3 Crucial Things New Special Ed Teachers Should Focus on (and 1 to avoid!)

Hello new special education teachers, welcome to the wild world of sped! If you are new to teaching children with disabilities, there are 3 crucial things you need to focus on in your first year of teaching.  And one to not worry about.

1. IEPs

This is a doozy. You have to follow them, write them, present them to parents, and progress monitor.  The first year can be overwhelming with how long it takes to write an IEP.  But don't panic.  It gets easier the more you do it and I can whip out high-quality IEPs in warp-speed these days.

Reach out to your mentor, other special ed teachers, and your principal for help on writing goals.  SLPs are a fantastic source of help as well!

2. Quality Instruction

Focus this year on delivering fabulous instruction.  Lessons don't have to be "cute" but they should be engaging and standards based.  If you don't get to visit other teacher's classrooms for support in the general education setting, or for observations, ASK to visit some.  It's great to see how other teachers manage the classroom and present information.

Find a professional development and ask your admin to send you.  Participate in Twitter chats.  Look for a free webinar.  Make your goal to deliver superb instruction.

3. Build Relationships

With staff: 

• Don't gossip!  
• Be friendly to everyone.  
• Say 'thank you' every time the secretary or janitor does you a favor. These people are THE key to school.  We know teachers are underpaid.  School secretaries and janitors are paid even less! 
• Participate in the staff events. Dinner night out, lunch time pitch-ins and secret pal swaps all let others get to know you and will help you form relationships.
• Let others overhear you talking POSITIVELY about someone else "Did you see Mary's bulletin board? It's so clever!"  "I heard one of Mrs. Jones' students say the cutest thing..."

With parents: 

• Send newsletters with updates on lessons you've taught, a resource (article from Understood.org or local event happening). Always include your contact info. Never include photos of students due to privacy laws.
  
  
• Send positive notes home with students frequently.  A ton. As much as you can.
  Sammy told a cute story.
  You're so glad to get to work with Tom. 
  Alice read 4 new sight words today! 
  Maria helped tidy the room. 
  Luis had a wonderful day!
  
  
• Call all parents the first week of school.  "Just wanted to say how much I am enjoying getting to know Ayden.  He's got such a good sense of humor!"     "Tanya is just precious! I'm so glad to get to work with her this year."
  

With students:

• Greet them by name.
• Show an interest in them. Discuss the character on their t-shirt, ask about the Pokemon backpack when you see them in the hall.  Compliment their headband.  
• Smile. A lot. 
• Celebrate successes with them.  "Mr. Jones said you were so good at the recorder he had you helping other students! Man, that's awesome."     
  "You read more sight words today than ever before! A new high record!"
  "I saw you out there with the hoola hoop.  You go girl!"
  
• Leave them positive notes on their desk. I like to leave one before I go home for the day so that they will discover it when they come in the morning "Hi Alice!  Hope you have a great day!"   

The one thing a new special ed teacher should not worry about:

A cute classroom.

Sure, there's nothing wrong with having an adorable classroom. However, cute classrooms don't make students learn more effectively.  A perfect double-border bulletin board with a punny saying has 0 effect on whether or not your students learn the difference between long  and short vowels.

And quite honestly, if you have students with emotional challenges, the cute decor you spent hours laminating can get ripped off the walls and destroyed in a matter of seconds.  

You can have a theme. You can hang cute stuff. But don't spend hours and hours on it right now.  Book bins can be labeled with hand-scrawled post it notes.  Even if your handwriting is meh.  

Sometimes the best teachers have the blandest rooms.  

Your hours are better spent on webinars, learning the curriculum, hanging out with the kids at recess if you have the chance, fine-tuning lesson plans, and observing other seasoned teachers.  Let's not forget, you're going to be busy writing IEPs too!

Related: {8 Essentials for Special Education Teachers}

{Games to Boost Executive Functioning}

{Using Post-it Notes for Classroom Management}

25 Ways to Teach Sight Words

Sight words.  Words you can't "sound out."  They comprise most of what we read.  It is crucial that children learn to read sight words, but how can you do it in a meaningful and fun way?  

