This Year Got a Rewrite

I've been silent for awhile now. It wasn't my plan for this year. I actually had BIG plans for this blog. I had so many blog posts lined up in my head and great things I wanted to happen.

I was super excited and enthusiastic about this school. I was moving to first grade and was thrilled! I've had a few rough years teaching special education and had become very discouraged. A new grade level back at my old school in FL was just what I needed.

I worked so hard in my room. I never got around to my classroom revel post but here are some my favorite parts of my room.

This is my absolute favorite place to be in my room. This rug from Kid Carpet! Everyday I look at it and love it.

I labeled everything! These AR labels can be found here.

 I organized everything, and it made my heart so happy!

I made this awesome AR Points Clip Chart and then realized I forgot the numbers 65 and 70 (it's still hanging BTW).

This bulletin board was so dang cute! Seriously I didn't even know I could love a bulletin board this much. If you love it as much as I do, you should check out Linda Kamp's unit.

School started and it was amazing! I loved these kids as we got to know each other.

We built our reading stamina (graph from The Brown Bag Teacher) and learned to be independent readers.

We did our first science experiment, and the kids thought it was amazing. You can check out A Day in First Grade for this experiment.

 And then it all came to a stop. :( 

During the 2nd week of school, our school got cut a 1st grade teaching position. We also had an open ESE (special education) position that was unfilled. So the principal made the decision to move me from gen ed back to ESE. 

I really, really loved my class. I felt so disappointed. Sending those babies home with a letter in the backpacks and not even being able to say goodbye as their teacher was heart wrenching. Yes, I still see them in the hallway. But it's not the same.

So now, I'm back as a resource teacher for 1st and 2nd grade. I have a sweet, sweet set of boys. But it has been a hard transition. I keep seeing posts about teaching the students you have and not the ones you wish I had. Well, I'm trying.  I'll admit that it hasn't been easy. 

Since my year got a rewrite, I had to give my bulletin board a new look. Thanks to Teaching Special Thinkers for this cute idea and the pencil craft.

 I'm trying to be positive and make the best out of what I've been given. Maybe I'll even make it over to this blog every now and then, too.

Back 2 School Giveaways

It's getting that time of year where all teachers are prepping for back to school. For me, that means I'm spending so much money in my classroom. But to help you out, the Owl-ways Be Inspired girls have joined together to help you out!

You can enter over at the Owl-ways Be Inspired {here} to win one of these!

But that's not all! While you're there, you can also stop by all of these blogs to enter and win some great stuff!

Before you do that, you'll want to enter here to win a $40 gift card to Target.

a Rafflecopter giveaway Good luck!

Back to School Writing Freebie

Today, I'm blogging over at Owl-ways Be Inspired with a great freebie for you! 

If you're like me and have been scouring every Target's Dollar spot section, this freebie will be perfect for you!

Click {here} to stop by and get your freebie!

Visual Classroom Management Freebies for Back to School

I can't believe back-to-school time is coming up so quickly! I've been thinking about my classroom decor and decided to go a little different route this year. I want to try and use as many actual photos as possible to make things super clear for my students and help with explicitly teaching classroom procedures.

I've made some new visual posters and wanted to share them with all of you.

My first change was with my class rules posters. I have used a modified version of the Whole Brain Teaching rules for the last several years.

I also wanted explicit Voice Level posters for my students.

If you haven't checked out A Day in First Grade's blog post about her morning meeting, it's a must read {here}. I loved how she gave her students three choices for sitting on the carpet. Last year, I had a lot of students who didn't want to sit criss-cross applesauce. I think my students will be much happier with these options.

If you're interested in any of these visuals, you can download them all below for free by clicking on the pictures!

I hope these are helpful in your classrooms!

Words of Wisdom for Special Education Teachers

Teaching is hard.  Teaching special education is hard.  I have no doubts that teaching general education students is hard, but I can only speak about my experiences so far.  

