Understanding the functions of nouns, verbs, and adjectives can significantly enhance students’ writing skills, reading comprehension, and vocabulary. It also lays the foundation for better grammar, improved communication, creative expression, and critical thinking. Furthermore, equipping them for advanced language acquisition.

For beginning learners, students in special education, and English language learners, mastering these parts of speech is not just an academic exercise but a gateway to improved language skills and enhanced communication abilities.

The following resources will help your young learners master nouns, verbs, and adjectives. They are fun, time-saving, differentiated, and standards-aligned to help your students engage wholeheartedly in learning.

Nouns: Grasp Characters and Context

Nouns serve as the foundational elements of sentences, acting as the subject or object to which actions or descriptions are applied. Grasping the concept of nouns is crucial for students to understand the context of a story and the significance of certain characters and locations.

To help your students learn that nouns represent people, animals, places, or things, I have developed these Easy-to-Understand Grammar Worksheets on Common Nouns. The packet includes differentiated reading and writing worksheets, task cards, and interactive write-the-room activities, to make learning about nouns a fun experience for them.

For instance, the write-the-room activity is designed for movement around the room. Your students will search and identify nouns in the classroom or around the school. It is designed to accommodate the varied learning needs of your students by providing three levels of differentiation: writing worksheets for those who thrive on direct writing practice, checklist worksheets for students who benefit from a more structured approach, and low-prep templates for manipulatives to engage learners who need a hands-on experience. This approach ensures that every student’s needs are met, promoting an inclusive and dynamic learning environment.

This differentiated 61-page nouns packet offers accommodations for mixed abilities in your classroom. For instance, you can laminate the task cards to ensure their durability and for multiple uses by your students. These materials have been adapted to cater to students requiring substantial support and also to those who can read and write independently.

Verbs: Depict Action

Verbs breathe life into sentences, depicting actions and states of being. Through these differentiated visual worksheets, students can practice reading, writing, and understanding action words clearly.

These no-prep, print and use, Action Verbs Worksheets are designed to help your students improve their grammar, vocabulary, and reading comprehension skills.

The differentiated worksheets include activities that require students to identify the verb with and without picture cues. Furthermore, it assists students in recognizing the distinction between a noun (a thing) and a verb (an action). Additionally, students will work on activities such as categorizing, matching, choosing the best verb, and/or finding the verbs in a sentence circling, and writing the verb.

Standards Aligned With:

CCSSL.K.1b
Use frequently occurring nouns and verbs.

CCRA.L.1

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

ELA.EE.L.2.1

Demonstrate understanding of letter and word use.

d. Use frequently occurring verbs.

Adjectives: Add Depth and Detail

Adjectives enrich language by describing the qualities of nouns (person, animal, place, or thing) making them vivid and meaningful.

Descriptive adjectives can cover a wide range of descriptions, including colors (e.g., “a red apple”), sizes (e.g., “a tall building”), shapes (e.g., “a round table”), conditions (e.g., “a wet towel”), emotions (e.g., “a happy face”), and many other aspects of the nouns they describe. They are fundamental tools in the language, allowing for more expressive and detailed communication.

Your students will enjoy engaging with Adjectives – Parts Of Speech – Daily Grammar Practice Worksheets for SPED. These visual worksheets concentrate on adjectives and descriptive adjectives, aiming to enhance reading comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, and communication skills.

In addition, these ELA worksheets have been modified and scaffolded to give your students access to learning. Inclusive, through an array of exercises, your students will learn to identify, sort, label, color, and write descriptive adjectives for known nouns for comprehension.

Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives: A Comprehensive Approach

A holistic understanding of language involves recognizing the interplay between different parts of speech. The Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives Worksheets – Parts Of Speech – Daily Grammar Review, combines all three parts of speech for a well-rounded approach. This packet is great for students who have a foundational understanding of nouns, verbs, and adjectives and are ready to make comparisons.

These activities are perfect for review, practice, and assessments. They are also perfect for morning work, literacy centers, writing centers, fine motor centers, workstations, 1:1 instruction, and small group work. Inclusive, they are perfect for homeschool settings, and as emergency substitute plans.

7 Benefits of Learning Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives

Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives: Best Value Bundle

This best value bundle, Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives Bundle – Daily Grammar Practice For SPED offers more flexibility and modification. Further, catering to your students’ differing learning styles and cognitive abilities. In addition, the differentiated worksheets are an economical, time-saving, standards-aligned tool that will help your students deepen their understanding of grammar and syntax in the English language.

Bundle Benefits:

• Standards aligned to the Common Core State Standards and Dynamic Learning Maps Essential Elements
• Time-saving, engaging, and fun educational activities
• Differentiated reading and writing activities mixed abilities students, early learners, English language learners, students with disabilities, and students on the autism spectrum.
• Designed for inclusivity to appeal to diverse learning styles
• Supplemental materials for grammar lessons on parts of speech – practice, review, and/or assessment

The bundle contains over 195 ready-to-use printable activities with many digital, self-checking components available through the TPT Easel platform. These engaging activities, aligned with educational standards, will help pave the way for your students to improve their language skills and effectively support them as they progress in their reading and writing journey.

