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    Showing posts with label Manic Monday. Show all posts
    Showing posts with label Manic Monday. Show all posts

    Monday, October 8, 2012

    Teaching Numeration to Students with Moderate-Intensive Needs in the Special Education Classroom

    Download my FREE Number Practice Powerpoint

    I look forward to connecting with you and sharing SpEd Spot tips and FREEBIES!

      Do you have students with significant learning needs in your math class or self-contained special education classroom? I have been there! Keep reading for some great tips on meeting their needs and also for some great freebies!


      This year I have 7 students who are just beginning to learn their numbers. Initially, I tried finding cutesy number activities that aligned with our weekly theme. However, I quickly learned that these activities were too complicated for this particular group of kids. 

      This group has many needs. Most of them struggle visually, either due to vision issues such as difficulty with tracking or visual attention or due to visual sensory sensitivity. Therefore games that featured apples or buses that just happened to have numbers in the middle of them were too hard for these students to process visually and they were unable to focus on the most important aspect of the activity, the number. 

      Additionally, this group needs TONS of repetitions and structure. They need to repeat saying the number, seeing the number, and counting that number of objects. Additionally, I needed to find a way to present the new information/number in a similar way to how I taught the previous number. This eliminates several variables such as needing to teach them new directions to an activity or the students needing to learn to process information given in a different way. The most important goal was for them to learn the numbers. After they master the numbers, then I will begin using other activities to assist with generalization. 

      Finally, due to their visual and processing needs, these students also struggled with any one-to-one correspondence activities. Again, I felt I needed to find a way to teach the act of counting in a very structured way. 

      I am now in the process of creating a modified numeration curriculum for this set of students. This is what I have created so far:


      1. Daily Powerpoint Review 

      (requires 1 copy of PowerPoint/Slides presentation to be projected)
      • Project number review PowerPoint on the whiteboard (I've created a FREEBIE to tackle this first step for you!) 
      • Have students take turns identifying previously introduced numbers. 
        • Hide any slides of numbers that have not been introduced. 
        • Various colors are used to address visual sensory needs.
      • For additional sensory input have students stand on an uneven surface (one foot on phone books, rocker board, etc.)



      I adapted steps 2-4 from the book Teaching Reading to Children with Down Syndrome. I have found this match, select, say method to be extremely useful when teaching basic concepts (sight word reading, vocabulary, numbers, letters, etc) to my neediest learners and it is my form of Discrete Trial Training since I don't have a specific DTT program. In my opinion, the most important aspect of this method is keeping it very fast-paced. This keeps the student engaged and trains their brain to work quickly to ensure automaticity.

      2. Match

      (requires 2 sets of flashcards, copied on cardstock and laminated for durability
      • Introduce target number flashcard, say the number, and have the student repeat
      • Lay flashcard in front of the student.
      • Introduce identical flashcard, say the number, have the student repeat
      • Give flashcard to student and instruct to match (“Put 3 on 3”).
      • Repeat 5x.

      3. Select (Receptive ID)

      (requires 1 set of flashcards, copied on cardstock and laminated for durability)
      • Lay out a field of 3 number cards (1 target, 2 mastered)
        • If introducing number 1 use 2 blank distracter cards
      • Direct student to touch cards in random order (Touch 2, Touch 1, Touch 3)
      • Rearrange cards and repeat 5x
        • If students struggle with this step, return to Matching and repeat steps

      4. Say (Expressive ID)

      (requires 1 set of flashcards, copied on cardstock and laminated for durability)
      • Shuffle cards and have the student identify each one
      • Place easily ID’d cards aside and shuffle missed cards back into the stack
        • If student struggles with this step, return to Selecting and repeat steps

      I have created a set of flashcards with 6 different fonts needed for this Match-Select-Say sequence as part of my 15-Minute Multisensory Math and Reading Lesson Templates for RTI & SpEd.


