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# Teaching Special Thinkers

Ideas, Tips, & Activities for Special Educators and Parents

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## Posts

- [Blog](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/blog/)
- [Crazy Old Lady, Sleepy Bear, Silly Turkey, Snowmen, and a Hat: December Book List](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/crazy-old-lady-sleepy-bear-silly-turkey/) - Can you feel Christmas coming?! I love wrapping the year up with some of these sweet books with my kiddos right before that AMAZING and much needed several days off for holiday break. Check out what we will be reading for the month of December below (affiliate links provided). Bear Stays Up For Christmas by Karma
- [Color Matching and Color Sorting Work Tasks](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/color-matching-and-color-sorting-work/) - Last month, I shared our fine motor put-in tasks on the blog with loads of examples. Today I want to share some of the color matching and color sorting tasks we have rotating in class right now. Once my students master basic put-in tasks, I start teaching color sorting/matching. I typically narrow the task down
- [Fine Motor Put-in Tasks](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/fine-motor-put-in-tasks/) - At the beginning of the year, I am always that hot mess teacher; HOWEVER, there is always one thing I make sure I have running smoothly by the end of September... independent work stations. Without independent work, SPED teachers would literally never get anything done. Plus, work boxes are a great way for students to
- [Data - Discrete Trial vs Fluency {Guest Post from Sasha Hallagan - The Autism Helper}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/data-discrete-trial-vs-fluency-gues/) - I'm so excited to share today's post! I've asked the AMAZING Sasha Hallagan from The Autism Helper to help explain how we should be effectively teaching new skills through Discrete Trial Training, as well as how we can make those skills more functional through Fluency Instruction. Enjoy, loves... :) When it comes to academic data,
- [Spotlight on Special Thinker: Joaquin](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/spotlight-on-special-thinker-joaquin/) - Today we meet Joaquin, son of "Ausome" Mom from the Ausome Life Blog. You can follow her on IG as well, I do!! (@ausomelife) When Joaquin was diagnosed with Autism at age 2 he was completely non-verbal. Before he could verbally communicate he did attempt to communicate in other ways. His preferred method of communication was
- [They Taught Me: How Working With Students With Autism Has Changed My Life](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/they-taught-me-how-working-wi/) - My first true experience with autism was in my master’s year of college. I was in the education program, and in our spring semester right before graduation, we had been allotted an amount of “contract” hours we had to complete. These hours gave us the opportunity to spend time in another school or another program.
- [Telling Time is EASY PEASY](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/telling-time-is-easy-peasy/) - One significant goal for a lot of my little ones is learning how to tell time, and more importantly, learning how to find elapsed time {BIGGIE}. The concept of time in general just baffles them. Although it is in the common core, a lot of text books used in schools do not have anything on
- [HUGE Giveaway Alert! Ends January 9th](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/huge-giveaway-alert-ends-january-9/) - I have received the book The ABCs of O-G from my department and I am trying to re-train myself into implementing it into the classroom. I am a big fan of Orton Gillingham products, and I think this approach will really have a positive effect on my students. The book is great, because the lessons are
- [Place Value PROS](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/place-value-pros/) - Today I introduced my Place Value PROs Math Stations to my 3rd grade students and they LOVED it. I split the kids up into partners to complete the different tasks, but this could very well work with larger groups because each activity has at least 20 task cards to complete. We will rotate groups tomorrow, and
- [It's Pumpkin Time! Made For Me Literacy for October](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/its-pumpkin-time-made-for-me-literacy-for-october/) - Michaela from Especially Education and I released our second unit for our Made For Me Literacy curriculum. This month we are all about pumpkins! If you want to read some background on our Made For Me Literacy curriculum, click here and here. If you are a fan of fall and pumpkins, this unit is full
- [Big Pumpkin CD Printing: An Easy Process Art Activity](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/big-pumpkin-cd-printing-an-easy-process-art-activity/) - I am a becoming a huge fan of process art. Kids are always amazed when you take a common object and make it an art tool. Today I'm sharing about how you can use your old CD's and recycled bottle caps to make a pumpkin patch art scene. I got this idea from my girl
- [Top 5 Pumpkin Read Alouds](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/top-5-pumpkin-read-alouds/) - I am constantly in search of simple, yet engaging books to use in the classroom and at home with my toddler. When looking for a book to read to special education students or early learners, I always make sure the sequence is easy to follow and there are only a few sentences MAX per page.
- [We've Got Your January Plans Covered.](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/weve-got-your-january-plans-covered/) - January in the classroom has always been one of my favorite months of teaching. After much needed R & R for the holiday break, I’m always ready for winter themed activities. For our winter Made For Me Literacy units, Michaela and I chose to focus on the themes snow and penguins. Turn your classroom into
- [Made For Me Literacy: The Adapted, Hands-On Curriculum Designed for Special Education](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/made-for-me-literacy-the-adapted-hands-on-curriculum-designed-for-special-education/) - One of my absolutely favorite things about being a special education teacher was that I had the freedom to design fun and exciting lessons for my students specific to their interests. I never had a curriculum to follow. No one ever told me what books to read to them or what activities I had to
- [Art and Writing Center Lessons for the WHOLE YEAR!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/art-and-writing-center-lessons-for-the-whole-year/) - Building Independence When I first starting teaching in a special ed classroom, I noticed that during art activities my students weren't the ones doing the crafts. We (the adults) were breaking a sweat trying to manage the glue and craft pieces. Yes, we were "guiding" little hands to complete the activity, but we were essentially
- [Spring Easy Art Crafts for Kids](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/spring-easy-art-crafts-for-kids/) - My Spring Easy Art Pack includes 16 fun crafts for students to do. In this pack, I've tried to include anything that reminds me of spring. What a wonderful time of the year! Below are some of my favorites. Favorite Spring Easy Art Activities I love how this teacher had her students create a bunch of
- [Watermelon Week End of the Year Activities](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/watermelon-week-end-of-the-year-activities/) - The countdown to the end of the school year is on! Celebrate those last few weeks with your students with these fun watermelon themed activities! Watermelon Sensory Bin This is by far the easiest sensory bin I've ever put together, BUT it turned out so cute! I used red colored rice and dried black beans
- [Free Gingerbread Unit for Preschool, Kindergarten, or Special Education](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/free-gingerbread-unit-for-classroom/) - When the holidays start rolling in, things can get so hectic in the classroom. We created this free Made For Me Literacy Gingerbread Unit to give teachers a little break with planning this December! A Gingerbread theme is so fun to incorporate for December, especially if you need something that isn't related to any specific
- [Halloween Activities for the Classroom](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/halloween-activities-for-the-classroom/) - It's October, so let's get ready for some Halloween fun! Today I'm sharing all my favorite Halloween activities and picture books for the classroom. Halloween Sensory Bin It's no secret I love sensory bins. They are hands down my favorite way to sneak in language and learning in the classroom AND at home with my
- [Christmas Activities for Kids](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/christmas-activities-for-kids/) - It is time to start having some holiday fun! Here is a round up of all of my favorite Christmas crafts, sensory bins, snacks, and activities that I have done throughout the years. I hope you can grab some ideas! Christmas Sensory Rice For this bin, I dyed rice red and green and threw in
- [Made For Me Literacy Extended School Year Units to Use in the Classroom This Summer](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/made-for-me-literacy-extended-school-year-units-to-use-in-the-classroom-this-summer/) - Are you teaching extended school year or summer school this year? It can be tough to keep students engaged through the summer months. Because of this, we did a round up of our favorite non-seasonal Made For Me Literacy units. These tried and true units are sure to keep your students excited about coming to
- [Building Classroom Community: Back to School in the Classroom](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/building-classroom-community-back-to-school-in-the-classroom/) - Happy back to school season! Made For Me Literacy is back at it again with another bundle, and this one is created with third through fifth graders in self contained special education classrooms in mind. We are so excited to get these units into your classrooms! We figured, what better unit to kick off the
- [Free Pizza Unit for Preschool, Kindergarten, or Special Education](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/free-pizza-mini-unit-for-preschool-kindergarten-special-education/) - What is a great theme your students are sure to love? PIZZA! Read more to find out how to download our Made For Me Literacy Free Pizza Unit for your Preschool, Kindergarten, or Special Education Classroom. Because we love pizza, why not dedicate an entire week of lessons to it? If you love pizza as
- [Free Friendship Unit for Preschool, Kindergarten, and Special Education](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/free-friendship-units-for-preschool-kindergarten-and-special-education/) - Use our Free Friendship Unit in your classroom to teach students the characteristics of a good friend and how to make the right choices at school and at home when it comes to navigating and maintaining friendships. This free friendship unit is perfect for back to school time or a refresher anytime during the school
- [20 Pumpkin Activities for the Classroom This Fall](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/20-pumpkin-activities-for-the-classroom-this-fall/) - Pumpkins and fall just go hand in hand, in my opinion. By October, I'm always ready to enjoy some fun pumpkin activities with my kids at home. Bring the fun to your classroom with these awesome pumpkin activities from our Made For Me Literacy Pumpkins Unit. These activities are perfect to lead up to pumpkin
- [Time to Get Spooky! Learning about Bats, Owls, and Spiders in the Classroom](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/time-to-get-spooky-learning-about-bats-owls-and-spiders-in-the-classroom/) - Now that it is officially Fall, “spooky season” is fast upon us! I just love this time of year -- and so do my kids. It is the perfect time to learn all about BATS, OWLS, and SPIDERS! With Halloween decor readily available in stores, it is so easy (and fun!) to add lots of
- [Learning All About Apples with the Made For Me Literacy Curriculum](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/learning-all-about-apples-with-the-made-for-me-literacy-curriculum/) - Michaela from Especially Education and I did something big, ya'll! Having both taught in self-contained special education classrooms, we have both experienced the difficulties and frustrations of finding appropriate resources to meet the needs of their students. So, we created a literacy curriculum tailored for our fabulous population of kiddos! The mission behind Made For Me
- [Free Reading Resources for the Primary Classroom](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/free-reading-resources/) - You have so many ideas for teaching reading! Just look at all those items on your TpT wishlist. Where should you start to get the best resources for your special thinkers? Why not start with free reading resources for the primary classroom? These reading resources are ready to use in your reading block tomorrow. They
- [20 Apple Activities for the Classroom this Fall](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/20-apple-activities-for-the-classroom-this-fall/) - An apple classroom theme is the perfect way to celebrate fall! Use these fun and engaging apple activities from our Made For Me Literacy All About Apples Unit in your classroom to enjoy these seasonal treasures. Here are 20 apple activities we love for fall: 1. Apple Pie Sensory Bin This apple pie sensory bin
- [Bring “Out of this World” activities to your classroom with the MFML Space Unit!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/bring-out-of-this-world-activities-to-your-classroom-with-the-mfml-space-unit/) - Are you ready to take your class to infinity and beyond!? Our Space Unit from Made for Me Literacy is the perfect way to introduce all things space to your students. With loads of space vocabulary, pictures, and hands-on activities, your students will stay engaged and have fun tapping into their inner astronauts! 3…2...1...BLAST OFF!