Additional Resources and Materials

If you are looking for more parts of speech activities, you may like Vocabulary Building – Identifying, Reading, and Writing Common Nouns or this Sentence Building With Visuals For Beginning Readers and Writers Bundle. The TPT website is a free website for everyone. There are many free resources that you can download. Additionally, when you purchase an item, and leave feedback, you earn points that you can use to lower the cost of future purchases.

Lastly, I’d like to invite you to join the vortex2learning club and have exclusive access to the freebie library resources. You will find a growing collection of educational lessons, activities, printables, worksheets, workbooks and so much more. You will be given a password that will allow you access at any time.

The post Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives: Building Blocks of Language appeared first on Best Resources for Special Education Teachers by vortex2learning.

These engaging and differentiated reading worksheets are tailored for diverse learners, including those on the spectrum, English language learners, and beginning learners. It is my hope that these short reading passages, coupled with WH questions and visuals, can support your students.

Short Reading Passages With Visuals: The Gateway to Comprehension

Exceptional learners often benefit from reading materials that are concise and to the point. Long, overwhelming texts can be daunting for these learners, hindering their ability to comprehend and retain information effectively.

These short reading passages offer a manageable length, making them less overwhelming while still delivering meaningful content. For instance, the reading comprehension passages are one paragraph long (4-5 sentences). There are two levels of differentiation for the fluent reader (text only) and the reader who needs additional support (text with visuals).

This approach encourages students to focus on comprehension without feeling daunted by lengthy texts.

Incorporating visuals into learning materials has proven to be a powerful strategy, especially for exceptional learners. The short reading passages are accompanied by child-friendly pictures or visuals, creating a multi-sensory experience that reinforces comprehension. These visuals serve a dual purpose: they capture the student’s attention and provide additional context to aid comprehension.

For children with mild to severe disabilities, visual aids serve as a bridge between words and understanding. For this reason, the illustrations are colorful and depict children in action. This approach not only enhances comprehension but also makes the learning experience more enjoyable and accessible.

Assessment Made Easy: WH Questions With Multiple Choice

Assessing comprehension is a crucial aspect of any educational resource or lesson plan. To make the process engaging and effective, the short reading passages include WH (What, Who, Where, and When ) questions. These are explicit questions that can be answered by referring back to the text.

To further streamline the assessment process, each short reading passage is accompanied by five multiple-choice questions. With three answer choices for each question, this format provides a balanced challenge without overwhelming students.

Additionally, the differentiation extends to the types of questions posed. The first version covers who, what, where, and when questions, providing a comprehensive understanding of the text. The second version focuses on who and what questions, aligning with Essential Elements and acting as a bridge to broader Common Core standards.

These worksheets are great for special education teachers who are tracking reading comprehension progress. With five multiple-choice questions per worksheet, educators can easily collect data and calculate an 80% accuracy rate by looking at 4 out of 5 correct answers. These worksheets serve as perfect evidence to back up your reading comprehension data collection sheets.

The multiple-choice format is particularly beneficial for exceptional learners, offering a clear and straightforward way to express their comprehension without the added pressure of open-ended responses.

Educational Standards Alignment

These reading comprehension activities are CCSS and DLM Essential Elements aligned. They are in line with ELA standards, RL.K.1, RI.K.7, RL.1.3, RL.2.1, ELA.EE.RL.2.1, and ELA.EE.RI.2.1. By addressing these standards, you can confidently incorporate these passages into your curriculum, ensuring that learning objectives are met while providing a valuable tool for data-driven instruction.

Short Reading Passages With WH Questions Resource Bundle

The time-saving, best-value bundle includes three themed packets of these highly engaging and differentiated short reading comprehension activities.

Features and Benefits:

Short Reading Comprehension Activities Are Perfect For:

• Independent desk work
• Small groups
• One-to-one instruction
• Workstations
• Literacy centers
• Morning work
• Homework
• Early and fast finishers
• Take home packets
• Enrichment
• Sub plans

What Educators Are Saying

A great resource for our ESL (English Language Learners) and our special needs students. Each story is leveled from pictures to represent each word to only the words without pictures. I appreciate the leveling for each reading passage. It is very low level and definitely Kindergarten level reading.

—Sharee M.

I really like these passages and questions. They work well with my kindergarten students.

—Amanda R.

Great resource for WH questions. This is exactly what I was looking for!

—Katie L.

I love this product! It has questions and a variety of questions for my struggling kiddos. I love it!

— Kerri E.

Additional Resources and Materials

If you are looking for more reading comprehension worksheets like the ones mentioned in this article, you may like this How To Be A Good Friend – Read Aloud and Short Stories WH Questions Bundle. You may also like, Main Idea and Key Details – Reading Comprehension Bundle. The TPT website is a free website for everyone. There are many free resources that you can download. Additionally, when you purchase an item, and leave feedback, you earn points that you can use to lower the cost of future purchases.

