Task Analysis Tracking Sheet for SPED Students | FREE DOWNLOAD

My first years of teaching were in a self contained SPED setting. Students were learning how to complete life skills activities such as laundry, dishes, walking to and from places independently etc. 

To keep track of their progress I used a task analysis-tracking sheet. This allows you to separate all the steps and assess the student on each step individually. Once you know what steps they struggle with you can teach it until it becomes independent. This form can be used on any task you ask students to complete. 

When you are assessing a student you always want to let them try it independently first, and then keep going down the list of supports from low support to high support. Here is the order in which prompts should be given. 

1. Independent
2. Gesture
3. Verbal
4. Physical (hand over hand)

Here is a site that has more in-depth training on task analysis. http://mast.ecu.edu/modules/ta/concept/

Attached is a FREE download of a task analysis sheet for you to use in your classroom and below is an example of how I use it. 

Homework Scrabble | Whole Class Homework Incentive | FREE DOWNLOAD

While students are still held accountable for completing their individual homework having a class homework incentive makes it a group effort and builds a team atmosphere. I had many students who struggled to get their homework in on time so I started a whole class homework incentive. I first just had tallies on the board but that was just not exciting enough and didn’t show when the goal was complete.

I then thought about making homeworkoply but I didn’t have room in my classroom nor did I think it helped because the class wouldn’t get rewards at a set amount since it was based on rolling a dice. After much thought I came up with homework scrabble!

The goal is for the whole class to turn in 7 days of homework. Every time the whole class completes their homework you or a student can color in one letter square. When all the letters in homework is filled in they have reached their goal!!! Some of you might be thinking, “Ummmmm Elle homework has 8 letter not 7.” And you are correct but since it is scrabble I made them cross at the “o” making it 7 on the poster. 

  I have my class vote what reward they want to work for but you can decide what the reward for your class is your self too. Once there is a reward you write it in the bottom corner under reward. 

After making the homework goal a class effort we have had fewer missing homework assignments as they all keep each other accountable and make sure their classmates have done their homework. Also those individuals now know it’s not just about them any more and don’t want to let their friends down. If you have a student who still doesn’t turn in homework you can choose to keep giving the class a square and when the goal is reached not allow that student to participate in the reward. 

Download the FREE PDF Scrabble Template HERE!

JUST PRINT AND LAMINATE!

THEN YOU ARE READY TO PLAY HOMEWORK SCRABBLE

Reading Intervention Program | 6 Minute Solution | Free Downloads

Every day reading is very important for growth. It is hard to find the time but a great solution is this great free program “6 minute solution”.  This program only takes 6 minutes and come with easy to follow instructions. Students can practice their fluency skill everyday!!!

6 Minute Solution Website

There are three different levels, primary, intermediate, and secondary. So whatever grade you teach this is something you can use! This can also go home as homework for parent participation goals. 

The website just has the passages but I will add each full book for you to download. They include all instructions on how to use the program and all passages in each level. 

Click here for K - Third Grade

Click here for Third - Sixth Grade

Click Here for Sixth - Ninth Grade

Click here for a Free Parent Participation Guide

Missing Homework Log | Free Download

I don’t know about you, but I seem to always have students missing homework! If you don’t, you must tell me where you teach, I am so there!!!!

I struggled with how to keep my resource students (any students) accountable for their missing homework assignments with out taking a ton of time out of class when they don’t turn it in. I tried detention slips, missing HW slips that went home to parents etc. you name it, I tried it but it was too much work on my part when it was the students that should be responsible. 

I created a missing HW binder that I keep right next to my turn in bin and as I call students up to turn in their HW if they don’t have it they open the binder, find their name and fill out what they are missing and why. 

WHAT A TIME SAVER!!! Not to mention parents have reacted very well to this since it is not just me telling them their child’s excuse(s) for not having HW, but instead they can now read it in their child’s own handwriting.  

