Coffee Filter Butterflies

We are knee deep in our insect unit.  Last week we made coffee filter butterflies and they came out super cute.  The best part is that they are an easy, fun craft that works on fine motor skills,

To make these cute butterflies you will need a coffee filter, washable markers, black pipe cleaners (really any color will work) and a spray bottle and water.  We also had a tray (old cafeteria trays) to put our coffee filters on to contain the water.

First the students colored on the filters with the markers.  I stressed to them just to use different colors and not worry about drawing specific designs.  That was so hard foursome of them!  After they finished decorating I used a permanent marker to write their names on the filter.  Next we put it on the tray and the kids used the spray bottle to wet it download. We then left our butterflies to dry,the next day, I took a black pipecleaners, bundled up the coffee filter in the middle and hooked the pipe cleaner around them.  These butterflies were the perfect addition to our window and hopefully will help spring show up!  

Thanksgiving Freebie!

Hi All!  I know we are all busy with the month of November and the holidays creeping up on us.  I wanted to share some of my past Thanksgiving Freebies with you so that you might be able to use them in your festivities.

The first is a Color by the Code: Sight Words.  This has cute turkeys and pilgrims. Students color the boxes by the code to reveal the answer to a riddle or question.  You can check it out by clicking on the picture.





Another freebie I have made for Thanksgiving is my Oh Turkey pre-primer sight word game.  Don't be surprised if you look at it today and it looks a bit different tomorrow.  I am in the process of updating some of my November files.  You can get this game by clicking here or on the picture.  While you are at my TPT store be sure to check out all of the other Turkey stuff I have.




My last Thanksgiving freebie is a generic Thanksgiving themed game board.  I originally made it to practice math facts with my students.   This year I am going to use it to review letters and numbers with my preschoolers.   You can add your own task cards, write words in the spaces, etc.  Let me know how you use it as I am always looking for new ideas. If you would like to get a copy of this just click on the  picture!


I hope you found something useful!  Please leave a comment if you downloaded something so I know that you liked it (then I will keep making more!).  Also if you do not follow on Facebook consider joining the ship so you never miss a freebie (Sometimes I post freebies just for my Facebook followers!).

I have linked this post up at 
http://www.talesfromoutsidetheclassroom.com/2013/11/thanksgiving-freebies-linky.html.

Check it out for more freebies!

Back to school Learning Ahoy style!

So, what do you think about the Who's that Blogger contest? One of my friends (who is also a fellow blogger, check out Not2Crumby: Teaching is a Piece of Cake) found my picture quite hilarious.  Have you figured out which one is me yet? Make sure you go try to win all of that free stuff and enter the giveaway for the Amazon gift card!

<-------- This cute graphic came from Crystal over at The Library Fox.  It is me!! I am so excited to finally get my own mini-me that I just wanted to use it somehow!

 I wrote a post over at TeachHub about getting ready for back to school, but it has not been posted yet. I feel like the information is important now since we are all in back to school mode, so I am sharing it here. I, of course, write a bit different on Learning Ahoy then I do for TeachHub, so there are some changes from the original.

Back to school time for special educators is a time where we can attempt to prepare ourselves for a year full of IEP goals, data collection, and of course fun. There are some things that I do(and am scrambling to do right now with the new position) to help make for a successful school year.

 1. Update my teacher binder: I have wrote about my teacher binder on TeachHub and it is something that I still continue to use. Every year I tweak it a bit and this year is no different. This year I bought a new binder (yay for the lovely school aisle at Target) and some new tabs, however it all still sits in a bag. I have updated my Student Information sheet to include texting (using Remind101) and I will give it to parents to fill out at Open House. I also include IEP information sheets in my binder. If you would like any of these you can find them by clicking  here. (They are FREE!!!)


 2. Update data binder: I found last year that my data section was just to huge to be included in my Teacher binder, so data got its own binder. I update my data binder to include my new students with copies of their IEPs, goals, and data collection sheets.


 3. IEP Goals: Speaking of IEP goals, I like to review my IEP goals and put each students goals on to one sheet. Another teacher I know even color codes hers by domain area. Having all of the goals on one sheet enables me to quickly look at a goal instead of flipping through 50 page IEP documents(or 75 pages....). I can also share these goal sheets with specials teachers(Art, Music, PE) and paraprofessionals so that they can also easily see what the student is working towards. I copy parent/teacher/therapist input forms that I use when we are writing the annual IEP and stick them in the back along with the copies of the data collections sheets (It is always great to have extras on hand so you are not running to the copy while trying to assess). There are some great ones available as a free download from Not2Crumby on Teacher's Pay Teachers. (Do I keep shamelessly plugging one of my best buddies blogs in here?  Yes, she is a newly wed and just started blogging and really needs some teacher blog stalker follower love.)


