Social Studies for Special Education

Social Studies Interactive Notebooks designed specifically for Special Education classrooms!

Social Studies has always been a difficult subject to integrate into my K-3 special education classroom because the topics are over their head, and quite frankly, the topics don't hold their interest. So finally, a Social Studies curriculum with topics and hands-on activities that not only interest them, but at a level that they can relate to. 

If you're having the same struggles, read on to see how this curriculum can work for your students. 

Students will have fun being a bucket filler, learning about maps and making a map of their own, learning fun facts about their state and the U.S. as well as traditions around the world. Almost every activity is cut and paste, with a dab of writing here and there, which can easily be modified.

There are a total of eight units covered. Here's a look at units 1 - 3. These are designed to be used as interactive notebooks in a composition book or spiral notebook. All cutting lines are straight, so easy for little hands, and all cutting and pasting tasks have visual guides.

In units 1 - 3, students will learn about good citizenship, their community, and get to create their own map. 

Units 4 and 5.

In units 4-5, students get to do a fun state study to learn all about the state they live in and learn about U.S. geography.

Units 6 and 7.

In units 6-7, students will learn about the past and the present and learn about popular traditions around the world.

Unit 8. Each unit begins with a "Vocabulary Globe" with cut-n-paste definitions. 

I've included a template for all 50 states for the Unit 4 State Study. In this unit, students will study their own state. You'll only use the state that you live in and disregard the others. However, you can certainly study other states too if you choose. 

Want to use these Social Studies Interactive Notebooks in your classroom? You can find them HERE.

Halloween Overload!!!

We love reading "Aaaarrgghh! Spider!" every October and this book companion is always a BIG hit! Plus it makes the cutest door and bulletin board decoration. It's always fun to see what the students come up with! You can find this activity HERE. 

Just two weeks until Halloween and here are five fun reading and writing activities to do over the next couple of weeks. 

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat - These adapted books pair perfectly with this fun read aloud series. These are also available in a BUNDLE of ten books. 

StoryMats - Visuals for retelling and sequencing a story. My students retell percentage has drastically increased since starting StoryMats. There are four October read alouds in the set.

Halloween CVC Mystery Words - Grab these fun mystery word activities for your Halloween centers! Students have so much fun with these while practicing beginning sounds and blending and building CVC words at the same time!

Spiderweb Letters - Use these for letter identification and recognition practice. Includes A to Z. 

October Flip a Sentence - Kids love writing silly sentences with these flip a sentences. Even your reluctant writers will want in on the fun! 

Halloween Gift Tags!!!

Grab these activities for your pumpkin investigations! This observation one-pager is jam packed with activities for reading, writing, math, and science. And with everything on one page, less prep for you! Just print and go! There's also a blackline version. 

Pumpkin Ten Frames

Pumpkin Observation

Lastly, FREE HALLOWEEN RECIPES to do with your students these next couple of weeks; all kid tested and kid approved! Make pumpkin dip, no bake mini pumpkin cream pies, edible spiderwebs, 2-ingredient muffins, and Halloween Pizza (not shown). Get the FREE recipes HERE.

Have a great week!

Raising Money Savvy Kids

Guest Post by Laura Pearson (edutude.net)

Raising Money Savvy Kids

Kids who grow up money-savvy tend to develop a healthy relationship with their finances as they get older. The sooner they learn the value of money and how to be creative with saving, the more they'll learn how to spend wisely. Teaching your kids entrepreneurial skills and getting them into a lifelong habit of investing a portion of their money will ensure they're financially astute. There are various ways to instill this healthy attitude toward money. 

Get Kids to Work for Their Allowance

Money is a good reward for effort, and working hard for money can make kids value every cent. If kids are given handouts, they might grow up expecting handouts. They don't need to graft hard for their allowance but should learn to trade extra chores for cash. Whether it's doing the dishes, mowing the lawn, or helping to unpack groceries, kids can establish a routine of working for money. 

