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    Thursday, July 26, 2012

    Think About It Thursday--Gluten Free Diets

    Today I received an email from a parent of one of my kiddos. She shared that he had been put on a gluten and dairy free diet this summer and that they were seeing great results. This student has always had toileting issues so I am glad to hear they have found a solution, however I am a little nervous about this new diet.The biggest diet restrictions I have had in my classroom are no chocolate/caffeine and no peanut butter. So this will be a big change. I am mostly concerned about adapting our weekly cooking activities to meet this students needs.

    Has anyone worked with kids with gluten-free diets? Have you seen a big change? Other than bowel issues, what are other reasons gluten-free is used?

    Do you know of any resources our there for teachers that will help with these restrictions? Perhaps kid-friendly cookbooks?

    Thanks!

    Saturday, July 21, 2012

    Social Story Saturday #2-- Work Time

    Download my FREE Being a Good Friend Social Story and Choices Sorting Mat!

    I look forward to connecting with you and sharing SpEd Spot tips and FREEBIES!

      Last week I shared my Being a Good Friend Social Story and Sort.

      This week I am focusing on Work Time behavior. Again, the social story is simple and really geared towards my kiddos so if you see a page that doesn't apply to your bunch then I promise it won't hurt my feelings if you just pitch it!

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      And now you can use TpT's Easel Activities feature to assign the story to students on TpT or Google Classroom! Click the image below to grab a copy!


      Now grab this social story as part of my Social Stories Bundle! 



      Thursday, July 19, 2012

      Think About It Thursday--Vision Problems

      I saw this picture today on fb and it really hit home! I have always thought a majority of my kids have undiagnosed vision issues that no one ever does anything about. I have expressed concern to parents and they think everything is fine because the doctors haven't said anything or because they pass the vision screening Half of my kids cannot even understand how to do the screening test and none of them would be able to express if they couldn't see correctly. How many of us have gotten new glasses or contacts and thought "WOW! I didn't know what I was missing!". I can only imagine how clueless my little ones with special needs are especially if it's a condition they've had their whole lives.

      Do other teachers have this issue? How do you address these concerns with parents who think everything is fine? Do you think vision issues are more prevalent in kids with special needs, particularly Autism?

      Leave a comment to let me know your thoughts!

      Saturday, July 14, 2012

      Social Story Saturday #1--Being a Good Friend (FREEBIES!)

      Download my FREE Being a Good Friend Social Story and Choices Sorting Mat!

      I look forward to connecting with you and sharing SpEd Spot tips and FREEBIES!

        Now that I have more time, I have been able to put together some FREEBIE sorts for all of my followers so stay tuned each week for Social Story Saturday where I will be posting a social story and sort.

        For my first Social Story Freebie I have chosen to share my Being a Good Friend Social Story. This one was especially important a couple years ago in my classroom because I had several girls who could be quite catty! You will find that my social stories are very simple and just outline the basic do's and don'ts related to that topic. Feel free to toss any pages that you feel don't apply to your kiddos. 


        Social Story


        For each social story, I also made sorting cards. The sorts then give a bunch of "good" and "bad" choices for students to sort. I typically have them sort them when debriefing. I have included a free sorting mat where students can cut out the sorting cards and paste them in the correct area. However, I use these often and I prefer students do the sort quickly so they can return to class so I made reuseable sorts.




        To make the sorts reusable, I printed the sorting cards on cardstock and laminated them. Then, I attached velcro to the back of each card. Next, I used a long file folder and made one side "good choices" and the other side "bad choices" (you can use the sorting mat headers below as the folder headers... that's what I did!). I made an extra copy of the social story book cover and used it as the sorting folder cover. Then, I laminated the file folder and put velcro dots on the inside under each heading.


        Now grab this as part of my Social Story Bundle on TPT!



        Thursday, July 12, 2012

        Head Chef and Head Artist

        My paraprofessionals are in charge of planning our thematic cooking and craft activities each week and each week I select two special students to assist my paras. These students are the Head Chef and Head Artist. These two jobs are hands-down the class favorites. I think it is basically because they get to do so many of the "teacher" jobs (passing out supplies, modeling the activity, calling on students) and sit in the coveted "teacher" chair at the kidney table.