- [How to Host a Turkey Party for Kids this November](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/how-to-host-a-turkey-party-for-kids-this-november/) - The months of October through December can be such a blur. So many activities, so little time. If you are looking for a fun party theme for the month that is not Thanksgiving/Friendsgiving related, I GOT YOU. Host a Turkey Party! Every year, whether in the classroom or at home with my boys, I have
- [Fun Themes for November in the Classroom](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/fun-themes-for-november-in-the-classroom/) - Fall is fully upon us! I love autumn. The colors, the leaves, the yummy smells of cinnamon and apple pie! For us, November is all about pumpkins, fun on the farm, leaves, camping, turkeys, and Thanksgiving. It is the perfect time to celebrate the harvest and give thanks for what we have. I love to
- [Phonics Activities for the K-2 Classroom](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/phonics-activities-for-the-k-2-classroom/) - Phonics and phonemic awareness are the foundations of literacy for kindergarten, first grade, and beyond! This means integrating phonics into your daily instruction, literacy centers, and independent work is crucial for emergent readers. Whether you’re an elementary school teacher or homeschool parent, my phonemic awareness file folders bundle is designed for you! First, the activities
- [At-Home Art Projects for Virtual Learners](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/at-home-art-projects-for-virtual-learners/) - For many students who learned virtually this past year, the arts took a hit! We've spent so much time making sure kids stayed "caught up" in Reading, Writing, and Math. Art is also a vital part of education for all learners! Here are some at-home art projects for virtual learners, perfect for distance learning, homeschooling,
- [All About Me Activities for Back to School in the Classroom](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/all-about-me-activities-for-back-to-school-in-the-classroom/) - The back to school season is my favorite time of year! I always loved setting up my classroom and planning lots of fun getting to know you activities for my students, old and new. For our Made For Me Literacy All About Me Unit Michaela from Especially Education and I threw all of our favorite “All
- [Using Digital Tasks in the K-2 Math Classroom](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/using-digital-tasks-in-the-k-2-math-classroom/) - When Michaela from Especially Education and I planned out our Made For Me Math bundle, we focused on making the skill assessments a more engaging and integrated part of instruction. We put our heads together and realized that students love anything they can do on a tablet. Add in the fact that results can be
- [Essential Pieces for Your SPED Caseload Binder](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/essential-pieces-for-your-sped-caseload-binder/) - Being a special educator means you have a lot of tasks to manage. First, getting everything organized can be a task in itself! The Special Educator's Everything Binder will help you keep all your information in one convenient place. Here are some essential pieces for your SPED caseload binder! Calendars First, start your binder with
- [Digital Task Cards for Distance Learning](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/digital-task-cards-for-distance-learning/) - Distance learning has caused teachers to think about how to teach online while still providing their students with meaningful, engaging activities. Enter Boom cards! Boom cards are self-checking, interactive activities for your students. Our Made for Me Literacy Boom Cards are perfect for at-home learning! Here are some tips to get started! Use with Emergent
- [5 Must-Have Checklists for Special Educators](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/5-must-have-checklists-for-special-educators/) - When you work with students with special needs, the most overwhelming thing can be the paperwork! From organizing testing to student IEPs and observations, there is so much to keep track of! Keeping organized can be a constant struggle if you don’t have a system in place. These 5 must-have checklists for special educators will
- [Low-Prep Math Lessons for the Full Year](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/low-prep-math-lessons-for-the-full-year/) - Don’t you love the beginning of the school year? I always enjoyed seeing smiling faces, reconnecting with students, and just soaking in the excitement a new beginning brings! But, if mid-year me could send a letter to beginning-of-the-year me, it would probably read something like this: “Stop stressing! Get to work, and please, ask for
- [Turkey Activities for the Classroom](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/turkey-activities-for-the-classroom/) - Turkeys are the perfect theme for the month of November. Michaela from Especially Education and I created a HUGE Made For Me Literacy Turkey Unit for you to incorporate into your lesson plans next month. If you want to read some background on our Made For Me Literacy curriculum, click here and here. Made For
- [Teaching Functional Life Skills in Special Education](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/teaching-functional-life-skills-in-special-education/) - In my very first self-contained classroom, I was lucky enough to have an instructional kitchen attached to my classroom. Instead of only utilizing that space on "Fun Fridays" for cooking, we decided to use the space to teach our students some basic functional life skills. Daily Living Skills It can never be too early to
- [Preparing for a Substitute Before the First Day of School](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/preparing-for-a-substitute-before-the-first-day-of-school/) - One of my LEAST favorite things about teaching has always been preparing for a sub. Let's be honest, I never fully prepared for a sub until the night before or (gasp!) morning of the day I was going to be absent. Michaela from Especially Education and I remember those days, and we have worked together
- [Special Education Classroom Organization Tips & Tricks](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/special-education-classroom-organization-tips-tricks/) - Back to school time is a great time to get organized in your classroom. In this post, I collected all of my favorite organization and storage tips and tricks to help you get the most out of your classroom space. Enjoy! Shoebox Plastic Bins with Lids It is unreal how many of these shoebox bins
- [Free Mother's Day Card Printables](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/free-mothers-day-card-printables/) - Mother's Day is next month! It is always so nice to help your students create something to tell their momma's (or grandmas, aunts, caregivers) how special they are. If you are in need of an activity to make with your students, I've got you covered! I went through all of my Easy Art Packs and
- [Celebrating Earth Day in the Classroom](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/celebrating-earth-day-in-the-classroom/) - Earth Day is on April 22nd, try out these fun and simple activities in your classroom! Earth Day Sorting Sensory Bin I am in awe of how pretty blue and green rice look together. I always have the colors on hand, and I use this recipe to whip up new batches every now and then.
- [Teaching the Frog Life Cycle with Made For Me Literacy](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/teaching-the-frog-life-cycle-with-made-for-me-literacy/) - Do you cover life cycles in your lesson plans for the Spring? I love how fun the activities can be! Kids love learning about different living things and how they grow. Frogs are our FAVORITE life cycle to learn about. There are SO many fun books and activities to go along with this theme, and
- [Easter Activities For Kids](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/easter-activities-for-kids/) - Easter eggs are the perfect resource to incorporate into the classroom in the spring time. Here are some of my favorite ways to use them in your lessons. Students will love all the egg fun! Easter Egg Sensory Bins You know that I love a good sensory bin. Easter eggs are great to throw in
- [Organizing File Folders for Independent Work Stations](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/organizing-file-folders-for-independent-work-stations/) - I adore file folders in the special education setting. To me, they are easy to prep and easy to set-up for the day and quickly reset at the end of the day. Throughout the years, I have taught in several different special education classroom settings. The ability levels and level of independence ranged with each
- [Exploring Land, Sea, and Air Vehicles with Safari Ltd.](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/exploring-land-sea-and-air-vehicles-with-safari-ltd/) - In the classroom and at home with my boys, vehicles are always a favorite during learning and play time. Whether running around pretending to fly a plane or crawling on their hands and knees shouting "beep" and "vroom," vehicles always provide hours of open and imaginary play for young children. Classifying Vehicles Classifying modes of
- [Weather Activities For Kids](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/weather-activities-for-kids/) - March is the perfect time to pull out ALL your rainbow and weather activities! Turn your classroom into a seasonal storm with our Made For Me Literacy Weather Unit! This unit is packed with hands-on activities that focus on basic reading, math, writing, science, sensory, and fine motor skills. To learn more about our Made
- [Using Basic Skill File Folders to Build Independence (with FREE Errorless File Folders)](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/using-basic-skill-file-folders-to-build-independence-with-free-errorless-file-folders/) - For our learners who need to work on foundational learning skills, such as simple matching, I have always love creating hands on task boxes put-in tasks and color sorting tasks. My classroom closet always looked like it could be featured on an episode of hoarders. I kept every shoe box, coffee container, baby jar, and
- [St. Patrick's Day Activities](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/st-patricks-day-activities/) - Need activities to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in March? I’ve got you covered! I know I say every month that I have a favorite theme, but you guys…I think St. Patty's and the weather themes might be my ultimate favorite. Rainbows are teacher catnip! We love bright colors and the ROVGBIV order. St. Patrick's Day
- [20 Interactive Alphabet Activities to WOW Your Kids](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/20-interactive-alphabet-activities-to-wow-your-kids/) - Once a child is ready to learn more about letters and letter sounds, we have to hook them with FUN activities! Worksheets and flashcards aren’t going to hold the attention of most learners, so step it up a notch with these interactive alphabet activities! Foundational literacy skills are pertinent in our early elementary learners, so
- [Valentine's Day Activities for the Classroom](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/valentines-day-activities-for-the-classroom/) - Valentine's Day can be such a fun time to spread kindness throughout your classroom, home, or school! Incorporate these fun and engaging activities into your lessons next month to wow your kiddos! Rainbow Rice Valentine Sensory Bin Sensory bins are my love language in the classroom AND at home. I made this rice using this
- [Meet Games For Special Needs!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/meet-games-for-special-needs/) - Finding appropriate, open-ended games and activities for the classroom can be a struggle as a special educator. We want to keep our students engaged in activities without overstimulating them with toys that make a lot of noise or have lots of gadgets on them. I was fortunate enough to have Christen from My Hands On
- [Top 5 Turkey Books](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/top-5-turkey-books/) - November is the best! Thanksgiving is the start to the holiday season, and the turkey books are silly and fun and fabulous. Plus, TIME OFF SCHOOL. My students have always loved reading about all these crazy turkeys (and one crazy old lady). As always, I like to keep my book lists short and sweet. These
- [Pumpkin Scrubbing Sensory Bin](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/pumpkin-scrubbing-sensory-bin/) - There are so many fun activities to do with pumpkins. This has been a favorite of ours at home and I know it would be a hit in the classroom. Hello life skills! All you need to set this up are some pumpkins, a large bin, dish soap, water and some brushes/sponges. Most likely all
- [Perfectly Perfect Names: Celebrating Students' Names With Chrysanthemum](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/perfectly-perfect-names-celebrating-students-names-with-chrysanthemum/) - Back to school is here, and what better way to celebrate the first week back than with a Name Celebration! I've put together a week full of fun *EASY* literacy activities that your students CAN do without a ton of one on one assistance from adults. Chrysanthemum is the perfect book is for the first
- [Oriental Trading Gift Card Giveaway!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/oriental-trading-gift-card-giveaway/) - Happy Summer, ya'll! I've teamed up with some other bloggers to giveaway a gift card to one of my favorite places, Oriental Trading! How perfect is their back to school section on their site? Especially their storage and organization. I know its mid-July, but I always have a running list of things I want for
- [Ten Books Every SPED Teacher Needs](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/ten-books-every-sped-teacher-needs/) - This is the time of the school year where teachers begin relocating to new classrooms. Whether they moved to a different place or they are just getting moved to a different position, there is always a sense of panic when going into the unknown. By late May, I start getting a lot of questions about
- [Camping Theme Books and Activities](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/camping-theme-books-and-activities/) - We love camping in the summertime, and I always get so excited to bring that theme to school for my students to enjoy. A camping room transformation in the classroom is super cheap and easy to do. Bring in your own lawn chairs, borrow a friends pop-up tent, grab some sticks outside, and buy that
- [Art Activities Your Students CAN Do!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/art-activities-your-students-can-do/) - When I first started teaching in my special education classroom, I learned the hard way that visuals are a necessity. Without them, our jobs are exhausting. Our students benefit greatly from looking at something versus us repeating directions over and over again. Of course I’ve always done art activities with my students; however, the cute
- [Heavy Work: WHAT it is and WHY Your Students Need It](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/heavy-work-what-it-is-and-why-your-students-need-it/) - In you special needs class, do you have any behavior issues? Any kids that are over-responsive or just the opposite, under-responsive? YOU.NEED.HEAVY.WORK. I cannot stress enough how much of a DRASTIC change we saw in some of our special thinkers when we began implementing this work system into their daily routine. Here's some info on
- [Puzzle Play Activities](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/puzzle-play-activities/) - In our classroom, puzzle play is essential for my students. We work on completing different types of puzzles to work on skills my students might not have yet, like fine and gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, problem solving, shape recognition, and memory. With most tasks they are working on, we have to work towards mastery
- [Books and Art Activities for Autism Awareness Month](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/books-and-art-activities-for-autism-awareness-month/) - Dropping by real quick to share two of my favorite books to read for Autism Awareness Month. I always love reading these books to my school friends in the regular education classrooms to open up a discussion about the students in my classroom. Todd Parr books are legit the best books ever to read to
- [DIY Magnet Board](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/diy-magnet-board/) - I love using up empty wall space to make it more functional for learning at school and at home. Years ago, I hung up this giant oil drip pan from Walmart on the back of a bookcase in our classroom to make it a magnet board. I went through a phase where I literally put
- [My Favorite Literacy Curriculum: Meet Moe!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/my-favorite-literacy-curriculum-meet-moe/) - When we moved to North Carolina years ago, I was offered my first job in a self-contained special education classroom. I had always taught in a resource special ed setting previously, so it was a whole new ball game for me. I remember my first year in that setting, I felt so lost with what to