Encourage Kids to Save Toward Something Big

Instead of giving kids their dream toy for their birthday, get them to save a portion of their allowance until they have enough to buy it. This way, they will look after their prized possession and realize the true value of the work that went into buying their toy. Saving for something, and then buying it with their own money will make kids feel independent. It also makes them look after things.

If it's an activity they're interested in doing, like jet boat tours to Lake Mohave, they can save separately for this fund. Sometimes it's good to create savings pockets for kids, where one pocket is for material items and the other for entertainment. 

Teach Them About Finances

When kids are old enough, discuss the value of money, and how credit cards, loans, and banks work. Hand them a bunch of coins, get them to count their money, and let them decide how much to spend or save by opening a bank account in their name. A key point of discussion should be about only spending what you have and living within your means. 

Teach Kids to Say No

There is a difference between being generous and careless. Kids shouldn't give their money away to friends and should be taught how to make sensible decisions about loaning money. Teaching kids to say no without feeling guilty or pressured into spending money is a valuable lesson. 

Help Kids Start Their Own Business

Business creativity and entrepreneurship should be encouraged. Help kids identify business opportunities by getting them to think outside the box. Get them to write down a list of things they love doing that others might not enjoy doing. This can start the process of how to think like an entrepreneur. 

Teach them that people pay for services and help with the things they don't enjoy doing. Some examples include washing cars, helping with electronics, and carrying things. Kids also need to understand that finances are needed to start a business and how they should go about raising capital. They can use their savings or get friends and family to invest. 

Raising Financially Literate Kids

A healthy relationship with money starts when you're young, and all boils down to understanding finances and having respect for money. The sooner these values are instilled in kids, the better chance they have at financial freedom and success. 

Hands-On Activities to Help Kids Overcome Classroom Struggles

Guest post by Laura Pearson (edutude.net)

Hands-On Activities to Help Kids Overcome Classroom Struggles

Whether you’re homeschooling or not, watching kids struggle with lessons can be heartbreaking. Of course, you want to help your kids and make things easier, but finding ways to do so that will keep their interest can be difficult. The trick is to disguise the subjects and lessons they’re struggling with as fun activities and projects.

If you’re not sure how to do this, the following creative tips from The Bender Bunch might be helpful.

 

Spend Some Time Stargazing

Is your child having trouble with science? Then maybe they just need some exposure to science in the everyday world!

Take them out into your backyard at night and look up at the stars, for a fun at-home science lesson they’ll never forget. You’ll want to plan your backyard stargazing session for a night when the moon isn’t that bright so you can really see the stars and planets shining. Use an app like Sky Safari to help your child identify stars, planets and constellations.

You can take those lessons one step further by looking up interesting facts about stars and constellations. Once your kids find out what stars are made of and how they’re born, they may become more interested in science lessons back inside the classroom.

Do you need an activity you can do indoors and during the daytime? This DIY snowstorm is a fun alternative! Using some simple ingredients, your kids can put together their very own mini-blizzard. They can also fill out worksheets to set the experiment up and find out how everything works.

 

Work on Some Creative Writing

If your kids have a hard time paying attention in English class, having them work on some freestyle writing could provide the encouragement they need.

You can keep things simple by using these suggestions from the National Endowment for the Arts to prompt creative writing sessions. Pictures work best because they allow your family members to express themselves freely. Have your kids pick a country on the globe and write about it, or choose an everyday object around your home. You can even have your kids keep journals so that they get in some extra writing practice.

Before your kids start writing and researching, you’ll want to make sure they have the right tech and equipment. That could mean picking out a new laptop or tablet, which is also helpful if your kids are learning from home. Since this is a bigger purchase, you’ll want to look for laptops that are user-friendly and durable, while also having all of the features your kids need.

 

Give Kids More Time for Gaming

Is math or geometry making school tough for your kids? If so, letting them play more video games may be the answer. No, seriously!

As you may already know, kids love playing Minecraft. And that could be good news if they are also having a hard time in math class. That’s because there’s a new version of this game that is basically one giant math lesson! As your kids keep trying to draw an uninterrupted line, they are actually working out a mathematical puzzle known as an Eulerian Cycle. Now, if math isn’t the issue, there are other learning games that can help your kids perform better in school.

