The last two weeks have been NUTS. Pulling schedules together at the beginning of the year is always crazy but in the last two week I had days where both mine and my para's schedule changed twice before lunch. Really-I have to say--I just want to get started and not deal with that mess. But I think it's finial all worked out and I can get down to business.

When my building does flext testing, one things that all students kindergarten to fourth grade are tested on the 500 High Frequency words. The hope being like with phonics instruction that ALL students know all of them and it becomes a non issue when students move through the RTI process. This year, I have taken that insane list word words and broken it down into groups of fifty and color coded them. Creating Super Hero High Frequency Words.

Each fifty words is a different color with word cards, graphes for reading and spelling, and labels to for students to brag about their accomplishment. I have added two of my favorite fluency building games one with dice and the other uses a timer and can be built of specific student needs. This packet is perfect for RTI and small groups. You can find at my store here.

I'm giving away three to the first three people of leave a comment on my blog. Make sure you leave your email address, so I can send you your freebie. Have a great week. Stay cool!!

A little background-This year, I have a student with autism who has limited verbal skills. This poses a small problem when being assessed on the DRA. As all my fellow teachers know the first part of the book is read aloud (depending on the level some more than others) with the comprehension either completed verbally or in writing.

In small group, he has had great success when he has prompts like the 5 "W's" or when he does his retell in pictures. But because the district has said, it must be administered as per the directions-which don't provide accommodations for these sort of things. My team and I have been working on coming up with ways that we could get a better idea of where he is truly an independent reader. Even though we have to us the DRA as written, we can create a way that takes the verbal piece mostly out of the picture and use that to drive his instruction.

My hope is that I'll have a product that will drive instruction and not just a DRA number. The student I designed this form has been out sick. So I'll have more to share next week. Have a great long weekend.

Throughout the previous school year, I collected 200 plus apps for student use. The problem-well-there is no way we would use all of them. So I had to come up with a plan on how I wanted to start the year off. That plan had to include attacking SAMR.

I reported this past Monday. Things have been nuts. I have a new team mate and new leadership again this year. So I'm little CRAZY right now. I've spent my week in training but I have a little freebie to help out your classroom teachers know a little about their IEPs. Yes, they should read the IEPs but we all know how nuts those the first week is.They don't have time to talk, since they have to get rooms ready before Back to School night. But knowing something of them as they are getting up and running is huge. I leave this with them and get back to them by the end of the first week. By Friday they are a little less nuts.

Everything in my store will be on sale Sunday and Monday. Make sure to check out the Special Education Binder (it has all the forms you you need and is editable) http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Special-Education-Binder-Editable-746955and the first 2 units for 1st Grade Math Investigations Units are backwards planned and ready for daily lesson planning http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Investigations-Mathematics-Adding-and-Subtracting-within-20-to-Solve-Problems-794139 and http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Investigations-Mathematics-Counting-Large-Quantities-and-Making-Ten-809094.

My fellow Colorado Bloggers and Pinners are also selling on TpT have some great products that you should check out:

Jean Martin's best selling novel study for Wonder by R.J. Palacio.  It is is wonderful book and teaches kids of all ages about tolerance and acceptance for kids who are different. Also promotes the understanding that who we are on the inside is what really counts.  This is a 5-8 novel study.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/A-Novel-Study-for-WONDER-by-RJ-Palacio-395229

Kristy Morris's kindergarten one and second grade writing journals are a big hit with her students.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Language-Review-Week-to-Week-The-Complete-Set-442491

Wanting ice cream, then Ashlyn Ellsworth's states of matter pack fits the bill. I love this product because first off I use it with my first graders and made this because there wasn't much out there to meet my science needs! The pack is easy to use and the kids love it. The science experiments are great.

Have fun shopping. I have a great week coming up and looking forward to seeing my students again. Enjoy the end of school and getting back to school.

I'm sure I'm not alone when it comes down to downing apps with the promise to play with them all later. Figure out which ones will work best for what and which ones are not so good. So in the ten months since I received my iPads I figure I have downloaded close to 200+ apps. Some great and others I wish I got remove from my cloud.

