Teachers thread! *(Q on page 2)*

[vettechick99]

This started as classroom supply thread, but over time, more teacher related questions will be added. Veteran and newbie teachers, feel free to subscribe...I hope we can help each other!

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As some of you know, I'm now an Interrelated SPED teacher for 5th graders. I won't start with the kids until after Thanksgiving, but I was told I'm getting my own brand new classroom and will have about 10 kids with mild-moderate disabilities (LD, EBD, etc). I'll be co-teaching about half the day and will teach 4-5 kids at a time two segments a day.

They gave me a supply book and a $300 spending limit to get anything I'd need for the classroom. Anything from a grade book and lesson plans to construction paper and glue.

She gave me some ideas on what I need, but what is most important? I know that tons of paperwork is involved with these kids, so organizational supplies are very important, as well.

Tell me what you'd spend your money on if you were starting over fresh.

Thanks!!!

 

[stm61]

I got some paperback books that were on a lower reading level, so you could match your 5th grader who's reading on a 2nd gr level, but were written with subjects that were still age appropriate. They were paperbacks and the covers were designed to look age appropriate also. I can't remember the series names, there were 3 or 4 of them. I found them in 2 different catalogs.

 

[CheshireVal]

You mean you have to supply a classroom from scratch? With just $300? Of course you really have to have the basics: stapler, pens/pencils, pencil sharpener, dry erase markers, tissue, tons of paper. I go through a ton of manila folders, too. You can never have enough of those, or yellow post-it notes!

One thing I'm always glad to have on hand (and I teach privileged, too-smart-for-their-own-good 8th graders, but it still works), is positive reinforcement "treats." Even a rubber bouncy ball makes them really happy if it's presented as a surprise reward, not so frequently.

Posters on the walls-- just having an attractive and homey "living space"-- really helps, too.

 

[stm61]

$300 is not to bad! I've had yrs when I walked into rms, ok ex-book storage rms, that had nothing but desks in them! I had to hunt for left-overs or outdated books and didn't get any funding to buy supplies.

 

[Linnie The Pooh]

Do you have to buy your own testing protocols because if you do, there'll go all your money. My sped dir. always made each teacher pay for protocols out of their supply money. Each grade level/specialist in my school was given an amount of money for the year (mine was $850, depending on if the mill levy passed). I first ordered protocols, then paper, pencils, crayons etc. Hopefully, the students will be bringing their own supplies? Then you won't have to spend your money for that.

I'd concentrate on books, math manipulatives-things like that. You can always get lesson ideas off the internet and make your own posters and bulletin boards, flashcards etc. yourself so I wouldn't buy too much of that.

Another thing I'd do, is if you have access to it, (I did which is why I'm thinking of it) ask around your school or district for any reading books the teachers aren't using. And access to any storage areas where unused materials are held. Those places were gold mines for me. At my school, whenever we got a new reading program, special ed never got it. We inherited the program the classroom teachers just retired. Maybe there's some things like that lying around you could get your hands on.

It's been 5 years since I taught so I'm trying to think back to what I needed every year. Computer games, a date stamp-saves time of writing it dozens of times on kids papers or paperwork, board games (for those all important social skills).

Good luck-keep us informed on how it goes. I miss teaching, but am home with my kids right now so am enjoying that too!!

 

[Cindy B]

Congrats! That is exactly what I am going to school for!

Well, I've been subbing in tons of sped rooms lately in the middle and high school levels.

I've seen lots of reading books.. lower level, but still interesting. Read 180 is the name of the series. But I have also seen older paperbacks that are either personal collection or maybe garage sale/goodwill store finds. If you can even find interesting books on tape/cd that is incredible as well.

Brain puzzles, board games work well also. You can pick up puzzles, board games and word games (Yahtzee, Boggle, Scattergories, Scrabble even) at garage sales or goodwill stores.

Rewards, rewards, rewards.. even if its small candies! You may be able to find individual pieces of candy or small type rewards like erasers stickers or something like that at dollar stores or cheaper stores like that.

Comfortable and inviting place for kids to sit on while reading. Even carpet remnants are fun for them to lay out. If you can lay your hands on an inexpensive portable loveseat or chair thats even better. Depending on the level or type of disabilities, they may not sit well for you but thats ok.

Interesting visuals, but not too much as to overstimulate them.
The high school special ed room that I am in a lot has tons of plants... and the students have a great time checking growth, watching them grow and such. If then can handle it, plants were nice for the kids--at least the high schoolers liked them.


Yes, tons of paperwork. A hanging folder box with those green folders are great. I see a ton of teachers use those. I also see the students use tons of colored folders by grade/subject. I see that used in middle school and high school.

Do you forsee doing projects? I would ask the students bring a composition book. That way they could journal, but also use it for storyboards or graffiti board or even essay organization (webs and such).

If you see posters in your plans, I would wait and see what the kids have and what they can bring in.

