skills block is open for health, social studies, science, or other developmental skills; and I change it up. We also practice listening and speaking skills during this time. 

Our last hour of the day before specials is jobs and social time. Students that have end of the day jobs complete those such as table washer, floor cleaner, and librarian. Work not completed during the day is placed in the "Missing Work" box and this is also completed at this time. Students that have no missing work and have completed their job, get free choice. One of my aides also goes around at this time and does assigned sight word lists with each student. 

Students go to specials at the end of the day, which is my favorite time to have specials. I've been lucky to have it at the end of the day for the last two years! However, I do choose when my students go to specials since I have multiple grade levels. Other than a couple that are mainstreamed, the rest go at the same time and with the group they have been traveling with since 1st grade, so they are currently going with 5th graders. 

Once they come back from specials, they grab their backpacks that were placed outside the room prior, and my aides and I walk them to the bus. 

Thank you Angie and Ashley for hosting this link up with the vision of "Together, We Are Better." Each month on the 2nd they will be hosting a linky to bring teachers closer together through collaboration. If you'd like to link up your schedule, click on either of their names above to link up. 

Stay tuned this evening for a post on my last minute projects I've been cramming in and a couple of freebies for home interaction, appropriate play skills, and a classroom checkout system. 

Thankful for Special Educators Bloghop!! Tips & Freebies!

It's here!!!! And you're here!! So put up your feet, grab a notepad for all of these awesome tips you're about to receive and enjoy your freebies and the bloghop! You deserve it!

My tip is to show you how I organize my classroom center rotations with so many levels. 

I teach 1st through 5th and students with a wide array of disabilities. I have ten students. The first two hours of our day consists of ELA and Math center rotations. I have four centers for each and each center is 15 minutes. So ELA centers are 9:27 to 10:27. Math centers are 10:27 to 11:27. 

This is my rotation chart. I really like using "real life" pictures as often as I can.
I have four groups and they each go to four rotations. My groups go by colors. I have a pink, green, blue, and yellow group.

ELA Centers are: word work, at your seat, teacher table, & read to self.

Math Centers are: number work, at your seat, teacher table, & computer/iPad.

This is my Word Work Center. As you can see, the trays correspond with each group's color.

 This is my Number Work Center!

 Each group does what is in their group colored tray. If they are pink group, they know they are to do what is in the pink tray. Sometimes each tray will still have differentiated activities. It may not always be the same activity for each child in that group. I also have an aide in this group working with the students.

At Your Seat Group

These are my student bins. Bins are not color coded, but folders are.  

Each child's bin looks like this! Two interactive notebooks and 3 color coded folders. During the"at your seat" centers, they do IN's. During the ELA rotations, they know their IN activities are in the blue folder. For math, they are in the green folder. The yellow folder does not pertain to our rotations and contains their independent morning work that they take out and do as soon as they arrive each morning. 

 This method keeps all of their work and individualized curriculum so organized....for them and for me!

Some think I do the bins because I use tables. But...we have these awesome tables with desk storage, but allowing them to store their work and assignment folders in these cute little table cubbies....let me tell you....is a DISASTER!  The bins spell out ORGANIZATION! Note, I also have an aide working in this center.

Teacher Table, Read to Self, and Computer/iPad centers are pretty self-explanatory. My Read to Self and Computer/iPad centers are fairly independent and do not require an aide or assistance for the most part...once you get them trained!

So picture four centers, me at teacher table, one aide at word/number work, one aide at the at your seat center, and one center is independent in both ELA and Math. The independent center in reading is read to self, and in math the independent center is computer/iPad.

This is the timer I use to time our rotations. I LOVE this timer! It is the simplest method I've tried. I love that we the teachers can monitor how much time we have left during our center and whether we have time to start a new activity or such. It is so easy to use. No punching buttons or inputting numbers....just drag the red slide to the minutes you want and that's it. No start button or stop button when it goes off! This is the large one, but they come in small, medium, and large. I got mine for free from my Assistive Technology Dept. so check with your AT dept. first!!! If they can't provide you with one, they can be purchased at Lakeshore {here}. 