- [Bunny & Chick Easter Activities](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/bunny-chick-easter-activities/)
- [6 Easy Egg Crafts (Free Printable Template)](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/6-easy-egg-crafts-free-printable-template/) - Easter is right around the corner. Grab the freebie egg printable, some paint, and these basic materials and have some fun with your students! Pick one to do or set up stations at your class easter party so students can do several different crafts for a bulletin board or door decorations.Please note, the links are
- [15 Counting Books for Special Thinkers](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/15-counting-books-for-special-thinkers/) - A few days ago, I posted about my favorite hands on counting activities for the classroom. Since I teach students with special needs, a lot of them can take a while to really master counting, which is why I like to use a lot of different types of resources and activities for practicing until
- [Hands On Counting Activities for the Classroom](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/hands-on-counting-activities-for-the-classroom/) - In our classroom, I have a lot of kiddos that are ready and able to work on beginning math skills such as counting, but cannot write yet. To keep their skills sharp and keep them engaged, we work with a variety of tasks. My writers still love doing these different activities too! At the beginning
- [Rainbow Tear Paper Craft](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/what-makes-a-rainbow/) - New favorite book alert! March is such a fun month. We focus on so many different themes, and my favorite BY FAR is the few days we learn about rainbows. Last week I introduced rainbows by reading the sweetest little book and my students followed along by making their own rainbows. The book is called
- [DIY Rainbow Rice Using Liquid Watercolors](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/diy-rainbow-rice-using-liquid-watercolors/) - Liquid watercolors are my new staple art supply. They come in the prettiest colors, wipe right off little (and adult) hands, and have SO many different uses. Today I decided to try out making rainbow rice using them. Let me tell you friends, I am mind blown. I typically dye rice for sensory bins
- [Celebrating Diversity with Little Learners](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/celebrating-diversity-with-little-learners/) - To set the stage for our study of influential African Americans this month, we read a few of my favorites and did a group activity together to celebrate diversity in our classroom. To open up a discussion about how all skin colors are beautiful, we read The Colors of Us and The Skin You Live
- [How to Prep File Folder Tasks at Home!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/how-to-prep-file-folder-tasks-at-home/) - Y'all, I think it's no secret that file folders are my jam. For years, I have been building up my collection so that I can have several folders to pull for literally ANY skill I cover with my elementary age students.. from basic skills to 4th grade skills. File folders are fabulous, pretty easy to
- [January Visual Lesson Plans](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/january-visual-lesson-plans/) - I'm not really a "resolution" person; however, going into this new year, I do have one major goal... be a better planner. I have never been wonderful at lesson planning. Thankfully, my mind has always been able to hold a TON of information at once (teacher's brains can do that), and I've always "planned" a
- [Simple STEM Activities for SPED Students](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/simple-stem-activities-for-sped-students/) - The STEM craze has swept the education world within the past few years. Students are becoming little engineers in their classrooms, putting together crazy cool buildings and systems, but what about our special education students? With fine motor issues, as well as difficulty with more "open-ended" activities, how can we provide STEM opportunities to our
- [No Mess Recycled Cardboard Ornaments with Kwik Stix](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/no-mess-recycled-cardboard-ornaments-with-kwik-stix/) - Ever since I discovered the magic of Amazon Prime, I saw no need to go to the store for anything I could easily get in two days. This year, ALL of my Christmas shopping was done on the couch. Needless to say, my house is currently flooded with a million broken down cardboard boxes. While
- [Turkey Classroom Door](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/turkey-classroom-door/) - The one thing I hate about changing months is pulling down all of our artwork and writing from the previous month. I can't get new work up in the hallway fast enough! To give us some time to fill up our wall of art, we did this fun little art activity for our door. I
- [Simple Stand-up Turkey Craft](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/simple-stand-up-turkey-craf/) - Turkey day is among us, and this is such a fun craft to do with your students or even your kiddos at home. I love that it stands up on it's own - it could serve as the perfect table topper on Thanksgiving Here's what you need: -paper rolls -tissue paper squares -googly eyes -red
- [November Sensory Bin - Fall Farm Fun!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/november-sensory-bin-fall-farm-fun/) - Can you believe it's November already?! I switched out all of our Halloween goodies for all things FALL today and I wanted to share our new fall sensory bin. After going to the pumpkin patch and seeing how obsessed my students were with the giant corn pit, I knew I had to find
- [Halloween Goodies for Students and Staff Members (FREEBIE LABELS)](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/halloween-goodies-for-students-and/) - During holidays, sharing some goodies with your hard working staff and students is the best! Grab the freebie "faboolous" and "bubbly brew" tags by clicking on any of the pictures below. For the staff gifts, I got mason jars and filled them with candy and added the "Thanks for being FABOOLOUS" ghost tag. For my
- [Glow Stick Treat Tags - A Little Light for Halloween Night](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/glow-stick-treat-tags-little-light-for/)
- [Halloween Sensory Bin](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/halloween-sensory-bin/) - At the beginning of this year I started with just mini sensory bins to see how my students did with different materials (water, sand, beans, rice, etc.). Now that my students have learned how to play appropriately with these smaller bins, I felt like I could break out a real sensory bin! Of course, since
- [Easy Peasy Pumpkin Monsters](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/easy-peasy-pumpkin-monsters/) - Raise your hand if you are taking a field trip to the pumpkin patch! We have ours in October, so I definitely wanted to grab the decorating kits from Oriental Trading for our pumpkins after the trip. I decided on the Foam Monster Decorating Craft kit because we will be reading all of our favorite
- [Fine and Gross Motor Fun and Games for October](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/fine-and-gross-motor-fun-and-games-for/) - October is such a fun month if you do thematic teaching. Students LOVE all things Halloween, and so does this teacher! I wanted to round up some of the fun activities I have planned for this month. I got everything below from Oriental Trading - they are my go to for seasonal supplies because they
- [Meet the Teacher with Pete the Cat](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/meet-teacher-with-pete-ca/) - You know my love for all things Pete! My students adore him and his fun stories year after year. This year for meet the teacher night, I wanted to mix things up a bit and do a theme. Thankfully, a Pete the Cat theme wasn't too hard to incorporate thanks to Learn 365 from Oriental
- [Math Rotations in a SPED Classroom](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/math-rotations-in-sped-classroo/) - By the end of this year, after changing our math rotations around about a bazillion times, I FINALLY feel like I figured out the perfect combo of stations to help my students learn, practice, and master skills. My favorite part of this system is that it worked seamlessly without me killing myself over prep
- [HANDS-ON COUNTING WITH MATH MATS](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/hands-on-counting-with-math-mats/) - At the beginning of every year in my classroom, well usually ALL year, I have students that are working one to one correspondence, identifying numbers and counting to 10. For my students that take a lot of practice to get this skill, doing the same counting activities over and over again can cause them to
- [3 Easy STEM Centers Using Wacky Links](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/3-easy-stem-centers-using-wacky-links/) - My students love building. Legos, pattern blocks, playdoh... basically anything that is hands on. I love incorporating any type of manipulative into their learning, so I was super excited to give Wacky Links a try. In the past few weeks, we have done three different STEM activities using Wacky Links and they have been all
- [Butterfly Observation Journal Freebie](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/butterfly-observation-journal-freebie/) - Like most primary grades in the spring time, we are learning all things life cycle. Butterflies, ladybugs, plants, preying mantis..... ALL THE THINGS. At our school, they set up an "observation station" in the multipurpose room, so students could look at the caterpillars daily to see the life cycle take place. We also have preying
- [Ladybug Length Measurement Creativity](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/ladybug-length-measurement-creativity/) - I love doing crafts with my students as much as possible. I try to add some writing activity to each craft, but I also wanted to tie in math to some of our crafts as well. Right now, we have been working on measuring the length of objects. Some of my younger students are using
- [Keeping Math Skills Sharp All Year with File Folder Tasks (Math Labels Freebie)](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/keeping-math-skills-sharp-all-year-wi/) - Like most special educators, I teach several different skills in math a day. In our math rotations, I am able to see each students 1:1 for about 10 minutes to teach them new skills, and then they rotate through the other centers to practice that skill and previously mastered skills. This is the first year
- [Spring is Here! Spring Book List, Work Tasks, and Art Activities](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/spring-is-here-spring-book-list-work/) - Spring may be my favorite time of the year, especially here in North Carolina. The cherry blossom trees are blooming everywhere, the birdies are singing, and there are tons of fun themes for teaching for the months of March and April. Today I wanted to briefly share some of my favorite books and tasks for
- [Tools for Building One-to-One Correspondence](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/tools-for-building-one-to-one/) - At the beginning of the year, we work on teaching or reviewing the basic foundational math skill of one to one correspondence. A lot of my students start in Kindergarten knowing how to rote count, but without the skill of actually counting items and stopping at the last item. For some of my kiddos, it
- [DIY Alphabet Stones](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/diy-alphabet-stones/) - Having lots of different examples of the alphabet is key to early literacy skills and generalization of letters. For my sensory driven kiddos, I know these alphabet stones will be just the ticket to getting them hooked during literacy groups at the beginning of the year. You can use alphabet stones in a variety of
- [End of the Year Teacher Gift - Freebie Tag](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/end-of-year-teacher-gift-freebie-tag/) - After showing off the gift I got my amazing Teacher Assistants this year on Instagram, I had a few e-mails about the tags I made, so I thought I would share! Although most of us are out for the summer, it's always good to get ahead of the game for next year. I got the
- [What Goes Together? Association Flipbooks](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/what-goes-together-association-flipbooks/) - Flipbook tasks are my favorite go to task throughout the day. They are perfect for teaching new skills, practicing learned skills, and then throw in a students work system once they have mastered the concept. Use these books in circle time, reading groups, or one on one with students to help them learn common items
- [Classroom Task Bin Organization](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/organizing-tasks-by-skill-area/) - This year, I decided I wanted to take my love of plastic bins to a whole new level. I love keeping my materials organized in bins, especially when I have to leave everything to collect dust over the summer. In my classroom, I have students at all different levels working
- [World Autism Day Blogger Giveaway!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/world-autism-day-blogger-giveaway/) - All my life I’ve heard the quote, “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” Although cheesy, this quote speaks such truth. Since day one of meeting my first students, I’ve been undeniably obsessed with my job. Obsessed in a positive, can’t learn enough, can’t do enough, way. I still have so
- [Easter Already?](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/easter-already/)
- [Oh, The Places They'll Go! Using Favorite Places to Engage Your Students in Reading](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/oh-places-theyll-go-using-favorite/) - This school year, I really wanted to do everything possible to create a literacy rich environment for my students. I've been using tons of online resources, TPT resources, and have even gone old school with some books that discuss how to help my students understand reading. A new book I just recently purchased, How Do
- [Spring Storytime Book Lists](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/spring-storytime-book-lists/) - Below are the books I will be using in my spring story time packs. Even if you don't use the packs, these are some great books to read to your students to celebrate all things spring!! S = Can be found on Scholastic There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick by Lucille Colandro (S)
- [How to See Summaries of Data Collected Through Google Drive](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/how-to-see-summaries-of-data-collected/) - Last week, I posted on Using Google Drive to Create A-B-C Data Collection Forms and received a lot of questions on how to see summaries of the data collected through Google. Asked and answered, friends! It's amazing how easy Google has made data collection for us, as long as we know how to use it to our
- [St. Patrick's Day SALE!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/st-patricks-day-sale/)
- [Using Structured Work Systems To Build Independence in the Elementary Classroom](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/using-structured-work-systems-to-build/) - Last week, I wrote a post on Using Structured Work Systems to Foster Student Independence. Work systems are structured sequences that provide students opportunities to practice mastered skills through the use of organized materials, including containers, bins, drawers, checklists, folders/binders, among many other materials. Adult support can still be used to guide students when using work systems;
- [St. Patrick's Day Book List](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/st-patricks-day-book-lis/) - Below are the books we will be reading for our St. Patrick's Day unit in March. Lucky Tucker by Leslie McGuirk This adorable little story is about a little dog who's day started off terrible, but his luck changed after he rolled in a bed of clovers. Your students will love following along with Tucker on
- [LESS VERBAL, MORE VISUAL](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/less-verbal-more-visua/) - A few weeks ago, I posted the image below of our clipboard charts on Instagram and a lot of you commented asking about them and our classroom behavior system. I've always had a behavior system in place, but never fine tuned and "pretty" enough to share with others. Since I had such an interest in the charts,
- [Using Google Drive to Create A-B-C Data Collection Forms](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/using-google-drive-to-create-b-c-data/) - A few years ago, I wrote a blog post on Using Google Docs to Collect Data for IEP Goals. Since then, I have been using Google Drive to create lots of forms to collect information quickly and help me stay organized. Click below to view the original post on using Google to collect data for
- [Valentine's Day SALE!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/valentines-day-sale/) - A little thank you for all your support! Enjoy 20% off in my TPT shop today!
