5 Freebies to start your year

Happy September!  Happy Back to school!  Yes, I know I am late on the train, but just like everyone else, back to school time is crazy around here!

Here is a list of freebies for you to use to help you plan, make activities for independent work binders, for a quick center, subplans, or just on a day that you realized you didn't plan enough!

1. Name activities for parents:

I just found this Freebie by Tara West and it is perfect for me to send home with my preschoolers and maybe even some of my kinders for name practice at home (Ok, I will probably use it with my own child also).  I have not decided if I will save it for parent conferences or give it out next week at Back to School Night, but either way.  It is a win!

2. Printable Packs by 3 Dinosaurs:

If you have not discovered 3 Dinosaurs yet, I highly recommend bouncing over there right now.  I use Cassie's Printable packs not only for my preschoolers but also for my K-2 kiddos.

3. Planning Playtime Freebies

Planning Playtime has a Freebies page where she has various freebies that will work for each month.  While I am not a fan of using worksheets in preschool, I feel like a lot of these activities I could make into reusable activities for independent work binders for my K-2 kiddos.

4.  Make Learning Fun Themes

Another one of my favorite places to check is Make Learning Fun.  If you go to the themes section you can find tons of activities for math, language arts, etc. all on a specific theme.

5. Alphabet Letter Hunt

Tot School has these free Alphabet letter hunt sheets.  I am using these in conjunction with the Unique Curriculum.  As I introduce letters, students can use these sheets to practice recognizing the letter.

8 Freebies to Jump Start 2017

Start 2017 off right with some great freebies from myself and other special educators that can help make your transition back to school after winter break a bit smoother.

1.  Color Snow Flake Matching

I love using this activity with my students who are learning color words! Students match the color word with the correct snowflake.  Check it out here!

2. January Work Tasks

Mrs. P's Specialties has  3 work tasks that are perfect for January!  Matching, labeling and how many. Check them out here!

3. Editable Activity Matrix

 Erin from You AUT-a Know has a great activity matrix that will be perfect to use with embedding instruction.  It enables you to make activity matrices to plan out how to work on student IEP goals throughout the day.  Check it out here!

4.  Counting Snowball 0 - 20

Traci from The Bender Bunch has an awesome count & clip task card freebie that practices numbers 1-20. The clothes pins allow for extra fine motor practice, but you could also use dry erase markers.  Check it out here!

5. Social Story

 All Things Special Ed has a Being Good Friends Social story that will be great to remind some of our friends what it looks like to be a good friend.  After about 2 weeks of possible unstructured activities at home, our kids may need those gentle reminders.  Check it out here!

6. Winter Hat Glyph

Delightfully Dedicated Special Education has this adorable hat glyph that uses Smarty Symbols. The students design their hats based on the answer to the questions.  This is a great way to work on IEP goals that focus on answering questions wth 2 choices.  You can find it here!

7. New Year Goal Writing

Teaching students to develop goals is an important skill.  Autism Educators has developed this goal setting for visual learners. You can find it here!

8. Short A practice

Need some easy phonic practice for your students?  One Room School House has a no-prep freebie for short A practice.  Directions to use the file on the ipad are also included.  Find it here!

If you have another freebie that you would like to share please leave it in the comments!!

SPED Tricks & Treats blog hop

Hello!!  I hope you are enjoying the SPED tricks and treats blog hop!  I can't wait to see the goodies everyone can collect.  Special educators always have to have their bag of tricks handy and you can never have too many. 

My trick is all about metallic sharpies (and this will lead right into my treat)!  I love metallic sharpies.  They show up great on dark paper (especially black) and look so much better than a white crayon or colored pencil.  I have been able to get them  almost anywhere sharpies are sold and they come in gold, silver, and bronze. I used these twice this past week to make the activity I am about to show you and also to make dots on a black circle (that activity went with my letter F week, I will share it it soon). 

Last weekend, The Printable Princess  posted about some activities she made for her kindergarten classroom.  I just loved the spider webs!  However all I could find at the dollar store was black plates, which I ended up loving even more.

 I used the silver sharpie to draw the webs.

1.  I started by adding the targeted skill in the middle, for example the letter Y. 

2.  I then drew a circle around the Y 

3. Next, I added lines going out from the A to the sides of the plate (I usually did 4 or 5 lines on each one). 

4/5/6.  Last I connected the lines to make  spider webs.  I found it easier to start on the outside of the plate and work my way in.   

I made these adorable spiders to go with the webs.  I used graphics from My Cute Graphics and added letters, shapes, and numbers to the back to make a matching game.  I also picked up some spiders at the grocery store that my kiddos who are practicing 1:1 correspondence can count out the number of spiders to match the web.  This week with one of my kiddos we matched the letter spiders to their webs.  She loved it!  I told her the spiders were sad and needed to go back to their homes.  This worked like a charm (sometimes she is tough to get started )!  She was practicing identifying upper and lowercase letters, I was able to sneak some letter sounds in and we even practiced counting by counting how many spiders we had matched to their webs.  I can't wait to do this with her again this week.  

