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!