Special Education February Blog Hop & Valentine Edition of Oh Appy Day!!

Hello friends and followers!  I'm so excited to bring you Day 3 of our Special Education Teacher Valentine Blog Hop.  Remember to come back everyday to find the special education blogger that will be bringing you a wonderful freebie, tip or trick all throughout the month of February!  Finding the special educator's blog of the day is easy, please just stop back by my blog and click on the corresponding day's envelope to directly link to that teacher's blog!  My friends, Traci from The Bender Bunch and Christine from Autism Clasroom News have already brought you some amazing Valentine freebies.

In honor of February being all about feelings and emotions I will be offering (for TODAY, February 3, 2015 ONLY), I my Check In/Check Out Behavior Intervention!
Click the link above or on the picture to be linked to my TPT store to download this freebie TODAY!!  Don't forget to leave some love (feedback) if you download this goodie!

Also, for faithful readers, I am continuing to do Tech on Tuesday: Oh Appy Day, but I am I have decided to only do this once a month.  I will be posting some awesome apps on the first Tuesday of every month!  Well, friends, guess what day it is!  Tuesday!!

These great apps are Valentine themed and perfect for your students.  All of the apps are great editions to your iPads and tablets and I like to add apps instead of buying treats or candy for my kids. I see so many kids in several different classrooms throughout the day that it could get expensive to buy lots of Valentine goodies, instead the kids can use the iPad or tablet to enjoy a little Valentine love from Mrs. H! ;)

iGet...Valentine's Day Social Skills Stories
$2.99

iGet... Valentine's Day is an application providing a photo social skill story for individuals that need support in understanding the process of Valentine's Day. Twenty-seven icons with real picture images are used to illustrate the sequence of events.

The Kissing Hand  {One of my favorite stories!!}
$3.99
Chester Raccoon and his mother share a secret, the Kissing Hand.  A sweet story about love between mommy and baby raccoon.  This book can be accessed as a read along, read by myself or autoplay book.

Valentine's Sliding Puzzle
Free
A fun game for kids of all ages.  Players work through 9 levels of moving sliding puzzles to complete a Valentine's Day picture.  This is just a fun app to surprise your kids with for a V-day present!

First Words Valentine
Free

First Words Valentine teaches kids about letters, how letters relate to words, and even how to spell words. This app is perfect for beginning readers and younger students.  The app provides 8 Valentine themed words to spell and read. 

Happy February!! Don't forget to stop back by everyday to click the envelope of the day and join some of my best blogging buddies for some great February freebies!!

Behavior Clip Chart for Resource or Intervention Rooms (FREEBIE)

Many teachers in my building use the clip chart system for behavior management.  I really like this system and the kids seem to respond well to it.  I like how some teachers have modified it so the students can "clip up" and "clip down."

When you teach in a resource room, like I do for part of the day, it can sometimes be difficult to have a classroom management system that can carry back into their regular classroom.  So, yesterday, I was chatting with our math interventionist and she put a great little spin on the clip chart so that it will work  in her room and transfer back to the students' homerooms.

She has five levels on her clip chart.  All clips start on ready to learn (of course).  The students have a chance to clip up twice.  At the first clip up they receive a stamp on their 5 frame for the day and at the second clip up they receive a prize.  The first clip down is a warning and the second clip down (this is the spin on the "regular clip system") means they have to move their clip in their homeroom.  I totally loved this idea and told her I was going to steal it!!  She was totally okay with that!

My chart, inspired, by my friend and math interventionist is linked below.  Click on the picture for the PDF.  If you have trouble, just leave a comment and I can email it to you as well.

All Graphics (borders) came from 3AM Teacher.  Please go to her website to find wonderful (free) borders, backgrounds, and clipart!

And here it is, all laid out in my office floor, awaiting trimming, laminating and mounting!  