Lastly, I’d like to invite you to join the vortex2learning club and have exclusive access to the freebie library resources. You will find a growing collection of educational lessons, activities, printables, worksheets, workbooks and so much more. You will be given a password that will allow you access at any time.

The post Short Reading Passages with WH Questions for Exceptional Learners appeared first on Best Resources for Special Education Teachers by vortex2learning.

Sentence Building and Sentence Structure

Improving sentence structure is a gradual process that involves understanding the components of a sentence. For beginners, utilizing visual aids and engaging activities can be highly effective. One resource designed to facilitate this learning process is the Sentence Frames Task Cards.

These task cards offer differentiated worksheets that guide students in constructing simple 4-word sentences. By filling in the blanks and incorporating colorful picture cues, unmotivated readers can enhance their comprehension skills. The cards cover essential elements like capitalization, proper spacing, and punctuation, emphasizing a subject-verb-object construction.

Sentence Building: Good Sentence Structure

Good sentence construction encompasses various elements, including proper grammar, punctuation, and logical organization. The Building Simple Sentences Worksheets resource takes a hands-on approach to teach students how to construct sentences. Through cutting, sorting, and pasting words in the correct order, students not only learn sentence structure but also engage in activities that enhance comprehension and fine motor skills.

The worksheets feature designated spaces for students to write their sentences neatly, reinforcing capitalization, spacing, and punctuation. This resource encourages students to actively check these features as they work on constructing sentences. The black-line illustrations serve two purposes. For example, to facilitate reading comprehension and improve fine motor skills through coloring.

How Do You Teach Sentence Structure?

Teaching sentence structure requires a thoughtful approach that considers the diverse needs of learners. The Subject and Predicate worksheets offer a differentiated method to help students understand the basic components of a sentence – the subject (answering “who”) and the predicate (answering “what”).

Simple Sentence Structure Worksheets Are Perfect For:

• Independent desk work
• Small groups
• One-to-one instruction
• Workstations
• Literacy centers
• Fine motor centers
• Morning work
• Homework
• Early finishers
• Take home packets
• Enrichment
• Sub plans

Through activities like unscrambling sentences, building and writing sentences, and reading the sentence structure while tracing, students reinforce their comprehension and ability to answer “Wh” questions when reading and writing. This resource caters to various learning styles and is especially beneficial for special education students.

What Is A Sentence Structure Example?

For a comprehensive example of sentence structure, consider the Sentence Frames (Nouns + Verbs) with Writing & Tracing Worksheets. These worksheets and visual task cards are designed to introduce the structure of a simple sentence to beginning learners.

Featuring simple 3-word sentences with one sight word, a noun, and a verb, these resources enable students to construct, read, write, or trace sentences. With four levels of differentiation, these worksheets and task cards are adaptable to various learning needs, making them particularly useful in mixed-level classrooms and autism classrooms.

Sentence Building Resource Bundle

To save you valuable time searching for differentiated sentence building materials, I’ve put together this bundle. Included are the products mentioned above:

• Sentence Frames Task Cards: Differentiated worksheets with colorful picture cues for constructing 4-word sentences. Covers essential sentence elements and encourages subject-verb-object construction.
• Building Simple Sentences Worksheets: Scaffolded worksheets for cutting, sorting, and pasting words to build sentences. Includes spaces for writing sentences with a focus on capitalization, spacing, and punctuation.
• Subject and Predicate Worksheets: Differentiated activities to reinforce understanding of sentence components. Includes unscrambling, building, writing, reading, and tracing sentences.
• Sentence Frames (Nouns + Verbs) with Writing & Tracing Worksheets: Visual task cards and worksheets for introducing simple sentence structures. Differentiated in four levels to accommodate various learning styles and levels.

Simple Sentence Building Bundle Is Perfect For:

• Independent desk work
• Small groups
• One-to-one instruction
• Workstations
• Literacy centers
• Fine motor centers
• Morning work
• Homework
• Early finishers
• Take home packets
• Enrichment
• Sub plans

What Educators Are Saying

I love this resource! Your hard work has made it so easy to use. More importantly, it has helped my students be engaged and has helped them have success with writing. The visuals are just perfect for them. Thank you.

— Lana N.

My students enjoyed these worksheets. My beginning writers loved the simplicity and practice of tracing the sentence before writing it themselves.

— Alyssa p.

I have been using this resource daily with one of my students. I have incorporated known vocabulary into his “work by myself” time and used it to introduce new vocabulary during “teacher time.”

— Kirsten W.

Additional Resources and Materials

If you want more sentence-building activities, you may like this Opinion Writing Prompts With Visuals For Beginning Of The Year Writing. You may also like, CVC Words Sentences: Reading Fluency and Comprehension. The TPT website is a free website for everyone. There are many free resources that you can download. Additionally, when you purchase an item, and leave feedback, you earn points that you can use to lower the cost of future purchases.

Lastly, I’d like to invite you to join the vortex2learning club and have exclusive access to the freebie library resources. You will find a growing collection of educational lessons, activities, printables, worksheets, workbooks and so much more. You will be given a password that will allow you access at any time.