      5. Multisensory Generalization Activities

      Finally, I work on generalizing and practicing numeration skills through multisensory activities. These are also a staple of my 15-Minute Multisensory Math and Reading Lesson Templates for RTI & SpEd which includes:
      • Weekly lesson plan templates for letter and number skills
      • Easy reference multisensory activity lists
      • Data collection forms






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      Some additional generalization and multisensory practice resources I use in my classroom include:


      6. Multisensory 1-20 Number Practice

      Finally, I created a workbook for numbers 1-20 which includes a very predictable format for continuous practice, independent work, review, and/or assessment. I love materials that follow a similar format with changing content because then my students only have to worry about learning to content and not the expectations of the activity. These number practice workbooks include the following steps:
      • Color Number
        • extra exposure to number
        • repeat number several times while students color (“I like how you colored number 2”, “You’re 5 looks great”, etc)
      • Touch and Count
        • Have students point to the numbers as they count
      • Color and Count
        • Have students count as they color the stars
        • MODIFICATION: Use bingo dotters if the student is unable to color quickly while counting
      • Cover and Count
        • using counter discs or tokens, have students cover black dots as they count out the designated number of items
      • Number Writing (#11-20)
        • For the teen numbers, I included some number writing as students are typically demonstrating higher-level skills at that point. 





      My Multisensory 1-20 Number Practice Workbook for Special Education also includes the TPT Digital Easel Activity so students can practice using technology too!




      Check out these digital features here: 



      Some parents really enjoy carrying over the same types of activities you are doing in the classroom, with their children at home so I created these FREE Multisensory Activity Lists for Practicing Basic Math & Reading Skills at Home. I love sending these home during parent-teacher conferences, IEP meetings, or for summer practice. 




      Monday, August 27, 2012

      Paraprofessional Survival Kit--FREEBIE

      This year we have six paraprofessionals that we truly could not live without! This summer my teaching team and I worked hard to come up with a paraprofessional handbook to streamline our classroom procedures and communicate our expectations to our paras (old and new!). 

      To go with our handbooks, I made these Paraprofessional Survival Kits. They include lots of the essential items (mostly office supplies) that our paras will need this year. It was a great, practical back to school gift and it also aligned with our handbook. For instance, one thing we want paras to do this year is share their thoughts or concerns on a Concern Clipboard in a central team communication area in the classroom so we included post-it notes in the bag. Also, we have paras leading groups so we want them to record student progress and take notes to let us know how things are going. Therefore, we provided each para with a notebook. 






      What else did we include? Click on the links below for amazon links to each item (or just raid your school's storage closet if you are blessed enough to have one!)


      Paraprofessional Handbook

        • We used my Editable Paraprofessional Role Sheets which can be found by clicking the images below



      Paraprofessional Survival Kit Supplies

      • Notebook: You can certainly get a basic notebook but are tons of adorable options out there specific to paras too for a little something extra.




      • Pink Eraser: Ok I love mechanical pencils but the erasers never seem to last long enough.


      • Post-It Notes: Another obsession that I cannot help! You could certainly go with the tried and true Post-It brand post its (none seem to stick quite as good am I right?!). But I am a sucker for cute post-its too!




      • Lifesavers: We are often all up in each other's bubbles in the special education classroom so anything to keep our breath fresh is a bonus... especially when you have that one autistic student who isn't afraid to call out your coffee breath LOL!

      • Rubber Bands: Does anyone else have a baggie full of rubber bands at the bottom of their desk drawer?? Or is that just me?? An added bonus of plenty of rubber bands is they are a great tool for taking frequency data... comment below if you want more details!

      • Paper Clips: Again, you can certainly use the basic paperclips from your supply closet but I am a sucker for cute school supplies. It's the simple things right?!

      • Puzzle Piece: We got enough blank jumbo puzzle pieces for all of the staff and students in our program to make a bulletin board.



      Paraprofessional Survival Kit Gift Tags

      I made up cute cards to attach to each survival kit which you can grab for FREE by joining my SpEd Spot Snippets weekly newsletter by signing up through this LINK!

      Enjoy!






      Welcome visitors from Classroom Freebies! I hope you enjoy this Manic Monday treat!
      Classroom Freebies Manic Monday

      Download my FREE Para Survival Kit Gift Tags!

      I look forward to connecting with you and sharing SpEd Spot tips and FREEBIES!

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