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!!

Apples & worms (counting) & a new quick tip!

Hi everyone!

I made this quick file folder game this weekend  to go along with our apple unit.  The students count the seeds and then find the worm that has the corresponding number.   It is super easy to put together.  I simply printed it out, glued the apples to the file folder, then laminated everything.  I added clear Velcro (I love it, but much more expensive then the not clear stuff) to the side of each apple.  I made sure to out it on height same part of each apple as to eliminate confusion as to how to hook on the worms.   I am hoping to use this eventually as an independent task for one of my students.

  

To help make it more tactile ( Here is where the quick tip comes in!). I added small dots of school glue to each seed.  Once it dries it is clear and when the students count by touching the seeds they will feel a slightly raised texture.  This provides a little bit more input then just touching the laminated page would.  

If you would like to get your own copy of this file folder game, you can find it in my TPT store.

Using old magnets quick tip!

Hello!  Raise your hand if you thought I was a gonner!  Sorry about that, things have been a bit crazy.  I am teaching K-2  this year along with a 2 year old class.  I also started Grad school.  I have been working on trying to balance everything out.

 I have done really well with getting my school work done at school and today while making a task box I thought "I should blog about this!".  So I just want to share a quick tip with you on how I get magnets to create magnetic stuff.    

You know all of this magnetic business cards you get for free or the magnetic calendar that the PTO gives out every year (maybe it is just my school)?  Those magnets are perfect for repurposing!  All I do is cut the magnet to size, then put hot glue on the used side (the side with writing).  Then I stick it to whatever I need to be magnetic.  Simple right!?

I hope this little tip saves you lots of money.  Ask your friends and family for all of their old business card magnets.  Put a post on Facebook or Freecycle.  I am sure there are plenty that can be reused!