Back to School

I can hardly believe I am even typing the words back to school. Don't get me wrong, I love all things back to school. There is just something about buying fresh supplies, new planners, classroom décor and of course back to school clothes (those are not just for kids yah know). I do however love summer break and getting to spend the time with our fun loving 3 year old.
This summer has been different being pregnant. No one ever tells you how much different it is being pregnant with a 3 year old. I wouldn't change it for the world, but a nice nap or bath alone are things I do not take for granite this time around.
Well with all that said, I wanted to share a couple of my back to school favorite products from my store. These are lifesavers for me this time of year and I hope you will find them just as helpful!

First Days in Special Education: Have you ever wondered what to first do with your students when they first come to your special education classroom? All special education classes are different depending on states, schools and districts. In my district I serve students in math, reading and writing. All of my students have a homeroom teacher and spend the first week of school with their homeroom teacher learning procedures and routines. I start serving them the second week of school. I remember saying to myself as the Content Mastery/ Resource Teacher, “What do I first do with my students”? Well, I am here to help you answer that question!

Caseload Binder: There is so much to keep up with being a special education teacher. I am so happy to share this awesome editable Caseload Binder with you! This is a must have for every special education teacher. Gone are the days of feeling unorganized and not having everything together in one spot. This binder is a true life saver!

Easter Freebie!

Easter is such a fun time of year. We get to celebrate the resurrection on Jesus and get to spend time with family and friends! I love watching our daughter wake up and the joy on her face knowing it is not just any Sunday. Last year on Easter, we were living in  a town home and it was rainy, so we "hunted" for eggs inside. Adelynn was not very into it. She wanted to dump out her basket and then put everything back in it, and then do it again! This was very comical for her. So this year, I am praying that she actually enjoys finding the eggs and for good weather so we can enjoy our back yard!

With all that said, I am super excited about Easter and Adelynn bringing little goodie bags to her friends and teachers at daycare. I whipped up these "EGG"STRA special gifts tags to attach to some goodies for her friends and teachers. I have not gotten as far as exactly what kinds of goodies, but this is a start. You can grab this freebie from my TPT Store. Just hit the picture below and it will take you to my store. Please don't forget to hit the green star at the top of my TPT store to follow me to be the first to know about new products and freebies!

STAAR Testing

The time of year has come that everyone feels stressed and overwhelmed... TESTING SEASON. Here in Texas we take the STAAR test. All of my students in 3rd, 4th and 5th grade are required to take the STAAR test. Even though a lot of my students have an accommodation of modified curriculum, they are still required to take their grade level STAAR test. I have my feelings about it, but I won't be on my soap box because at the end of the day they still have to take it. All I can do is prepare my students, build them up with the progress they make each and every day, and show them the love I have for them.

To make testing season a little more colorful and organized I have created a STAAR Teacher Binder. I have truly felt way more organized this round of testIing that I have in the past four years of teaching.

When creating this binder, I focused on what I felt like I needed to help me stay organized. I remember in past testing years, I would be running around trying to remember who had what accommodation and who was taking what test. I literally would be looking in all different places for this information instead of taking the time put in all in one place. I started off with creating labeled section dividers with grade levels for 3rd, 4th and 5th grade. I then thought about what information needed to be all in one place on one page. 

I also included a testing at a glance sheet that I can attach to each student for a quick reference for me to see their accommodations, things they need on testing day, who will be testing them and some other needed information. 

What else is included:

Two Binder Covers

3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade Section Divider Covers
Dates to Remember: Write down upcoming dates for testing and reminders
Blank Calendars for January- May: To write down dates, count down days, plan lessons and re-teaching
Student List: Write down each of your students, their grade and the type of test they are taking
Testing Overview: Write down each of your students, the test they are taking and the testing group or location they will be in
List of Possible STAAR Test Accommodations
2 Different Testing at a Glance: Overview to fill out for each student that has personal information, accommodations and things they need the day of the test. 
Accommodations at a Glance: Each STAAR Accommodations listed and space provided to write students underneath so you can have a quick glance at who gets what accommodation
Accommodation Meeting Reference Chart: Write down each teachers name that you need to meet with to review students accommodations. 
Result Pages for each grade level to record if students met standard or did not met standard
5th Grade SSI Recording Sheet

STARR Testing Reminder to send home with students the day before the test. 

