• Home
  • Shop
    • Shop Now
    • Gift Cards
    • Cart
    • Purchase Orders
    • School Licenses
    • My Account
  • Blog
    • Academics
      • Adapted Books
      • Comprehension
      • Cooking
      • Crafts
      • ELA
      • Fine Motor
      • Life Skills
      • Math
      • Occupational Therapy
      • Science
      • Sensory Bins
      • Social Emotional Learning
      • Social Skills
      • Social Studies
      • Speech Therapy
      • Task Boxes
      • Vocabulary
      • Writing
    • At Home Learning
      • Digital
      • Remote Learning
    • Behavior
      • ABA
      • Communication
        • AAC
      • Data
      • Schedules
      • Visuals
    • Simple Classroom
      • Back to School
      • Book Recommendations
      • Classroom Setup
      • Freebies
      • IEP
      • Inclusion
      • Inspiration
      • Organization
      • Paraprofessional
      • Remote Learning
      • Seasonal
        • Fall
        • Winter
        • Spring
        • Summer
    • Tot School
  • Classroom Tours
    • Self-Contained
    • Speech
    • Preschool
    • Elementary Autistic Support
    • K-2
    • K-2 (Socially Distanced)
    • K-4 (Tiny Room)
    • 1-4 (Life Skills)
    • 2-3 (ABA)
    • Middle School
    • High School
    • High School (Life Skills)
    • Multiple Disabilities
  • New Teachers
    • Join My Online Course
    • First Year
    • Interviews
    • Job Search
  • Grade Level
    • Preschool
    • Primary
    • Elementary
    • Middle School
    • High School
  • Simple Self-Contained Setup 101®
    • Join Now!
    • Success Stories
    • Log In
  • Free Resources
    • Log In
  • More…
    • Meet Alyssa
    • Meet Our Bloggers
    • Collaborate
    • Contact Me
    • Disclosures
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest

Simply Special Ed

Resource Downloads & Teaching Advice

Blog Organization Schedules Simple Classroom

A Look Inside a Week of my Lesson Plans

a look inside a week of my lesson plans in my self contained SPED classroom

Lesson planning in a self-contained classroom can be tricky. I struggled with lesson planning a ton my first year of teaching! Thankfully I’ve learned some tips and tricks along the way. Let me show you a look inside a week of my lesson plans!

calendar time is the first activity we do in my classroom each day.
My favorite routine activity of our day is Calendar time!

Calendar Time

Calendar Time is my favorite time of day! My biggest tip to teachers in self-contained classrooms is to have a routine morning meeting each day. Start the first hour of your day with a calendar/morning meeting. My students love calendar time! It is a routine activity that we do each day, so they love the routine and I love that it is already prepped for me! The students are able to complete the interactive calendar on the Smartboard, and I also have a calendar mat for each student to complete at their table. You can find a great morning meeting routine HERE.

simple ela curriculum workbook
After calendar, we take a break, then we start our ELA block.

ELA Block

After we complete calendar, I give my students a 10-15 minute break with their preferred reward choice. Then, we begin our ELA block. This time looks different each year depending on our school schedule. This year, we have 4 components to our ELA block that lasts 1 hour. First, we practice our monthly vocabulary.

this is an example of the SSE monthly vocabulary units
This is an example of the SSE monthly vocabulary unit. Click the photo to shop!

For vocabulary, I introduce 3 new words each week. We work on vocabulary DTT, picture matching, word matching, sentence building, and much more. Next, we begin our ELA unit for the month. You can shop the ELA curriculum I use HERE. I focus on one unit per month, and we do one activity per day for our ELA unit. For example, on Mondays we read our adapted book and Tuesdays we work on the workbook page as a group. Check out my blog post about how I use the Simple ELA Curriculum here. Next, we work on our Simple Comprehension unit.

I use the Simple Comprehension monthly units
I use the Simple Comprehension monthly units in my classroom. Click the photo to shop!

We use the monthly comprehension units included in the Simple Comprehension Bundle. This bundle is great for working on comprehension with all students because there is a level for each learner. This curriculum is super easy to follow, and it lays out each lesson for you. For example, on Mondays we work the vocabulary for the story that week, Tuesdays we read the story, etc.

I love using each of these components because they are easy to implement and they are effective! Each component takes about 10 minutes to teach. I love quick, effective lessons!

I use ELSB in my classroom for literacy instruction
We use Early Literacy Skills Builder in our classroom. My kids love Moe!

