Fall Fun and Fluency Phrases

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh the joys of those who take refuge in him! Psalm 34:8 

Fall is my favorite time of the year whether the weather is unseasonable warm or cool. Colors are vibrant, change is in the air, and there is a lot to look forward to with the coming winter holidays. 

My group of students are very creative this year and love a chance to pull out the craft supplies and get busy. 

I picked up a mini pumpkin for each student at the grocery store and we had a pumpkin decorating contest on the day of our fall festival. The kids completed some Halloween themed task cards and we read, listened and watched some 3:15 Stories. 

I am always on the look out for reading fluency ideas because my students are mid level age and can memorize passages pretty fast when presented with material at their reading level.  A sixth grader reading at second grade level can remember second grade material easily so I have to keep changing it up. It also helps keep them interested and build their confidence when we keep moving on to new things. The past couple of weeks during reading interventions I have been using the Star Wars themed fluency phrase task cards from Teachers Pay Teachers. They are always a hit with my low readers because they are a fun way to practice commonly used phrases.  

Our school uses the Journey's reading curriculum for grades K-6 which is available digitally and hard copy so we can listen to each story as a class. A student can go back and re listen to certain sections, as needed.  This allows my students to hear grade level content so they are not getting further behind.  They all LOVE e books that include audio.  A few websites we use this year for ebooks are: Capstone, Epic and True Flix. This allows all students to have access to grade level texts that they normally could not read. I am always on the lookout for more ebooks. Gone are the days trying to find batteries for clunky C.D. players! We still have some lying around, but every other disk is always scratched up so ebooks are definitely the way to go in the resource classroom. 

Interactive Spelling and Fun Friday Behavioral Program

    Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

Cute library pockets I found on Amazon.

I was a little hesitant to start the new spelling curriculum I purchased from Jen Bengel at TPT (just because it was different than what I am used to), but it was a huge success!  The students help come up with the words each week (that go with the lesson taught) and then they choose their own lists. This was a major success!  My student are at very different levels and this lets them choose their words off our class list we came up with together. They had fun copying their lists onto paint sample strips that I picked up at the local hardware store. They had fun  choosing the color and Sharpie to brighten up their list. They ended up with a list to take home and a list to keep at school. They keep their classroom list in a cute library pocket. Every day there are different activities they use the personal word list for.  

Student copies personal word list onto a paint sample strip.

My students always want to sit in the teacher's chair which is not allowed. This year on their birthday they get to sit in the special chair. The young man who got to sit in the Birthday Chair Tuesday was grinning from ear to ear. He happens to have me three periods a day so it really did brighten up his special day. I had some streamers hanging off of the back you can't see in the picture. 

This is a simple but fun reading activity. Number some sentences one through six ( a few for each number) and the student rolls a die. They get to read a sentence based on the number of the die.  When they can read the sentence perfect with no help, they get to check off the sentence. 

This year I have some students with behavioral problems (more than usual). I came up with a behavior incentive program where they work for free time on Fridays. Part of the free time involves crafts or painting (depending on what I set up for the day). Most students have me several periods a day. IPADS and computer games are available certain periods of the day. This way they can have free time but not sit in front of a device several hours a day if they earned free time in all of their classes with me. 15 minutes of reading fun time is always listening to me read to them while they eat popcorn. They enjoy this as much as the crafts and IPADS! 

Fun Friday behavioral incentive table. This week it was set up for painting.  Did I mention Fun Friday not only has improved my behavior problems-it gives me time to put in grades and work on special education paperwork while keeping an eye on their activities? I never seem to have any behavior incidents during this time.  And everyone works hard all week to get their time. Usually each period someone is sitting with their head down (based on penalties from the week) but this is getting less and less I am noticing so it really is working! They get minus five minutes per check. I do erase checks and add checks throughout the week for improved behaviors so they have an incentive to be really good again if they are a kid who always seems to get in trouble.  An important part of this is that nobody ever gets a minute of "FREE TIME" Monday-Thursday. If they finish their classwork they work on "earlier finisher" task cards or read their AR books.  

I just love fun tape and Sharpies! Have a Great Week! 

Fluency Fact Cards

  Psalms 68:16 This is the hill which God desireth to dwell in.

I am still in the place of developing new relationships with my students and gaining their trust. I have several autistic students this year with challenging behaviors. I have to remind myself that this is my hill-The Lord's Hill- and there is a purpose for the challenges that I face. One of my boys will shout out in the middle of a math problem, "I love you Miss!" In eleven years of teaching high school I never had students randomly shout out true love for me. When I am tired and frustrated and he will not follow directions or sit in his seat, I am just getting through the moment. It is important to reflect on God's word and the reason he put me in their lives this school year. 

One of my favorite reading intervention resources are fluency fact cards. My students enjoy learning about the different topics as they practice their fluency skills.  CLICK ON LINK!

I hang them on 3m hooks by set. Each topic has a set one and a set two with about 16 questions per set. 

I store the questions in a 3 ring binder and use the Avery Ready Index I order from Amazon to organize the answer pages and answer keys.  Click on Link!

I need to move up to a bigger binder to store the answer sheets. I didn't take a picture but I print the answer keys on yellow paper and put them behind the answer sheets so the students can check their answers independently when they finish a set. 