I prefer having my apps organized by Bloom's thinking which they have been since the beginning. (I talk about that in an earlier post there.) The problem was that keeping them all organized was tough. This year I'm moving to more SAMR thinking, so the apps that I want my students to be need to provide more than one way of thinking. Many are student favorites like Explain Everything and Haiku Deck. Others are plug and play like magnetic letters and all the math practice apps.

The plan this year is to "Teach Above the Line" when students use technology.  The apps I have pulled together represent a couple from each bubble with the plan being that these are the apps students will use the most and are now easy to find since they are not buried.

With hope, I will not take students to long to understand how we use apps when they come and I get some great products.  I'm back to school soon. Keep an eye out for my up-coming sale at my Teacher pay Teachers store. Enjoy summer while it lasts.

 The standards are color coded and are broken down for easy navigation. From this menu, I can open up the standards to the specific grade level targets.

 The piece that I really love is once I open the specific target are the strategies. They provide other ideas in how to work on the target. From there I have the option to enter notes, precursors and successors for that target. I love that fact that I don't have to go looking to for the information what skills they should have mastered todo the grade level skill. And if students have mastered the grade level skill how to push the skill to the next level. I can send the task to classroom teachers with the share button. Mentoring Minds highlights if there is something they don't need to  know at a specific grade level. (Love this!)


The second section Strategies  has tons of information from accommodations and management to RTI and Critical Thinking. Each one has a page of ideas that can be easily implemented. Think twenty books in one place-makes planning with twenty books to one app. Just like there flipped charts in all right there. No more trying to remember where my Depth of Knowledge chart is or where the question stems are Bloom's.

 The last section Vocabulary covers all the common core math words that students need to know. I wish that there were pictures to support the words. But having short and simple definitions makes planning word walls easier.


I was very unsure when I bought this app that it would have everything I was looking for. As you can see you get tons for the twenty dollars.  I have bought the ELA app as well but have not played with it but understand it is set-up the same way. I'm cheap when it comes to buying apps but I love this one just for the simple fact that the strategies and what comes before and after the target are outlined for me. Its less stuff to find or to bring home when I'm planning. This app has been helpful when planning math for one of my tutoring clients. I can't wait to use the app when school starts.

I'm enjoying the last days of my summer break. Happy End of Summer and Beginning of the School Year.

I'm linking up with Farley again for her August Currently. I still have a week before I have to go back.

This coming year, my new mate is split between two schools half time. Question: How do you share RTI information with team members who spend half of their day in another building? Answer: With a Google Site.
As I have shared earlier, I want my team to have there own chart with just the identified students and maybe the tiered students within those groups to track growth. Just like our general education teachers have for all their students.

It's hard to believe that school will be starting soon. I spent my morning unpacking my room. I'll share pictures of my new way to store my iPads later this week.  Have a great week. If your traveling--safe travels.

Last year, my building moved to Backwards Planning all units. This takes time. Lots of time. So I decided to get ahead start. Maybe save myself a day or two of planning down the road. If you're not familiar with backwards planning, it comes from Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins about ten years ago.

I have started by getting Step 1 complete: Desired Results. This is where I get my learning targets and essential questions. The key What should students know, understand, and be able to do? What is the ultimate transfer we seek as a result of this unit? What enduring understandings are desired? What essential questions will be explored in-depth and provide focus to all learning?

Step 2 is Determine Assessment Evidence. This changes unit to unit because I may need for assessment data or I may not. The key here is How will I know if students have achieved the desired results? What will we accept as evidence of student understanding and their ability to use (transfer) their learning in new situations? How will we evaluate student performance in fair and consistent ways?

Step 3 is daily planning. The key being How will I support learners as they come to understand important ideas and processes? How will I prepare them to autonomously transfer their learning? What enabling knowledge and skills will students need to perform effectively and achieve desired results? What activities, sequence, and resources are best suited to accomplish our goals?