- [6 Unconventional Classroom Centers](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/6-unconventional-classroom-centers/) - This year, I decided to make some unused classroom spaces into small interactive centers that could serve as the perfect little transition activities or warm-ups. Instead of hanging pictures or decorations in these spaces, I wanted them to have a purpose. Below are some examples of how you can turn those unused spaces into workspaces,
- [Using Structured Work Systems to Foster Student Independence](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/using-structured-work-systems-to-foster/) - I remember when I first started teaching in my classroom, I literally had no clue what I was doing. I remember everyone kept talking about.. STRUCTURESTRUCTURESTRUCTURE I shook off their advice and did things my way for the first few months, thinking my cute little classroom set-up was just the beez-neez with all
- [Please excuse the mess: Site under construction](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/please-excuse-mess-site-under/) - Please bear with me while I make LOTS of updates to the site to make it more pleasing for you!
- [Groundhog Day Freebie!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/groundhog-day-freebie/) - Who's ready for SPRING?!? I know this girl is pumped for warmer weather! A few years ago, if you would have told me I would be using age appropriate picture books in my autism classroom to work on retelling, sequencing, key details, and comprehension questions, I would have thought you were a coo coo bird!
- [Valentine's Day Work Tasks!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/valentines-day-work-tasks/) - Valentine's Day is such a fun time to switch up your classroom tasks and activities. Stores like Target and Dollar Tree are perfect for hitting up to get some fresh materials in your independent work areas to keep your kiddos engaged! Here are a few ideas to help you get started! Put-in Tasks
- [New Year, New Workboxes](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/new-year-new-workboxes/) - If you are like me, you have students that are in different stages of the Independent Work Systems. Some students are beginners and put-in tasks are their thing right now, while others can complete other skills such as matching or sorting. Below are some ideas for workboxes with materials you probably already have on hand.
- [Winter Book List for January](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/winter-book-list-for-january/) - Below are the books we will be reading for our winter unit in January. Winter and snow are such fun topics to cover! The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats This adorable little story follows a boy on a snow day. He wakes up, excited to see all the snow outside, gets dressed, and plays
- [Eight Steps to Creating Your Autism Classroom Schedule](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/eight-steps-to-creating-your-autis/) - When you teach in a special education classroom with such varied ability levels, scheduling can be such a nightmare. If you have to change your schedule, you're in for quite a treat with how it may affect your students and even your teacher assistants. Obviously some of our students can be very rigid and a
- [Get Organized for the New Year: How to be Efficient and Stay on Top of Classroom Materials](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/get-organized-for-new-year-how-to-be/) - I love organization. I love boxes, binders, file folders, plastic baggies, planners.. if it helps me stay organized and less stressed - I'm totally in. Our days are VERY fast paced and there is not a lot of down time or prep time, so I have learned several different ways to keep myself from being
- [Christmas Ornament Sorting Freebie!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/christmas-ornament-sorting-freebie/) - I know I've already said this a million times... but Christmas in the classroom is seriously my favorite thing ever! So many fun work tasks and activities! On my work day yesterday, I wanted to update EVERYTHING so returning from Thanksgiving would be a breeze. One of my favorite change outs was at the workshop
- [December Work Tasks {TONS of pictures!}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/december-work-tasks-tons-of-pictures/) - The holidays can be such a fun time in the classroom, but if you aren't prepared with tons of activities - those little cuties are gonna make you crazy with all of their holiday cheer! Here are some pictures of the tasks we will be using in the month of December. I bought EVERYTHING for
- [It's Turkey Time!! {A Peek at November in Our Classroom}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/its-turkey-time-peek-at-november-in-our/) - In our classroom, I think it's quite obvious that we LOVE our holidays! Theme teaching makes planning for the month so.much.easier. For the next few weeks, we will be focusing on Thanksgiving, as well as continuing to use fall resources. For some reason, I love Thanksgiving! I mean, I obviously love decorating for the holidays,
- [Apple About Apples: Book List](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/apple-about-apples-book-lis/) - Below are the books we will be reading for our Apple Unit. Stay tuned tomorrow for visual lesson plans for our Apple Theme! This is one of my favorite themes! Literacy Storytime: During this time, we focus on story structure and comprehension. We have followed a very specific routine for this literacy time daily, in
- [Here's to Another Year: Autism Classroom Tour!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/heres-to-another-year-autism-classroo/) - I have been CRAZY excited to share my classroom with ya'll this year. This is my third year in this classroom, and I'm in love with how it turned out it this school year. I kept a lot of the same centers from last year, and added a few new fun ones (Magnet Center,
- [Literacy Routines in a Special Education Classroom](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/literacy-routines-in-special-education/) - With so many different student levels, it can be difficult at the beginning of the school year to establish literacy routines, especially when you are focused on hammering out behavior problems and working to get your littles to sit for more than 5 minutes. My first year in my classroom with students with autism, I
- [3 Ways to Build Relationships with Parents at the Beginning of the Year](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/3-ways-to-build-parent-relationships/) - As teachers, our students should be our number one priority. We share that priority with others, though, because those students have parents who also care deeply for them. Every new school year, I am always very persistent to establish a positive relationship with parents. This means I am trying
- [How to Create Your Autism Classroom Schedule](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/how-to-create-your-autism-classroo/) - When you teach in a special education classroom with such varied ability levels, scheduling can be such a nightmare. If you have to change your schedule, you're in for quite a treat with how it may affect your students and even your teacher assistants. Obviously some of our students can be very rigid and a
- [Using the Buddy System to Create Peer Relationships Between Special Education Students and General Education Students](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/using-buddy-system-to-create-peer/) - Similar to many elementary schools around the country, our school has 4 low incidence classroom programs, housing students with autism and developmental disabilities. As a teacher of one of the autism classrooms, building social skills in my 5 to 8 year olds is a major priority. Problem is, with a classroom of 8 students with
- [Color Coding Your Classroom For MAXIMUM ORGANIZATION](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/color-coding-your-classroom-for-maximu/) - Today I want to share with you about my “color-coding” classroom organizational system. Although it sounds silly, assigning my students a color at the beginning of the school year is my go-to for organization. It has saved my sanity. With 3 instructional assistants, a lead teacher, and a student teacher, keeping data and student
- [SPED Back to School Tips & Freebies (E-book & Giveaway!)](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/sped-back-to-school-tips-freebies-e/) - Back to School is thisclose to happening. We have a month. A MONTH!!!! Too soon.. I know. Personally, I start preparing for a new school year during the last month of the current school year. Those first few months back to school can be hectic, especially if you have new staff (if you have teaching
- [VEGAS SALE -- Plus, #speddollardeals TODAY ONLY!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/vegas-sale-plus-speddollardeals-today/) - While I'm enjoying Vegas with some of my favorite blogger ladies, treat yourself to a sale Wednesday through Friday! 20% off my entire store! PLUS... be on the look out for the DOLLAR DEALS that will be popping up TODAY ONLY on TPT! Just search #speddollardeals in the search box and you'll find all the
- [Back to School Books for Week 3: ABCs, 123s, and Colors!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/back-to-school-books-for-week-3-abcs/) - Below are the books we will be reading for the third week back to school. My district goes back to school the last full week of August, so we will be focusing on "Back to School" topics for the first three weeks of school. The following books focus on the theme "ABCs, 123s, and Colors." It's perfect
- [Back to School Books for Week 2: Animals at School](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/back-to-school-books-for-week-2-animals/) - Below are the books we will be reading for the second week back to school. My district goes back to school the last full week of August, so we will be focusing on "Back to School" topics for the first three weeks of school. The following books focus on the theme "Animals At School." Incase you missed
- [Back to School Books for Week 1: All About School](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/backtoschoolbooksallaboutschoo/) - Below are the books we will be reading for the first week back to school. My district goes back to school the last full week of August, so we will be focusing on "Back to School" topics for the first three weeks of school. The following books focus on school supply vocabulary, people and places at the
- [Back to School Books Series](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/back-to-school-books-part-1/) - For this coming school year, I've decided to plan WAY ahead. Hence, I'm working on back to school plans and it's the first of July. Last year, I created a personal goal to create a literacy rich autism classroom. I used to be daunted by read alouds in my classroom because sometimes they were a
- [TEN ESSENTIALS EVERY AUTISM CLASSROOM RUNS ON](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/ten-essentials-every-autism-classroo/) - I could not survive without velcro in my classroom. We use it for EVERYTHING. Schedules, work tasks, choice boards, visuals.. literally everything. I also order in bulk for my classroom supply order (that the school pays for) and then I purchase even more (with my own money) to keep at home so I don't have
- [Long Live the Library](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/long-live-library/) - Contrary to popular belief, teachers do not have summers off. As soon as that final bell rings on the last day, our wheels are already turning about back to school. In my classroom, I have students in K-2, so I don’t like reusing the same lessons year after year, because I don’t want to bore my
- [Organizing Monthly Materials {Monthly Bin Labels FREEBIE!}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/organizing-monthly-materials-monthly/) - Hi all! Sorry I've been M.I.A., but WOW can the end of the year get the best of you! I have been getting several e-mails about how I organize all of our classroom materials. I took pictures in March when we packed up our March materials and then didn't have a chance to post until
- [Earth Day Activities](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/earth-day-activities/) - This year, we made a recycling center at our workshop station. We've been watching the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle video at Brainpop Jr. and I found this Interactive Activity we've been doing on the Promethean Board. Here's what we did last year and we will be doing again on Wednesday! Nothing like a little fine motor
- [QR Code Choice Ring {Tutorial}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/qr-code-choice-ring-tutoria/) - This week, I decided to finally give QR codes a try. Turns out, they are amazing and incredibly easy to create! During our leisure time, our students can choose to play on the iPad as their reward for the day. Most students choose the iPad, so that leaves the teachers typing in website after website
- [Spring Clothespin Tasks {Tip: Clothespins NOT Required}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/april-clothespin-tasks-tip-clothespins/) - In spite of 3 days of our Spring Break turning into make-up days, I'd say we had a pretty successful week. I usually set up everything for the month the week before it begins, but this month was a little different because SPRING IS (finally) HERE! We got a little crazy in
- [April Work Tasks (Caution: Egg Overload)](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/april-work-tasks-caution-egg-overload/) - The following tasks are the result of raiding the Easter Target clearance last year, putting it all in my attic, forgetting about it…. then this year, I bought all the cute Dollar Tree and Target Dollar Spot stuff to prepare for April… and THEN I remembered all the stuff I already had. Eh… the
- [Spring Colors Adapted Book FREEBIE!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/spring-colors-adapted-book-freebie/) - It's been SUCH a successful Sunday here at the TST office. I have TONS of new goodies for you to celebrate Spring and plenty more in the works! To celebrate SPRING I have this adorable little adapted color book. Use this book to work on matching goals, color words, identifying colors, or just plain FUN!