I cannot wait to get this hanging in my newly painted room!  The painting began last night and feel like it is the day before school starts (yet we've been in session for over a week now)!  Ready to organize my (school) life!  For real!!! :)

I also love her five frames reward system.  If the students follow procedures that day and appropriately participate they get a stamp in one box of a five frame.  The five frames are labeled with student names and kept in library pockets for easy access on a bulletin board.  The five frames allow her to teach with her reward system.  They can learn what goes together to make five, how to count by fives, groups of fives, and on and on!  She is so smart! 

The rewarding part is:  if the five frame is filled at the end of the week the student can pick a small prize.  When the student reaches 5 full 5 frames the student gets a special treat, such as eat with a friend in my room at lunch, listen to special music, pick a game to play, and so on!

 Here is a link to some five frames.  http://www.kentuckymathematics.org/resources/docs/2008/Five%20Frame%20Flash%20Cards.pdf

If you scroll to the bottom there will be blank frames.  I shrunk mine so they would fit in the library pockets.  Again, I can't wait to show you pics!!  

Enjoy!  And Happy, Happy Friday!!

Kim

Week 2 of Menu Mondays! & Monday Made It

I'm going in to week two of menu planning!  Last week was a success and I am ready to try some new meals this week!  I have to say that having a plan makes life after school so much easier.  I feel good about coming home and having everything planned out and ready to cook.  This week's menu is:

Pork Roast and Potatoes

Bacon Ranch Chicken Pasta

Buffalo Chicken Tacos

Apple Cider Pork Chops w/Rice

Pizza Casserole

These are all recipes I have found on Pinterest.  You can follow my "foodie" board here.  You will notice that most of it is desserts!  Don't judge me!  :)  This girl loves some sweets!  If you have any good MAIN COURSE recipes that aren't too difficult please leave me a comment and a recipe! ;) 

Now for some Monday Made It with 4th Grade Frolics!

Our school follows the CHAMPs procedures for school wide behavior management.  I developed CHAMPs procedures for my students to use when they need to cool down or take a time out. 

(Border by 3AM Teacher)

These items are referred to in the procedures:

C.O.P Notebook (Chill Out Plan)

I found a great idea here about a notebook of ideas that can help a student calm down.  I have not started my social skills group yet this year, but this will be first on our agenda.  The gist of this activity is for the student to make a list of ideas that would help that student "chill out" if they are angry or anxious.  The student will glue this list into the inside of a composition notebook that he/she will use to write or draw in during a cool down or break time.

Some suggestions for the list of "chill outs" are:

• Imagine yourself on vacation
• Take a deep breath and let it out like you are blowing up a balloon
• Use a stress ball
• Imagine yourself in the snow (the snow will cool you off when you are hot because you are mad)
• Read
• Listen to music
• Draw
• Count to ten
• Break craft sticks (I liked this idea from the School Counselor Chronicles---sometimes we just have to get that aggression out)

As soon as I get my classroom painted and the furniture organized (I am praying that will happen this week) I hope to get a cool down area set up.  I can't wait to have pictures to show you all of this in action!

And finally...a little blog hoppin' with Blog Hoppin' & What the Teacher Wants

1.  I want my classroom painted and organized.  The paint I can wait on, but living in the disorganization is killing me!

2.  Some more cute sandals (with backs).  Read my Teacher Clothes post for that little fun bit!

3.  An extra pair of hands to do all of the projects in my mind!!

Kim

Catch Up Time! & B2S #3

Internet is back on!!! Wooo hoooo!!!

Today was my first day back at school--without kids--at PD!!  It was a great PD! We did lots of math make and takes.  I will share some of those jewels with you later this week!

So, today I have two days to make up for!  First up,

 

This is my first time to link up with 4th Grade Frolics and I was so disappointed yesterday when the internet went kaput!!  Without further ado, here is what I made:

So, they are not exactly education/school, but they are something that you could adapt and make something cute to hang in your room.  My kids and I made these to hang in their new playroom.  

Materials:  11x13 canvas (2), letter stickers, fingerpaint

HOW TO:

Place stickers on canvas using your favorite Bible verse or quote

FINGERPAINT!!!!!

Let dry and remove stickers!

My kids were proud of their creations!!

As for today...