As a special education teacher at the elementary level, I've taught lots of sight words! Merely drilling flashcards is not going to cut it.  Don't get me wrong, flashcards are fine. Just don't try to teach sight words by using only flashcards.  Kids need a multi-sensory way to learn new words and I'm here to give you the 25 best ways to do that!  

Ready?  Here we go!

1. Have the child use sidewalk chalk to write the word. Important: have them say each letter while they are writing it and then say the entire word. Example "t...h....e....the."  

2. Parent writes a few words on the driveway with sidewalk chalk.  Have your child use gross motor skills to get to each word. Example "Hop to 'was'!"   "Tiptoe to 'of'."  "Stand on your right leg on 'goes'."

3. Make a hopscotch board with sidewalk chalk and have your child spell and say the word they land on.

4. Post It Note Parking.  Write one sight word on each sticky note (5-8 total). Give your child a toy car.  Say "Park on....the."  Child drives the car to that sticky note.  "Park on....was."  Child drives the car to that sticky note.  

5. Spray shaving cream on a cookie sheet and have your child write the word with their finger. Bonus: The room will smell good!

6. Find a mud puddle (or make mud on a cookie sheet) and have your child write the word with their finger!  Messy and fun!

7. Use homemade dough (or Play-doh) and have your child roll out the down into a long 'worm' and then use the worm to shape the letters of each word.

8. Use homemade dough (here is my favorite recipe for homemade play-doh) and give your child clean alphabet stamps. Have them stamp the sight word into the dough.

9. Use letter beads and a pipe cleaner or string to build the words.

10. Hide sight words in Easter eggs and have your child go on an egg hunt. When they open the egg, have them read the word.
11. Have your child "sky write" the word. Point their finger and make their arm straight. Use their whole arm to make each letter. (Gross motor practice can help the brain remember!)

12. Carpet writing. Child uses their index finger to "write" the word on the carpet.

13. Magazine collage. Have child look through magazine and find as many of the target word as possible.  Cut them out and make a collage if desired.

14. Use abc stamps to stamp the words.

15. Use abc stickers (Dollar Tree and Target Dollar Spot often have big books of them for $1) to build the sight word.

16. Use a song to teach the sight word. Heidi Songs on Youtube has lots of great sight word songs. I've used "There" "His" and "She" frequently in my classroom!

17. Closed-eye writing. Have your child close their eyes and use their arm in the air to 'spell' the word while picturing it in their mind.

18. Get scented markers and let your child use those to write their words. (I like these fine tip Mr. Sketch markers!)

19. Wikki Stix are fun ways to build sight words!

20. Incorporate whole-body learning with having your child jump or hop each time they say a letter in the word.


21. Read your child a picture book. Have them snap every time they hear the sight word you are working on.

22. Play Tic Tac Toe but instead of using X's and O's, each player has a designated sight word that they write in the box.  They must say each letter and read the word each time they take a turn!

23. Play the game HeadBandz but instead of using the cards that go with it, use index cards of sight words.  Child has to say your name to get a point.


24. Here's another way to use a popular game!  Instead of using Don't Break the Ice to teach social skills, use it for sight words! Have a stack of sight word cards that your child is working on. Before they take their turn, they have to turn over and read one of the words.

25. Connect 4. You can put a little garage sale sticker dot on each piece and write a sight word on it. Players have to read their word before playing their piece.  OR if you don't want to alter the game pieces, simply set out a stack of sight word cards. Before each player takes a turn, they read a word card (just like above in #24)!

"Don't Break The Ice" : A Social Skills Game

Last week I talked about the many ways to use this $10 game for academic concepts in the classroom.  Today I'm back with ways to utilize this game for your social skills group.  I use a lot of Zones of Regulation curriculum but of course you can adapt my suggestions to match your own classroom needs.

Don't Break the Ice is a game available readily in stores and online.  The amazon option is usually listed at just under ten dollars.

Here are some ways to use it in your social skills group!