The pros to planning this way--I hit all the standards by the end of the unit. I know that students are getting it because of either the progress monitoring or student self-assessment. What I dislike-is this takes time. Time is not something I have tons of in special education. But by spending the time I know that students will have the skills and knowledge to be stronger in class.

Freebie time--this is one unit for intermediate reading with Step 1 completed and a template you can print to complete Steps 2 and 3 based on your students and need. This will be the first unit that I will teach next month. It was planned using backwards planning. Have a great weekend! If you're traveling-safe travels.

When I started reading this chapter, I was struck by how much this was like how I teach reading comprehension strategies. Laney Sammons, opens the chapter with a quote by Keene and Zimmerman, that they "describe proficient readers, these mathematicians "listen to inner voices, make ongoing connections, and adjustments, are are aware of how meaning evolves." Like so many students and more so those with exceptional needs need to have those strategies taught with precise precision and then retaught again and again. (Kenne and Zimmerman are the authors of Mosaic of Thought.)

She continues to layout in the chapter a sequence of teaching  the strategies to students. Her layout is a lot like "The Comprehension Toolkit." Starting with monitoring  thinking through metacognition. This is where students need to ask themselves "Does this make sense? Students who get math do this without thinking. Students that struggle in math-I think this is the hardest thing to get them to come to terms with. I think of my own students and if they aren't getting it-they just throw out answers and hope the right one comes out. (Any one else have students who do this?)

The first step in monitoring comprehension is monitoring conceptual understanding. Back when I learned math (which really wasn't that long ago) the focus was on the procedure needed to get the right answer not the understanding behind it. Now fast forward to Common Core and its ALL about the understanding and explaining your thinking. Its getting students to take responsibility for their own monitoring and know when they don't get it. Teachers can help by asking explicit questions like "How do you know whether or not you understand? What do you do if your confused?" Get them to identify where they stop getting it! One thing I do when I'm teaching math and a student tells me they don't get any of it is ask "Where are you not getting it? Which step don't you get?" I don't let them get away with telling me "all of it" any more. They HAVE to be specific.

Another way to help students monitor their comprehension in math is to draw pictures of the problem. If you can't visualizing the problem then you have a problem. I know from work my building has done to raise our standardized math scores, that being able to explain thinking two different ways--drawing a picture counts. And even better if students use numbers and a couple key words. Sammons's lays out several other strategies that include: identify unfamiliar vocabulary, rereading the problem, making connections to other math concepts, using manipulatives, and trying a different problem-solving approach.

Those in my mind are student actions. Strategies that I can teach  for my students to use. But what about teacher actions once these have been taught? Both in Guided Math and in the Gradual Release of Responsibility Model-you do modeled lessons and think-alouds. These are the perfect places to teach or reteach strategies on your thinking. Most of my math lessons start with a think-aloud and a modeled lesson. I get students to do think-alouds when I'm wondering if they are ready to do it on their own. One teacher I work with has his high students do think-alouds to the whole class. I think that the more students hear and see someone's thinking other than that of the teacher can only help. They may have a way of explaining it that helps the student get it.

I have created a set of Math Comprehension Strategy Posters with examples. Be sure to pick up your copy by clicking on the picture. Brenda's at Primary Inspired for more on Chapter 9.
I can't wait to use them with my students in the fall. I think that they will help students make the connection of the strategies I use in reading I can use to understand math. Stop by





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The school year is fast approaching. This is a good time to review some great information to help parents and provides with the little guys. Catching these guys before they get the elementary helps them get off to the right start. I have some tips of choosing apps for early childhood.

Examining apps for accessibility prior to using them in the classroom and developmental appropriate learning experiences is a must. For example: an app may require extensive fine motor manipulation to gain any educational benefit or may only work on a device that doesn't provide tactile feedback. Such an app might not be a good choice for most young children, and may not especially difficult for a child who has cerebral palsy. This chart has several questions that are designed to help you think about what a great early childhood app should have and look like. (Click on the picture to get your copy.)
The other piece I wanted to share was a Receptive and Expressive Language Milestones from birth to five. It has guidelines of what children show be doing as they grow up. Its just a guide. Have a great weekend.