 4. Organize, Organize, Organize: I have admitted in the past how unorganized of a person I am, but I am really trying hard. I have found a few small systems that work for me, but I am still overwhelmed at times. I have finally come to the conclusion that to help me become more organized (which I feel will help me teach to my greatest potential) I need to purge.... big time. When you don't have as much stuff, then there is not as much to get messy. Do you really need to keep those copies of art orders from 1975 or lesson plans that you wrote in college?

 If you are looking for more information about getting ready for back to school as a special educator or just need some more info about special education check out the series going on over at A Special Sparkle.




 

My Circle Time Lifeline!

Part of my morning circle time includes a few songs that involve movement.  I have found that my students LOVE the songs that are videos on YouTube.  Keeping track of how to get all of these videos and  explaining how to get to them to a sub was not easy.  So I started using Portaportal to organize all of the videos, websites, games etc that I wanted to easily be able to link to.  I was introduced to Portaportal when I first began teaching (9 years ago) so it has been around for awhile.  The great thing about this is that anyone with internet access can view my portal, but not make changes.  This means I can give the site to parents, put it on student computers, and leave it for a sub to access. I can even make changes at home.  You can checkout my Portalportal by clicking here.
I made a quick tutorial to help you get started on your own Portaportal. 

Start by going to Portaportal.  You will need to click Signup on the left hand side to make your own account.       


Now put in your information. Make sure your user name is something you are not afraid to share, as that will be how people find your portal. 
 


After you create your account, you will need to login using the username and password that you created when you signed up.




This is what your site will look like when you log in (Well, it will not have all of the links and categories!)  To get started with adding your own categories and links you need to click on the file folder with the + sign in the top right corner. 




This is where you add your category names.  After you type them in click on Add Categories.  (Don’t worry you can add more then 5, but can only do 5 at one time.)



Once you have added your categories. It is time to add your links. On your main page go to your category and click on the middle button that looks like a pencil. You can also add subcategories by clicking the folder in the category view.




In the title section type the text you want to see under the category.  Next add your URL.  You also have to option to hide a link (set up for the year, but only have certain links available at certain times) add a description and add an icon.  When you are finished click add links.  Your done!! Now go experiment and add more links!



I hope this makes things easier for you! I do use Safeshare.tv to take out all of the ads around the YouTube videos.  I find this also helps with having the kids ask me to click on a video in the sidebar, or having the kids click on a video in the sidebar.

 

ESY happenings

I am teaching ESY this year for 2 weeks while one of my best friends gets married, then she will take over for the remaining two weeks.   It is great because I get to work with and see in action other teachers who do the same thing as I do, but just at different age levels.  One of our speech pathologists has joined us also.  She uses a lot of switches to help our students communicate.  One problem I have always had was having a male voice on the switch for our male students.  Meghan showed me how to use the male voice from Proloque  for the switch.  How easy is that!



I thought I would share some pictures of the activities that we are doing.


Here Meghan drew circles on teh board and put questions inside.  The kids had to throw a plush baseball(we are doing a baseball theme) at the board and answer the question it hit.  This was a great activities to work on gross motor (throwing) and speech (answering a question).  The kids seemed really like it.  Also if you look really close you can see how Julie adapted our behavior clip chart to fit the theme.  (I will try to get close ups of that this week.)

                     


Another activity we did was making corn dogs using corn muffin mix and cut up hot dogs.  The kids made the mix and then cut up the hot dogs to put in the muffin tins.  Meghan wrote up the recipe for them to follow.
 


Here are the kids mixing and cutting.  Lots of great skills being worked on here!




Are you teaching ESY this summer?  I would love the hear about the activities you are doing.

Latest (cheap) find!!

I love going to garage sales and thrift stores. I have been sharing this love with my boys so now they get to go with me on Saturday mornings. I was so super excited a few weeks ago when I found this cabinet. I paid $20 for it. Now it is sitting in my classroom waiting to be put in to its place for next year.

 I have also had some really good luck with the Dollar Tree lately. If you a Facebook follower then you probably saw the picture of the Birthday Chair cover. A few days ago I found these letter magnets that I plan to use with a cookie sheet for a word box.











 I have also found some cute dry erase books that the kids can have in their work drawer to practice handwriting, matching, colors, etc.
















Another cool find was the Alphabet Dominoes. I laminated them for some additional durability.  The kids have already played this game with success and enjoyment.