The post Sentence Building With Visuals For strong ELA Foundational Skills appeared first on Best Resources for Special Education Teachers by vortex2learning.

Celebrating holidays in the classroom is an excellent way to integrate holiday themes into all subjects and skill areas. Additionally, using read-aloud books (affiliate link) with follow-up activities can be a fun and engaging way to teach students with disabilities about holiday traditions.

I have designed several engaging December holiday resources, each uniquely crafted around the three major holidays. These interdisciplinary activities are both differentiated and adaptable making them perfect for use as a stand-alone or extension activity after a read-aloud or lesson on a particular holiday.

Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa December Holiday Resources

The holiday-themed activities below include a scavenger hunt, differentiated mini books, and adapted Christmas coloring pages. Additionally, there is a Christmas fun pack full of foundational skills in math and ELA work, as well as fine motor skills activities.

Scavenger Hunt

This scavenger hunt activity is a fun way to bring movement and excitement into the classroom around the holidays. Students will learn the vocabulary and elements associated with each celebration.

You can play the game in the classroom by placing the holiday symbols around the room. Alternatively, you can place the picture/word symbols on bulletin boards around the school.

The student checklists for the scavenger hunt are differentiated in three ways. For example, there is a level 1 for students who are not yet writers and need additional support. This one requires a simple, low-prep setup (cut, laminate, and velcro). You can customize this one to the number of items you want your student to find based on ability level. Your student will use the manipulatives to hold the symbol, match it to the one found, and place it on the receptacle box on their template board.

The level 2 worksheet is two pages with 8 picture/word symbols on each page and the level 3 checklist has 16 picture/word symbols on one page.

This Scavenger Hunt Activity Is Great For:

Differentiated Mini Books

These time-saving, no-prep, print-and-go, holiday mini-books are perfect for learning the symbols of each holiday. Each mini book comes in two versions — Trace and Write. These are also great for December holidays around the world activities.

Your students can create mini-books for each holiday or they can create one mini-book featuring all three holidays. There is an extra cover page for this version. You can pick a few pages from each holiday collection to complete the inclusive booklet.

Christmas Coloring Pages

These Coloring pages are great for students on the autism spectrum (ASD) who require simple, bold outlines with ample white space to color. They also benefit kids with ADD/ADHD, and Sensory Processing Disorders (SPD). These coloring sheets are great for self-contained classrooms where students need high visual and tactile support, and they are also perfectly suited for the little hands of preschoolers.

Not only are these coloring sheets great for students with accommodations, but for the whole class, no matter the grade or ability level. Pull out all your crafting materials and mixed media to engage in a fun arts and crafts session. Your students will walk away with beautiful and unique artwork pieces.

Christmas Fun Packet – Foundational Math – ELA – Fine Motor Skills

This Christmas fun activities packet is great for December morning work or as a take-home packet for the holiday break—just, print and use it and let the learning fun begin. These ELA, math, and fine motor worksheets revolve around many Christmas vocabulary words and are aligned to the NYS Common Core State Standards.

The differentiated worksheets target different skill sets to improve foundational skills in comprehension, reading, and writing. Additionally, it targets skills in math such as counting, cardinality, and graphing. Your students will have plenty of fun educational activities themed around the Christmas holiday.

December Holiday Resource Bundle

December is such an exciting time of year in the classroom with the diverse traditions celebrated by all of our students. As teachers, we are always searching for time-saving, affordable, and highly engaging activities and materials for our exceptional kiddos.

For this reason, I’ve put together a bundle of the above resources to help balance the workload and ease the pressure of keeping up with the demands of the season.

These Activities Are Great For:

• Independent desk work
• Small group work
• One-to-one instruction
• Workstations
• Arts and Crafts centers
• Cool down and Calm areas
• Literacy centers
• Fine motor centers
• Morning work
• Homework
• Early and fast finishers
• Take home packet
• Enrichment and extension activities
• Substitute plans
• Parent Engagement
• Holiday parties
• After school activities

Bundle Benefits:

This is a best-value bundle with differentiated activities covering the three most popular holidays celebrated in the classrooms. The activities are stand-alone and can also complement any lesson or unit in your curriculum. This is a wonderful packet that touches on many subject areas and domains for students with a point of entry for all.

Additional Resources and Materials

If you are looking for more winter or December activities, you may like this Winter Activities Reading Comprehension Lesson Plan with a Fun Read Aloud. The TPT website is a free website for everyone. There are many free resources that you can download. Additionally, when you purchase an item, and leave feedback, you earn points that you can use to lower the cost of future purchases.

Lastly, I’d like to invite you to join the vortex2learning club and have exclusive access to the freebie library resources. You will find a growing collection of educational lessons, activities, printables, worksheets, workbooks and so much more. You will be given a password that will allow you access at any time.

The post December Holiday Resources For Special Education Classrooms appeared first on Best Resources for Special Education Teachers by vortex2learning.