It's hard to believe that the new school year is just around the corner for many of us. I'm linking up with Fabulously First to bring new teachers words of wisdom. Its hard being a new teacher. New building, new staff, new families--its hard work. The world of education has changed so much since I graduated from University of Colorado in Colorado Springs that each year I'm  also learning something new.

I want to welcome all of you as new teachers and say that as you enter this profession for the first time this year just be prepared.  You will learn quickly who will and will not help you and those that will help without asking.  It's tough work being a teacher. This year my state has moved towards pay of performance. This is no joke even for those who have taught for several years. You have to really love teaching to take that on everyday. But I wouldn't trade that work for anything-I love the students I work with and the challenges they bring. Each day is something different and no matter how prepared I think I am some days just get away from you.

 Data is a way of life in special education. It tells a unique story. It can be one of glows or one of grows. Several years ago, my building moved to using the three colored pocket charts (below) so classroom teachers could visual see where their class was using specific data points.

The data used varies depending on the grade. For primary (1-3): DIBELS, End of the Year DRA, BEAR (reading comprehension); Kindergarten: DIBELS; Intermediate (4-6): End of the Year DRA and Acuity Form C. These data points change around mid-year 3-6: for 3rd CSAP Reading/Writing and Form A Acuity; 4-6: Previous years CSAP Reading/Writing and Form A Acuity. As the year progresses, teachers up date the cards with progress monitoring data and Acuity data as it becomes available. The intervention team meets with teachers every 6 weeks and students are moved based on the progress monitoring. Up or Down--the point and hope is that classroom teachers are responsibility of the vast majority of this not the intervention team. This has helped move students through RTI and out of RTI.

The Special Education team doesn't have one for just the identified students and those within their groups. We have created informal ones to help with making sure that the most intensive students (i.e., that spend 3 plus hours out of the classroom a day) are making progress but not formal. One of my hopes for the coming year (with a new team mate) is to have 3 charts. Why 3? I think the team needs to directly monitor reading, writing, and math. Students create date for all three why not use it. Many identified students have goals in more than reading. The team can also see who is not making progress before meeting and make changes to IEPs so the student gets back on track.

The colors would stay the same but have additional meaning. Red would be our most intensive students. Those that are more than 3 years behind, made no progress the year before, and spend most of their day outside of the classroom. Yellow: made 6 months of growth the year before, between two and three years behind and seen for only one subject. Green: made a year or more growth the year before, less than two years behind, and seen for only one subject or at grade level (think artic only kidoos). This could be used to track all students in that group--the RTI students as well.

This move would hold the team accountable plus classroom teachers can see is students are making more specific gains. They have the big picture on their own charts but really have no clue if they are really making gains at the end of the day. I think with the addition of SMART goals on ours, we can hold the team to progress monitoring and student growth. Since, as a building we are not great at getting together every 6 weeks to make changes this would at least provide a conversation starter with classroom teachers about what they are seeing and move students out of intervention groups faster (instead of having them for the whole year).

Students are moved on the classroom charts twice a year. Once at mid-year and after Spring Break. We don't move them offend enough. In creating one for intervention groups, the intervention team can move students at the end of each SMART goal. I have created cards (editable) that allow me to change the color of the card depending on the outcome of the SMART Goal. Having this data visible makes it easy for anyone to walk in and see what is going on during interventions and if its working or not.

My students love, love knowing where they are at and set many of their on goals. They would love this as they could see where they are--the cards would have to be turned around to show just names and not the data. My know that their data belongs to only them and no one else. (They know I share with teachers and parents but no other students.)

I'm sure there are many other ways to track students in the RTI process to ensure that they are making gains, I'd love to hear about them. I have attached freebies to help you to use this thinking. Have a great weekend and if your traveling "Safe Travels."