This week, I'm going to have my first student teacher.  This is her first experience in a classroom will be observing and starting to take on some instructional duties.  It really made me think about what are the most important things I wish someone had told me.

So hear you have it, a random blog post about my jumbled up thoughts.

1.  You can only do the best you can do and that's it.  This has been so hard for me.  My students often come to me super low.  Learning and school can be really hard for my kids.  I've beat myself up about the slow progress, lack of progress, or behavior problems I've seen in my students.  I'm my worst critic and take their success and progress very personally.  There's so many things out of my control, but I can only do the best I can with the resources and schedule I have available.  Honestly, that's all you can do, too.  Don't beat yourself up over things.

2.  Every day NEEDS to be a new day with a fresh start.  This can be SUPER hard if you have a challenging student with behavior issues.  If you can some how greet that student with a positive attitude and let go of what happened yesterday, you will have a starting point for building a positive relationship with the student.

3.  Teach those procedures and routines like nothing else.  It doesn't matter if the students spend 30 minutes or the entire day in your classroom.  They need to know what to do from the second they walk in the door.  I try to make sure my kids have something that must do immediately.  That gives them a purpose for being in your room.  Idle time is time that behaviors you don't want often begin.

4.  Yes, you will need to differentiate for your students.  And yes, you will often have students at various levels.  However, try to group them as much as possible.  It is possible to differentiate so much that you're doing nothing well.  If the differentiation makes you so overwhelmed that you can't keep a handle on the amount of time, instruction, or work it takes.....it's not working.  I've tried that and ran myself ragged.  There's only one of me and so many of them.  What you do has to be physically manageable for you.

5.  Celebrate those small successes, even if they're really small.  Your students have probably had a long history of struggling and failing.  That takes a toll on their self-esteem and confidence.  

One of my 2nd grade students started this year knowing 8 sight words.  On Friday, he knew 15!  We've worked hard for those 15 words!  I practically threw him a party.  Since he was so excited, I gave him my lowest decodable to read.  I was keeping my fingers crossed that he would do ok.  And you know what, he did great!  Needed some small help but he did it almost independently.  Then he looked at me and said this:

I seriously almost cried!  Best words a student has ever said to me right there.  

6.  Have patience......lots of patience.  This is a hard area for me, too.  You will probably reteach and practice the same thing many times.  Your students might seem like they mastered a skill on Wednesday and then on Friday act like they've never even seen it before.  Sometimes I feel like I must be talking in a different language, because it's just not clicking.  These are the times that I need to remember patience.

7.  Sometimes you just have to stop.  Sometimes you have to realize that right now, at this very moment, these kids are not getting it.  Maybe you need to back up and teach some foundational skills.  Maybe their brains are fried.  Maybe they need a more concrete approach.  Instead of forcing through something that isn't working, you may need to just change gears and move onto something else.  Some day I'll have to get real honest with you guys and tell you my bluebird story from my first year of teaching.  It was not my proudest moment of teaching, and I always think about that lesson when I see the kids just aren't getting it.

There you go!  Nothing ground-breaking, but I wish someone had said these things to me.

Keeping Resource Students on Schedule

I'm joining up with some other fabulous bloggers for the monthly Bright Ideas Blog Hop!  I always get such great ideas from other teachers.

As a resource teacher, I'm servicing students from 6 different gen ed classrooms.  That means I have students with 6 different special schedules.  I always joke that my classroom feels like kids are getting on and off a merry-go-round all day long.

But seriously.....it really does feel like that and make teaching rather difficult when you have a schedule like this, for example.

This is a sample schedule since our special schedule hasn't really started yet.  Some days are WAY worse than this with nonstop kids in and out at different times all day long.  It drives me crazy.

My first few years of teaching I put a big schedule on the board and would spend all day trying to remember to send Johnny to PE at 9:30 and then remember to send Henry to Music at 9:45.  My poor kids missed so many specials, because I would forget.  Or I would just be so wrapped up in teaching or a behavior problem that I wouldn't even realize that Susie needed to be a Speech right this second.