So this leads me to my freebie!!!  I am sharing the cute spiders I made to go with these webs.  I have included all of the lowercase letters (you would write uppercase on the web), shapes, and numbers.

 You can get them by clicking on the graphic below!

I would love to hear how you use these spiders or any of the tricks I shared with you.  Please leave a comment below!

If you are not already, make sure you follow me on Facebook, on my blog, and on TpT so you never miss another freebie!

Now hop on over to Breezy Special Ed to see what tricks and treats Brie has in store for you!!

Jelly bean numbers & sight words (freebie)

Last week while working on the sight words with one of my students he requested that I put sight words in plastic eggs.  I have posted about how I do this before with a sight word egg hunt, but this is a student that I only work with for 30 minutes a day so I wanted to figure out another way for us to do this.  I sat down at the computer and this activity is what came of it.

This really simple.  All you do is print out the page with the numbers & sight words (I chose to print them on brightly colored cardstock) and stick the numbers or words in eggs depending on which ones you are using.   Now that Easter is over, I am going to see if I can find some of the jelly bean eggs on sale.  (If you see them let me know!)  To complete this activity the kiddo pulls an egg from the basket, opens is (fine motor), reads the word/number, and then finds the matching jellybean on their paper, color it in, then close the egg back up.  With my sight word kids, I had them put the egg back in the basket so if they pulled it again then they practiced the word again.  With the little one in these pictures, I put the egg to the side after she opened it.

This activity went over great!  The little one in the picture has been giving me a run for my money lately since I try to push her at the end of the school day.  I have not been able to get her to work on anything for any length of time.  This activity however, caught her attention right away.  I plan on using this again after spring break to keep the learning and review rolling.

So after all of this are you ready to download this activity.  It is posted for free in my TpT store!


I would love to know how you use this and what your students think of it. Please leave a comment letting me know

Interactive Board books

April Fools!

I bet you thought I wrote a post for today on my blog!  Well, I tricked you!  I wrote one, but you need to hop over to Mrs. H's Resource Room to read it.  I am guest blogging over there today.  I promise it is a post that you don't want to miss!  It is all about making interactive books and there is a link to a limited time freebie!

Gingerbread Man!!! (Freebie)

I am linking up with Carla over at Comprehension Connections for her Thematic Thursday (Yes, I know it is only Wednesday!, I am getting a head start.)!

I have posted about my Gingerbread stuff before, but I wanted to share again for all of our new shipmates!


I love doing a week of Gingerbread man and all of the activities that go with it. One of my favorite activities (which I cant find a picture of right now) is making Gingerbread man ornaments.  Then one day just before break while the kids are out of the room, the ginger bread men all run away.  We go on a hunt for them throughout the building by following clues that are left behind. This works on so many skills, communication, social skills, reading, gross motor and it is just plain old fun!!!  I found the clues pre-made somewhere, again not sure where. (I think finals has my brain a bit foggy!)

Another activity I do is use this  interactive book featuring cute little gingerbread men (and women) during circle time. These gingerbread people are dreaming of being put in the correct spot such as over the house or between the elves.  My students have loved this book!

Last, but not least  is this gingerbread themed practice sheet works on time to the nearest 5 minutes.  I made this for a group I had a few years ago.  You can get it by going to this link!

I would love to know what Gingerbread themed activities you do in your room.  Leave a comment or link up over at Carla's blog!

Happy November (freebie!!!)

Can you believe it is November 1st already?!?  This school year is flying by.....

Yesterday, my son's kindergarten teacher asked me if I have a recording sheet for one of my Thanksgiving Hidden Letters. That in turn prompted me to update that particular product.  So here it is, still a freebie, but now with a recording sheet and updated directions.

To use this, students simply use a magnifying glass to find the letters hidden in the picture.  They then use a highlighter to mark off the letters on their recording sheet.


I hope you can use Thanksgiving Hidden Letters this month in centers!  Please leave a comment here if you download.  I love to know how you use it or your thoughts about it.

I originally posted this product back in 2011 at this blog post.  Shhh!!! You can find some more freebies on that post.

Getting Festive for Fall with the VA Bloggers

So how has the hop been treating you so far?  I love blog hops.  I get to check out new blogs and get lots of new ideas.

Fall if my favorite season.  Partly because I grew up on a pumpkin and Christmas tree farm in NJ that had the Application Mountains in our backyard.  The fall view was always gorgeous. Now that I have moved down here to VA I don't get to see as much of the beautiful changing colors, but I do enjoy the weather.








