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.
Want to create simple science areas for preschoolers? Learn how to create a fun science center to keep your kids engaged and learning!
Learn about science curriculum created for self-contained special education classrooms by a real special education teacher!
Thanks for stopping by today as your week gets started. Today I thought we'd revisit Science in the special education classroom. I adore teaching science but struggled with finding appropriate materials to teach my kiddos in special education that didn't have an astronomical price attached to it. Now that I'm retired, and having a ball creating materials for special education classrooms I wanted to make some materials for teaching science. A year ago when I was teaching and searching for science materials to use with my kids, I found plenty of great materials, but they either needed extensive adaptations to make them useable with my students or they didn't have enough differentiation in them. I struggled with which way to go. I worked with a class of 8 kids whose disabilities ranged from moderate to severe and their academic skills differed significantly from pre-kindergarten to 3rd grade. Some students were verbal and others had no verbal skills or very low communication skills. I struggled to find the materials that had enough options of different ways for my kids to interact and respond to the materials, yet also provide the range of skill levels I needed. So recently I decided it was time to focus on developing some science materials that might be a better fit to the needs I had in my classroom. So I went looking to find what areas of science ARE available and perhaps what areas I could focus on that hadn't already been covered. When I went looking I found some great options! I was surprised how much was out there! Actually I was AMAZED! So many people had evidently been developing some great resources; whether it was ideas written about teaching science written in blog posts or creating materials they were selling on Teachers Pay Teachers. As I plowed through the ideas that came up in my searches, I thought I would share some of what I found with you. Below you will find a smattering of concepts, materials, ideas and experiments developed for students with special needs. They have been created by a many talented individuals, many of whom are special education teachers themselves or work in the field of special education. Take a look at the treasure of ideas I found in my journey. Each picture includes a link either to a Pinterest pin where you can find out more details, a link to a blog post that will provide you with further information about the topic or links to products on Teachers Pay Teachers. I hope you enjoyed this small gathering of ideas I found about teaching science in the special education classroom. Drop me a comment below and let me know what topics in Science you would like to see products about, to help you. Thank you for stopping by Special Ed Spot today. If you like this post, you might also like my monthly newsletter. Enroll below to subscribe to our newsletter for information, resources and occasional freebies! Subscribe to our mailing list * indicates required Email Address * First Name Last Name
Simple Science experiment that shows how liquid impacts a magnet.
Learn about science curriculum created for self-contained special education classrooms by a real special education teacher!
This colorful magnetism poster would be a great addition to your science center during a unit on magnets. Instructions for printing and use Print on A4 paper. This item is part of a set of Magnets resources available in my store.
Free, fun and useful Kindergarten - 1st Grade, Common Core aligned lesson plans, math games, calendars, behavior charts, materials and more!
Hi Friends… I hope this post finds you well and enjoying your summer break. I just returned home from a relaxing vacation in Punta Cana! It was a ton of fun and I really needed the R & R 🙂 I actually wrote this blog post on the plane there…BUT… the flight didn’t have any … Science FUN with Interactive Notebooks! Read More »
Engage your students with these 10 ecosystem project ideas for your elementary science class and grab a FREEBIE to get started!
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 […]
Who doesn't love a good science experiment? Especially one that is so easy and amazes little learners. My kiddos love to do this Liquid Rainbow science experiment together to explore liquids and the differences in their density.ObservationsTo help learners understand this experiment and give a little background to why the results happen I have them
In this post, I will share simple books, videos, and experiments to help teach about the forms of energy - heat, light, and sound.
A blog about autism resources and support from a special ed teacher with first-hand experience.
Ideas para clase de Historia Podemos hacer que nuestra clase de historias sea divertida. Aquí una ideas de la web que podemos incorp...
This Real Photos Science File Folder resource contains 19 different interactive activities to cover Science standards for grades K-5. As you cover these topics in class, you can continue to repeat these concepts through independent work bins, morning table tasks, etc. Topics included are: -Match the Weather (picture to picture) -Identify the Weather (picture to word) -Seasons Sort -Hot and Cold Sort -Recycle Sort -Can You Recycle It? -Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources Sort -Match the Landforms (picture to picture) -Identify the Landforms (picture to word match) -Living and Nonliving Things Sort -Animal Home Sort (Desert/Ocean) -Animal Home Sort (Pond/Forest) -Animal Home Sort (Rainforest/Arctic) -Solids and Liquids Sort -Force and Motion: Push and Pull Sort -Frog Life Cycle -Butterfly Life Cycle -Planet Match (picture to picture) -Identify the Planets (picture to word) Please ask any questions before purchasing @ [email protected]. Thank you for supporting my shop and don't forget to leave feedback on purchases to earn credits towards FREE products on TpT!! :) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more ideas to work with your special learners, visit my blog at My Special Learners and find me on Instagram @ myspeciallearners!