After we finish vocabulary, our ELA lesson, and our comprehension lesson, my students take another 5-10 minute break before we begin the last part of our ELA block. The last and biggest component of our ELA block is Early Literacy Skills Builder (ELSB.) ELSB is a research based literacy program. This curriculum is great for my K-2 students for working on early literacy skills. Check out my blog post about how I use ELSB in my classroom HERE.

these are my IEP goal bins used during our goal work time
Next we have our IEP goal work time.

Goal Work Time

Next in my lesson plans is IEP Goal Work time. This also varies year to year, but this year we have an hour block for goal work time. I have a rotating schedule each week for students assigned to each staff member. Then, I also have a data matrix to assign goals and objectives to be tracked each day. During the hour, each staff member rotates through their assigned students to complete their assigned objectives for the day. The students that aren’t working 1:1 with staff member are given independent work to complete until it is their turn. I use the IEP goal bins shown above to track IEP goal data. Check out my blog post about how I set up my IEP goal bins HERE.

I use Everyday Speech in my classroom
I use Everyday Speech for social skills instruction in my classroom.

Lunch/Social Skills

I do social skills instruction during our classroom lunch time this year. We use Everyday Speech for our social skills program. I work through one lesson of a unit each week. We typically do the videos, games, and practice activities. We complete one activity each day of the week. My students love the games included in this program!

I do a number of the week routine with my students for math instruction
We complete Number of the Week for math instruction.

Math Block

The next part of my weekly lesson plans is our Math block. There are 2 components to my math lesson each day. The first component is Number of the Week. This activity is another routine that we do each day, similar to Calendar time. We work on one number per week, and we practice writing the number, filling a ten frame, sequencing, and tallying. The students complete the interactive Smartboard activity, and they also have their own Number of the Week mat they complete at their table.

this is the simple math curriculum
I use the Simple Math Curriculum in my classroom. Click the photo to shop!

The second component of my math instruction is the Simple Math Curriculum. Similar to the Simple ELA curriculum, I work through one unit per month, and we do one activity per day. For example, Mondays we read the adapted book, Tuesdays we complete a workbook page together whole group, etc. This is another activity that is simple to implement, and it is extremely effective!

next I have lunch and planning while my students have specials and recess
Next, I have my lunch and planning time while my students have special area and recess.

Special Area & Recess (My Lunch and Planning)

The next part of my lesson plans are Special Area and Recess time. We have library, art, music, and PE special area classes at my school. The special area teachers come to my classroom this year to teach specials. While they do this, I have my lunch time. After specials, my students go to recess. During this time I have my planning period. I work on daily communication logs, IEP documents, prepping for my next lesson, etc. during this time.

our last activity is letter of the week
The last activity of our day is Letter of the Week.

Letter of the Week

The last activity on my lesson plans is Letter of the Week. This is another routine that we do daily in my classroom. I love these activities because they are fun for my students, effective, and it is an activity that is already prepped for me all year. Similar to Number of the Week, we work on one letter per week. We practice identifying the letter, identifying the sound, matching, and writing the letter. These routine activities take some work up front, but once they are prepped you don’t have to worry about it again!

There you have it: a look inside a week of my lesson plans! At the end of each week when I prep for the next week it only takes me about 20 minutes to fill in my lesson plans and prep all my materials for the next week. This year my school is using Planbookedu, but typically I plug in my lesson plans into my zoning plan (FREE download.) You can read more about how I use a zoning plan in my classroom here. What do your lesson plans look like each week?

a look inside a week of my lesson plans in my self contained SPED classroom

Related Posts:

  • FREE Simple Comprehension Lesson
    FREE Simple Comprehension Lesson
  • A Look inside my Classroom Centers
    A Look inside my Classroom Centers
  • The Best Sub Plans for Summer (ESY!)
    The Best Sub Plans for Summer (ESY!)
Share
Pin


« How to Use Sherlock Adapted Books
Is the Term Appropriate Play, Appropriate? »
Hi amazing teachers!
I'm Alyssa Shanahan -- a former Elementary Special Ed & Life Skills teacher. My classroom focus was always to keep things simple, increase communication, and build independence. Simply Special Ed's goal is to help teachers and students reach their full potential in and out of the classroom!

Sign up to receive exclusive tips,
free resources, and more!

Recent Posts

Autism Classroom Tour

How to Become an Occupational Therapist

How to Use a Transition Survey in Special Education

Last 10 Days book cover

How I Plan for The Last 10 Days of School

sorting activities

Sorting Activities for Independent Work

The Complete Guide to Preschool Sorting Activities

Copyright © Simply Special Ed 2023 · Design by Fancy Girl Design Studio

Copyright © 2023 · Simply Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.Ok