Administrators seem to like this form as well, so if they every get sent with a referral for habitual missing HW, the administrator can see when and how frequent there has been missing assignments. Further more, if they ever get in school suspension or lunch detention it is so quick and easy to see what work they need with out going into your grade book, which you are probably behind on because lets face it, there is so much to grade it blows our minds!!! 

I hope this form works for you as well. If you try it out let me know!! Click Here for the full FREE download. 

Easy Classroom Rewards for Students | FREE Download

As teachers we are all always thinking of ways to promote good behavior, while also discouraging negative behaviors. Rewards and Incentives are a great way to achieve this!

We all have different ways to track our classroom behaviors with color charts, clips, etc. Here are some easy rewards students can earn that really seem to encourage good behavior in my classroom. Some also help to create positive relationships between you and the students, which is proven to help them in the classroom because they will feel more comfortable. It also never hurts to be funny! Students love that! ☺ 

1. A Zombie Ate My Homework  “Homework Pass”
2. Sit at teachers desk for one class period
3. Have a fun lunch with the teacher
4. Computer or IPAD time

These are the ones I have made tickets for. This way student’s held responsible for redeeming them and it has their name, date earned, and teacher initials. Many times students will try to use other student’s rewards or find a blank one but those will not count. 

When my students come in for lunch we usually play an IPAD game talk about what ever it is they are interested in and they keep coming back so it must be working! They also love sitting at my desk while I teach a lesson and in a teacher chair, don’t know why but they love this! Another popular item students choose of course is a homework pass because what student likes homework? I have an obsession with zombies and in my classroom we have Plants vs. Zombies all over, so of course I made a zombie ate my homework pass. 

Hope these ticket rewards are a hit in your classroom too, Click here for the full FREE download! 

             

   

MAZE Reading Passage Generator | Understanding While Silent Reading

At my new school there is a MAZE reading comprehension test the students take and I felt I needed to teach that strategy so they could apply it on a test, but there were no materials to do so.

I searched high and low for MAZE comprehension passages online and found few to none for free. Of course, because I think it is crazy that people expect us poor teachers to pay for these resources I kept searching. 

A co-teacher of mine would write her own but of course not a whole reading passage but a couple sentences for her students to practice on homework. This takes so much time and as teachers, our time is precious! After days of searching I finally found a website that you can paste a fluency passage in and it will generate a MAZE reading passage from it. I felt like the clouds to heaven had parted. I was so excited!

MAZE Passage Generator (Click Here)

 I have been using it to assign as homework and as a weekly practice test. Discussing strategies to picking the correct word and having practice I have seen major improvement in scores.

• What is MAZE comprehension?
• It is a task that measures how well students understand text that they read silently. After the first sentence, words in the reading passage are replaced with the correct word and two distracters. Students choose the word from among the three choices that fits best with the sentence. The MAZE is different from traditional comprehension that is based completely on text. 
• Why test MAZE?
• Capable readers understand syntax of what they read and meanings of words as they are used in the text. Some readers with reading difficulties can’t comprehend what they read well enough to choose words based on semantic and syntactic accuracy.  The MAZE reading assessment identifies these students and measures the changes in their reading behaviors as a result of instruction and practice.

Example of a MAZE scored:

Math Facts Practice | How to Keep Kids Interested

Every week we have Math Masters tests that vary for each grade level.  We all know timed tests and math facts practice can be overwhelming and not too exciting for students. To keep them motivated and interested in practicing these skills I have done a couple things. 

1. Math and Color Website (click here)
• A teacher friend shared this website with me last year and it does have things to buy but also so much for FREE! We all know I love the word FREE!!! Students have to solve the math fact in the box and use to key at the bottom to determine what color the answer tells them to color it. If they solve the facts correctly they will see the picture appear! ☺ This has been so motivating for my students to keep practicing. 

(This is a preview of what you can find on the site linked above)

2. I found a couple different sites that have worksheets that help them practice the same skill in different ways so they don’t get bored. 

http://www.worksheetworks.com/math/basic-operations.html

http://www.softschools.com/math/worksheets/

(These are previews of what you can find on the sites linked above)