Para classroom jobs and expectations to manage and work with your classroom support staff, while building positive rapport. Learn More at Mrs. D's Corner.
Ideas for how to use AAC devices and core boards with core vocabulary in a special education classroom setting. Learn more at Mrs. D's Corner.
Water beads are a great sensory tool for any class. You can make some great activities and sensory bins with them, but then there are things you can't do.
Creating a class schedule for a special needs classroom is daunting. Let's be honest... for a lot of us, it's our least favorite thing to do all year long. But I have some tricks of the trade to share with you to make it as painless as possible at the beginning of the school year. Blog post at Mrs. D's Corner.
As students get older, it’s important to include more exposure to vocational and transitional tasks that will serve them well in the future. These types of tasks give students practice with everyday experiences that they will need to learn to navigate on their own, or with limited assistance. Providing this practice while in the safety […]
Your questions about adapted books answered, covering everything from making the books to lesson implementation. Click to learn more.
We have a lot to do as teachers and our time is limited. 17 MORE classroom hacks that actually work in a special education classroom. Click to learn more.
Use the Completed with the Following Accommodations stamp to collect data on the accommodations that were provided during a lesson or activity. The Mrs. D's Rubber Stamp Collection not only helps teachers and service providers collect data and progress monitor IEP goals and student work, but it helps to foster and create a strong teacher-parent relationship where everyone is on the same page. No more surprises at IEP meetings or parent conferences! About the Stamp: Size: 1.3" x 1.3" Colors (choose 1): red, blue, black, green, purple Self-inking with refillable ink pads Our Story: When I taught in a self-contained classroom setting, I quickly realized the disconnect between myself and the families I serviced. I could send home a work sample from that day, knowing how the child completed the work in inclusion with a peer mentor, but when that work was sent home - the parent had no of this knowledge. I needed a quick, simple way to bridge that school-home communication gap, and that's when I created the Communication Stickers (which you can read more about here). Fast forward a few years, I had the opportunity to turn the best selling stickers into self-inking rubber stamps... and the rest is history! Shipping Details: This is a physical product that will be shipped to you. Please allow 1-3 business days for order processing. Once your order is processed, it will be shipped using the method of delivery you selected during checkout. Shipping is determined at checkout based on your location. To see our shipping policy, go here. To see our refund policy go here.
Nos fiches d'objectifs à proposer à vos élèves en début de séquence sont des fichiers PDF interactifs avec des menus déroulants.
Spread autism awareness with your bulletin board! Inspire understanding and inclusivity. Download our free Autism Acceptance Bulletin Board Display here.
NUMBER 1 BEST SELLER ON TPT * Functional, differentiated skill work that is the perfect addition to your morning routine and calendar time. This adapted binder will help your students start their day off right, and once mastered, can be a set of skills they complete successfully and independently. P...
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Visual schedules are a great way to help students manage their school day and see what is coming next. Free flip schedule template only at Mrs. D's Corner.
College. There are the courses that prepare you for the "textbook stuff", but nothing in the world prepares you for teaching quite like actually teaching does. Learn the special ed secrets, that things you don't learn in college, only at Mrs. D's Corner.
Glues sponges are all the rage these days, and for absolute good reason. They. are. so. awesome! Once I saw them all over social media, I knew that I wanted to try them out with my students. Glue sponges are very simple to make and not expensive to make or maintain. In my classroom, glue […]
Five lamination hacks for teachers that will blow your mind and save you time. Read to learn more or watch the video! Only at Mrs. D's Corner.
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Fifth Grade students studied gesture drawings and the sculptures of George Segal. Students then created their own gesture sculptures showing...
Curated list of resources you can use at home or in the classroom to foster important STEM skills with your students with disabilites. Learn more here.
Movie days are a rare, special occurrence in school. But what seems like a simple lesson isn't. Read more for Rated G Movies and lesson extensions.
Music in the classroom is a powerful tool and it should be more than just having music as a special once a week. Learn why music is important and different ways you can integrate music into your lesson plans seamlessly. Blog post at Mrs. D's Corner.
IEPs and RTI. Progress monitoring and data collection. This simple system has worked for me for years. Sharing a FREE, simple, easy, and effective way to save you time... and your sanity. Learn more now!