  My last find was practice sheet.  Sets of 30 different sheets to practice a variety of skills and get this, they are reproducible!!!   It states it right on the bottom of each sheet.  I figured for  $1, I couldn't pass this up.

If you are looking for more tasks I have a pinterest board dedicated to them or check out the others I have posted on the blog by going here!

Color Books

     I was introduced to these color book from Lakeshore by a coworker 3 years ago and they quickly became a class favorite. Unfortunately they are only made as big books, but the great part is there is a CD with all of the songs on it. We use these books daily in the classroom as part of our morning circle and sometimes students choose to read them as a reward during the day (sometimes I go to bed still singing the color songs). One of my students loves these books so much that his parents bought him his own set for home.  

 

Every book features a paint bucket and paint brush in a specific color.  Each page has different items about that color (Great to work on vocabulary!!) and there is a catchy tune that is a piggy back song from a familiar song such as This Old Man.   The words for the songs are on each page and also listed inside the front cover.  The only thing I wish they had was the songs on the back of the book.  I often hold the books up while we are singing so I can not see the pages.  I have thought about copying the inside and taping a copy on the back.


        

 

 

When we first started with these we used one book for an entire month. My kids were learning their colors so we would also have various items to talk about that were whichever color we were talking about. For example when learning about the color orange (in October) we used a pumpkin, orange, orange bucket, etc. This year (since we already know all of our colors) the kids use a choice board to pick what color song they would like to hear for the day. They each take turns during the week. I got the board at TinSnips (Click on color songs). I need to redo it for next year so that it includes all of the colors of the books, but for this year it has worked great! The students can all use it(verbal or non verbal) by pointing to "I want" and the the color they choose.

work box: Flower Power

 This is my newest work box for my students.  This box may need to be more teacher directed depending on the student level.  The original intent was a beginning sounds activity, but then when I was putting it together I realized that there is so much more I can do with it.  This is what I came up with:  

Ask the student to find the picture of the...

Have the student pick out a flower and identify the object

Have the student pick out a flower and verbally identify the beginning sound

Ask the student to find a flower that begins with a ...

If you are interested, you can purchase this activity at my Teacher's Pay Teacher's store or my Teacher's Notebook store.

My parent wish list

I have had some really great parents this year and I have been thinking about things I wish parents of my students did all the time. Being a parent myself I think it is important that parents are active members of the IEP team. So here is my wish list....

 1. Make suggestions: As a parent, you are your child's first teacher. You know your child best. If you have an idea or suggestion, please share it.

2. Communicate: I love open lines of communication. Please call me, email me, write me a note, stop in and visit. I want to hear from you. Your child's life at home impacts his/her life at school.

3. At the IEP meeting (or anytime), question me or any team member: If something is not correct, if you don't understand, or you think it is a horrible idea, speak up! We all look at things differently and I want to know how you see it.

4.  Be involved:  Please know what is going on at school.  If you can come in and eat lunch with your child, they will love it.  Come on field trips, read a story to the class, send in pictures of your child's weekend activities etc.

If you are a teacher, is there something you wish your parents did/knew?  If you are a parent, is there something you wish your child's teacher did/knew?   I would love to hear what others think on this topic as I feel we all always have room to grow.



 

PEEPS Freebie!

I am giving PEEPS pops to some of the staff and students tomorrow. I whipped up some quick tags to add to them and wanted to share. I hope you can use them!  Click on the picture or here..









 

OH PEEP!! Preview

I love making various versions of the game Oh No!, but I always wonder how they go in other classrooms. So to find out I asked a few of my fellow teacher bloggers to help me out. The first one who used it was Patty over at Second in Line. If you have not checked out her blog, you really should. She is hysterical!! She has lots of pictures and explanations about Oh PEEP!

Heather over at Teaching Through Turbulence also checked out OH PEEP!.  She used it with her students to work on social skills in addition to sight words. If you have never read Heather's blog, you need to check it out.  She has some great ideas for special education and loves to share!

 When I first added this game to my store, I also gave it away to one of my Facebook Fans. (Here comes the shameless Facebook plug) Other times when I have posted a new item I have made it free for 15 minuets and announced it on my Facebook page. My point here..... if you are not a fan on Facebook, sail over and board the ship! You never know what good deal or great idea I might post or share! You can get to the Facebook Fan page by clicking here or clicking on the Facebook icon to the right.

 If you would like to check out OH PEEP! or any of the other sight word games I have made check out my Teachers Pay Teachers store or my Teacher's Notebook Store. I am always adding more!! I also love suggestions on what you might like to see or changes I can make to make a game or activity better.



 I am done with my plug now!! If you have hung on this long, I highly suggest going to check out both  Patty's blog and Heather's blog.