        Each Monday, we go over who gets to do the head jobs. I like talking about it on Monday because it give the kids something to look forward to and for those kids that need the extra behavior motivation it helps also. I place the students' names under these cute signs (click the link below the picture to print!)

        Head Jobs Signs


        To make the job even more special I made these adorable aprons for the kids to wear. They love them! I even had a little guy that didn't really understand that the jobs were assigned each week and for a couple weeks after his turn he went over to the apron at cooking time and tried to put it on! Thankfully, he was a great sport. 



        These aprons were super easy to make and very affordable. I bought two children's aprons at Michael's and some puffy paint at Walmart. First, I drew the pictures using pencil. I was able to do it free hand but you could look at clip art images if you needed some inspiration! Then, I filled in the pencil drawings with puffy paint (I used small paint brushes to spread). After the paint dried, I used a black Sharpie to draw the outlines. Finally, I added a few details with the puffy paint. 

        I made these last year and they had to be washed a lot this year. I was impressed with how well they held up! At the end of the year, I just retouched a few of the areas with puffy paint. The lettering seemed to be peeling the most. I think this is partially from little fingers picking at it :). 


        Sunday, July 8, 2012

        The Versatile Blogger Award!

        I want to give a special THANK YOU to Karlie over at We are ALL Special! for my newest blogging award! Karlie is a fellow SpEd with a fabulous blog so I highly recommend everyone heads over to check it out!




        Here are the seven rules to follow when receiving this award:

        1. Thank the blogger who nominated you. 
        2. Include a link to their blog.  
        3. Include the award image in your post.  
        4. Give 7 random facts about yourself.  
        5. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award.  
        6. When nominating, include a link to their blog.  
        7. Let other bloggers know they've been nominated.  


          
        Here are the 7 random facts about me...


        1. I love to cook! However, I really only cook during the summer because I am never home during the school year. 
        2. This is the first summer I have taken "off" since I was 15 and I am going crazy! I don't know what to do with myself!
        3. I am almost always the last person to leave school... I am a perfectionist (not a workaholic contrary to what some may believe!) and want everything to be perfect for my kiddos because I think it is what they deserve!
        4. I live with my amazing boyfriend, Andy. He is very understanding of #1-3 and I am lucky for that!
        5. I love to travel. Next week I will be in Philly, NYC, Cape Cod and Boston. Then at the end of July I will be spending a week at the beach in Hilton Head, SC... SO EXCITED!
        6. I love to read. However, again this only happens during the summer :(. My favorite author or SpEd related stories is Torey Hayden, for romance I like Nicholas Sparks, and for a page-turner I go to Jodi Picoult. 
        7. During the school year I do try to make time to read my two favorite magazines: Real Simple and Everyday Food (I am sort of a Martha Stewart nut!)

        Since I recently nominated 15 fellow bloggers for the One Lovely Blog award I wanted to find a fresh bunch for this award. There are so many awesome blogs out there! I set out to my extensive Pinterest boards to find some "new" (to me) blogs!





        http://goingnuttyinmisssquirrelsfirstgrade.blogspot.com/

        Photobucket
        Sped-Ventures






        Blog Title

        Friday, July 6, 2012

        Grab My Button!



        I have been working hard this week to design a button for my blog. With ZERO graphic design background this was a bit tricky! However, thanks to FotoFlexer and Phillip Martin Clipart I was able to create a button I love! I love primary colors, special needs kids, and autism awareness so this button represents me well! Hope you love it as much as I do and grab it on my sidebar to share on your blog!

        Thursday, July 5, 2012

        One Lovely Blog Award

        I was super excited this afternoon when I logged on and saw that Lacey over at Challenges Make Life Interesting gave me my first blog award!


        Thanks, Lacey! I am thrilled to have new followers and I am glad to see others appreciate what I have to share about my classroom and teaching experiences.

        Now this award has some rules:


        1.  Follow the person who gave you the award.
        2.  Link back to the person who gave you the award.
        3.  Pass the award on to 15 new bloggers.

        Since I am new to the blogging world I tried to find some newbies out there and also share some of my favorite blogs I have found along the way. Most of them are teaching blogs and some are blogs from friends that I love to read. Here is my list:


        I encourage all of my readers to check these blogs out. There are lots of freebies, tips, and great reads!