- [Last Minute St. Patty's FREEBIE: Let's Count Adapted Books](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/last-minute-st-pattys-freebie-lets/) - Happy St. Patty's Day! To celebrate this fun day, and to celebrate the launch of a new product line of counting adapted books, I wanted to share a little freebie with ya'll! We started using these in our classroom last week and the students LOVED them! These books can be used in SO many different
- [March Work Tasks for St. Patty's Day](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/march-work-tasks-for-st-pattys-day/) - I think it's quite obvious that I'm a sucker for themes… St. Patty's Day has been no exception! Our Spring Break is the last week of March, so all of these tasks will be used for the next 3 weeks. When we come back at the end of the month, we'll be celebrating all things
- [Exclusive Teaching Special Thinkers Nail Wraps!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/exclusive-teaching-special-thinkers/) - I love spreading awareness about autism. My students are amazing. They brighten my whole world. They teach me something new every.single.day. I created these exclusive nails wraps through Jamberry for Autism Awareness Month in April. If you would like information on ordering a set of these wraps, please message me on my Facebook page. If
- [Thoughts of Spring!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/thoughts-of-spring/) - So… we've basically gone to school a day and a half in the past two weeks here in NC. I'm not saying I hate it, BUT I am not loving wiping out on the concrete on a daily basis while I walk my dog. The ice has gooooot to go. I am ready for Spring.
- [St. Patty's Day Packs & a HUGE TPT Super Sale Coming!!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/st-pattys-day-packs-huge-tpt-super-sale/) - If you follow me on Instagram, you are probably aware that I am getting prepped and ready for some Shamrock fun for the next few weeks at school. I love teaching through themes and March is going to be all about St. Patty's Day, Dr. Suess, and Nutrition! Here's a look at some of the
- [Slowing Down the Day: The Importance of Teaching Life Skills](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/slowing-down-day-importance-of-teaching/) - As a teacher of a very busy classroom, sometimes I catch myself forgetting to slow down. I get super wrapped up in time, rushing through the schedule to make sure we cover everything that day, that I zip a student's coat before giving him a chance to do it first, or I jump at the
- [Giving the Sensory Room a Purpose {Circuit Training}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/giving-sensory-room-purpose-circui/) - I am not a huge gym junkie. I'll go through phases where I'll join a gym, plan to go daily after school, pack my clothes, and then I'll find an excuse not to go. When I do make it, I am overwhelmed by the amount of equipment offered to me to use, and the fact
- [February SPED Blog Hop!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/february-sped-blog-hop/) - I hope ya'll enjoyed Valentine's day! I am so excited to bring you a special FREEBIE to use next month. St. Patty's Day is such a fun experience for our kiddos. Lots and lots of green and gold in our work tasks, and of course rainbows everywhere! Every month, I come out with a few
- [Helping Our Students With Writing](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/helping-our-students-with-writing/) - Our writing station is one of my favorite places in the classroom! I love that the students work on SO many different skills with just one writing activity. I always use my Sentence Builder packs at our writing station, and vary the levels based on the students. Below are a TON of pictures to show
- [Life Skills Lesson: Mailing a Letter](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/life-skills-lesson-mailing-letter/) - Ah, I honestly don't want Valentine's Day to ever come (except for the 50 shades of Grey movie, obvs). But in all serious ya'll, the activities are just too.darn.cute!! In our class, we have a structured story time where I will try very hard to keep my friends' attention through a story. Don't get me
- [Easy Art = Easy Set-up](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/easy-art-easy-set-up/) - I love how many different skills an art activity can cover - attributes, following directions, cutting, fine motor, etc. In our classroom, we complete one art activity per day. These activities are prepped ahead of time and organized in bins for the week. Students use picture directions to complete the projects as independently as possible
- [Little Bit of Love SALE & SPED Blogger February Fun!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/little-bit-of-love-sale-sped-blogger/) - Oh, how I LOVE LOVE LOVE Valentine's Day! I love it so so much… I'm throwing a SALE! Go grab you some Valentine's Goodies today and tomorrow for 20% off! WOOT WOOT! Here are a few of my favorites! Today also marks the first day of our Special Educators Bloghop! Be sure to head
- [February Work Tasks {Valentine's Day FREEBIE!}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/february-work-tasks-valentines-day/) - Ohhhh, I think it's no secret I looove me some themed work tasks for all my classroom cuties! Not only do work tasks allow me to get my craft on, they also allow me to sneak in assessments and skills in fun ways, so my students are super pumped about getting their work on. I
- [Eight Steps to Creating Your Autism Classroom Schedule](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/eight-steps-to-creating-your-autis-2/) - When you teach in a special education classroom with such varied ability levels, scheduling can be such a nightmare. If you have to change your schedule, you're in for quite a treat with how it may affect your students and even your teacher assistants. Obviously some of our students can be very rigid and a
- [Game Day Giveaway - Plus a FREEBIE!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/game-day-giveaway-plus-freebie/) - With a little over a week until the Superbowl, some of my SPED blogging buddies and I wanted to give you a chance to win some fabulous sports related resources to use next week or any time during the year. Sports can be such an "anytime" topic, and they are sure to be a classroom
- [Work Tasks Galore! Do you follow me on Pinterest?](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/work-tasks-galore-do-you-follow-me-on/) - I love days off to do mindless activities, such as organizing my Pinterest boards. I am constantly looking for new tasks to make to keep my kiddos engaged during work times and I find a lot of my activities on Pinterest. If you are like me, you have students that are in different stages of
- [A Peek at Our Week: Winter Clothing, The Mitten, & Prepositions](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/a-peek-at-our-week-winter-clothing_10/) - One of my goals for the new year is to be more organized with this little blog of mine. I love sharing ideas with others, and I absolutely hate when I get out of the groove of blogging. I do best with routines, so I'm hoping this post can be a weekly post for me.
- [January Adapted Art Activities](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/january-adapted-art-activities/) - I absolutely love incorporating art into our routine. So many skills are covered with one short activity, such as color identification, following directions, fine motor skills, cutting, matching.. the list goes on. Last month, I created an adapted art pack for my students. In the art center, I would set out all the materials needed
- [January Work Tasks](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/january-work-tasks/) - A few weeks ago, one of our IRT's told the staff they would be cleaning out old materials from one of the closets and it was a free for all. Enter hoarder AU teacher (me) and my rolling cart. I got tons of goodies.. blocks, chips, marbles, shapes, dice. ALLLLL the materials to cook up
- [Getting Organized for the New Year](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/getting-organized-for-new-year/) - I love organization. I love boxes, binders, file folders, plastic baggies, planners.. if it helps me stay organized and less stressed - I'm totally in. If you follow me on Instagram, I'm sure you've seen all the different ways I like to keep my classroom organized. Our days are VERY fast paced and there is
- [Special Needs Essentials {Gift Certificate Giveaway}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/special-needs-essentials-gif/) - As a special educator of students with autism, it is so funny the things that catch my eye at the store. Anything and everything that provides some sort of sensory input or output in the Target dollar spot always finds their way into my cart. In my classroom, I depend on our trampoline, play dough,
- [December Tasks {TONS of pictures}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/december-tasks-tons-of-pictures/) - The holidays can be such a fun time in the classroom, but if you aren't prepared with tons of activities - those little cuties are gonna make you crazy with all of their holiday cheer! Here are some pictures of the tasks we will be using in the month of December. I bought EVERYTHING for
- [New December Goodies {Cyber Monday TPT Sale}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/new-december-goodies-cyber-monday-tp/) - Hi all! I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, spent with family and friends, and now you're ready to do some SHOPPING!! TPT is hosting it's annual Cyber Monday, so it's a perfect time to get stocked up with all my new December products! Check em out! Happy Shopping!!
- [We Are Thankful for Special Educators Blog Hop (Tip, Freebie, & Rafflecopter Giveaway!)](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/we-are-thankful-for-special-educators/) - Every year, right before the holidays, seems to be the time I really reflect on the school year. Is my classroom set-up working? Are we covering everything we need to? Are my students making growth? A lot of these questions can be answered through data. We all know that data drives our instruction; however, when
- [I'm SO Thankful! {FREEBIES}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/im-so-thankful-freebies/) - Thanksgiving is this week, and if you are scurrying for plans to fill the couple of days you have school, you can try one of these fun packs: Also in the spirit of Thanksgiving, and because I am so thankful for all of you, here are a few freebies for you! I think it’s obvious
- [Sports Themed Activities {Rafflecopter Giveaway!}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/sports-themed-activities-rafflecopter/) - For the next few weeks, we are going to be focusing on a Sports theme. Yes, I know that Thanksgiving is at the end of the month, and do not fear, we'll be working our way into that by the end of next week. But, considering my students are super sick of pumpkins and leaves,
- [Pete the Cat Themed Graphing Activity (Freebie)](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/pete-cat-themed-graphing-activity/) - I told you yesterday I would post about our Pete the Cat themed graph for the week and here it is! And a FREEBIE, too! Woop woop! Click the pictures above or here for the freebie!
- [Interactive Science Pack: Solids and Liquids](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/interactive-science-pack-solids-and/) - Science can prove to be a tricky task in most classrooms, especially special needs classrooms, plus there are not a lot of materials out there to teach science concepts to our students. Students benefit from tons of concrete examples to help them understand these concepts that can be quite abstract to them. My students learn
- [Let's Learn Numbers!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/lets-learn-numbers/) - Teaching the concepts of numbers and counting can be a bit tricky in my classroom. Although some students may be able to count to ten, they might not understand one to one correspondence or they may be unable to actually identify the numerals 1-10. Since the first day of school, we have been working like
- [Storytime Talk: We Love Pete the Cat!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/storytime-talk-we-love-pete-ca/) - This year, my students are LOVING story time. I have tried my best to pick books that are shorter (wink wink), "action" packed (think music/melodies), and that are repetitive. In my classroom, we read a book several times to the point that the pages start to wear, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
- [September Back to School Activities & Plans](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/september-back-to-school-activities/) - I absolutely adore doing "themes" in the classroom. This month, of course, has been all about "Back to School." We have been learning all about the rules, classroom objects, our school, etc. All of the activities in our centers are based around this back to school theme. I spent a majority of
- [Establishing Routines at the Beginning of the Year](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/establishing-routines-at-beginning-of/) - Back to school for our kids means back to a routine, schedules, and rules (yikes!). My classroom is broken up into very structured areas/centers (click here for a tour). We have 8 students and 8 centers. Throughout the day, we rotate through these centers, and also have group times. To view my beginning of the year
- [Classroom Tour](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/classroom-tour/) - Click below to view each area:
- [Battling the Scheduling Mayhem](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/battling-scheduling-mayhe/) - In my classroom, I follow the structured "TEACCHing" model. I have the classroom broken down into lots of little centers. I have 8 students. To help keep me organized and my students organized, I assign them a color that will stick with them throughout the time they spend in my classroom. Their schedule, schedule cards,
- [Freebie Blog Hop](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/freebie-blog-hop/) - Did we mention how much we love special educators??! Well just to show you how much, 24 of us have joined together to help you start your new year out with a BOOM! We are beyond excited and even more excited for you! Ok, maybe even just a wee bit jealous! :) These 24 awesome
- [Radio Interview with Sheila Jane Teaching](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/radio-interview-with-sheila-jane/) - Click here to listen to my interview with Sheila Jane Teaching. We'll be answering all of the questions from you! :)
- [Giveaway Winner and Back to School Sale!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/giveaway-winner-and-back-to-school-sale/) - Special thanks to everyone that entered our giveaway! A big congrats to Katie! :) For those of you that didn't win, but still want the goodies - go get them while their 28% off!! Steal!!! Here are few goodies you should definitely stock up on during the sale to kick off the school year right!