Summer is half over. My piles still abound. All I want is for them is to go away. Is that asking to much? I didn't realize that I brought that MUCH home with me.



I have decided that I need a list. This will help me focus as I'm short on focus and long on enjoying my summer. Here it goes-
1. Guided math lesson plan format using Math Comprehension
2. Data/RTI forms for reading, writing, and math-These need to include WADE, WRS Charting, Acuity, DRA, DIBELS, and Building/Class writing samples; plus anything else
3. Create a working format to use RTI Colored Charts for identified students (maybe with their unidentified group peers). The cards need to be of different colors too. My building uses the three colored pocket charts to identify students across the tiers in reading. I want something for this but for reading, writing, and math.
4. As part of Building Leadership: reread Guided Math and finish Lesson Plan (pink book from Scholastic) This I have to do before our retreat next month.
5. Investigations Math “I Can” Statements and Common Core Checklists for first and third (high needs grades first--then everyone else)
6. Writing “I Can” Statements and Common Core Checklists for second and third (high needs grades first--then everyone else first)
7. Finish CBB plans for reading and math journals to use as examples

Anyone else have a list going of things that need to be done before going back? I hope to get this all done before I have to report but if I spend a little time each day I should be able to get to all of it. Have a great week. Safe travels.

I'm linking up with iTeach 1:1 to share what apps my students use during math. In many cases they have a wide selection to chose from. The ones I have decided to highlight here are the ones that they used the most and ones that they will be using in the fall.

Others like iMovie are part of a group of choices that also include PuppetPals, StoryMaker, and Toontastic. They all give students creative license while illustrating a story problem that will later be shared with the whole group. These apps fall into what you could call "Surprisingly Educational Apps."

Towards the end of the year, I started playing with a portfolio type setup for their work but didn't have a way to 1) email it off the iPad and 2) some place to put it. In May, I solved one problem by creating a classroom email account in which students just send me work. They don't have access to it. I have just recently solved my second problem. I needed a place to collect student work that I could easily share with classroom teachers and parents without it being a process or nightmare. All work will either go to Evernote or 3 Ring in the fall. I love that students can email me their work.

Also new for them in the fall, will be CBB or Creative Book Builder. I talk in a previous post how I will get rid of notebooks and students will do that work in CBB instead.

Have a great day blog hoppin'. Happy 4th of July.

It's hard to believe the I have to report in 6 weeks. Summer is half over here in Colorado. I'm linking up with Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for this months currently. It's raining this afternoon here. That's a first in awhile. Plus no thunder and lightening--even better. We need so much more with the wildfire but its a start. I'm loving the idea of going paperless next year. I've been working through reading and need to tackle math but the students will love this. Not to mention, less to travel will as I move from room to room. I've been reading "Teach Like a Pirate" and wondering how to use this mindset when I teach math. Many of my students HATE math. But I think with this spin, I can breathe new life into math and help them find a new love for it. I want my piles to go away. They are getting smaller but its so hard when your distracted by summertime. Well, yes-getting the oil changed in my car needs to happen at some point this month. One can hope sooner rather than later. As I'm reviewing and reflecting on the past school year, I've decided that focusing on structures and processes got me more bang for my buck-so that's what I'm looking at as prepare for the fall. Have a great July and safe travels.

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My district moved to an evaluation process that is similar to Charlotte Danielson's "Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching." Danielson's rubric is broken down into four domain:

• Planning and Preparation
• The Classroom Environment
• Instruction
• Professional Responsibilities

For more information on this book-check out my previous post here. This framework doesn't directly tackle the my role as a special education teacher but my coach hooked me up with another district exception's who had.One thing that has helped me focus on specific areas of the Framework has been this checklist.  This checklist is created so I can check off items that I can do with each lesson to score as high as possible. Each list focuses on a specific domain, this allows me to pick which one or one(s) I want to work on. This means that I don't have to deal with 20 some old things (like I don't already:)) With all the feedback that comes flying at me, I can pick and choose based on what they see I'm missing or need to work on to make something stronger. More to come. Have a great weekend.