Sort Tasks

Happy  March!!

We do a lot of sorting in my classroom.  We sort colors, shapes, letters, words, pictures, and the list goes on.  I just wanted to share a few of our favorite tasks.

I found these containers at Rite Aide in the dollar section and the eggs at the Dollar store in the spring.  They are an easy task and i can vary it between two or three colors or even just make it into a put in task.  After the kiddos sort I usually also have them put the lid on the container. 

This is a re-do of a shape sorter.  Our shape sorter was too difficult for my students one year so we just took a box, covered it and cut out the shapes.  The kids now just sort the shapes into the box and do not have to worry about rotating to all of the sides of a shape sorter. 

This is a simple color sorting task with pompoms and a muffin tin.  I put stickers for each color in the muffin tins so the kids know what color goes where. 

This task is simply small and big paper clips that are sorted onto the appropriate index card.  To make it a little more fine motor heavy students could attach the paper clip to the index card. 

Intervention Binders

Last year I bought a Math intervention binder off of TpT.  While it is totally awesome, it did not suit all of my needs or my students' needs.  So, I came up with my own.  These were super easy to put together once I came up with what I was going to do.  I simply decide on the topic of the binder, then add various practice sheets and games about that topic.

I have several binders set up: alphabet, shapes, math, numbers, comprehension, number tracing, and letter tracing.  You have seen pictures of the number and letter binders before when I talked about my inclusion box.  Some pages I have made myself (such as the letter and number tracing pages), but  I use a lot of pages by the Moffat Girls and then other various sheets I have.  I like the Moffat girls because it is more than just tracing or writing.  Annie Moffat includes a lot of games and activities in her No Prep packs.  I put each sheet in a page protector so the sheets can be re-used.  Each binder is organized a bit differently.  The alphabet binder is more of a mix, where the shapes binder is organized by shape.  I also add a zipper pouch or resealable bag (just put duct tape on the edge to make it durable before you hole punch it) to the front that I can store dry erase markers, an eraser, dice for games, game markers, etc in.

 Now, we just grab a binder and use it to practice these skill at any time.  I find this great for when we have an extra 5 minutes or I end up with an extra person that can work with someone individually.   The kids think it is neat because they can write on the page protector and it just wipes off.

Just an extra note that the Learning Ahoy caddy next to all the binders holds clipboards, extra markers, erasers, etc.

The welcome letter.....

It came in the mail last week..... the letter.  The welcome back to school letter.  I have not been excited about it's arrival this year.  I have so much more to do in our new house and feel like the boys and I barely checked anything off of our summer bucket list.   One of my school BFFs got a new job also (Yay to C for being names Principal at her new school!) so that bums me out a bit also even if I am excited for her







Back to school time means getting some of my stuff ready to go.  I received my new planner from Plum Paper last month, but have not really dove into it yet.  I do love the larger size though and plan on pulling out the washi tape to color code a bit.











I also updated my IEP cards.  I needed a new font and I wanted to make it so that a teacher could edit them in Power Point and use various fonts and font sizes to fit in the needed information.  I am very happy with the way they came out and plan getting them set to hand out in 2 weeks.

Do you get a letter before you go back?  What things do you do to prepare at home before going into your classroom?

 I almost forgot to mention the our VA is for teachers collaborative blog is now live!! Lots of giveaways to enter.  Open to teachers anywhere (not just VA!).  Check it out here!

IEP Cards

 I have been looking for a way to make it easier for people who work with my students to have more convenient access to my students’ accommodations and modifications.

 Last year one of the fabulous paras I work with suggested a small card. I toyed with this over the summer and ran across this blog post from Teaching Special Learners.  That was it, my inspiration.  Later that day, I came up with these IEP cards.  The set up for these was a bit of a pain, but once I had it all figured out, filling everything in was a breeze.
 Each card includes the student name, grade, homeroom teacher, case manager,  disability category, seizures, behavior plan,  services, related services (PT, OT, speech,), accommodations/modifications, and additional notes.   After I had everything set up, I printed them out ( a different color for each grade level), hole punched them and added them to a binder ring.  I also added a confidential cover to the front and the back.  I have already received feedback that these are a great help to our specials teachers and the paraprofessionals that work with my students.

If you are interested in these you can find them in my Teacher's Pay Teacher's Store or try to win them through the giveaway below!




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