1. Just play the game as-is!  Great for turn taking and dealing with frustration!
2. Students get to take their turn after they state which color "zone" they are in at the moment. For those of you without Zones of Regulation, just have the student say which emotion they feel right then.  Or they can point to an emotion face if they have trouble verbalizing.
3. Give a scenario and have them identify which color zone the fictional person is in. Then they can take their turn.
4. Give a size-of-the-problem scenario. Have the child state how big the problem is.
5. Practice asking and answering questions. Child can draw a card with a question on it and then choose another group member to ask the question of.  Ex: "How are you today?"  "What time is lunch?"  "Can I have a pencil?"
6. Hold up a colored card (red, yellow, green, or blue). Ask the child to state when someone might be in that color zone.
7. State a simple feeling (tired; nervous; ready to learn) and have the child identify which color zone that is before they take their turn.
8. Use the game to reinforce tools for self-regulation.  Ask the child to state a tool they can use to get back to the green zone. Then they can take their turn. Tools might include: stress ball, bouncy chair band, carrying heavy books, weighted lap pad, lazy 8 breathing, jump on trampoline, squeeze putty, get a drink, etc.
9. When teaching a breathing strategy, have the child practice the strategy once or twice before they get to take their turn. Example: once you teach Lazy 8 breathing, have the child do two rounds of it before they take their turn.  This can motivate some of your more reluctant breathers to give it a try since they have to do it in order to get a turn at the game. ;)
    

Have more ideas?  Share in the comments!  I'm always up for learning more ways to help kiddos practice their social skills!

*Links may be affiliate links. See full disclosure here.*

Post-it Notes in the Classroom: Classroom Management

It takes a lot of effort to get 25 children going the same direction.  Classroom management is the key to a classroom's success.  As a college student I mistakenly thought classroom management was just your rewards/discipline system. Golden tickets or a clip chart somewhere.  (I'll give you a minute to stop laughing).

I quickly learned that there are tons of things that need managed in a classroom!  Today I'll share ways that sticky notes (I'm partial to the Post-it brand) can help you develop stronger classroom management and organization.

1. Making Student Groups

Pass out multiple colors of sticky notes.  Students find all of their peers who have the same color and PRESTO! They are a group.

2. Goal Getters

I made a Goal Getters poster for students this year. They set reading level goals, sight word goals, math goals, and a goal for a district-wide assessment.  They fill in the goals on a sticky note that I pre-print (see above) and then they choose where to put theirs on the chart.

I can't find a picture of my chart and since it's summer the chart is packed away in a box at school somewhere.  This one from 3rd Grade Thoughts is similar though!

3. Blurts

UGH. The blurting drives me batty. You can use these "blurt boxes".  Students start the day (or class period) with 3. If they blurt, you quietly walk over and take one.  If they lose all 3 blurts they have whatever type of consequence you have set up in your classroom like clipping down, walking a minute at recess, doing a think sheet, etc.  You can also set it up as a chart in the classroom instead of having blurt tickets on the desks, like Polka Dot Firsties did here:

From PolkaDotFirsties

4. Fidget Tickets

Ever had a student take off their glasses, wipe the lenses and put them back on----every 5 minutes?  Or how about the kid who puts their hair into a ponytail, then takes it down, then puts it up---every 3 minutes.

Much like Blurt Boxes, the Fidget Tickets have the same idea.  The visual helps students track their habits. 

For the kiddo with the glasses fixation, simply draw a pair of glasses on a few sticky notes.  Put these on the child's desk.  Each time they take off their glasses, they turn in a ticket (you may have to take it off the desk for them). When all the glasses tickets are used up, they aren't allowed to mess with their glasses anymore.

5. Chill Pass

Do you have a student prone to melt-downs or work refusal?  Chill passes may be what you need!  Decide ahead of time what the chill pass MEANS.  For some schools/teachers it means the child can go sit in the counselor's room for 5 minutes.  Some schools have a dedicated sensory room for breaks. Some classrooms have a quiet corner that they use. Whatever it may be, the chill pass entitles the student to go take their break for a predetermined amount of time.

The agreement with the student has to be that once they get back from their break, they do what is expected of them in the classroom.  If you use chill passes but come back and don't work---guess what? I'm not going to give you chill passes anymore.  We both have to keep our end of the deal.

Sticky notes can be an easy way to create a chill pass for a student.  You don't need fancy ones or purchased ones.  Just write "Chill Pass" on a sticky note and give it to the child to turn in as needed.  Some students may just need one a day. You may get a more intense kiddo that needs 5 a day to start with.

