One year of teaching, I had a student who LOVED science experiments… but I found that a lot of the resources out there had TOO many steps and TOO many words for my type of classroom. I created these visual experiments JUST like my visual cooking recipes– simple, concise, and students centered! Here’s a look […]
One of the best ways to stop attention seeking behavior is to share those expectations with your students and following these tips...
My students use morning binders during our morning meeting and throughout our academic portion of the morning. I love using binders because I can personalize and individualize each binder according to my students needs.
This article will give you helpful tips and tricks on teaching music for special education classes in your elementary school.
Starting a task box center and system in your special education classroom is a way to increase student independence and free up staff.
I highly recommend cooking in the classroom for any age students. It's particularly important with older students, but there are a ton of skills that can be integrated into cooking regardless of the grade level.
One of the best ways to stop attention seeking behavior is to share those expectations with your students and following these tips...
If you are anything like me, the first 10 days are a struggle. You have so many new ideas for the new year, so many things you want to implement, and you feel pressure to start on the very first day. Here’s my number one tip: DON’T. Just don’t. In special education, and more specifically […]
Theater for kids with special needs? Yes! Check out these myths about theater in special education and hear why you should be incorporating theater with your students.
Teaching science in the special education classroom can be one of the most interesting but challenging topics for our students. Hop over to find some ways to present it and document progress for alternative assessment.
Using Unique Learning Systems (ULS) can be overwhelming the first time you log on. Here are my top 10 tips for using Unique Learning System.
Wondering how to fit everything into your schedule in a self contained special needs classroom? I'm sharing my self contained class schedule and specifics on what each part of our school day looks like. Blog post at Mrs. D's Corner.
Strategies for defiant behavior that support positive behavior, develop teacher-student relationships, and minimize escalating situations.
Sometimes it's the littlest details that make the biggest difference in a classroom. Here's a few of my little classroom details. Someday I will show you all of the big details too...I just need to be more prepared for that! Supply station central. With visuals. AMAZING - because students and staff know where everything goes. So simple and organized and makes my life easier than my last two years when I thought I was pretty organized but had different things throughout the room. Everything in the same place is the way to go. Work task boxes on a cart. When you don't have shelves...you can find something else that works! I love our independent work stations. Someday I'll have you show you all what's inside these boxes!! Update: See all my posts on work tasks. Visuals for greetings in the morning, right outside the door to encourage students to greet each other as they come in. This was a freebie from The Adventures of Room 83! Visuals on the door help students to remember to ask before leaving the room and to tell staff what it is they need. Keeping the door shut helps too! This fabulous "Turn it in" idea was from the Autism Helper - um so smart! I took hers and edited it a little giving myself spaces for 3 forms coming in (they always seem to happen at the same time) and also color coded so the students can better recognize their names. The wet ones and the Clorox wipes frequently were confused in my classroom, so I had a student draw these pictures for me and it has helped so much. Someday I'll give you the grand tour, but until then I hope you enjoy these snapshots!
Welcome to my K-2 Classroom Tour! I am a k-2 self contained autism teacher. Come inside and see what a day in my classroom looks like!
Visual boundaries are a vital part of classroom setup. Let me show you how I utilize these visual boundaries in classroom!
I am so excited to share some of the best hacks and advice with you for your special education classroom from our very own SSE Blogger Team!
Are you looking to refresh your autism schedule? Do you know where to start? Here's a dive into my daily schedule in an autism classroom!
Take a peek inside 7 special education sample schedules to get some schedule ideas for your own special education classroom!
Visual boundaries are a great way to teach the students in your autism classroom what space is theirs and which spaces are out of bounds!
Have you been curious about how to set up your elementary autistic support classroom? Join me as I give you a
If a student is unable to play with toys during structured leisure time independently, play supports are a great strategy.
IEP goal bins will help you keep your students' goals and materials organized so you can focus on what's important: the students.
So you’ve taught your students to write sentences. Now what? In the beginning of my career, we worked HARD on writing sentences. When it came time to take the next step into writing paragraphs, I found this was even harder for my students. We were able to write 2-3 sentences about a topic or picture, ... Read More about How to Scaffold Paragraph Writing for Special Education
I love it when we have a birthday in my class because it's a great opportunity to practice tons of life skills! Whenever we have a birthday to celebrate, we plan a party. This is usually pretty low-key (because I usually don't think of it until the day of) but awesome just the same and my students love it!
Job ideas for students in special education to do in the classroom and around school
When using Edmark in a multiple disabilities classroom, it's essential to provide inclusive and effective instruction.
Special education teachers take a ton of data. This post will show you how to use data sheets to make the data collection process easier!
What do you do as a special ed. teacher when a student with autism refuses to work? It depends on the function of the behavior! Learn the 12 Best Strategies!
Classroom Cue Cards - I use visuals with my non verbal students that's finding it difficult to understand, process and follow verbal directions. The most tricky situations I find sometimes arise when transitioning at lunch time, outside recess/playtime and in the classroom setting. So clipping the visuals that I might need to my wrist has become a must! I've hooked up three keyrings full of the visuals that I can grab and change when I'm in a hurry. 1. for the classroom 2. for the dinning hall 3. for outside at recess/playtime The visuals help my kiddos to understand and follow directions while transitioning and help with any frustrations that might rise! I've included 41 Visuals which I popped on to lanyard's and wrist bands, that are divided into these 3 areas and in 3 different sizes to suit. These Visual Cue Cards are perfect to reinforce verbal directions and in my opinion great for any kindergarten, preschool or Special Ed Classroom setting with non verbal kids! For more information visits here
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 […]
If you are anything like me, the first 10 days are a struggle. You have so many new ideas for the new year, so many things you want to implement, and you feel pressure to start on the very first day. Here’s my number one tip: DON’T. Just don’t. In special education, and more specifically […]
Classroom Cue Cards for Behavior Management.These Visual Cue Cards are perfect to reinforce verbal directions in any kindergarten, preschool or Special Ed Classroom setting!41 Visuals are included which I pop on to lanyard's and wrist bands, are divided into 3 areas and in 3 different sizes.CLASS CU...
As the ONLY special education teacher in my building, I ALWAYS wanted to get a peek inside other classrooms. Get a peek inside 10 classroom tours!
This blog post shares five tips on navigating the challenges and effectively running circle time in a limited verbal classroom.
What do you do as a special ed. teacher when a student with autism refuses to work? It depends on the function of the behavior! Learn the 12 Best Strategies!
Ever wondered if you needed to bother writing lesson plans in your special ed. classroom? Here are 5 reasons you do...and a template to help.
I LOVE cooking in the classroom. (If you aren’t new here, you know this!) I created these recipes when I was still teaching full time- and I based them around my students needs AND interests! The monthly bundle of recipes gives you four recipes a month for the entire year- and includes all the themes […]
You aren't making these teacher mistakes in your special education class, are you? Here's 6 mistakes teachers and paras in SpEd make PLUS 5 easy fixes too!