Research has shown that sight word instruction can be a successful alternative to phonics for students with disabilities. By focusing on teaching commonly used words by sight, students can become more confident in their reading abilities and increase their overall comprehension. Unlike phonics, sight word instruction does not require an understanding of the relationship between letters and sounds, making it an effective method for students who may struggle with this concept.

In my personal experience, I have found that many students on the autism spectrum struggle with phonics instruction. Despite their efforts, they may become stuck on a particular letter sound, preventing them from progressing further in their reading abilities. Sight word instruction has proven to be a successful method for these students, allowing them to build a solid foundation of frequently used words that they can recognize and read with ease.

Sight Word Reading Comprehension Program

Many schools have found a unique solution to address the varying needs of our students. By integrating the Edmark Reading Program (affiliate link) into the English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum, which utilizes sight word instruction along with phonics to accommodate different skill levels and cognitive abilities.

Special education teachers often use the Edmark Reading Program. The program helps students recognize words through repetitive practice and errorless learning. By breaking down learning into small steps and setting a 90% accuracy rate, the program boosts students’ reading confidence.

With minimal prerequisite skills required, sight word instruction proved to be highly effective in teaching reading to my exceptional students. To ensure optimal learning conditions, I provided a quiet, distraction-free 1:1 teaching environment, along with token boards for positive reinforcement.

As a teacher, I was impressed with the results my students achieved through the program and wanted to provide them with additional resources to enhance their sight word proficiency. I recognized that creating an engaging and interactive activity book could help my students work independently and move forward in their reading journey.

Sight Words Activity Books For Independent Practice

Consequently, teachers in special education understand the benefits of transforming educational resources into engaging activity books. Furthermore, they spend a lot of time and effort doing this. For this reason, I’ve created a series of sight words reading comprehension activities to supplement the reading program. These leveled reading comprehension worksheets feature over 350 sight words.

The reading and comprehension worksheets have a colorful picture cue and three answer choices that include the newly learned vocabulary word and two sight words previously learned. Your students will never encounter an unfamiliar word on any of the worksheets because it follows a systematic approach.

There are three activity books with 50 worksheets each that supplement the level 1 program (reading level K-1) for a total of 150 vocabulary words. Additionally, there are four activity books with 50 worksheets each that supplement the level 2 program (reading level 1-3). Combined, there are 350 worksheets or sight words for vocabulary-building practice.

The activity books are low prep—laminate once for longevity, durability, and years of use. Included are extra word symbols for cutting and laminating. All you have to do is add velcro dots and punch holes and place the worksheets in a binder for interactivity. Additionally, These worksheets are available in a digital format with self-checking activities for immediate student feedback. You will find these in the EASEL platform in the TPT store.

These Sight Words Activity Books Are Great For:

• Pre-K students ages 3-5 years through adulthood
• Elementary students who struggle with standard classroom reading materials
• Special education students
• Students with mild to severe disabilities
• Students on the autism spectrum
• Students with dyslexia
• English as a Second Language (ESL) learner
• English Language Learners (ELL)
• English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learner
• students who struggle with phonics.
• Anyone child or adult that has not mastered reading

What Educators Are Saying

I use this resource with so many students in my class. They are wonderful for my students with Autism that need the modifications.

— Tonya D.

SO user friendly! This was an excellent resource for students in my learning center.

— Meg W.

Additional Resources and Materials

If you are looking for more sight word worksheets, activities, and printables for building vocabulary and reading comprehension, you may like this CVC Words – Short Vowel Sounds Blending and Segmenting with Pictures Bundle.

Lastly, I’d like to invite you to join the vortex2learning club and have exclusive access to the freebie library resources. You will find a growing collection of educational lessons, activities, printables, worksheets, workbooks and so much more. You will be given a password that will allow you access at any time.

The post Sight Word Instruction For Students With Disabilities appeared first on Best Resources for Special Education Teachers by vortex2learning.

Learning how to self-regulate is an important skill for students in the early grades, especially for those with disabilities, and students on the autism spectrum. When students are able to recognize and manage their emotions, they are better equipped to navigate difficult situations in the classroom.This includes times when they may feel frustrated or overwhelmed.

By having good strategies in place to self-regulate, students can effectively communicate their needs to their teachers and advocate for themselves in a productive and appropriate manner. This not only helps the student feel more in control of their learning but also fosters a positive and inclusive classroom environment.

Three Short Social Stories For Self Regulation and Self Advocacy

I’ve created this social-emotional packet which contains three versions of social stories, each designed to help students regulate their emotions and advocate for themselves. Additionally, the stories provide students with real-life scenarios that they can relate to and learn from.

The first social story focuses on a scenario where a student may be experiencing strong feelings and emotions. Also, these emotions may be confusing to them and they may not know how to deal with them. Through this story, students learn that they can ask for a break to calm down and regulate their emotions.

The second social story addresses the issue of a student’s frustration with their workload. In this story, students learn to ask for help if they need it and to use self-regulating tools. For example, they can use tools like checklists and choice boards to manage their emotions.

The third social story walks students through the entire process of how to ask for a break. By using break cards and other self-regulating tools, students can learn to recognize when they need a break. Hence, how to ask for one in a respectful and appropriate manner.