Sad to say, some of the parents were not helpful at all, but some were overly helpful. Some parents brought in tons of stuff whereas some just didn't care.

Good luck and congratulations!

 

[vettechick99]

Linnie the Pooh, what are testing protocols?

Oh and I need everything, even the small stuff! Nine of the 10 kids I have come from poverty and they are lucky to arrive with pencils and paper. I think learning materials will top my list, followed by reward items, and lots of fun classroom supplies.

Thank you Cindy B for the detailed list -- I'm going to make notes. What other reward items work well (I like stickers, funky pencils, etc)? My coordinator mentioned the "checkbook" idea that works for another teacher, but suggested I use tickets to simplify. ?

I already know I'm going to have to be extremely creative with this bunch. Today I met one of my students and he's a klepto. Poor thing thing steals every single day and is just so pitiful about it all -- but I really want to help him.

Keep the ideas coming! Thanks everyone!

 

[carrie_106]

I am a curriculum director and Greatsource has some great materials for kids with difficulties. Also a great reading fluency item is Read Naturally, works well with all kids. Good luck, $300 is not much to equip a special education classroom.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

First, I would find out exactly what the district and school are supplying. Do they have a supply room? We have one - under lock and key - with markers (large point for chart paper, visa vis for the overhead, dry erase), sticky notes of varying sizes, paper clips, rubber bands, staplers, staples, and so on. There is also construction paper, manila paper, copy paper and poster board.

Do they provide copy paper? That is a large expense.

What about the curriculum? Are materials provided? Are there materials that you are required to use?

How is the campus library? Is there a literacy center?

As far as rewards, I give out tickets when students show the desired behavior. They then put them in a Sponge Bob Halloween bucket. On Friday I draw a couple and they get to choose from "Mr Doodle Doo" the plastic chicken planter (think lawn art). In Mr Doodle Doo at the moment are sticky rats, spider webs, and spiders left over from Halloween, cans of lemonade, pencils, and coupons I made for things like "bring a friend to class for lunch" and "read on a pillow."

You also might want to discover what their IEP's are before you invest in materials and copy copy copy ALL that you can get from others.

Best of luck!

 

[Boston Tea Party]

Checkbook is difficult and labor intensive for even regular ed kids.

I had a kleptomaniac once. Oh boy. Watch your purse.

 

[huey duey & luey]

I am not a special ed teacher but I am a pediatric Occupational therapist. I would suggest getting alot of pretzel sticks, we used this for a variety of things, we would used it as manipulatives in math and we would even use it to write letters.
As far as math goes you are definitley going to need interlocking blocks, it really helps for math problems when there is something concrete to us.
Carpet remnants is a great idea, do to a local carpet store plead your case, you can probably get it free. Kids need to have and know their own space and this is great for circle time. If the school does not provide I would get some double lined paper, The other lines will probably be too small for them.
I would get a calendar/make a calendar where you can go over the days, months and numbers each day. It can really be made out of oaktag and velcro, but you would definitely need a laminator. The dollar store and the internet will be your best friend. Stickers are a great reward system I had a chart and after 10 stickers they could pick a prize from the treasure chest. I would probably do a level library but you may have to wait to see what they are able to read. Word/letter bingo is also a great game to have and can be made. There was also a mathe matching game where you had the problem on one card and match it to the correct answer. Just wanted to add we had a tent with a bean bag in our room and called it camp quiet time, sometimes the kids really need to separate in order to regroup. Last thing is a Cd player (with headphones is great), music can be downloaded.
good Luck

 

[isla bonita]

Congrats on your classroom. I know you have mentioned your population is underprivledged,but as a parent who has had a sped child for 15 years and not always having cash if the parents offer let them know what you could use. We always asked in the first week of school that if there is a list and we can afford something on it we would be glad to purchase it for the class room. Education is very important to us and we know the teachers are always paying for items I personally think should be covered. I know like everything starting out is expensive, but if some one offers take them up on it, it is showing that we respect what you are doing and want to do our part. Good luck and have a great year.

 

[Cindy B]

I wouldn't do checkbook for elementary ed kids. The high schoolers have a hard enough time with it.

What I have seen in classrooms I have subbed in is this --my current district is big on rubrics so keep that in mind.

We had exceeds, meets, does not meet as the benchmarks. (This was 6th grade by the way) The criteria for the benchmarks were prepared for class (planner, notebook, pencil), good atitude, good work ethic, class on time and no disruptions. They were graded from a 0 to a 3 in each of these criteria. If they got all 3's for the five criteria they got a 15. If you got 50 of more points, you could get some candy at the end of the week.

A humanities teacher did something similiar to the lawn art holder that someone else mentioned. Since she was a history/geography teacher, she took a globe shaped container and painted a face on it.. his name was Mr. Worldly. She did a learning groups exercise and if athe groups did well they got points throughout the week. The groups with the most points on the Friday got to ask Mr. Worldly questions... yes, these 6th graders actually asked a candy jar if he liked Xbox or Ps2 or played Grand Theft Auto! The teacher actually treated Mr. Worldly like a real person, so that helped! And if the questions were school appropriate, they could get an answer and a candy. Everybody, even the hard edged urban kids loved Mr. Worldly.


