Happy Summer

It's been a long time since I have posted, so I just wanted to say, "Hello!"  After spring break this year it has been a crazy, busy time of year.  I think I have had more ARCs this year in April and May than ever in my entire special ed. career!  Just one of those lovely things about special education.

This time of year always makes me feel nostalgic.  It is a time to reflect on the year, think about what worked, find a way to fix what didn't, and to enjoy the last few days with the kids of this year!  This year has had its ups and downs, just like any year.  It seemed like a year of unpredictable events from our spec. ed. director retiring at the beginning of the year, to being involved in a Numeracy project that consumed a lot of my time, and being surprised with an Outstanding Educator Award today!  Wow!  What a year!  I have enjoyed this year and I will be sad to see my 5th graders head to middle school, but it is time.  Another season of life is ending and I will enjoy the summer that is approaching and begin preparing for a new year!!

Happy Summer, Teachers!!!

Kim

Hey there!

Spring break is over :( but we had such a great time in Atlanta with some wonderful friends. The first day back to school was long and I find it hard to get back into the swing of things. So here is just a little note to let you know that I am still alive and will be bringing you a post about Homeworkopoly later this week!! Stay tuned!

Basketball 10 Frame Freebie!!! GO CATS!!!

In honor of the University of Kentucky Wildcats going to the Final Four and winning today's game against the University of Louisville Cardinals, I have whipped up a FREE basketball ten frame set for you,  my friends!!

Click on the basketball to go my TpT site to download the FREE 10 frames!!!!

C-A-T-S!!!! CATS, CATS, CATS!!!!

Mrs. H

Spring Break & a FREEBIE

Spring Break officially started today at 3:00 PM!!!  I am so ready for some fun and relaxation.  We will be heading to Atlanta for some fun with some friends of ours and their children!  We have a fun filled four days planned there and then back to Kentucky to my parent's house for Easter.  It is going to be jammed packed and lots of travel, but so worth the time.  I am excited about the memories that are about to be made!  Yay for Spring BREAK!!!

I wanted to give you guys a simple, cute, and effective multiplication game.  It teaches students the basics of multiplication, including making equal groups and placing the correct number of items into equal groups.  Students would then record the multiplication sentence to match the problem they created with the manipulatives.

Click the picture below to go to my TpT store to download the game for FREE!!!!!  Enjoy!!!!

Happy Spring Break!!!

Why I Teach...

Today's post will have no freebies, no pictures, no teaching ideas instead it contains the very reason why I became a special education teacher.
Today we took all of the fourth graders on a great field trip to see War Horse at the KY Horse Park. The program was amazing. The best part came though after the program and after lunch when the kids were playing at a nearby park before heading back to school. One of my friends has some very challenging physical disabilities. She has no arms from the elbow down and no legs from the knee down. She does have prosthetics that she got this year. While we were at the park she asked if she could swing on the swings. Of course I said yes and helped her over to them. Once she was on the swing she told me that she had never been in a "real" swing before!!! The smile on her face while she sat so confidently in that swing could brighten up even the dullest day!!! Beautiful!
There are times when I question why I went into a career that has so many challenges and then God shows me why! The smile of a child (a fourth grader) swinging on a real swing for the very first time...that's why I do what I do!
Amidst new standards, lesson plans, IEPs, behavior plans, and meetings the pure joy of a child can really put things back into perspective! Bless that child. She will accomplish so much!!

Mrs. H

Angry Birds--The Pigs

This week in our social skills group we have been talking about Pigs.  Yep, that's right, pigs.  If you've been following my Angry Birds posts then you may realize that it was only a matter of time before the pigs came into the picture.

If you play Angry Birds (the game) then you know that the premise of the game is that the pigs made the birds angry by stealing the birds' eggs.  Therefore, the pigs, triggered the anger of the birds.  We talked about our triggers.  Some things that triggered some of my students were:

• When people don't do what you tell them to do
• When a computer doesn't work
• When they get hurt
• When a sibling does something to them
• When they don't understand an assignment

The kids drew their own pigs and behind each pig's head they wrote about their triggers.  

Now that we have have reviewed all of the parts of Angry Birds we made a bulletin board to hang up all of hard work.

And, one more picture...a close up of the ways to calm down:

Stop and Think, Take a Deep Breath and Count to 10, Seek Adult Help

I hope you have all enjoyed this Anger Management unit!  I know my kids have enjoyed and have learned a lot from it!  Let me know if you try any of these techniques with your kids!  I would love to celebrate your successes, too!