I think the first day back to reality deserved a Starbucks for breakfast!! :)

Here is a little freebie for you to go along with my behavior daily points sheets.  I am going to start sending this note home with my students this year when they make poor choices.  This SMART CHOICE sheet gives the student ownership of their behavior and informs the parents of what has happened at school.

SMART CHOICE SHEET

Enjoy!

I hope those of you that are back to school are having a wonderful year!  As for the rest of us, our time is coming....quickly!!! I have been loving the pictures of classroom setups and I can't wait to get in mine and to get busy!!  This Friday!!  Can't wait!! I am starting to get nervous about getting everything done, but it is what it is!  Kids are coming on the 15th ready or not! :)

Kim

BACK 2 SCHOOL BLOWOUT---#2

As promised, monitoring sheet are on the agenda for today.  What special education teacher is complete without her monitoring sheets?  This is a tedious process for me year after year.  I think that for each of my 8 years teaching I have found new way to collect data.  Last year I found something that worked for me.

Here are a few steps to follow to create your own data sheets:

ACADEMIC GOALS:
I like to use easyCBM for monitoring math, reading, and fluency goals.  http://www.easycbm.com/index.php
This program gives you the ability to test, score, and generate a report online.
Sometimes, though, my goals do not match what is on easyCBM.  If this is the case, I use http://www.interventioncentral.org/.  This allows me some flexibility in making my own probes.

BEHAVIOR GOALS:
This is the tedious process I am talking about!  I finally decided to use a calendar like one seen here.

I use the calendar monitoring sheet with student's with behavior goals, but are not EBD.  I have a different process for those students (a little more involved).

Here is a visual of my behavior monitoring:  (I hope it will be of help while I try to explain my process to you)  :)   Please note: This is a pretend child and pretend pluses and minuses...all of the real ones are filed away in due process folders! :)  I just put enough data on here to try to make my idea make sense to you!

1.  I put the student's name at the top.
2.  I write out the student's benchmarks (1, 2, 3, 4) at the top.
3.  Along the side I write each class I monitor the student in (Morning Work, Writing, Reading, Math).  Then I use the good ole +/- system to note whether the student was displaying the behavior indicated in the benchmark.
4.  I use the notes sections and the back of the calendar for anecdotal notes.
5.  At the end of every week, I count the number of pluses out of the total number of available pluses to get a percentage.

EBD MONITORING:

For students labeled with Emotional/Behavior Disorders, I create a daily points program.  Each morning I meet with these students and we have a social group time.  During this time, we practice social skills, anger management, making friends, etc.  We also decide what reinforcer the student is work toward for the day and how many points it will take to earn the reinforcer.   The student places the desired reinforcer on my desk and can carry a picture of the object if wanted throughout the day as a reminder.  Below are links to my daily points sheets and summary sheet.  The summary sheet just gives me a good place to put my percentages.  I can look at the percentages quickly and look for ups and downs and patterns over time.

Daily Points Sheet
Daily Points Weekly Summary Sheet

In summary, I use an EXCEL sheet to make graphs of my data.  Graphs make the information easier to read for parents and teachers!  This is so easy to use.  The dates for this  school year are already plugged in on one axis.  You just type in the percentage for the week.  A running average is kept and data points are plotted on the graph!  A teacher from my previous school district developed this spreadsheet! Kudos to her!

So this is just a picture of it from my computer.  I could not get the EXCEL file to post on here.  (IF you know how...I would appreciate the directions).  :)   Until then, if you would like a copy of this, leave me a comment with your email and I will send it to you.  

I hope you found some inspiration here and that you find monitoring a little easier this year!  It doesn't have to be difficult and we all know it's not pretty, but it is SPEC ED!!!  Whew!!

Here's to a great new year and to hoping we don't all drown in paperwork!! :)

Kim

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!

Angry Birds Anger Management--Part 2

This past week we finished up our beginnings to Angry Birds Anger Management.  We have talked about all of the "angry" birds and have begun to touch on the Coping Strategies and techniques the other birds can provide.