This binder has truly helped me get ready for next week. I truly hope this helps you as much as it has helped me. Please email me at BrookeReaganTPT@gmail.com if you have questions. Here's a little peak into what more this binder has to offer!

Enjoy and HAPPY TESTING SEASON!

BANG! Sight Word Game

Learning is more fun and engaging when you can tie it to a game. I created this super fun and easy to implement sight word game called BANG! My kiddos love to play it and will beg to play it multiple times a week. The game is made from sight words from both Fry and Dolch word list. I have two different products based on the word list. 

BANG! Sight Word Game (Fry Words)

There are three different games within the product. The first game uses Fry Words 1-100, the second game is words 101-200 and the third game is 201-300. This is great because being a special education teacher, I have students at all different levels. 

BANG! Sight Word Game (Dolch Words)

This bundle includes 5 games using Dolch Words (Pre -Primer, Primers, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade and 3rd Grade). Each game is color coded to help you stay organized. There is also a label included for each Game that is letter size and note card size so they are easy to store and locate!

How to Play:

1.To begin, the dealer (can be a teacher or a student) should start with a stack of preferred word cards (Fry or other). They should be turned over so student’s can’t see.

2.Dealer deals a word card to a student. If they say it correct, they get to keep the card. If not, play continues to other students until someone says it correctly and gets to keep the card.

3.Deal a new cad to the next player and play continues.

4.When someone gets a “BANG!” card, their stack explodes and they give all their cards back to the dealer.

5.Keep all of the “played” cards in a separate stack. Play until all the cards have been dealt.

6.They player with the most cards at the end wins the game!

I hope you have found this useful! I would love to hear your feedback! Have a great week friends!

New Year's Resolution: BE MORE ORGANIZED!

Hello 2017! I hope each and every one of you had a fantastic break and are ready to tackle an amazing spring semester! The beginning of the year for me always includes being more organized. Being a special education teacher means a lot of paper work and data collection. I always feel like I start strong and then need some tools and motivation! I wanted to share with you some of my tips and tools to help you stay more organized in 2017!

 IEP Goal Tracking Binder:
My favorite way to stay organized with goals and data is my IEP Goal Tracking Binder! This binder is full  of  templates, graphs, data sheets and much more to help you stay on top of your students progress.I have a big binder that I use and a keep a tab for each student. As I do assessments and observations with my students, I record goal progress. There is also places throughout that I document what the student needs to work on in order to obtain their goal. There is an editable version that comes along with the download so you an personalize the binder to fit your needs!

Special Education Meeting Binder:
This binder is a must have to bring to ALL your special education meetings throughout the school year. Here in Texas, we call them ARD Meetings (Annual, Review and Dismissal Meetings). However, I know some states call them IEP Meetings, so I provided both wordings within this product. This binder has everything from;Year at a Glance, Caseload Rosters, Meeting Checklist, Meeting Agendas, Special Education Acronyms, 13 Qualifying Categories, Start with a Positive, Student Data, Service Snapshots, multiple note pages and much more!

Student Cubbies with Student Data Binders and Independent Work Boxes:
Each one of my students have their own cubbie with an independent work box and student data binder. The student data binder is from Haley O'Connor (see picture below with link!). Inside the binder the students can graph the progress of their reading levels and much more. I use it mainly for reading levels and math data. I also put my students schedules and any major assessments we have taken so I all stays in one place. Inside their independent work boxes are either pocket charts that they are working on, leveled books they are reading, and their token economy charts. I like everything in one place so while I am working with an individual or group, I can have students go get their work boxes and work independently!

 

I hope you have found some of these binders and tools useful to bring into your classroom this new year! Please feel free to email me with questions at BrookeReaganTPT@gmail.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

Thanksgiving in the Special Education Classroom

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of the year. It means that Christmas is just right around the corner and by Thanksgiving I already have all of my Christmas decorations out. Yes I am one of those people.
My kiddos love Thanksgiving as well, so we do a lot fun things. This week we have incorporated Thanksgiving and being thankful into our daily activities. With my students, especially the ones with autism, they constantly remind me that next week is Thanksgiving Break. Since it is on the top of their mind, why not put an educational spin on it!