Since many of the best games are online, you’ll want to make sure that your home is connected to a reliable and lightning-quick internet service. Besides providing your kids with a smooth gaming experience, a faster internet connection will also provide your entire family a boost when it comes to remote work and online learning. This is notably true if you have older kids who are using Virtual Reality or if any of your children are attending virtual coding camps.

Learning doesn’t have to stop once school is over! In fact, if your kids are struggling with science, English or math, the learning really shouldn’t stop. You’ll need to get creative to provide opportunities for enrichment and improvement. Most of all, you should keep lessons outside of the classroom fun so that your kids stay motivated and interested.

Photo Credit: Unsplash

Keep Kids Engaged When They're Stuck Inside

      Image via Pexels

Guest Post by Carrie Spencer

Keep the Kids Engaged When They Are Stuck Inside

Families everywhere are facing a new reality with kids home from school indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Since playdates are ill-advised and schoolwork only goes so far, it can feel limiting when it comes to keeping children occupied. Rainy or too-cold weather only compounds this. And you can’t let them play Fortnite and Pokemon all day, and they can only do so many chores. If you’re looking for ideas beyond the controller, keep reading.

Arts and Crafts

Arts and crafts are about the most fun you can have on a rainy day. And you don’t have to have a closet full of supplies either. Taking your children's ages into account, plan a few messy hours with paints or paper, glue, and scissors. If you’re short any of these, head to the junk drawer (because we all have one) and see what you can source from there. Your kitchen is also a treasure trove of supplies. For instance, if you have food coloring, flour, salt, and water, you have the makings of DIY play dough.

Exercise

Lack of physical activity is one of the leading contributors to childhood obesity, according to the Obesity Action Council. Even if your kids aren’t overweight, there is no reason they have to sit still while cooped up indoors.

There are many ways to get them moving. Your television can be your biggest asset here as it is not simply a place to watch movies. With a streaming stick TV device, you can instantly broadcast dance lessons and exercise routines. As an added bonus, your online media device can also tag along with you when you hit the road for family vacations.

Baking

There are dozens of reasons why bringing the kids into the kitchen is a good idea. First, it helps them understand where their food comes from and how it is prepared. Cooking together also forges strong family bonds.

If neither of these is enough to convince you, remember that learning how to navigate the refrigerator and stove is a life skill that will help your kids grow into independent adults. Grab an apron, a bag of flour, and a few other select ingredients and spend an afternoon whipping up a batch of chocolate chip cookies or other kid-friendly recipes.

Scavenger Hunt

This one takes a bit of preparation, but you could easily turn your home into a treasure trove for the youngest members of your family that are stuck indoors. Plan a scavenger hunt with fun activities at each clue. You might, for example, have the kids find a photo of their favorite vacation. Once this is located, have them create a mini scrapbook with photos and stickers before moving along to the next hidden item.

Book Bingo

There are many variations of book bingo, and you could easily extend the game through an entire season. But when you only want to plan for a single afternoon, aim to simplify.

Start with Common Sense Media’s list of the 50 best books for children or simply dig through your own library. Create a bingo card for each child with things like, “book on monsters,” “scary story,” or “holiday adventure.” Once your children find or read a story on each subject, they can mark off their card. Once they reach “bingo,” they can have video game time or another treat.

Being indoors does not have to mean lazing around on the couch with a gaming system. With a little work, some creativity and persistence, you can easily entertain your crew from toddler to teen. These are just a few ideas to spark your imagination; don’t be afraid to come up with your own!

About the Author

Carrie blogs over at The Spencer's Adventures. She is a family with 2 moms, 3 kids, 2 dogs, 4 cats, 3 goats, 32 chickens, and a whole bunch of bees (with new animals being added all of the time!).  It is our goal to live as self-sufficiently and environmentally consciously as possible. We are happy to share the insights we have gained from our family adventures on our mini-farm.