Week in Pictures

I finally posted something longer than a sentence! Huzzah!

As you may know or remember, I am in a new position this year. I have a TLP teacher for grades one and two. TLP stands for Therapeutic Learning Program, in which I work in a sub-separate classroom for students with behavioral difficulties that inhibit their ability to make progress in a general education classroom. Some of my students are able to join the Gen. Ed setting for certain subjects, mostly my 2nd graders. At these "push in" times, my paraprofessional goes with my students into the Gen. Ed. classroom while I work with the rest of the students in the classroom. This usually works out well, as I usually end up with my lower kids. However, what I find the most complicated, is that one of my second graders is very low, and is not making adequate progress in the 2nd grade curriculum. Additionally, while my other 2 second graders are in pushed into the inclusion class, my other 2nd grader is with me and my 1st graders doing the first grade curriculum. I need to find a way to make sure I am meeting the needs of this student, while ensuring he is able to make some progress and meet the standards required for 2nd grade. It's an art, not a science for sure, and I need to figure out the best way to do this. Advice is much needed and appreciated!

Here is my last week (or two) in pictures:

Math Block:

Our school uses the Envision Math curriculum. I am new to this curriculum, and was very confused about the best way to use it. I hadn't received training on the program until our third week of school, so until then, I decided to teach how to use ten frames to my firsties.

 I used masking tape to create a large tens frame on our rug. I had exactly 10 bean bags (how perfect!) in my closet, so we used those to demonstrate using a tens frame and the beginning concept of counting on.

Here is our small group filling in our tens frame. We all took turns creating oral math problems for each other and displaying the answers on our tens frame. Some of us could do this independently, showing me who understand the concepts, while one friend needed a lot of support -  hand over hand to be exact. This lead us to our next task...
                                      
I found these fun little Fall-themed 10 Frames. I just spent nearly an hour looking for this worksheet in my saved teacher products, but could not find where I got it! If you recognize it, please let me know so I can give credit!!

This friend here was my hand-over-hand learner, so I decided to quickly put together this activity. Basically, this friend needs lots of practice with one-to-one correspondence and counting past 10, so I printed this worksheet to have him sort by color first (able to do independently while I supported the other kiddos), then supported him with counting each group. He also needs significant support writing his numbers (he can only write 1 independently), so while my other friends worked independently on other activities, I could work with this fella.

 Finally, I had an Envisions training, so I could start our curriculum. Here is what the program looks like.

 Here is a modified version I quickly decided to do to keep my kiddos engaged. They LOVE whiteboards :)

Literacy Block:
Our district also uses the Journey's curriculum for our reading and writing blocks. Again, this is new to me. If any of you have used this program, you know how.much.stuff there is in this program. I think that this curriculum has a lot to offer our kiddos, but until I can become fluent in it, I feel like my kids are really losing out. I am so overwhelmed by this program, and don't feel like I have received the best training. Oh, and I don't even have the teacher manuals yet! So there's that... The perils of being a public school sped teacher...

 As a result, I have been picking and choosing the activities I can find in what little resources I have. Here, my students are sorting by short a and short i words.

 Then I created a cut and paste worksheet for students to work on independently while I supported some students who needed it.

 And some more...

My kids are already annoyed with my camera!

Then, I FINALLY had my iPad training, so I could FINALLY get my iPad for my classroom! I have been bookmarking every single site that I can find on how to utilize one iPad in a classroom. If you have any more ideas, please let me know! I don't want to only use it as a reinforcer...

That's all for now - I'm off for an Autumn run! Stay tuned some time this week for our Parent Night in review.