- [Amazing Back to School Giveaway!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/amazing-back-to-school-giveaway/) - I absolutely adore back to school madness! I love the aisles in Target and Walmart, my annual Ikea trip, 1 cent folders from Office Depot, and the endless hours of printing, cutting, laminating, cutting. Setting up a classroom has become quite a talent of mine, as I always end up moving right before a new
- [Special Educator's Everything Binder {Set Up Video!}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/special-educators-everything-binder-se/) - My days are super busy. Like - don't pee until 5 PM but I've had about 8 cups of coffee to keep going - BUSY! I don't have time to be unorganized. It is not an option! Throughout my short {4 year} teaching career, I've created several forms here and there that have helped me
- [Advice from Mrs. Dixon :) {SPED teacher linky}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/advice-from-mrs-dixon-sped-teacher-linky/) - So, I am a terrible blogger. I mean, the worst! Although I am very active on Instagram & love the teacher community on there - I miss blogging! I'm hoping this fun little summer linky will be a good kick off point to get back at it. Plus, I just put together a HUGE binder
- [The Special Educator's Everything Binder](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/the-special-educators-everything-binder/) - NOW AVAILABLE ON TPT! It's never too early to get organized for the fall!
- [Summer Basic Skills Pack Posted!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/summer-basic-skills-pack-posted/) - Just posted! Perfect for summer school or a summer pack to send home for parents to use!
- [A Day in my AU Classroom: Video Tour of my Workbox System](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/a-day-in-my-au-classroom-video-tour-of/) - I've had a lot of requests for an explanation of my workbox system, so here you all go! Through this system, there is virtually no daily prep for workboxes! We just routinely change them out every month or so as our students master new skills. I hope you like the video tour! I have plans
- [Don't Reinvent the Wheel! {FREE visuals, choice boards, etc, YAY!}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/dont-reinvent-wheel-free-visuals-choice/) - Don't you just LOVE when you come across something that will save you time? Today I found this website, and I screamed I was so happy! FREE boardmaker visuals already pre-made and ready to print! Happy printing, laminating, cutting, and velcro-ing!!!!! :)
- [Earth Day Activities {Craftivity Foldable, Audio Book, Student Readers, & Take Home Activity}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/earth-day-activities-craftivity/) - Earth day is Tuesday, and for ONCE I actually have a product ready! In our classroom, we love to do arts & crafts, but we have to somehow make these projects meaningful to the students and not just "cute." In my new Earth Day pack, I've included an Audio Book PPT (fancy!) and student readers,
- [#willworkforcaltrans  Spotlight on Special Thinker: Diego](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/willworkforcaltrans-spotlight-on/) - Today we get to meet Diego, son of Dori (autism mom & special education teacher, too!) Check her out on Instagram @DORI510 “You need a sign," Diego informed me. He was going to be 5 soon and had just slipped on the wet tile in the kitchen. “Make me one then,” I told him. Famous last
- [Spotlight on Special Thinker: Raiden](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/spotlight-on-special-thinker-raiden/) - Today we meet Raiden, son of Rachel Reynolds (Ms. Rachel's Rainbow Room blog). My Son Raiden Raiden has taught me so much. He has taught me to enjoy the simple things in life. He has taught me about honesty. He teaches me to celebrate daily, no matter how small. He teaches me to dance. He
- [Spotlight on Special Thinker: Georgie!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/spotlight-on-special-thinker-georgie/) - Today we get to meet Georgie & celebrate 9 things his momma loves about him for his 9th birthday! Enjoy :) Meet the Light of my Life, Georgie! Georgie's first walk for Autism Speaks in Chicago (age 3) Georgie was diagnosed with PDD- NOS shortly before his 3rd Birthday. Georgie had no language and had
- [Spotlight on Special Thinker: Mason](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/spotlight-on-special-thinker-mason/) - Today's Spotlight is from Jane Gray from the Kepsup by mammajane shop on Etsy. She is a seller on Etsy I had the pleasure of meeting while I was putting together our Autism Awareness Giveaway. I love her son Mason's story! I am Jane Gray and I have an amazing son Mason, who was diagnosed
- [Spotlight on Special Thinkers Series & Autism Awareness Giveaway {TONS of goodies!}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/spotlight-on-special-thinkers-series/) - Happy Saturday Friends! Today is the first "official" day of my Spring Break and I can't wait to get back into the swing of things with this little ol' blog! I want to catch you up with a few different things we have brewing here at TST and give you a chance to win more
- [Day Three of our Autism Awareness Giveaway {Ryan's Wreath}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/day-three-of-our-autism-awareness/) - Quick post just for the giveaway!! The week before spring break is always soooo busy!! I'll be back to finish the series once things calm down! My classroom always comes first! How cute would this wreath be on your classroom door? This is from onceuponaflowerMW on ETSY ENTER BELOW! Winner will be chosen tomorrow! a
- [Day TWO of our Autism Awareness Giveaway](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/day-two-of-our-autism-awareness-giveaway/) - This post is strickly for the giveaway purposes, but don't worry! More of "A DAY IN AU" series will resume this weekend! Since most schools are becoming more strict about ID badges (for VERY good reasons!), here is a cute little badge reel to keep yours close without that annoying lanyard. I personally can't wear
- [A DAY IN AU: Kitchen Work {PLUS day ONE of the 7-day Autism Awareness Giveaway!!!!}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/a-day-in-au-kitchen-work-plus-day-one/) - After posting the photo below on Instagram (@teachingspecialthinkers), I had a TON of questions about how I set up our kitchen work system. We are SO lucky to have an instructional kitchen attached to our classroom! Not only can we do fun cooking lessons, we can also teach our kiddos some essential functional life skills!
- [A DAY IN AU {Circle Time}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/a-day-in-au-circle-time/) - Circle time is one of my favorite times of the day! There is of course lots of singing and dancing involved and my students have a blast! Thankfully, circle time in our classroom is very animated because we have the luxury of having a promethean board. My students love singing the days and months along
- [A DAY IN AU {Morning Work}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/a-day-in-au-morning-work/) - I didn't start off the year doing morning work, we just went straight into circle time. With time I noticed that if I wanted to get some solid one-to-one work time with some of them, they worked best first thing in the morning! Once they got the hand of the routine, we barely had to
- [A DAY IN AU {Morning Routines: Unpacking}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/a-day-in-au-morning-routines-unpacking/) - For students with autism, the ultimate goal is complete independence. As teachers, we really need to push our students to do functional activities (like unpacking their things) on their on through routine, structure, visuals and work systems. Because we split our kids up at pick-up time, we are able to spend the time needed in the
- [A DAY IN AU {Morning Routines - Student Pick-up}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/a-day-in-au-morning-routines-studen/) - The first morning bell rings. Teachers start scrambling around as the floodgates of the parent pick-up line doors open up and students of all ages start rushing in. This is one of the busiest and most stressful times of the school day for most teachers. In our little classroom.. it's the best start to a
- [A Day in AU Mini-Series :)](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/a-day-in-au-mini-series/) - On day one of this school year, I had a schedule in place. Our schedule today looks TOTALLY different and is so much more functional that those first few weeks when we were still getting to know each other. My students work hard ALL. DAY. LONG. We just intersperse short, frequent breaks to keep us
- [Writing Center Activities](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/writing-center-activities/) - I struggle with writing instruction in my classroom. Even my highest leveled students cannot come up with their own sentences. It is just so difficult to get them to come up with something on their own. They don't struggle with the mechanics of writing (punctuation), they just have trouble writing for the simple sake of writing.
- [Chinese New Year Activities {15 links to freebies}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/chinese-new-year-activities-15-links-to/) - This week, we are going to be learning all about the Chinese New Year. I've been scouring the internet for different activities to do, and I wanted to share! I found TONS of freebies - Check out the links below! Starfall Chinese Fables - Introduction & 6 Fables PBS Kids - Buster's Lucky Year Discovery
- [We Give Books: Another FREE Website!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/we-give-books-another-free-website/) - Just a little fun to end your weekend :) We Give Books I found this website through Pinterest and I am thrilled. Although I personally love storytime with real books, some of my students struggle to stay focused. Thankfully, I have found many ways to supplement this through the use of my Promethean board. This
- [Autism Classroom Workbox System {TONS of pictures!}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/autism-classroom-workbox-system-tons-of/) - Independent workboxes are kind of the meat of my AU classroom. During workbox time, I can observe whether my students have truly mastered skills like I think they have and it gives my students the opportunity to gain some independence with following a system/to-do list without any teacher guidance or prompting. After posting a picture
- [PictureSET: FREE Resources for YOU {& your kiddos with ASD}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/pictureset-free-resources-for-you-your/) - PictureSET is a collection of downloadable visual supports that can be used by students for both receptive and expressive communication in the classroom, at home, and in the community. The search option allows you to find a wide range of useful visual supports for different curriculum areas, activities, and events. Best part... FREEEEEE! :) Sorting Pages! Valentine's
- [Paul V. Sherlock Center - Tons of FREE Adapted Books!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/paul-v-sherlock-center-tons-of-free/) - Thanks to one AMAZING reader, I was introduced to this website a few days ago. Talk about a time saver. TONS and TONS of FREE adapted books - most of the popular titles we already know and love (Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Chrysanthemum, Flat Stanley). Paul V. Sherlock Center Mostly all of the books are
- [My New Love = Adapted Books](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/my-new-love-adapted-books/) - Okay, so I know I am still learning all the Autism ins and outs, but I have found my newest obsession.. Adapted Books! My kids love them, and I love making them! :) Here are three new books I just posted to TPT for my students that are beginning readers/non-writers to complete. Also, have you
- [Starfall Download Center {Literacy Freebies!}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/starfall-download-center-literacy/) - So we all know and love Starfall! I swear it has helped turn some of my non-readers into readers! I just recently discovered the Download Center and hooooly moooooly. My students with Autism respond SO WELL to everything on Starfall and even my lower students can maneuver around the site on the Promethean board or the
- [January Basic Skills {Morning Work or Independent Work}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/january-basic-skills-morning-work-or/) - Just posted my first product geared towards students with Autism! I am constantly searching for activities my non-writers and students that are still learning basic skills, such as matching, tracing, counting, etc. I have been creating monthly themed packets for my students to complete during morning work time and independent work time (binder work). Here
- [2014... I promise to be better! {Plus the ladies that helped me through my first 4 months in AU}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/2014-i-promise-to-be-better-plus-ladies/) - Well, it's no secret that this little blog has been terribly neglected! This school year has had me through a whirlwind (in a good way) and I have SO SO much to write about now that I've had the time to catch my breath! This year, I have been working in a classroom that serves
- [Best Pencil Sharpener for AU Classroom (or ANY classroom)](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/best-pencil-sharpener-for-au-classroo/) - If you teach students with special needs... you know how DISTRACTING pencil sharpeners are. Last year, I removed the pencil sharpener from the wall and constantly hid my electric one because of all the issues I had with noise. This year, I am in a setting where a lot of my students have very sensitive
- [Pumpkins are my FAVORITE {Freebies Galore!}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/pumpkins-are-my-favorite/) - I simply adore fall. I love the clothes, the weekend festivities, the holidays, & all the fun things we do at school to celebrate! This week, I have been totally infatuated with pumpkin everything. Here's a run-down of what we've done so far.. Just click on the links to download your freebies! Paper Mache Pumpkins
- [A Camping We Will Go!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/a-camping-we-will-go/) - I'm playing catch up so please forgive me! Last month, we did a fun camping unit instead of the usual September units. Here are lots of pictures :) All of the file folder activities are from my Basic Skills Camp Packet. My living room looked a little bare for a few weeks during this unit
- [Splat! Interactive 100s Chart](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/splat-interactive-100s-char/) - Just discovered this and it. is. fantastic. If you have a smartboard/promethean in your classroom, imagine all the possibilities! BTW-my new classroom has a promethean! THE BEST EVER! Counting by 2s, 5s, 10s, etc.. Adding/Subtracting Practice For subtraction, have the students splat the bigger number, then click away the amount being taken away (It makes
- [I'm back.... finally!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/im-back-finally/) - Sorry for going AWOL on everyone! I've been a terrible, no good, very bad blogger. I have a good excuse :) 2 weeks before school started, my husband got offered a new job, and we moved to North Carolina! This is the first time I've ever lived outside of WV. So far, I looooove it!