Fine Motor exercises are an important part of any child's curriculum and learning experience. Learning how control your hands and refining those hand muscles help a child learn how to do important, every day life skills like feeding, wiping, zippering, and tying shoes. Enter Finger Gym.
Behavior management tips (and a free download) for any resource room classroom setting, allowing students to earn rewards. Learn more here.
Do you need a science bulletin board for your classroom? This is the perfect product for you! I am so excited about this editable science bulletin board! I like to hang various pieces in my room (or as an anchor chart) for my students to reference all year long! This board is a great way to display learning objectives, science goals, facts about scientists, conversation starters, fun/interesting facts, and more! Download includes: 3 Different board titles: 1) What is a scientist? 2) Mad About Science! 3) Imagine. Invent. Inspire. Mini Title: Scientific Method (includes 6 mini posters to help students remember the process. You can also create your own posters using the editable PowerPoint file!) Mini title: "Did you know?" (a great place for fun/interesting facts) Mini title: Scientist of the Week (perfect for displaying relevant people!) Mini title: #Goal Getters (includes 18 premade science goals-- for example:I will make predictions) Download also includes 6 blank goal cards to create your own or cater to individual student goals or needs 15 conversation starter posters (example: "I agree with you because...") What Do Scientists Do? Mini bulletin board set (includes various verbs to describe what scientists do) Editable file is in PowerPoint (to make for easy editing) and include the 6 mini posters and a set of blank goal cards.
Let me begin by apologizing to any parents of fourth graders who realized they were suddenly out of aluminum foil... I encouraged practicing at home :) This lesson is such a hit year after year, and it is a great sculpture lesson because it only takes one day - no storage issues! We begin with a few live gesture drawings, about 30 seconds each, to warm up and get posing ideas, then we create the sculptures using about a foot of aluminum foil. I also run through some famous figural sculptures by Giacometti, Degas, and Henry Moore on the whiteboard projector to get in the sculpting spirit! Start the scrunching slowly, to keep from tearing the foil, and then once it's starting to take shape, you can refine te pose. If a limb gets torn off, it is easily repaired at the end with the hot glue gun. Next, we trace the figure on the mat board base and shade it in. I attach them myself with a spot of hot glue. This would be a great tie-in to the upcoming Olympics - doesn't this look like a figure skater? I have seen several Olympics inspired projects floating around out there recently that were cool. Get your free handout right here on my Teachers Pay Teachers store to try it out: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Foil-Figure-Sculpture-art-lesson-2796822
Third Grade students studied the life and art of Van Gogh. We learned the difference between impressionism and post impressionism. Impres...
Behavior management tips (and a free download) for any resource room classroom setting, allowing students to earn rewards. Learn more here.
Indoor recess ideas for the special education classroom don't have to be complicated. Grab some new ideas here!
Classroom hacks that actually work in a special education classroom setting. Tried and true methods from actual teachers. Read to learn more.
Formal teacher observations and informal walk-throughs are an inevitable part of teaching. Tips to handle it all with grace and relaxation.
Need an effective way to organize all of your students' IEP goals, progress notes, work samples and all else?! Click to learn about color coded IEP binders.
Data collection for special education teachers doesn't have to be a tedious or all day task. As a self-proclaimed data nerd, I am here to tell you that it's possible to collect data daily without feeling overwhelmed. Click to learn more about this data system, tested and implemented by licensed special ed teachers.