Once the student has redeemed a chill pass the teacher keeps it for the rest of the day.  The next school day the child starts the day with all of their chill passes back in their possession to use again.

6. Print on Post-its!

Would all of the special education teachers please raise their hands? This is a GAME. CHANGER.

Here's the 3 I do every week:

• checklist for all the data I need to take (like "JD on task.  BQ voice level.")
• rubric for the student with a voice level goal (blue sticky below)
• defiant/opportunity tally chart, back and forth conversation chart, appropriate response tally chart (those 3 all fit on the lime green sticky pictured below).

I stick all of these right on my schedule/services log that gets carried around with me all the live long day long.  At the end of the week, the data from the sticky notes all gets entered into an Excel sheet. Bingo. Data taking is done.

7. Color Coded Files

Each student has a hanging file and within it are various manilla files for assessments that we do all year. I use the plain manilla files and add a colored sticky note for the label.  The label has the child's initials and the assessment that will be stored in that file. Example "J.D. Sight Words."  I use the same color for the sight word folder for any student that has sight words progress monitoring.  That way, when I go to file a student's sight word assessment, my brain is trained to look for a file with a yellow sticky note label.

The phoneme segmenting assessments have a pink label.  Oral Reading Fluency assessments have an orange label.  And so forth.

Alternatively, you could use colored file folders like these:

8. Book Bin Labels

If you're looking for adorable book bin labels....this ain't it.  I'm not quite sure yet how I will divide up my growing collection of books; so when I purchased book bins, I just used a sticky note to label them for now. Easy, cheap, simple to remove or change if needed.

9. Sitting Spots

One of my small groups gathers on the carpet squares to start off each phonics meeting.  I have a sticky note with their name on it. As they come in the room I say, "Find your square, post-it in the air!" 
They walk in, find their spot, sit and hold up their sticky note name and I take it from them.  It takes 30 seconds and then we start group.

I like this because it allows me flexibility with student seating. Rather than have them sit in the same place every day, I can move kids around as needed.

Here's what it looks like in action.  Horribly un-fancy but it works and I've invested all of 3 cents into it (been using the same Post-it notes for 5 months).  Yay for cheap and effective!

10. Mystery Rewards

Fantastic classroom management idea from TeachingOnTheGC's instagram!  Write a reward and cover it with sticky notes.  Each time they achieve once of the sticky note skills, take it off to reveal part of the reward.  When all the sticky notes are gone, the class gets the reward!

Photo Cred: Instagram/teachingonthegc

I could even see doing smaller scale mini ones of these (with mini sticky notes, of course!) for individual students or small intervention groups.  

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Related Post: 8 Essentials for Special Education Teachers

*Links are affiliate links. See full disclosure here.  

 

Games to Boost Executive Functioning: Task Initiation/Completion

We all have had students who have a difficult time with impulse control, planning ahead, time management, starting a task, completing a task, working memory, sustained attention, or organizing materials.  These are all executive functioning skills.  The frontal lobe of the brain is responsible for these.  The frontal lobe doesn't fully develop until adulthood so we can't expect students to operate on the same level as adults. However, some students lag behind our expectations for their age group.

Students with ADHD often have a difficult time with at least one executive function skill.

Games are a great, fun, non-confrontational way for students to practice their executive functioning skills.  In this post I am sharing fifteen games that help with the specific skill of task initiation/completion.  These are for the student who is still on #3 when the rest of the class has finished #20 and is already sitting at the rug for story time.  This is for the student who starts their project but can never seem to actually complete it. For the student who takes 15 minutes to get their pencil out.

Yup.

Note: Games are not a magic wand nor are they the only way to develop executive function skills.  We still need visuals, social stories, color-coded materials, and so on.  This is just one piece of the executive function puzzle.  We add it ALL up to get to success!

*Links are affiliate links.  Full disclosure here.*

I have the original Bop It and just ordered the Bop It micro!  The kids LOVE this game trying to get a new high score.  I love it because it perks up my low-energy students and gets them engaged and working on making a decision---quickly!