Let me introduce you to the "not-so-angry" birds!  (PS-I just wanted to share again that I am adapting this idea from another blogger/homeschool teacher.  She came up with all of the great visuals.  I am totally giving her the credit for putting this idea into my mind, but modified it to fit the needs of my students.  Please check out her blog here.)

source

#1 The Bird's Nest
I explained to my students the importance of how safe the eggs or baby birds feel when they are at home in the bird's nest.  They are protected my their mommy bird and their brother and sister birds.  We talked about what place in the school that they felt most safe and comfortable in.  All of the students agreed that that place was my classroom.  They know they are allowed to come down for cool down times, to talk to me, or talk to our counselor or our SAM (we all share a room).  We deemed my room "The Bird's Nest."  I (am in the process of) making each of my group participants a card with the bird's nest on it.  They will use this card to give to their homeroom teacher to use as a break card to come to my room.  This card though does have its own set of procedures.

Procedures for Bird's Nest Card:
1.  The card must be handed to your homeroom teacher when the student feels like he/she cannot handle the stressful situation.  (We have done many lessons on what stressors affect each student).
2.  The student will come straight to my room (the teacher has a copy of my schedule and will only allow the student to go at certain times or to come find me in the building if it is an emergency).
3.  I will take the bird's nest card from the student and immediately call the homeroom teacher to let them know that I have the student.  If the teacher does not get a call from me within the estimated time it takes to get to my room, then the teacher will call my room or the office.
4. Student will be allowed to go to specified cool down areas in my room.  A timer will be set and the student will take a cool down time on their own.  At the end of the designated time the student will conference with me or my assistant and will complete a "Thinking Sheet."

#2  The Balloon Bird
When a student begins to become stressed or angry they have been instructed to use the balloon breathing technique.  The student inhales deeply, holds the breath, and then slowly lets out the air as if filling up a balloon.  The student repeats this cycle until his/her body begins to get under control and goes back to a calm state.

#3  The Boomerang Bird
This is the STOP and THINK technique.  In the game, Angry Birds, when you release this bird he flies out of the slingshot, then you click the mouse button, and he boomerangs back (knocking down bricks).  I discussed with the students how they can do this same technique.  Getting angry is like flying out of the slingshot, then we stop, and turn around and make a better choice.  We also incorporated Stop and Talk.  The students came up with this.  They thought that when the bird/themselves STOP then they need someone to talk to about the issue.  We rehearsed this technique with a couple of role play scenarios.

#4 The Mighty Eagle
Sometimes the Momma Bird just needs to swoop in and save the day.   We discussed how mommies and grandmas and aunts or daddies and grandpas can't be at school everyday, but that there are people at school that care about each of them and want to help students deal with anger.  We talked about different people in the school that could swoop down and help deal with the problem.  We mainly talked about how I would be the person in most cases that would be there to help them deal with the issues at hand.

Over the weekend I will post the role plays that I have used with my students.

And just a little update:
My kids are responding to this so well.  I am impressed with their ability to talk about, participate and try to use the strategies that I am giving them throughout this unit.  Now, I must say that they are not the best about generalizing strategies across settings, but bless their hearts, I think they are at least soaking this in and with help they are (starting) to try to use what they have learned outside of my classroom walls.
It's a long journey with some kids with behavior disorders.   In fact, just today I texted my husband during a moment of frustration and he said something so simple, but great and reassuring.  "You are changing lives."   I think we all need to be reminded of that somedays!  Thanks, honey!!
Mostly likely you are a teacher if you are reading this, so just remember those simple words..."You are changing lives!!"

Angry Birds Anger Management

When I received my Bachelor's Degree in LBD (Learning and Behavior Disorders) I didn't realize, nor was I prepared for, how much "B" I would actually be handling on a day to day basis.  Recently, I came across an amazing idea for anger management and aggression from a fellow blogger.  Check out her post here.