The student reads each card three times, making a check mark after each read. Then they answer a comprehension question related to what they have read.  Since my class is a resource class, I either read the card to them first or at least listen and correct them as they read it the first time to make sure they are saying each word correctly. I only have two or three students working on these at a time so I can provide enough help. I sit on my red carpenter's chair between them so I can easily slide back and forth to make sure they are on task. I have a daily rotation set up for reading interventions.  My other students are working on Reading Eggs or E books when it is not their day for task cards.

Next week I am going to implement Jen Bengel's Reading Intervention passages during my reading intervention block. She has a great webinar offered to teach teacher's how to use this research based program in the classroom.  Click on Link!

Get to Know Me-First Week of School

I needed a few more decorations for my classroom so my cousin suggested this:  On the first day of school I passed out canvas and brushes to the kids. I only passed out the colors of paint that matched my classroom. They all enjoyed painting and it gave me a chance to get to know them (who was serious, silly, wild, etc.) before planning a seating chart or going over class rules. 

They are proud to see their artwork decorating my room. 

We also had fun with the more traditional get to you know activities.  This is a good way to see who has difficulty with spelling and following directions, while learning about my new students.  

Green Tea, HIM, and Special Ed. Introduction

Green Tea-I wanted a new blog title to go with my new position in elementary. We face a lot of challenges as teachers and need to find strength daily, hourly, often by the minute. I am a green tea drinker and I have an electric teapot in my classroom. Sipping on warm green tea gives my voice strength and energizes my body.  I cannot drink coffee (I do miss iced coffee) and I try to avoid sugary drinks. After suffering with chronic health problems two years ago it was discovered I can't have wheat of any kind. I got better after eliminating wheat but it left me sensitive to dairy, raw veggies and coffee. I have always liked green tea so that is my go to drink-hot, cold, steamy, iced, I buy it by the case on Amazon (TAZO ZEN is my current favorite). 

Him - As a Christian,  I can get strength from God' word at any time and in any situation.  I can start my day with bible reading and prayer and listen to my bible on the way to school or as I get ready for work.  I can pray for my students and my co workers. No matter how difficult a situation is, I can remind myself that HE has a purpose and a plan for each trial in my classroom. 

Special Ed. I chose this career because I wanted to be a teacher so I could have the same schedule as my kids and have my summers off.  As a child I was always fascinated by seeing kids go to the resource classroom.  I remember noticing the resource room and thinking how nice it was that kids who were struggling had a place to go to get extra help on their school work. I grew up in California and I don't think I had heard the term special education as a child. I only remember some kids going to the resource room and having students with disabilities in the general ed. classroom working side by side with the rest of us. I have always wanted to help students like those I saw entering that room on my elementary campus. In special education we often have the same students for several years in a row so it is especially important to gain trust with them and their families.  They are mine and I have the overwhelming responsibility to be a good example to them.
My favorite saying I saw on a marque in town and never forgot is:  Our Youth Need Models, Not Critics. I do believe this is the truth. 

New Special Education Blog

Psalm 119:2 Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart

Thanks for checking out my new special education blog! This is my twelfth year as a special education teacher. I taught high school for eleven years and this year I am teaching elementary. I am not a fancy blogger but I will be sharing the weekly activities that go on in my special education classroom. I teach at a small school so we have a resource/self. contained classroom. I am the only special education teacher for grades 4-6 regardless of their disability or severity.  I teach at a public school in a low income,  rural town. Our entire population k-12 is under 700 students. 

My new room was an adjustment because it is one of the oldest in the school. People have told me fifty years ago it was part of the cafeteria. I had fun decorating it and working to make it a cheerful place for my students. This little nook is the best feature in my room. To the left of the tables are the student tubs (they are actually called art portfolios). Each student goes and gets their tub as they enter the classroom. 

I couldn't resist the Scholastic class quiz when it went on sale in the spring. This is my first year in elementary and I have never used a pocket chart before (:  

I have used this sign and re-purposed it several times. It is a piece of foam board from the hardware store. Since it is light weight it is EASY to take home and redecorate. I hang it with Command Strips (I think I hang everything with them). We have two desktop computers, two laptops and about ten IPADS.

See that polk dotted door? That is a closet! I have never had a closet in my classroom before and I am loving it. 

Each student two desks so they have a place to put their tub which contains their supplies for my room only ( journal, pencils, etc.).  If you look close the guy on the left has his feet on a BENDY BAND. These have been very helpful for my ADHD kids and most general ed. teachers are using them, too.  I ordered mine off Amazon and need to buy a couple more. I don't even put the blue cup on the bottom on them because our chairs are big enough that the band alone stays in place.  LIFESAVER!!! 

This second polka-dotted door goes to a neighboring classroom. We are lucky to have a room to share (through the open door) that has a restroom for kids, copier, and washer and dryer. I thought it was odd having a washer and dryer but I have already had to use it several times and we have only been in school for a week.

 See how the walls are split behind the cabinet? That is where they used to slide in a table back in the cafeteria days. I had to position the cabinets to block it because it would have made a fun hiding spot for my kiddos!

 I read about using a handyman's rolling seat to roll from seat to seat when helping students. See it there-bright red? Most of the time it hides nicely underneath my desk (my desk is huge) to keep the kids off of it,  but it is a very comfortable way to lean over and help students. I got mine at Harbor Freight.

Thanks for checking out my new blog! I will posting our first week of school activities this afternoon :)