Calm Down Posters, Checklists, Choice Boards and Brake Boards

The self-regulation packet features two calm-down posters with four strategies each that can be placed in the calming areas of the classroom. In addition, there are choice boards with the many strategies a child can employ. The “I Need a Break” card features real-life photos of diverse kids in relaxing/calming poses for them to choose from. Also included in the tool kit are visual break cards with 1, 2, or 3 breaks. Students will know how many breaks they are allowed per class session or school day.

Finally, the “AM I Ready To Learn” checklist, allows students to self-assess their emotions and readiness to learn. They will ask themselves these 3 questions and check them off before resuming their classwork:

This self-regulation packet is a low-prep, laminate once, social-emotional learning tool kit that will benefit all your present and future students for years to come.

Standards Addressed: New York State Social Emotional Learning Benchmarks (NYSSEL)

Early Elementary K-3:

1A.1a. Recognize and describe emotions and how they are linked to behavior.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           1A.1b. Demonstrate control of impulsive behavior.

Late Elementary 4-5:

1A.2b. Describe and demonstrate ways to express emotions in a constructive manner.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1A.2c. Demonstrate control of behaviors that interfere with time on task.

What Educators Are Saying

These are great materials to work with self advocacy for my friends with autism or pragmatic language concerns. The information is presented in a non-judgmental, neurodiversity-affirming way.

— Amy G.

This packet is a comprehensive system for organizing your classroom and teaching students how to take care of their feelings and emotions in a gentle and appropriate way to promote self-care and self-advocacy in the classroom. It is also a way to ease high emotions that can become problematic behaviors that impede learning.

Additional Resources and Materials

If you are looking for more resources for self-regulation strategies, you can read my other article here. If you are looking for a lesson on feelings and emotions for your nonverbal students, students on the spectrum, or K-1 elementary students, you may like this one.

I’d like to invite you to come join the vortex 2 learning club and gain exclusive access to the freebie library of resources— a growing collection of educational lessons, activities, worksheets, workbooks and more.

The post Self Regulation Strategies For Self-Advocacy appeared first on Best Resources for Special Education Teachers by vortex2learning.

Research has shown that starting category sorting activities early can lead to stronger vocabulary and comprehension skills. In this post, we’ll explore some fun and engaging category sorting activities that can help children of all abilities develop these important skills.

The Common Core Standards emphasize the importance of mastering the skill of sorting common objects, such as animals, plants, and shapes, among others. According to (CDC.gov), children begin to understand the concept of sorting as young as two years old, and by the age of four, they may have developed an understanding of the color, shape, and size attributes of objects in their environment. This developmental milestone is crucial for the child’s cognitive growth and should be given appropriate attention in their education.

I have created a series of engaging category sorting activities that are specifically designed to help students in grades K-1 develop their categorization skills. Not only do these activities meet the Common Core State Standards in ELA, but they are also aligned with the DLM Essential Elements, making them a great resource for students with disabilities, particularly those on the autism spectrum. By providing a fun and interactive learning experience, these sorting worksheets help students develop important cognitive and language skills that are essential for success both in and out of the classroom.

Common Core State Standards and DLM Essential Elements for Students With Disabilities

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.K.5 Sort common objects into categories (eg., shapes, foods) to gain a sense of the concepts of the categories represent.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.5 Sort words into categories (e.g., colors, clothing) to gain a sense of the concepts the categories represent.

Dynamic Learning Maps Essential Elements for English Language Arts:

ELA.EE.L.K.5 Demonstrate emerging understanding of word relationships: With guidance and support, sort common objects into familiar categories.

By providing a fun and interactive learning experience, these sorting worksheets help students develop important cognitive and language skills that are essential for success both in and out of the classroom.

Categorizing Common Objects Worksheets

These differentiated cut-and-paste worksheets for sorting objects and words into their correct categories, come in printable and digital formats.

You also have the option to create activity books or manipulatives for durability, multiple uses, practice, and long-term use. I’ve added extra picture symbols and words— print, cut, laminate, and velcro to create a physical interactive activity book.

Activity books are a fantastic tool for a variety of learning environments, including autism and kindergarten classrooms, as well as for students who require accommodations for their fine motor skills. Through the use of activity books, my students were able to learn more effectively. This may be due to the fact that activity books are not only fun but also provide high levels of sensory input, making them a highly motivating learning tool.

The digital format on the EASEL by TPT platform is a wonderful tool because it is a self-checking activity so your students will have immediate feedback and can self-correct. This provides another pathway for students who are highly motivated by technology and can work independently. Additionally, it is perfect for remote learning.

Category Sorting Colors

I have also created a category sorting activity for students learning their colors. These unique cut-and-paste worksheets have been differentiated in multiple ways to help scaffold the activity for your students. With three levels of support provided, from independent to the highest support level needed, these worksheets are perfect for students of all abilities.

Benefits of Category Sorting Activities

Research has shown that possessing strong sorting skills prior to entering Kindergarten can significantly enhance a child’s academic performance.T hese are some of the benefits of having good sorting skills.