I took this creative mama's idea and adapted it for my own classroom (That's what spec. ed. teachers are good at, right?  Adaptations!!)  I am using this anger management unit with my social skills group that I meet with daily.  The students in this group are diagnosed with Developmental Delays, Mood Disorders, Autism, ADHD, and OCD.  These friends have difficulty displaying their emotions in the most effective ways and it is a challenge for them to deal with upsetting situations without having a meltdown.  I have tried various programs/ideas with these friends, but so far this is making the biggest impact (and we just started this week).  Without further ado...

My friends LOVE Angry Birds!  It is such a trend right now and they enjoy "doing what others are doing."  It gives them a commonality with their peers and allows them to engage in conversations with peers that they may not typically interact with.  The best thing about this is that they are learning behavior management techniques while learning some great socialization skills!! BONUS!!

This is Part 1 of the Angry Bird Anger Management Series.  I will go into more detail about how to deal with anger in Part 2 of the series.  I think first of all the students must have a good grasp on what it means and how it looks and feels to be angry.  We will continue to work on this and I will begin introducing the "strategy birds" in the next part of our unit...stay tuned for that! :)

Part 1:  Introduce them to the Angry Birds

source

Below you will find the descriptions for each bird.  (Again, you can check back to the original source to see how she uses this with her daughter, but from now on I will explain how I use this in my classroom).  I began this unit my prefacing that we all have different emotions and anger is one of those emotions.  It is okay to get angry, it is okay to be mad at others, but it is not okay to express those emotions in ways that could hurt themselves or others.

 This bird has, you guessed it, angry eyes.  I explained to my students that our emotions often show up on our faces before they show up anywhere else on our bodies.  We all know that we can tell when "that kid" is getting mad just by the look on their face!  You know the saying, "If looks could kill."  Well...there you have it!  We discussed how our faces can sometimes say it all without telling anyone our feelings.  For each bird or step I gave my students a way to deal with that emotion at that moment and how to deescalate the behavior before it moves on to the next step.  My tip for this bird/emotion is to SMILE!  You try it...furrow your eyebrows and then smile!  Impossible.  I had all of my students try it and we all burst into fits of laughter!  It was great!!  

If you are not familiar with the game, this bird can cut through wood. I explained to my students that sometimes our words can be like this bird.  He can cut through wood just like our hurtful words can cut through someone's feelings.  We discussed many different hurtful sayings.  The kids had a great grasp on this concept.  My tip for this bird was to say something nice about the person that you are want to say bad things to OR if for some reason you cannot think of something nice, then say the mean thing to yourself (NOT OUTLOUD) or speak to the teacher about why you are upset.

Kids like to throw things!  It's a fact of life.  I don't know why.  Power?  All of the built up tension has to go somewhere?  I don't really know.  I do know that it does and will happen if a kid escalates. This bird drops exploding eggs to blow up the towers.  I discussed with the kids about the dangers of throwing objects out of frustration and even if your intentions are not to hurt someone that it could still happen.  My tip for this situation was to use items from their break boxes, including stress balls, crumbling paper (not their work), squeezing something, etc.  This still allows the child to get the tension out of their body, but in a controlled way.

Just like a bomb bird, sometimes our emotions get the best of us and we explode.  Children with difficulties handling emotions can sometime "explode" at a moments notice (which is all the more reason to learn ways to deal with anger).  I taught my students that explosions are not an appropriate way to handle anger or disappointment.  In previous lessons I have taught my students what to do in situation when they were about to explode, such as leave the room with adult supervision, go to a cool down area, and other stress management strategies.

EXTRAS:

• I made bookmarks for my kids of the 4 Angry Birds together so they can look at that card when they are feeling upset and identify that emotion.  The kid can then have a visual to show to me what they are feeling so I can help them identify their needs.
• The kids in this group have behavior charts and also rewards and breaks built into their schedule.  The kids can choose to play Angry Birds on the computer for a reward.
• Honestly, this has been the best anger management plan to date.  They have a buy-in, it's a popular theme, and it is fun to play the game.  I know it is making an impact, because they are telling their peers about it, and that is the best reward of all, to hear "my" kids teach others about what they are learning.

And just one more time...a shout out to thehometeacher.blogspot.com for her creative idea!  Thanks for letting me borrow this great idea!!

Mrs. H  :)








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