As you know, there is little time in the day to collaborate with your aide(s) and I want to know how my students are doing on the activities I've set up in their centers. So in order to do this, each aide has a communication log at the center they work that they leave me notes on.

 They can tell me on the log if a student is struggling with a particular skill, has mastered a particular skill, if they see an "ah ha" moment or whatever! It has been a great tool this year!

I have worked by trial and error, several times over as I'm sure we all have, and this system is the perfect fit for my classroom! I love doing centers as it keeps the kids moving and engaged, plus allows for much easier differentiation! If you are using centers or are thinking of doing centers, I hope these tips and this system will assist you with your special needs students and rotation system! And for your freebie, I've included the communication log and my center rotation cards to get you started!

Communication Log

Center Rotation Cards

And before you go....If you'd like to follow "The Bender Bunch" on our special education adventures, I have a couple of giveaways for you! Enter below to win a "Mini Time Timer" from Lakeshore or a $25 gift certificate for thirty-one!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway
 

I'm also giving away an item from my TpT store! To enter, browse my store {here} and leave a comment below telling me the name of the item you'd like and I'll pick a winner next Friday! 

Thanks for stopping by and joining our special educator bloghop! We are thankful for you! I hope these tips and freebies will help you on your special education adventure! For more freebies and tips, continue your bloghop by checking out Mrs. P's Specialities...just click the button below.

Sales, Tips, Freebies & A Blog Hop....I know, right?

Hi there,

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July and hopefully you got to take advantage of some awesome savings going on at TpT. For those of you that missed out or had to wait for that Friday paycheck, like I often do, for the next 3 days everything in my "Teacher's Notebook" store will be 15% off! And I'm having a giveaway there too!!

Did you know that you can host a giveaway to promote your shop or an item right there on Teacher's Notebook?? I just discovered this today! So I took advantage!! See the TN widget >>>>>>>>>>
Click on it to enter my giveaway if you'd like to win my Ladybug Life Cycle Unit. It is my best seller! I just love this TN feature!

You can also enter tons of other giveaways there too.....so you can bet I'll be stopping by there frequently and taking advantage of this too!

I also discovered something about TpT lastnight that I didn't know and maybe you don't either! I was scrolling through my purchases to locate something and I noticed 4 of my previous purchases flashing at me......"Item Revised." I thought I would receive an email when an item was revised since they give you that little box to check that says, "notify buyer of revision." But apparently you have to occasionally visit your purchases to see these notifications flashing at you!

 I was sure glad to discover this, because Megan had updated her ALREADY AWESOME Basic Brights Bundle and must have added nearly another hundred papers and elements to it.....no joke! What else is great about this, is when they do this and raise the price, you still get it all for the original price! 

This is only a portion of this awesome bundle! Now she's added zebra, giraffe, and leopard papers, and the whole bundle in glitter TOO!!! Definitely well worth the price!
If you have it, make sure you go get the updated version!
If you don't have it, and want it, you can check it out {here}.

My blogovesary giveaway is also still going on.  Have you entered??

You could win my ENTIRE TpT store, the "Classroom Friendly" pencil sharpener, or this Lakeshore Smartboard software!

$19.99 Value

{Enter here}

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I'm linking up with TBA for another Freebie Friday and with "Teaching is a Gift" and "A Teacher Without a Class" for a bloglovin' blog hop!!

Just another way to share some bloglovin', by getting more followers and finding some other great blogs out there to add to your bloglovin' lists! Just click on the blog hop button above to start your journey!

And now for your freebie friday!!! Enjoy!

****If you downloaded this before Wednesday, due to the request of a customer, I have now added "will work for chocolate."

Have a great weekend!!!