Educational Toys For Building Category Sorting Skills

Educational toys can play a vital role in helping children reach important cognitive milestones, encompassing crucial learning, thinking, and problem-solving skills such as labeling, sorting, and categorizing. For students with severe disabilities, these toys can be an essential pathway to mastering these core skills and building the foundations for further learning.

In addition to serving as a critical resource in autism classrooms, educational toys can also enhance learning and engagement in pre-K and Kindergarten classrooms. By meeting children at their current levels of performance and catering to their interests, these toys can foster a deeper understanding of key concepts and spark a lifelong love of learning.

Sorting Bears

These toys are great for teaching your students how to sort by color and size (bears can be bought in different sizes). Additionally, they are great for math skills (counting, sequencing/patterning), fine motor development, sensory and social skills development.

Disclosure: “As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you if you choose to buy through this link.”

Categorizing Colors & Shapes

Categorizing colors and shapes is a helpful skill for kindergarteners and students with disabilities. It can assist with the development of their cognitive abilities, such as sorting and identifying patterns. Additionally, using different shapes and colors, it allows them to express their creativity and imagination. This can also help with their communication skills as they learn how to describe and identify objects.

Sorting Pies

These sorting pies toys can be a great tool for young learners and students with disabilities to learn many categorization and classification skills. Fruity pie, for example, can help teach, sorting by color, sorting by fruits, early number skills, patterning, problem-solving, and visual processing. These skills are essential for a child’s growth and development.

Moreover, using kids tongs to sort the pieces can help develop fine motor skills, especially fine motor pincer grasp. Jumbo tweezers are perfect for children with developing hand-eye coordination. Sorting cards provide visual cues that can help support success and make the process more engaging.

Sorting Picnic Basket

This sorting picnic basket will help students learn to count, identify colors, sort, and develop fine motor skills! Your students will enjoy learning and discovering the different colors and counting each piece while practicing their sorting skills by attributes. This educational toy is a perfect way to make learning fun and engaging in your classroom.

Additional Resources and Materials

If you are looking for more activities, worksheets, and printables for supporting your students with vocabulary and comprehension check out my TPT store. All of my activities are available in PDF and digital format on the Easel by TPT platform. You can assign the work to your students and they can access it from any device. You will also be able to monitor their progress and give them timely feedback. In addition, many of the activities are self-checking and self-correcting so your students will have immediate feedback on their progress.

Lastly, I’d like to invite you to join the vortex 2 learning club and have exclusive access to the freebie library resources. You will find a growing collection of educational lessons, activities, printables, worksheets, workbooks and so much more. You will be given a password that will allow you access at any time.

The post Category Sorting Activities For Vocabulary Building appeared first on Best Resources for Special Education Teachers by vortex2learning.

This read aloud lesson plan is designed to engage all students in learning about the exciting season of summer while accommodating different learning needs and styles. Your students can practice reading, writing, mathematics, and fine motor skills. Additionally, they will learn about different destinations people visit and activities they can do in each. The reader also covers topics such as sun protection, fruits in season, and packing for adventures in the sun.

The Interactive Read Aloud Lesson Plan And Its Features

I created this interactive read-aloud with the purpose of getting your students to engage and participate in discussions about the summer. They will use their background knowledge to identify the season and all its characteristics and talk about their fun summertime experiences.

The read aloud features real photos with vibrant colors and diverse kids for inclusivity and real-life connection to the text. The nonfiction reader has built-in questions to keep the conversation flowing as you engage them in this fun, All About Summer reading. As a teacher, I truly enjoyed my read-aloud sessions with my students because I saw my kiddos come alive. There were many light bulb moments when they learned something new or made a connection to the story. The benefits of reading aloud to your students are vast but below I’ve highlighted five big ones.

5 Researched Based Benefits of Reading Aloud

If you want some additional tips on how to make read-aloud more engaging in your classroom, see my 5 best tips in, the All About The Spring Season Activities, article.

This reading packet includes many worksheets to assess comprehension and keep your students developing their foundational skills. For example, there are plenty of scaffolded worksheets for reading comprehension, math, writing, and fine motor. Additionally, the activities have been differentiated three ways to reach students at varying cognitive levels. These activities are great for K-2, students on the autism spectrum and perfect for English Language Learners.

The differentiated activities include reading comprehension reports, circle maps for identifying the main idea and key details, and category sorting summer items. Additionally, you will have math activities like ISPY counting worksheets, and counting and cardinality worksheets. Your students will have fun making loads of summer connections as they read, write, count, color, cut, and paste with these interactive worksheets.

Additional Resources and Materials

If you are looking for classroom lessons on the seasons, you may be interested in,  The Four Seasons Read Aloud Lesson Plans With Activities Bundle – CCSS Aligned. The bundle includes over 206 pages and 160 digital slides with self-correcting activities. You will surely be ready with plenty of materials as each season approaches.

Join the Vortex 2 Learning Club and get exclusive access to our freebie library filled with educational resources such as lessons, activities, worksheets, workbooks, and more.