Mrs. H

Angry Birds---Part 3

We are continuing our Angry Birds Anger Management Unit here in my little part of the world.  I have been extremely pleased with the reaction my friends have had to this strategy.  I witness them talking about the Angry Birds and using the techniques and strategies we have learned during our group sessions.  (And when we get a chance to play Angry Birds the game...they call the birds by the names we came up with for them, ie: Angry eyes, cutting words, etc.)  I love it!

Now that I feel the kids are comfortable with each bird and what each bird means and also a strategy to handle each level of anger; we have moved on to creating our own birds.  I directed the students by telling them they are allowed to create an Angry Bird of their own.  The bird can represent anger or a calming technique.  I was (happily) surprised by some of their responses.  Some students that I thought would choose to do anger actually chose to develop a calming technique!  Am I getting through to them???? Goodness, I hope so!!

I found these great creative writing templates at TpT about creating our own Angry Birds.  They are free for download at SmartChicks TpT store or by clicking below to read on Scribd.   I use pages 1, 2, 6, 7, and 8.  There are some very interesting creative writing ideas within in this document, but I used what I needed to fulfill my needs.
Angry Bird Project Make Your Own New Type of Angry Bird Free

Here are the birds my kiddos came up with:

1.  Twister Bird: Angry Bird, His anger level is between the throwing objects bird (the white bird) and the body out of control bird (bomb bird).  When this get bird gets angry he twists his body like a tornado and wipes out everything in sight.

2.  Raining Bird:  Angry Bird.  His anger level is between cutting words (yellow bird) and throwing objects (white bird).  When he gets really angry he begins to cry (rain).

 3.  The Luck of the Irish:  Calming Bird.  His calming technique is to play the flute when feeling anger.  This student expressed that he likes to listen to music when he is upset, because it helps him feel better.  (The name comes from something they are learning in music class and it's March, soooo....Leprechauns, Irish, you get the picture!)  (In the game this bird would lull the pigs to sleep with his Irish music)

4.  Steam Off:  Calming Bird.  His calming technique is to imagine yourself outside in the snow when you are mad.  When we are mad we our temperature rises and we become very hot.  If you imagine yourself in the snow then you would cool off very quickly and the heat from your body would turn to steam.  LOVE!! :)  (In the game this bird would freeze the birds into blocks of ice that the bird could smash)

My students completed the pages in the packet to plan and create the bird.  After all of the planning and writing was complete the student used whatever decorations we could find to create the birds!

Hope you enjoy!  Next up in this little series is the PIGS!! :)  Stay tuned!

IEPs, SDI, LRE, Oh MY!!

It's Sunday night and time to get  ready for the new week!  This week is stacking up to be a busy one. This is the last week of school before Spring Break (thank you, Jesus!!)  But even with Spring Break so close there is still a million and one things to do, starting with writing an IEP.   (If my head wasn't swimming before now...whew...now it really is.)  I had to take a quick break from all of those goals, objectives and minutes for a blogging break! :)

Do you ever realize how much time you spend speaking in "code" as a special education teacher?  I realize that a lot, especially when I am talking to my husband about "spec ed stuff" and I start rambling a bunch of letters and he gives me the "deer in headlights" look!  I developed a little Special Ed. Acronyms sheet.  I hope you can find it useful!  I think it would be beneficial for parents of children with special needs, other teachers, administrators, and husbands (ha)!

Download it here --->  Special Education Acronyms

If you can think of anymore Acronyms that should be added just send me a comment and I will update.  I realize some of these may vary by state, so I tried to to put up the most common! :)  Hope this helps!!

Mrs. H

Guest Blog

Today I am doing my first official guest post EVER!! :)

Check it out @

Mrs. H

Bloggy Lovin'

I found a couple of great new (new to me) blogs over at

   

Head on over and link up and check some out for yourself!  Let them know Mrs. H sent you ;)

Here are two of my favorites I found while perusing the links:

I especially love this teacher's literacy workstations and anchor charts!

Margaret is also a special education teacher! (Love it) and she has some wonderful ideas.  I really want to make some spelling blocks now!  Looks like I need to hit up the Goodwill! :)

And one more...

http://vasquezfrogs.blogspot.com/2012/03/calling-all-3rd-4th-5th-grade-teacher.html
Link up!  Intermediate Elementary Teachers!!