How do you prepare for the upcoming school year? Here are 5 things I do during summer prep to ready my classroom for a fresh new year. It’s the same every summer; I look forward to my summer break and all the plans I have made for myself. I look forward to sleeping in! It's time to hit the pool, deep clean my house, and look forward to traveling. Then, after a little while of relaxation, the wheels start spinning and I’m thinking about my students and ready to work on school things. My ... continue reading...
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How to Organize IEPs as a Related Service Provider
If you were to talk to most school-based occupational therapists [or other related service providers], I bet IEPs would not be at the top of the list for their favorite parts of the job. We love creatively problem solving with school teams to help support student success. We thrive on analyzing classroom activities and comparing them to students' current skills/abilities to determine strengths and needs. Finding supportive modifications or adaptations and building underlying skills are what ... continue reading...
3rd/4th grade 6:1:1 Classroom Schedule Tour
Here is how I structure my daily schedule in my 3rd/4th grade 6:1:1 classroom! Pictured above is a schedule that one of my students keeps on his desk that he checks off throughout the day. It includes our daily schedule along with his pull outs (and its dinosaur themed- dinosaurs are his favorite!) Background about my Classroom I work at a K-12 Special Education school that is run through an agency. Many of our students have experienced trauma and have an emotional disability (ED). We ... continue reading...
Safe Sensory Bin Fillers
You may have read my recent blog about spring sensory bins! When putting together sensory bins, it is always important to think about safety [in addition to fun!]. We wanted to post a blog with some safety considerations when utilizing sensory bins. While this is not all inclusive, hopefully it will get your wheels turning when thinking about how to make an ideal sensory bin for your students! Some Things to Think About Many of us are working with students who mouth things. There is ... continue reading...
Ocean Lessons for Special Education
During ESY (Extended School Year/ Summer School) in special education it is always fun to incorporate themes! One of my favorite ESY themes is the ocean! Here is everything you need for the best ocean theme and lesson plans in your ESY special education classroom this summer! DECORATIONS I really am about keeping it simple, but a few little decorations if you are going with an ESY theme makes things fun for you, your paras, and the students. Using a backdrop (affiliate link) to coverup ... continue reading...
Camping Lessons for Special Education
During ESY (Extended School Year/ Summer School) in special education it is always fun to incorporate themes! One of my favorite ESY themes is camping! Here is everything you need for the best camping theme and lesson plans in your ESY special education classroom this summer! DECORATIONS I really am about keeping it simple, but a few little decorations if you are going with an ESY theme makes things fun for you, your paras, and the students. Using a backdrop (affiliate link) to coverup ... continue reading...
The Complete Guide to Preschool Sorting Activities
Velcro? Scissors? Laminating sheets? Card stock? Check! Sorting activities are essential in our special education classrooms. As an Early Childhood Special Education Teacher, I often use materials that are modified or need to be adapted. Student work is consistently modified to meet my their needs which is why I always look for activities that target many areas. I find activities to use as supplemental work or for IEP goals. Simply Special Ed has a variety of resources for us special ... continue reading...
How to Prep the Personal Information Flip Books & Forms
Do you teach life skills and personal safety with your students? Do you love to save time? Then you need the Personal Information Flip Books and Forms! As a school-based occupational therapist (OT), I love to target fine and visual motor skills paired with functional and life skill tasks! Being able to communicate personal information is one of those skills! I love to work on filling out forms with this information [in both handwritten and typed formats] because there are so many areas in ... continue reading...
Play Ideas to Encourage School-Aged Development
Sometimes we forget about play for our elementary-school aged students! Children learn so much through play, and while a focus on academics has its place, kids definitely need time to learn through trial and error as well as free play! Check out my blog on play ideas to encourage preschool aged development for ideas for younger kiddos! The resource I highlighted in that blog, the Play Center Visual Support resource, is great for early learners! As a school-based occupational therapist ... continue reading...
How to set up Play Centers
Centers or "Play centers" are centers that are intentionally planned; with a purpose in mind. A lot of my play based centers are planned around IEP goals and or functional skills. I've used centers to address IEP Goals as a Life Skills Special Education Teacher and in my Early Childhood Special Education Co-Teach classroom. Keep reading to learn how I set my centers up and to see examples of centers. What skills do I target? My go to as a special education teacher are the IEP goals. My ... continue reading...
10 Almost Free OT Materials
As I have said in many of my previous occupational therapy blogs, you don't need fancy equipment to target really great OT skills in your daily routines! This blog is to serve as a guide to "get those wheels turning" with regards to nearly free materials that can be used to target common skills addressed in occupational therapy. We have things for fine motor development, grasp, bilateral coordination, sensory processing, pre-vocational/life skills and so much more! 1) Masking ... continue reading...
New to Special Ed? Start here!
You scored a job in special ed!? No clue where to start? Start here! I'm giving you all our best tips and resources if you are new to special ed! Blogger Tips and Tricks Our Simply Special Ed bloggers have been sharing all their best tips and tricks for new special ed teachers in their blog posts. Tips, Tricks + Advice for First Year Special Ed Teachers Being a brand new special education teacher is overwhelming, to say the least. Back when I began teaching-I wish there ... continue reading...
4 Crafts for Valentine’s Day
Each month in my special education self-contained classroom I loved to come up with fresh, new, hands on crafts to meet student goals. These February crafts focus on Valentine's Day and these crafts might be some of my favorite crafts yet! (Theres a free download at the end of this blog post so make sure to scroll down!) Using crafts in the special education classroom is SO rewarding but can also have many challenges. Making sure each craft is differentiated, meeting student ... continue reading...
5 Steps to Becoming a Master at Using Visuals Daily
We live on visuals in the special ed world. You want to use them all the time, but how? How do you make them easy to use? I'll show you! Here are 5 steps to becoming a master at using visuals daily! #1: Make a set for each staff member The first step is to make a set for each staff member in your classroom. In order to be effective, everyone needs to use them! You can find the visuals I use on our keyrings here! At the beginning of the year, I make a new set for everyone, as well as a ... continue reading...
Multi-Sensory Letter Formation
As a school-based occupational therapist, I am frequently asked by teachers and parents how to help improve students' handwriting. I work with students on letter formation frequently. Below are some tips and tricks on how to use a multi-sensory approach to teach letter formation! My blog series "Building Blocks for Success in Pre-Writing" also discusses multi-sensory approaches to pre-writing if your child isn't at the stage where they are ready to start writing letters. Not all students ... continue reading...
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