- [winner winner chicken dinner](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/winner-winner-chicken-dinner/) - this is gonna be short & sweet because my entire life has just about turned upside down. more on that soooooon :) :) :) Congrats Rae from Mindful Rambles on winning the giveaway! Need your e-mail, girl! :)
- [Phonics Interactive Notebooks for Short Vowels {Follower Giveaway - enter to win!}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/phonics-interactive-notebooks-for-shor/) - I love love love teaching phonics to my littles and struggling readers, but it can be super boring for them sometimes unless we play games or make it hands on somehow.. Introducing...... My first installment of my Phonics Interactive Notebook! SHORT VOWELS! Click any of the pictures to view on TPT! Scroll down to here
- [Guess what today is....](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/guess-what-today-is/) - I'm at the beach so forgive me for not posting a lot.. I had to post this though.. They should do this for teachers..
- [DIY Pinwheel Wreath Tutorial {Monday Made It}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/diy-pinwheel-wreath-tutorial-monday/) - This is going to be a super quick Monday Made It post because I am on vacation! :) I made this wreath to hang up in one of my classroom windows or on the door. The pinwheels are super easy to make. You can use double sided scrapbook paper, or just glue to sheets together!
- [Sunday Funday Instagrammies](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/sunday-funday-instagrammies_21/) - How it works: All you need to do to link up is show off your favorite school related & non-school related Instagram photos from the week! If you follow me on Instagram, you know I love taking pics & I looove all the fun apps there are to pretty up my photos! I can't wait
- [A Strategy & A Snack: Warning Signal and Homemade Garlic Hummus!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/a-strategy-snack-warning-signal-and/) - Hi all! Incase you didn't catch this last week, I've decided to host my own little linky on Saturdays! For this linky, just write up a quickie post about one of your favorite classroom strategies and share about a favorite snack you like to make! With football season approaching, I need some new ideas for
- [Be Proactive: Staying ahead of the scheduling mayhem](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/be-proactive-staying-ahead-of/) - At the beginning of the school year, creating your schedule as a special educator can be daunting, especially if you are doing a mixture of co-teaching and in resource setting, and your schedule depends on everyone else’s schedules. Although your schedule will change throughout the year, getting organized before school starts will benefit you tremendously, and give
- [DIY Paper Lanterns & Pinwheel Wreath Tutorials](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/diy-paper-lanterns-pinwheel-wrea/) - As a continuation of yesterdays post, I would like to show you how I made my paper lanterns! Next month, these lovelies will be hanging in my classroom! If you would like to see other items I have created for my classroom, click on the pictures below to go to the tutorials! Stay tuned for
- [DIY Paper Pinwheels Tutorial {Monday Made It}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/diy-paper-pinwheels-tutorial-monday/) - Don't paper pinwheels just make you smile? For my classroom this year, I wanted the atmosphere to be cheerful & happy, but I didn't want to use a specific theme or set on certain colors. Rather, I just wanted my room to be a definition of my style, which is very shabby chic/vintage mixed with
- [I finally got a Facebook page!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/i-finally-got-facebook-page/) - I finally got a facebook page! Like me on facebook to receive updates on the blog, freebies, and giveaways! A "fan only" freebie page is in the works, so be sure that you don't miss out! Click on the picture below to go to the page!
- [Sunday Funday Instagrammies!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/sunday-funday-instagrammies/) - Instagram has provided teachers a quick and fun way to share the amazing things going on inside and outside our classrooms! I love being nosey & seeing what everyone is doing {& buying!!} Since I am a huge fan of the Grammy Awards, but they only happen once a year, I decided to host my
- [A Strategy & A Snack: Answer First Strategy & Baked Chick Peas!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/a-strategy-snack-answer-first-strategy/) - Who doesn't love snacks? & what teacher doesn't like a few new teaching strategies to get the kids excited! So starting today, and every Saturday after this, I am going to start my own little linky party.... If you would like to join in, just share a quick strategy you like to use in your teaching {delivery
- [The reason I don't get anything done.... {Fav Pins Friday}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/the-reason-i-dont-get-anything-done-fav/) - Hi guys! I'm linking up with Cara from The First Grade Parade for her Favorite Pins Friday Linky! I love me some pinterest, esp. while in traffic {hehe} or while I waiting for something {dr. office, oil change, etc.} Here are a few of my fav. pins from this week! I love the industrial look
- [Be Proactive: Setting Clear Guidelines for Ipad Usage in the Classroom{Freebie!}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/be-proactive-setting-clear-guidelines/) - I consider myself very blessed to have Ipads for my classroom. My students absolutely love “playing” on them, and I use them as a reward for good behavior/work. I will also set up an Ipad station from time to time if I can find an app or a website that pertains to the lesson. From
- [Be Proactive - Get organized by using checklists for everything! {Freebie & App Review!}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/be-proactive-get-organized-by-using/) - As a sped teacher, I have a million "tasks" to do every. single. day. I am sure most ALL of you can relate!! When the school year begins and I have my schedule, minutes, and goals all organized, I like to create checklists for just about everything {Before school routine, Morning routine, Specific classroom set-up routines, Lesson
- [DIY Button Push Pins && Fraction Pack Giveaway Winners!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/fraction-pack-giveaway-winners-monday/) - Hello all! Does anyone else feel like summer is FLYING by? I hate it. I have accomplished nothing! Any who... I got a little crafty today for the Monday Made-it Linky with Fourth Grade Frolics Last month, I made a giant chevron corkboard for my classroom. Well, plan old push-pins don't do this guy justice,
- [You want a piece of this? {New Fraction Packet Giveaway!}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/you-want-piece-of-this-new-fraction/) - Hi all! I have FINALLY finished what I think may be my new favorite product on TPT! I love fractions - they can be so hands-on and fun when students understand their functionality! Here is a little look at my newest project! PHEW! Now for the fun part - leave a short comment telling me
- [bloglovin switch!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/bloglovin-switc/) - hi all! since google reader is going bye-bye, here is the option to start following me through bloglovin I am linking up with Tori over at Tori's teaching tips to help spread the word about the move! Head on over for some easy step-by-step directions for making the switch {whether you are a blog writer
- [It's no secret... #teacherslovetarget](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/its-no-secret-teacherslovetarge/) - For teachers, Target is like heaven on earth. It is where we find our cutesie clothes, home candy, & all things teachery {helllllo dollar spot!}. All on a teacher's budget. I personally make up excuses 2-3X per week just to take that 5 minute trip out to Target, just because I just never know what I will
- [Saturday isn't just for Kate Spade...](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/saturday-isnt-just-for-kate-spade/)
- [DIY Chevron Corkboard {tons of pics!}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/diy-chevron-corkboard-tons-of-pics/) - I don't think it is a secret that I love all things CHEVRON. I'm a bit obsessed, but not too obsessed to spend a bazillion bucks on something I could easily make myself. Here are the easiest directions I could come up to make this cutie. It's so big and perfect for a classroom to
- [Working together for the benefit of the students: Collaboration in the classroom from a special educator’s point of view](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/working-together-for-benefit-of_18/) - Happy Birthday to me!! As a SPED teacher, I have been given the opportunity to work with a ton of different teachers. Sometimes these relationships can be challenging at first until you get to know and understand each other, while sometimes you click with each other like peanut butter and jelly! Come visit me at
- [Lock in Success - Student Gift for soon to be Middle Schoolers!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/lock-in-success-student-gift-for-soon/) - My 4th grade students are leaving me to embark on a new journey at the middle school. At the middle school, they will have lockers so one of the items they have to purchase for next year is a lock. So here was my end of the year graduation gift to them! These were super
- [Be Proactive: Getting to know your students {before you actually meet them}](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/be-proactive-getting-to-know-your_28/) - When you are first hired as a special ed teacher at a school, whether it is at the beginning of the school year or the day before school starts, there are so many logistical things that are necessary to do to ensure you have a successful school year. Since I have my multi-categorical sped certification
- [Five for Friday!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/five-for-friday/) - Every week I have full intentions on doing this, and then Friday comes and goes and it doesn't happen! For some reason, I have been able to be totally caught up on blogging {4x in one week?!} Here we go... {one} My fourth graders are about to leave me! Middle School is a whole different ball
- [Be Proactive: 10 ways to use Google Docs to collect and store data!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/be-proactive-10-ways-to-use-google-docs/) - As I mentioned on my post here, Google Drive is a beautiful thing for special educators and regular ed teachers alike! If you need some help setting it up, check out this post. For those of us that are blessed to have Ipads, it gets even better. Google Drive has its own app to download
- [Summer Bucket List Linky](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/summer-bucklet-list-linky/) - I’m linking up with A Cupcake for the Teacher with my Summer Bucket List! {Professional Goals} I have a lot of school related goals for this summer, but I am most excited about my Be Proactive summertime series and developing my blog and my TPT store more. I never have enough time during the
- [Be Proactive: Using Google Docs to Collect Data for IEP Goals!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/be-proactive-using-google-docs-to/) - As most of you know and maybe some of you are about to find out very soon, special educators have a daunting amount of paperwork to go along with all the other tasks we do on a daily basis. This paperwork is very important, tedious, and requires so so so much time that sometimes we
- [Coming Soon!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/coming-soon/) - After graduating with my masters in special education and elementary education, I thought I already knew everything about how to be an effective teacher. Cue the slap in the face! Learning how to be a teacher is so much more than what you learn in your college years or during your student teaching experiences when
- [#teacher talk tuesday](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/teacher-talk-tuesday/) - I'm always a little late to the game... Follow me on Instagram @teachingspecialthinkers Join in on the fun - #teachertalktuesday
- [Please, Pardon the Interruption!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/please-pardon-interruption/) - My blog will be look all kinds of crazy for the next few days as I am giving it a face lift! I want something new & fresh! Please bear with me during this time :)
- [Curb Those Testing Jitters!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/curb-those-testing-jitters/) - Hi all! Just wanted to write up a quick post during "testing season" to pass on a few tips on how I keep my students on point during testing time. A lot of kids tend to get the testing jitters, even though they won't admit it. To help out, give 'em a little boost of
- [Giveaway Winners and MORE amazing giveaways to enter! Plus a SALE](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/giveaway-winners-and-more-amazing/) - After a week of entries - I am so so so excited to announce the winners of my Final Countdown Giveaway! These ladies better get ready for some major goodies to start springing up in their emails! I had such a good time hosting this giveaway! I met some amazing bloggie friends and I am
- [FINAL COUNTDOWN GIVEAWAY - OVER 100 PRODUCTS!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/final-countdown-giveaway-over-100/) - Summer is SO CLOSE and let's be honest, those last few weeks can drag on and on! Brighten up those weeks by entering for your chance to win all these products from some fantastic people! You can enter for one, or for all (better option). Blogging/facebooking/tweeting/pinteresting gives you the opportunity to enter DAILY for
- [A List of Apps for teaching Social Skills & ASD](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/a-list-of-apps-for-teaching-socia/) - This is going to be a quick post, but I just came across a lovely little goldmine and I wanted to share it with you all. I am constantly searching for new apps on my Ipad to help teach social skills to my students with autism. Although I have found a lot on my own,
- [Trouble with short & long VCe vowels (Quick Giveaway!)](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/trouble-with-short-long-vce-vowels/) - Sometimes it clicks, and sometimes it doesn't.. a few of my little cuties are struggling hard with remembering the vowel rules for short vowels and long VCe vowels. We have gone over each individually, but when they are all mixed together they just can't seem to hang onto what they've learned. To help them out, I made
- [Solar System: Moon Phases](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/solar-system-moon-phases/) - Today we continued learning about the solar system, specifically the moon phases. I got these FREE Moon Phase Mini-Book printables from scholastic and we completed these together after reading the section in the book about moon phases. It also includes a fillable month for each evenings moon. We went over the moon phases once more through
- [PHONICS VOWEL FLIP BOOKS - QUICK GIVEAWAY!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/phonics-vowel-flip-books/) - Most of my kiddos are struggling readers. As I've wrote about before, I'm a huge fan of using Orton Gillingham materials to teach phonics. I just wanted to give you a little peak at my newest product on TPT. My students love these, and they help them become more proficient in learning more words because
- [Solar System: Rotating and Revolving](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/solar-system-rotating-and-revolving/) - I'm back! This week, my third graders are learning about the solar system. To kick off this unit, I wanted them to know the difference between how the Earth rotates around it's axis versus how the Earch revolves around the sun. To start off, we looked at a globe and learned about the term "axis"
- [I've been missing!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/ive-been-missing/) - To my wonderful followers: Sorry for being M.I.A. lately. I have many projects in the works and I am so backed up on things I want to share. My husband is a basketball coach and the season just ended, so we have been having lots of fun together! I will be back to posting in
- [Helpful Organization for those Forgetful Students](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/helpful-organization-for-those/) - I have a few students who really struggle with any assignments that are outside of school homework assignments {daily, weekly, book reports, etc). I do morning check-ins and afternoon check-outs to help my students stay organized. In the morning, they come right in the room, show me their homework from the previous night, and if it
- [Helping Students with Autism Transition to Middle School](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/helping-students-with-autism-transition/) - In my county, students go to middle school in 5th grade. For students with autism, this transition can be suuuuper scary, especially for the parents. Incase you need some ideas to give parents or for yourself on how to help your students (even those transitioning to high school), go visit this site: Getting Ready for
- [Great Fluency Resource](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/great-fluency-resource/) - A lot of my students struggle with fluency on top of their struggle with reading. Although most of them are able to pick apart a word based on learning reading strategies, they still struggle with their fluency when reading a passage out loud. On top of decoding, I have been using a fluency program my county
- [Graphic Organizer Freebie](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/graphic-organizer-freebie/) - Hi loves, Just wanted to drop by on this relaxing Sunday to leave you with a freebie and a link to an awesome giveaway going on over at Teaching And Tapas! I use this graphic organizer every week after I read the weekly story with my small groups. Since I pull so many students at different
- [Division with Manipulatives](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/division-with-manipulatives/) - This post is going to be quick, but still has a nice little tip in it. My students HAVE to have hands-on manipulatives in math. It helps them so much and fully engages them into the concept they are working on. To introduce division, I went full hands-on using colored tiles, slates, markers/erasers. During this
- [LIEBSTER X2](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/liebster-x2/) - Leigh from The Applicious Teacher was such a sweetie for nominating me for the Liebster Award! This is my second time being nominated -- I'm so grateful! When you get a chance, go check her out! & here are the answers to Leigh's Questions: Thanks for the nomination, Leigh!