Listen to this Special Ed Podcast with 15 great ideas for Functional Centers for students with Intellectual Disabilities and Autism in High School. Read more and subscribe today!
Science units are wonderful for teaching science concepts in a special education classroom… especially those with multiple grades. The science units help me differentiate and teach and reteach the science concepts year after year. Focus On Vocabulary Many students struggle with all of the vocabulary and language that come with science concepts. From scientific tools […]
So one of my goals this year was to put student work up on the walls in my classroom. You see, with 200+ students, how do I put all students' work up? Well that's just it... I don't. I was already collecting sample work from students (you know, keeping the REALLY good ones to show next year's students what their final product should look like), but wasn't doing anything with those samples aside from keeping them in a drawer until the following year. That's when I decided that it was time to put those samples up on the wall. I realized that I don't have to put up samples from EVERY student... meaning, I don't have to put up the eye-sores non-sample work. Below are pictures of what now adorns my very colorful and educational wall. I have already referenced projects on the wall several times... And my 8th graders are reminded of the science they forget from learned in 7th grade. Fun, right? And after receiving numerous emails requesting templates to make some of the foldables shown above, I decided to make a few tutorial posts. You see, my students are AMAZING artists and therefore none of the above projects required templates. Just instructions. So here they are. Organization of Life Foldable Tutorial Cells Foldable Tutorial Cell Cycle Foldable Tutorial Happy Projecting! (I know, I totally made that word up.)
Engagement Strategies Last Saturday as I was perusing Twitter, I saw this awesome post on engagement strategies. When I clicked on the...
Since that very faulty "lesson", I've found some MUCH more effective resources. Objective: I can explain why we have seasons.
READY…SET….. DOWNLOAD! The Flash Freebie is going on RIGHT NOW! (until 8 PDT) “Battle of the Biomes – Full Set w/ Adaptation Cards!” will be listed as FREE! This freebie is a really BIG one, so grab it while you can! 😉 Click Here for Your FREE RESOURCE!
I recently developed a slight obsession with Shrinky Dinks. It was one of my favorite crafting activities as a child, and now as a mom, my daughter is having fun with it too. If you’ve never used it, it’s basically thin sheets of plastic that you can cut and color and then bake in the oven, […]
Learn about science curriculum created for self-contained special education classrooms by a real special education teacher!
This nature game cootie catcher is meant to help children use their senses (sight, smell, hearing, and touch) as they test their knowledge and explore the natural world around them.
photo courtesy of cheeky @elvisrunner A few weeks ago I mentioned on Twitter that I would be taking part in a short presentation at Language Show Live. One of the cheeky #MFLTwitterati (yes, Prim, I'm talking about you!) asked if it would involve paper folding. I suppose if you look back on my more recent posts, it does appear that I am particularly keen on the art of papiroflexia. And here is another one - the concertina book. Here's how to make it: 2. Fold it into a concertina. 1. Halve a piece of A4 paper lengthways 3. Write or draw on each section of the concertina except the very top one and the very bottom one. 4. Stick something at the top and the bottom sections of your concertina. These mini-books are ideal for anything that requires a sequence, as they provide ready-made 'steps' on which to write. So you could use them for recipes, and have foodstuffs or utensils at the top and bottom, or even for a more formal piece of writing which requires the use of time sequencing phrases: Another variation on the theme is the accordion book. In this example I have stuck together two zig-zag folds and shaped them. Concertina books and accordion books are small, non-threatening and easy to store and display. Why not have a go? UPDATE 2.3.13: Here is a variation on the concertina book which was invented by Rachel Smith. The concertina forms the the steps up which the animals climb into the Ark. My Year 2 class loved this! UPDATE 14.5.13: I have been doing Les Planètes with Year 5 this half term, and was after some kind of writing activity to show off our extended sentences. Enter the concertina book!
I created this worksheet to go along with The Quiet Way Home book. Click here to download! Visit my TPT store for more FREEBIES!
There are two ways you can look at life - scientific and philosophical. Or, you can look at it both ways for a more immersive experience; the choice is yours. But, be as it may, we’re not here to philosophize about the ways one can look at life and search for its meaning.
So I found this photo on Pinterest: It lead me nowhere :{ (Dislike when that happens) Well I made my own- I don't have mad tech...