The post Read Aloud With Activities: All About Summer appeared first on Best Resources for Special Education Teachers by vortex2learning.

Spring is such an exciting time of year for kids! There are so many wonderful things to explore and learn about the season. You could teach kids about the blooming of flowers, the emergence of baby animals, or the seasonal changes in weather.

Another fun activity would be to take a nature walk and have kids observe and record the changes they see in the environment. Additionally, spring is a great time to talk about the cycle of the seasons and how they affect us in our day-to-day lives.

All About Spring Season Read Aloud For Early Elementary

I have created this science reader about the features of spring that is easy for beginning learners to understand. It reads like a story and includes embedded questions to assess comprehension skills and keep students excited and engaged.

Reading aloud to children can help improve language skills, enhance cognitive development, promote a love of reading, and strengthen the teacher student relationship. It can also increase their vocabulary, improve their listening skills, and boost their imagination and creativity.

5 Best Tips To Make Read Alouds More Engaging In Your Classroom

This, All About Spring, read aloud includes vivid images to engage students and help them make real-life connections to the text. It’s a 20-page informational reader that covers topics such as the months of spring, the changes in weather and the environment and how it affects plants, animals and human behavior.

Differentiated Reading Comprehension Activities

This All About The Spring lesson plan provides differentiated and scaffolded reading and writing activities. For example, there are three levels of differentiation in the Q & A worksheets. There is also a scaffolded worksheet that includes reading, writing, cutting and pasting. All these worksheets help meet the needs of students in mixed-abilities, mixed-grade or self-contained classrooms.

You will also have many extension activities and worksheets that can be worked on throughout the spring months of school. You won’t be short of materials when it comes to keeping your students busy learning all about the springtime.

The packet also comes with extra activities, such as sorting spring items into categories and reading comprehension exercises with graphic organizers. These activities are ideal for early and fast finishers, as well as for literacy and math centers, workstations, and fine motor centers. They are also great for substitute planning lessons and take-home assignments.

Differentiated All About The Spring Season Math Worksheets

Additionally, your students can practice their number sense and fine motor skills as they sequence, count, color, cut and paste beautiful spring objects. These modified worksheets are great for meeting many math standards in measurement, counting and cardinality.

Common Core State Standards Addressed In This All About Spring Activity

Additional Resources and Materials

If you are looking for classroom lessons on the seasons, you may be interested in the growing bundle. This activity is part of The Four Seasons Read Aloud Lesson Plans With Activities Bundle – CCSS Aligned. If you download the bundle now at its current price and the summer read aloud and activities are added later, you won’t have to pay the increased price since you already own the bundle. Any new additions to the bundle will also be free for you. You’ll receive a notice when new resources are added and can download them again.

Join the Vortex 2 Learning Club and get exclusive access to our freebie library filled with educational resources such as lessons, activities, worksheets, workbooks, and more.

The post All About The Spring Season activities appeared first on Best Resources for Special Education Teachers by vortex2learning.

Why is telling time important?

Learning to tell time is an important skill for first graders because it helps them to understand how to manage their time and plan their day. It also helps them develop independence by knowing when to start and finish tasks.

Knowing how to tell time can help children to stay organized and understand when it’s time to do homework, go to bed, get ready for school, and participate in other activities. It’s also a great way to help them practice counting, which is a key part of early math lessons.

5 benefits of learning to tell time in first grade.

Telling Time Worksheets

This math packet for telling time to the hour and half hour, in both digital and analog formats, offers various worksheets that are differentiated to better suit your students’ needs. Additionally, it provides a time-saving solution when looking for scaffolded materials that cater to a mixed level classroom.

CCSS Standards:

MA.NY-1.MD.3a

Tell and write time in hours and half-hours using analog and digital clocks. Develop an understanding of common terms, such as, but not limited to, o’clock and half past.

Click on the image to see it in the TPT store.

This resource includes basic time-telling terms like “o’clock” and “half past” to meet the first grade math common core standard. It’s a low-prep activity that comes with a self-checking digital component on Easel by TPT, as well. Students will be targeting many skill areas such as, but not limited to:

These Differentiated Time Telling Worksheets are Great For:

Clock Time Worksheets & Features

These worksheets are perfect for independent desk work, one-to-one instruction, small groups, workstations and math centers. Inclusive, you can use them for sub plans, morning work, take home assignments and excellent for early finishers.

Tips On How To Teach Time To The Hour

Teaching time to the hour can be a fun and engaging experience for both teachers and students! Here are a few tips to get you started:

By following these tips, your students will be telling time in no time!

Additional Resources and Materials

You may want to preview this telling time resource by downloading this freebie to introduce the clock to your students. Your students can review number identification 1-12 and number ordering and other features of an analog clock, like the hour hand and minute hand. Your student can begin to learn to tell time to the hour.

I’d like to invite you to come join the vortex 2 learning club and gain exclusive access to the freebie library of resources— a growing collection of educational lessons, activities, printables, worksheets, workbooks and more.

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