- [IEP Checklist FREEBIE & Caseload Binder](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/iep-checklist-freebie/) - Since I am a control freak and checklist-obsessed, I created this little puppy to help me stay on track when I have an IEP meeting coming up for one of my students. I figured if it was helpful for me, it may be helpful for another SPED teacher. Anything to lighten the load! If you want a free copy, click
- [Comparing Numbers](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/comparing-numbers/) - I am a math lover, but doing a lesson on comparing numbers can be booooooooring.. and my little lovebugs will agree! I try to make anything and everything into a game/hands-on activity because my clientel of students tend to be a little distracted, fidgety, and totally uninterested in normal math bookwork. So, to get over this little
- [Human Number Line](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/human-number-line/) - As a little introduction lesson to number lines, I decided to do a little movement activity. First I had the students help me fill in a number like that was missing some numbers on it. Then, we did a short activity on greater than/less than on the table. To do this, I would pick two
- [Snow Day Accomplishments!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/snow-day-accomplishments/) - Don't you hate it when those that are not teachers LOVE to bring up the fact that our jobs are cake because we get off at 3 and have summers off. Those same people always have snide remarks about snow days. Well I would like to say that we had a snow day today, and
- [Magic E Featuring Long A Vowel & TARGET FINDS](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/magic-e-featuring-long-vowel-targe/) - We are finally getting through some Phonic instruction without all the awful inturruption of Benchmarking. This week, we had a little fun with my newest packet....   The Incredible, Magical "e" - Featuring Long Vowel "a" To introduce this magical creature, I started with a little mini-lesson on example and non-example words and had
- [Spelling/Vocab Activities & Writing SHOW-OFF Sentences!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/spellingvocab-activities-writing-show/) - Spelling packets for weekly homework can be a pretty boring, daunting task for our students. The 4th grade teachers I work with decided to spice it up a bit from now on and gave their students an option sheet. There are about 10 different options and each option has a point value. The students have
- [GIVE ME TEN - Writing HELP!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/give-me-ten-writing-help/) - Last semester, our school had Cheryl Ware (author) visit our school. While visiting, she was kind enough to meet with each grade level and do a presentation on writing. Lucky for me, she was giving her presentations in my room! I learned lots, and so did the kids! One resource Cheryl brought was a graphic organizer that looked similar
- [Shel Silverstein & Initial Consonant Blend Goodies!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/shel-silverstein-initial-consonan/) - I've pretty much claimed our poor library's copy of A Light In the Attic as my own. My students LOVE Shel Silverstein's poems. They think he is just NUTS, and they love them some CrAzY!! SOO naturally, I sneakily use this to my advantage and we use his poems to practice some phonics! Today, we
- [Sensory Overload!! & Some Phonics Final Blends](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/sensory-overload-phonics-nk-ng-fina/) - As a SPED Teacher, I do A LOT of phonics instruction & teach reading strategies to try to catch my students up with their grade level in reading - heck, just to catch them up to a first grade reading level. Currently, I’m following the lessons in The ABC’s of O-G: The Flynn System, which has been a great resource. I
- [Sight Word Ring](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/sight-word-ring/) - As I said in this post, I am starting to use the Orton Gillingham approach to help my struggling readers. A big issue with my students is sight words. They just can't get them down. When I introduce a new sight word, I color code it either green, yellow, or red. Green words can be sounded
- [Currently & Resolutions](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/currently-resolutions/) - I'm linking up with Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for this months currently. I just looooove Sheldon from the Big Bang Thoery - I watch it almost everyday. Plus, my hubby got me the seasons for Christmas, so I will be wasting Sundays watching old school episodes! Another favorite Christmas present
- [Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/silence-for-sandy-hook-elementary/)
- [Classroom](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/classroo/) - Due to the fact that we didn’t move to our new town until the week before school started and I didn’t actually start at my school until the third day of school, there was no time for decorating my classroom. The beginning of my year consisted of getting paperwork organized, holding IEPs, and aligning all
- [Place Value Stamp-It Activities](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/place-value-stamp-it-activities/) - Right now, a lot of my students are working on place value and the different number forms. To make this process a little more fun, I tried to use a more hands-on approach versus forcing them to write endless expanded and word form problem after problem. We practice a lot with base ten blocks, but I was
- [Show Kids You Care - Lunch Bunch](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/show-kids-you-care-lunch-bunc/) - At a training a while back, I received a long foldable titled "150 ways to show kids you care." A lot of the things listed on this sheet are things most teachers already do, but after starring at it behind my desk on a daily basis, it finally got me thinking today how much pressure we put on
- [December Currently!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/december-currently/) - Can't believe it's December already, but I am super excited about all things included around Christmas time. I linked up with Farley over at Oh Boy 4th Grade to do this months currently. Check it out! :) I don't have much time to go into detail about this tonight, but I must say I am
- [Good Notes Home](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/good-notes-home/) - This week has been a busy one at school! We had a visit from an author, Cheryl Ware. She met with each grade level and did a little student writer's workshop with the students. They loved it! I will be posting on one of the strategies she used with them that I really enjoyed soon. Until
- [Student Offices](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/student-offices/) - After reading the Clutter Free Classroom's Post on creating student offices, I knew exactly what I was going to spend my Saturday doing. Since we just moved, we have a HUGE pile of barely used boxes stacked in our basement that we have been too lazy to recycle. In 10 minutes, I cut out ten
- [The Liebster Award](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/the-liebster-award/) - Today I was pleasantly surprised with a little comment from Jayme over at Trendy in Third about nominating me for the Liebster Award, and I am so grateful! This award is given to up and coming bloggers with 200 or less followers. Thanks so much, Jayme! Make sure you check out her blog, it is
- [Happy Thanksgiving!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/happy-thanksgiving/) - Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I had high hopes that this week off would help me get a little more organized with the whole blogging scene, but I've been enjoying the company of my friends and family too much to get on a computer! I am so thankful that I have had the past week to catch up with everyone I've
- [Word Problem Detectives](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/word-problem-detectives/) - As I've already said, we are going to start hitting addition and subtraction word problems hard in my math classes since the students really struggle with them. I already discussed how we've been using white boards and markers to practice here, but my little cuties often forget to write down the correct information, and then
- [Quick Teaching Tip - Paper Cutter](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/quick-teaching-tip-paper-cutter/) - I love downloading goodies from TPT, but I absolutely despise cutting out a million little flashcards out of cardstock, laminating, then cutting out another million flashcards all over again. Something I despise every more than cutting is crooked cutting marks from scissors. Alas, my best friend... This is my Portable 9-inch Craft Paper Trimmer. I
- [Basic Fact Fluency & Picking Apart Those Pesky Word Problems](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/basic-fact-fluency-picking-apart-those/) - Problem #1: My 3rd and 4th grade students are still using their fingers, the 100s chart, or number line to add even the most basic addition problems {ex. 3 + 4} Since the beginning of this school year, I’ve noticed that my students can’t quickly solve basic addition problems with sums up to 20 and
- [Fabulous Giveaways!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/fabulous-giveaways/) - I have some other posts brewing, but I wanted to make a quick mention of some fantastic giveaways going on right now in the spirit of Thanksgiving. Go check out Cindy at Granny Goes to School where she teamed up with 4 other teachers to host some great gift card giveaways (Target!) and while you're
- [A little chat about social skills - FREEBIE](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/a-little-chat-about-social-skills/) - I have a few students that really need some help with their social skills. We have a few programs at our school that work on school norms, but nothing to really target the other skills my students need. For the purposes of their individual needs, I usually see the kids one-on-one to go over comics
- [How to add your blog link to a comment](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/how-to-add-your-blog-link-to-commen/) - This quick post is for Lindsay @ Keeping Up With Kindergarten Hopefully it will help others too! If you want to leave a link to your blog after your name when you comment on someone else's post, just type in the following code: 1. Enter your information into the code below. Here is what mine looks
- [Here's to November - my first currently!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/heres-to-november-my-first-currently/) - I'm so excited for this post. After years of blog stalking and reading hundreds (probably thousands) of these, I'm finally doing one! listening: I kind of stink at finding music on my own, which is why I adore Pandora. When I find a band I like, I type it in and listen away. No muss,
- [ADHD: How to Help Those "Wiggle-worms"](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/adhd-how-to-help-those-wiggle-worms/) - I came across this article and found the information to be clear and to the point about students with ADHD. If you or another teacher in your school has a student that has difficulty staying still in class, please read: ADHD Hope Newsletter: Why won't this child stay in his seat? A few things I
- [Organization = Happiness.. PLUS MY 1ST FREEBIE!](https://teachingspecialthinkers.com/organization-happiness-plus-my-1s/) - With the unbelievable amount of paperwork, it is sometimes hard to find the balance between lesson planning, collecting data, writing IEP's, parent communication, teacher communication, and ACTUALLY teaching. I am the queen of charts, check-lists and to-do lists! Any time I feel unorganized, stress takes over, and I don’t perform as well as I can.

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