Linker cubes, math manipulatives and the card game 24 are good. I'm leaning more towards Language Arts minor/Special Ed cert so that is why I am thinking about word games and mind benders.

Mad Libs is fun as well. WE also did a modfied create a story game.

 

[WDWAurora]

Linnie the Pooh, what are testing protocols?

Oh and I need everything, even the small stuff! Nine of the 10 kids I have come from poverty and they are lucky to arrive with pencils and paper. I think learning materials will top my list, followed by reward items, and lots of fun classroom supplies.

Thank you Cindy B for the detailed list -- I'm going to make notes. What other reward items work well (I like stickers, funky pencils, etc)? My coordinator mentioned the "checkbook" idea that works for another teacher, but suggested I use tickets to simplify. ?

I already know I'm going to have to be extremely creative with this bunch. Today I met one of my students and he's a klepto. Poor thing thing steals every single day and is just so pitiful about it all -- but I really want to help him.

Keep the ideas coming! Thanks everyone!

Testing protocols are for if you have to do any assessments for your kids. Not sure what state Linnie is in, but I'm pretty sure in GA you won't have to do any assessments, especially with your background. Worth asking about for sure though.

 

[katedrew94]

I am an OT but I used to work in the schools, so I am thinking that it would be nice to pester all of your friends/family or hit some sales for some games and age appropriate toys for the kids, for reward time and also for learning. You may also want to get some books for the same reason.

You will definitely need lots of paper and writing stuff for the kids, the OT above mentioned that as well.

Good luck with your new job!

 

[Karel]

I am right now building a classroom from scratch. It's a rather complicated situation, but I'm the long term sub with a student teacher.

Are these kids coming out of another classroom? Are you going to be a homeroom?

For instance, we're a resource room so the kids have a homeroom. So we don't need to worry about a lot of 'start the day' things.

And since we're starting the new room in November, they already have their own notebooks, journals, workbooks etc. etc.

You need some sort of organization unit and folders. Will the kids have mailboxes?

Do you have a dry erase board or a chalk board? Do you need a job chart?

Go to the copy room and grab a pack of paper.

Don't get fancy. Use basic stuff and figure out in a month what things you really use that you can upgrade.

Figure out what stuff you have at home and what stuff you'll buy that you'll want to keep. You will have to spend some of your own money.

And these are 5th graders so they don't need a lot of entertainment and cutesy stuff.

One thing we have, which is a neat idea, is plastic three ring binders which the kids put up on their desks as dividers when they are taking tests. It creates a private little area.

What kind of behavior mod systems does the school have in place?

 

[Cindy B]

Karels post reminded me of our "office area". We use offices in elementary,middle and actually high school within the special ed department.

Our offices are pretty simple. I've used two file folders opened up for the area. For the high schoolers we call it thier cubicles.. but the principle is still the same.

 

[Missamoncus]

Just wanted to say congratulations Vettechick! I have no advice, I am starting my Masters in Ed SpEd k-12 cert this summer . Let me know how its going!

Melissa

 

[vettechick99]

Thanks everyone for your input on the supplies. I placed my order today and was able to get a lot of good stuff for both my desk and the classroom.

I set up my classroom tomorrow and I think I start teaching Wednesday. Because it'll be a short week for us, I'm trying to plan more (than usual) activities for the week. I was just directed to the anysolder.com website and I thought it would be great if I could have the kids write letters to the soldiers over there. This way they work on their writing skills and do something "good".

My question, anyone have a lesson plan for this or should I just wing it? I'm apprehensive in asking for items since most of my kids are from poverty, so how else besides writing a letter can I get them involved?

Any ideas appreciated!

 

[Byrd]

I know that you will do a wonderful job with your students. I teach 2nd grade now, but taught SCLD for many years. I feel a teacher must change levels and grades to grow with the children.

I loved High Noon books for my students. They appear as a regular chapter book, but are written on a 1st grade level and up. They can be found at www.academictherapy.com another source to look at is www.teachers.net and look at the chat boards as well as posted lessons.

I always provide each student with a homework folder and class folder to keep their work in. They need help with organization, and it helps me since they can be bad to write their names on papers. On the folders I have sight words in alphabetical order to help with spelling, skip countimg charts, and writing words (ex: first, next, finally, last of all, ect) and words to replace worn out words (ex: good: splendid, wonderful, great, terrific ) after I glue these things on the folders I laminate so they will last for the year.

If you would like copies of these things and other things I've made and used with my students and if you think they may help you PM me with a way to email what I have to you. I have many things on both my home computer and school computer that I would be happy to share with you.

Have fun! It's hard work and a joy.