In my classroom we are busy talking about community helpers, fire safety, and my favorite PUMPKINS!  We have been playing one of my favorite letter games called Oh Pumpkin.  It is a forever freebie in my store so if you have not downloaded it already, what are you waiting for?










There seems to be a lot of Halloween themed freebies going around right now so I thought I would make my freebie Thanksgiving/November themed.  This will give you ahead start on planning for next month.  This is a color by word activity that works on different sight words.  It is free for this hop ONLY!!! It will go to paid item on Monday so get while it is free!!  Click here to get Thanksgiving Color By Code: Sight Word.

I hope you enjoy the rest of the hop.  Now it is time to head on over to The Techie Teacher to see what Julie is cooking up!

Picture Prompt Organization (Freebie!)

A few years ago when the teacher toolbox craze hit I really wanted to hop on board, but it did not happen until last summer.  I decided to make a toolbox not only for my supplies, but also for my picture communication system.  I decided to wait to blog about it until I could see how it worked out.

 I must say, I  LOVE this system.  Anyone can come into my room and look for a picture they might need.  The drawers are labeled and all you do is pull out the pictures to locate the one you need.    The pictures are also easy to put away, although I do keep a small basket right in front of the toolbox to throw pictures in.  Then a classroom volunteer can quickly go through and put them away.  I found throughout the year that I needed drawers that were just for a certain student (The bottom drawers are specific to students which is why they are blacked out).  So I just wrote their name on one of the blanks.These worked great to keep student specific pictures organized.



































I also love my toolbox with all of my supplies it, This made is super easy for all the paraprofessionals I work with to find things in my room instead of having to look on my messy organized in my way desk.

To make this I bought the blue toolboxes from Lowes.  They are Stack-On 18 drawer Storage Cabinets. Right now they are $19.96 each, however you can go through Ebates and purchase it online to get 2% back.  If you do in-store pickup then there is no shipping costs  (You can find out more about Ebates by checking out this blog post.).  I then made labels, printed them, laminated them and attached the labels to the insides of the drawers with double sided tape.



To save you some time I am going to share my labels.  I used graphics from MyCuteGraphics and fonts from Kimberly Geswein Fonts.

Ready to go get your copy?  Click here or on the picture to the right!!

Throwback Thursday Pirate Style!

Picture Credit: David Willbanks

It is time for another Throwback Thursday over at The Teaching Tribune.  Keeping with the pirate theme for this week, I am reposting a game I made when I first began blogging.  This game continues to be a class favorite.  Of course, I do not have any pictures of the kids playing it!  I put the sticks in a sand bucket to help fit the theme. 

**This post originally appeared on Learning Ahoy!! on June 12, 2011**

Ship Wrecked! (math & sight word game!)

After seeing a game called Don't Get Zapped on Swap Frog First Graders (I love this blog by the way) I decided to add my own spin to the game to make it fit the pirate theme. The name of the game is Shipped Wrecked. Students pick a stick and read the work or solve the problem. If they get it correct they get to keep the stick, if they get it wrong they put it back. If they pick a stick that says Ship Wrecked then they need to put all of their sticks back. If they pull a stick that says trade with another player, then they need to give their sticks to another player and the other player takes the first players sticks. I think lose a turn is self explanatory :o)

To make this game, print out the game sheet on to address labels. Then cut in half and place on craft sticks.


Let me know your thoughts and if you have any other ideas on how this game can be adapted. Also, please check out Swamp Frog First Graders if you haven't already by clicking on the button.

Ship Wrecked Addition to 20

Ship Wrecked Sight Words

**End of post**

Preventing the summer slide!! (Freebie!!)

Did you know that a study done by  Harris Cooper, a psychology professor at Duke University, showed that children lose about a month of their academic achievement over the summer?  For students in special education (and really all students) this is HUGE!   One of my main goals for my students during the summer is to try to prevent regression of skills.   For the past few years I have been sending home my summer calendar along with some games that parents can play with their kiddos at home. 

I just finished updating the calendar for 2014.  You can find out more about it by checking out this blog post (and get your free copy!!).  Make sure you scroll down because there are two freebies the summer slide blog post.

Valentine, Valentine Freebie!

Over the weekend Lindy over at the Considerate Classroom posted (click here to see her post)the cutest book that I just fell I love with, but she can't  find the original file.   I decided to make something very similar (pretty much the same) and share it with everyone.  I am using a diecut heart to put over the item that is hiding on each page but you could also cut your own hearts or find some kind of heart at the dollar store.  You can find the book by going here and downloading it from Google.   Please leave a meaningful comment if you download.  I would love to know what you think!

Thank you Lindy for allowing me to use your idea and post as a freebie!!  Please go show Lindy some love over at her blog or Facebook page!

You can find more Valentine Freebies here!