I created this product, Thanksgiving in the Special Education Classroom. This product is full of math, writing and reading activities. All of these activities align is some form or fashion to my students individual IEP goals.Click the picture below to get yours today!

 

Included are two early readers that are great for your students to read and then color. There is also a version that the students trace the words, then read it and color. My students loved reading Thanksgiving Dinner and talking about things they love to eat for Thanksgiving.

Students think of sentences to go along with these Thanksgiving foods. We talked about the sentences first, and then they students verbally told me there sentences. I wrote them on a sticky note and they copied. It was so fun to hear their thoughts and ideas. Some of them really got into it!

Writing our numbers is always a struggle for some of my students. When you let them write with fun markers and colors I always get a better response. A lot of my students have OT goals and this aligns well with both their math and OT goals!

What I am Thankful For! This is an oldie, but a goodie! We have to really talk about things that we are thankful for and give examples. A lot of my students wanted just to say "turkey". There was a lot of prep involved in talking about how blessed we are and all the good things in our lives. Once we talked about gave examples, they were much more successful. I wrote with highlighter for a lot of my students and then they traced.

This is just a glimpse of what all if included in Thanksgiving in the Special Education Classroom! I hope you found this useful!

I included a freebie to make Thanksgiving even more fun in your classroom! Get your freebie below by clicking on the picture!! Happy Thanksgiving!!

Inside Mrs. Reagan's Classroom

Welcome to my new blog, Mrs. Reagan's class. I am so excited to start this new journey of blogging and I hope you find some useful and helpful tips and products along the way!

To start off, my classroom is a very dynamic and busy place. I teach special education students kindergarten- fifth grade. Most of my students that come to my classroom are 2nd-5th graders. Myself and my amazing aide support my kindergarten and first grade students in their general education classroom. I teach what we call in Texas, Resource and Content Mastery. I support students in math, reading and writing. Some of my students receive modified curriculum and others are working on grade level curriculum with specific IEP goals. Most of my students have either Autism, Specific Learning Disabilities, or ADHD.
With all that said, I have to be every creative to meet the individual needs of each of my students. At a given time, I can have up to 10 students in my classroom all working on different skills at different levels.

A Look Inside My Classroom

My classroom is super bright and open. I try my best to make it a welcoming and fun place for my students. I have incorporate flexible seating into my classroom. If I am working with a student or a small group, we are normally at my table with swivel stools. My kiddos know that when they are working on independent work, they are allowed to sit anywhere as long as they are on task and working. They have choices of stools, bean bags, seat cushions, traditional desks with chairs, and lap desks.

A lot of magic happens at this table. I love to work with my students on the floor. Something about getting on the floor and working together allows for deeper learning and building stronger relationships. I found these awesome floor cushions at IKEA as well as the stools.

My leveled and labeled library. My students enjoy shopping for books when they know exactly where to find what they are looking for. I got these amazing labels from Teaching with Haley.

Calming tool box area. This area is used daily when students need an area to calm down. I created this calming tool box product that has calming posters, tool labels, green and red zone cards, reflection sheets and much more! I have taught my students to pull out their red zone cards when they need a break to get calm. Click the picture to a link to this product.

I keep my most used binders out for quick and easy access. I could not get through the day without constantly using these two binders to stay organized and on top of data. My caseload binder helps me keep up with my individual students needs, goals, dates and so much more. I constantly have ARD meetings and sometimes it's hard to stay organized. I am always pulling out my ARD Meeting Binder to help me prepare for each of my students ARD meetings. Click the picture above to visit my store to check out these organizational binders.

Everyday we do a mindfulness exercise. I keep it posted on my whiteboard to help me remember and to remind my student what mindfulness means. We focus a lot on breathing in my classroom and regulating our emotions and feelings. Click the picture to a link to this product.

Thank you for exploring some of my most used areas in my classroom. Follow my blog for a deeper look into my classroom coming soon! Happy Teaching and thank you for stopping by!