For the past few weeks we have been learning about 3-dimensional figures. We set out a few different provocations to have students reflect on both 2D (flat) and 3D (fat) shapes through hands-on activities (picture coming soon!). We concentrate primarily on 6 of the 3D figures (cube, cone, cylinder, sphere, rectangular prism, pyramid) but we always have other figures out in our activities for students to explore. There are a couple of math resources that are my absolute favourites! If you haven't already read them, you should consider it (I have read and re-read them many times!). I have had some people e-mail me asking where I bought the different 3D figures I use. These smaller plastic ones are from Wintergreen Learning and they are, by far, my very favourite to use! They are perfect to play games with and leave out for students to explore (see below). I also like these larger foam 3D figures. These are from Scholastic Canada - if you have bonus coupons I would suggest using them to purchase several of these sets (you can't have enough!) I also like to read this book to the students and having them think about 3D figures in our classroom. It's a great book to explain the concept of 3D figures that can roll, slide or do both! The we test the theories of the children by using ramps and foam solids. We also begin a co-constructed anchor chart together and learn how to describe each figure. This song by Harry Kindergarten is catchy and definitely a favourite in our class! The students asked for it again and again! Once the children are comfortable with identifying 3D figures in the world, we send a parent letter home asking to send in items from home (recyclables are the best!) so that the students can sort them out. We put them all in our sensory bin and students sorted them on the shelves behind. We sing this song during whole group learning time to review the names of the shapes. I hand out 6 of the 3D figures we are learning about (cube, sphere, rectangular prism, pyramid, cone, cylinder) to some students. If they are holding the figure that I sing about they have to stand up. They love it! In addition to these fun songs, we read a book based on the well-known poem about 3D figures. I turned this poem into a larger teacher book and read it with the students. Then the students could make their own smaller books based on the predictable sentences...."A ___ is like a ___." I made this teacher book (seen below in colour) as a flip book, meaning that a few clues are given and the students have to guess the figure hiding under the flap. The students enjoyed this riddle book so much that we invited them to create their own lift-the-flap riddles! In small groups, I like to play the game "What's in My Bag?" I use the smaller plastic shapes and put a whole bunch in a bag. You can play this in various ways: * Have a student reach into the bag. Before pulling out the 3D figure, he/she must describe it and record their guess on the worksheet shown below (I have various worksheets based on the level the students are at. Placing them in a sheet protector is the easiest so we can just wipe clean and start again!) * Same idea as above but you play with a friend and have that person guess what 3D figure it is. We had students use these clip cards to identify shapes and they could easily self-correct as there was a star on the back. Note: I realized after printing that there was a picture of a tent instead of a teepee and it has since been corrected.* At one of the smaller provocation tables in the class, we set out this question, "Can you build a tower using 3D figures?" I also included smaller 3D figure clip art so that students could document their creations. Here's another provocation we set out: "Can you build it?" Students choose a card and, using the small 3-D figures, try to build it! They must figure out if they are able to build it or not. This made for an excellent assessment tool! Students could explain why or why not using language such as: "The tower won't stay if the sphere is at the bottom because it makes everything roll off of it." A.D. "The rectangular prism is the best to start a tower because it can stack both ways!" M.S. "The cone is good on the top. It's like a real castle. They have points on top!" O.S. "This one won't work - it started with a cone on the bottom and you can't put anything on top because it has a point and nothing stays on the point." G.A. We added these to our pocket chart and had students build simple sight word sentences using 3D shapes and examples. My students love playing games - they never turn down an opportunity to join a small group if there's a fun game I have introduced! So I created "Capture 6" - a game played similarly to the well-known game Capture 4 but you have to cover 6 spots next to each other on your game board to win (forming a rectangle). They loved this game! Here's another game we played - this time as a whole group... You might have seen these before - it's called "I have...who has..." Students say "I have..." and they say the colour and 3-D figure they see on their card and say "Who has..." and says the bottom icon (i.e. purple cone). The student who has that figure (i.e. purple cone) is next. The game continues until it gets back to the person who started. You can find all of the above (and more!) in my 3-D Figures (Hands-On Games and Activities) pack on TpT if you are interested. (Click on any of the pictures to take you there.)
Today my gorgeous class increased their knowledge of 2D shapes by making a 'Shape Pizza'. We used paper plates as the base of our pizzas. Students then coloured the paper plates to make the pizza base. I printed off the shapes onto different coloured paper and students cut them out and added them to their paper plates (pizzas). Students then completed the worksheet provided by recognising and counting how many shapes they had used to make their pizza. What a fun time we had! If you wish to create this with your own class here is a link to my activity on Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Steffensons-Kindergarten
Use the special ed inclusion documentation forms to keep track of service times, lesson plans, and more. Streamline it all quickly and effectively!
How to plan for, modify, and implement successful Guided Reading in SPED. TIps and tricks with full lesson plan ideas at Mrs. D's Corner.
Never feel unprepared for a substitute again with this sub binder for special ed teachers. You can rest easy on your day off. Learn more at Mrs. D's Corner.
The first two weeks in a special ed classroom are more than academics. Ideas on what to teach, what to practice, and what you should be doing.