Spoons is a game you can play with a deck of cards and actual spoons.  There's a store-bought version of the game (that comes with little spoons) also available. Deal each player 4 cards.  Have one fewer spoons than you have players.  If you have 5 players, start with 4 spoons.  First person takes a card off the deck, discards one of theirs to the left.  That player discards a card to their left, and so on until it gets back to the dealer who then starts the process again.  The goal is to get 4 cards of a kind and grab a spoon.  Once the first person reaches for a spoon, everyone else quickly tries to grab a spoon.  The player without a spoon is out and the next round begins.

This card game is easy for young students to learn and helps practice several executive functioning skills! Uno helps with planning ("The current color is green. Which card will I play when it is my turn?"), flexibility ("Oh no! I was going to play a yellow 3 but the number changed and now I need a blue or a 6!"), and task initiation ("It's my turn. I have to play a card!").

Playing Charades helps students plan and begin a task.  They have to think about the picture/word to act out, plan how to act it out, and then actually act it out!  Most of my students are beginning readers so I have the picture charades version where it has a picture for them to see instead of just a word.

Blurt is a quick game from Pathway To Success that you can play without having to purchase anything!  It helps students think quickly and also control their impulses!

Pictionary is similar to charades.  It works on planning ahead, thinking from another's perspective, and task initiation.

All this game requires is a deck of cards! If you've forgotten how to play since your childhood days, here's a slap jack refresher!

Simon Says requires students to think on their feet, pay close attention to detail, and yes, task initiation!  If you don't do the movement, you're out!

5 Second Rule is for older students (the box says ages 10 and up).  The timer component of the game makes it perfect for helping students practice task initiation--you have to give answers before time runs out!  Pick a card and set the timer. You have 5 seconds to name 3 things from that category.

Have you played this?  It's available as an app and a Facebook game.  You make "recipes" by following the directions: crack eggs, mix, flip, and so on.  There are different recipes to make and you're timed each step of the way.  If you need an app to help a student practice task initiation, this would be a great one to try!

Cranium is perfect for high school students who need fun practice on executive function skills.  The box suggests ages 16 and up.  Teams compete in challenges that Hasbro explains as, "spelling a word backwards, drawing with their eyes closed, and solving a puzzle are just of few of the activities they might do."

Another great game for older students, Scattergories requires teams to compete to come up with things from a category that also start with the letter rolled on the alphabet die.

You'll need a set of ten frame cards for this one. TeachersPayTeachers has various free downloads available.  Here's a free one I like from Primary Delight.

Deal cards evenly between two players and have each player stack theirs face down.  Players turn over a card at the same time.  Here's where you can have some variety:

• Greater Than (first person to say the number that's highest keeps both cards)
• Addition (first person to say the sum of the 2 cards keeps both)
• Multiplication (first person to say the product of the 2 cards keeps both)

Alternatively, play with all the cards in one stack.  Turn one over:

• Name the Number (first person to say the number represented keeps the card)
• Plus 10 (first person to say the number plus 10 keeps the card. Ex: Ten frame card shows 2, student would need to say 12).
• Plus 100 (first person to say the number plus 100 keeps the card. Ex: Ten frame card shows 9, student would need to say 109).

Not only do these ten frame games help with number sense and fact fluency, but because there is a need to be FIRST, it prompts students to quick thinking.

Urgency is the name of the game in Hungry Hungry Hippos!  The fast pace will spark students' need to start and complete a task (collecting the most marbles).  Hungry Hungry Hippos is perfect for all ages but especially the younger ages because it is so simple and easy to learn!

Finally, Minute to Win it games are a fun way to practice task initiation when you are short on time!  I plan on doing another post soon to give more ideas for this type of game.  However, here's one to get you started:

You need 2 bowls, marshmallows, and a straw.  Put one bowl of marshmallows in front of the student and an empty bowl next to it.  Give the student a straw. They need to suck into the straw to pick up one marshmallow and dump it into the empty bowl.  They have one minute to see how many marshmallows they can transfer over!

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Games mentioned in this post:
       

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Related Post: Classroom Management Using Post-It Notes

Related Post: 8 Must-Haves for Special Education Teachers