Last year, I thought of this super easy way to keep my kids on track.

I still keep my big schedule on the board.  But I also plugged all the times and days of the week into my phone's alarm.  This saved me so much heartache!  It did take 16 alarms set in the phone last year, but it was ok.  My kids never missed a specials class.  

I set the alarm for 5 minutes before the special time.  That way they have time to quickly clean up their area or activity and head out the door.  I was worried it would be disruptive to the class, but it's really not a big deal.  The alarm goes off, everyone looks at the schedule, and someone leaves.  Then I keep on teaching.  I even taught my kids how to turn off the alarm in case they were closer to my phone than me.

This was a lifesaver to me and I hope it will help you out, too!

If you enjoyed this bright idea, please consider joining me on Facebook or Instagram for more great ideas.

For more bright ideas from more than 100 different bloggers, please browse through the link-up below and choose a topic/grade level that interests you. Thanks for visiting!

An InLinkz Link-up

8 First Day of School Tips for Special Education

Last Friday was the first day of school here in Hawaii.  Even though I didn't start pull out services on Friday, I wanted to make sure my students and general education teachers had a smooth day.  Here's some tips on how you can support those students right from the start!

1.  Make sure you give the general education teachers copies of any behavior plans, accommodations, etc. BEFORE the first day of school.   Do students need to be seated near the teacher?  Are there any special plans for behavior that people need to know?

2.  Do any of your students need to be met at the bus that provides transportation for special education students?  If so, make sure someone is there to meet them and walk them to their class.  The bus is likely to be late the first few days of school.  Be prepared to wait.  Will these students need to eat breakfast?  Have a plan in place before the first day!

3.  Think about supporting the general education classrooms.  The first day is so hectic and teachers have so much to get done.  Can you or your aide go into the classrooms and help?  If you have several teachers you support, make a schedule and rotate around.

4.  Take time to at least briefly speak to each student and welcome them back to school.  Your relationship with the students can really make or break your year.  Let them know that you care right from the start.

5.  Let the general education teachers know that you are available during the day to help.  Some students might have some behavior concerns due to transition issues.  These students might need a place they can go to take a break from the hectic classroom.

6.  If students have transition concerns, try to give them support during the most stressful parts of the day such as first thing in the morning, lunch time and at the end of the day.

7.  If you are going into the classrooms to support students, be helpful!  The general education teachers have so much to do that day.  Help other students that need assistance if you can.  

8.  Remember to take care of you, too!  Don't forget to drink water, eat lunch, and go to the bathroom during the day.

I hope you all have a great year!

First Week of School Activities (freebies)

Last Friday was actually the first day of school here in Hawaii.  But I'm a special education teacher and don't start pulling kids until Monday.  Even though I'm only teaching core academics to my pull-out students, I have most of them the majority of the day.  The first few weeks of school are so important for setting the ton for the rest of the year, and I will be working hard on behavior and community building this year.

I just love these beginning of the year activities by A Year of Many Firsties and can't wait to use them with my students.

As part of our community building, we'll be using these Find Someone Who activity that I made.  I'll be doing a lot of modeling how to approach our classmates and ask them a question.  And I'll be modeling how to use the pictures to help us if we can't read the words.  You can download it {here}.

I bought this Take a Break unit from Teaching in Progress and can't wait to use it with my students.  I'll be doing a lot of practicing and teaching my kiddos how to take a break, hopefully before they need a break.

I have several students with behavior plans and we will be focusing a lot on how to handle our anger. We'll be talking about how we feel and what we can do to help us make smart choices by using some of the activities found in my Making Smart Choices unit.

We can't just focus on behavior though.  My school will be using Reading Wonders for the first time this year.  I made this Smart Start freebie to help us get started.

Best of all, there's a sale starting tomorrow!  You can get 28% off everything in my store by using code BTS14 when you check out.