A new year, a new perspective!

I have moved schools within my school district. Previously, the program I taught was housed at a "school" that was previously closed down then reopened years later as a preschool center and to house other programs the district supports such a homeless services. I needed a change in scenery. I decided to put in for a district transfer for a position identical to the one I held but at a regular elementary school. Packing up my classroom, moving it then finding a place for all my toys/materials took weeks over the summer but it was worth it. The classroom is set up and we are entering our 3rd full week of school. I will do a post on the new classroom and decor. I absolutely love it.

Say goodbye to outdated and ugly classroom cabinets...

Say hello to new and improved cabinets thanks to the magic of contact paper. While it did take some time to complete, it was easy and well worth the end result!! I ordered the contact paper from amazon- what great deals!! The materials with some left over cost UNDER $30 DOLLARS. Check out the links below.

Useful Tips:

- Start with the top and bottom of the cabinet doors first then put the vertical sides on next. Once finished, put the chevron/green highlight on the inside last.

- Allow for enough overlap to wrap the door on the inside to stick completely  (around 3 inches)

- Don't be a perfectionist!! There will be small wrinkles/bubbles that cannot be avoided.

- Use a razor blade or scissors to cut around any obstacles such as hinges and handles.

Easy links to the materials I used:

               

This picture was right before starting the school year, so nothing was up on the bulletin boards.
Here are a couple more links to materials I use in the classroom:

       
                    

Classroom Curriculum

Before getting Read it Once Again curriculum for my preschool special education classroom, I spent so much time researching, planning and making materials!! While I love making materials, it is a relief to know I can rely on the curriculum for the bulk of my daily activities. As a district, we adopted Read it once again for our early childhood special education classrooms almost three years ago. The curriculum provides many great activities for each developmental domain for each unit. The units are literacy based and uses popular children's books to teach basic skill development. Check out this video giving a great overview of the curriculum.

What makes Read It Once Again the best choice?

1. Cost effective
1. 31 Level 1 curriculum units for only $1,475. Check our website for package deals.
2. There is no recurring yearly cost, i.e. licensing or replacement of consumable products.
3. Unlimited reproduction of activities and graphics in black and white and color.
2. Language based learning with rhyme, rhythm, and repetition
1. Each unit consists of over 100 activities. 60% of those activities are linked to the 20 foundational skills that Read It Once Again has identified as necessary for children to be successful in kindergarten and are found in every unit. The other 40% of the activities pertain to the unique content of the story.
2. Read It Once Again is designed especially to enhance language development for children with receptive and expressive language delays but is also effective for typically developing preschoolers.
3. Children with autism make substantial gains in the area of speech and language when using the teaching strategies provided with Read It Once Again.
4. Read It Once Again uses child-friendly, uncluttered graphics in activities throughout each unit. Read It Once Again recognizes that children are visual learners and that appropriate graphics assist in acquiring and retaining foundational skills.
5. Read It Once Again recognizes the power of repetition as it relates to preschool brain development and the retention of foundational skills and concepts.
3. Read It Once Again’s Scope and Sequence provides teachers with techniques to choose storybooks that match their children’s expressive and receptive language development.
1. Children with language delays who struggle to process receptive and expressive language are most successful when teachers are able to match the child’s exposure to expressive (spoken) language with their ability to receptively process that language.
2. Some preschool curriculums immerse children who have language delays into learning situations filled with high levels of vocabulary. It is assumed that all children will have the skills necessary to improve their language through this immersion. Read It Once Again recognizes that many children with language delays, especially those with autism, lack the ability necessary to process large amounts of unfamiliar language. Other curriculums often introduce too many concepts and vocabulary too quickly without adequate amounts of repetition, resulting in the child being overwhelmed and frustrated as they struggle to process and comprehend the volume of language being presented to them. This frustration often results in anxiety and a tendency to withdraw from or disrupt the learning environment.
3. It is Read It Once Again’s goal to improve expressive language by creating a solid foundation of familiar words and phrases within each story. With each new story, the child’s foundation of words and concepts will expand. Typically developing children also benefit from this strategy of learning.
4. Read It Once Again provides an assessment tool for monitoring progress and directing instruction.
5. Each Read It Once Again Level 1 unit provides lesson plans for one month in addition to scope and sequence planning.
6. Read It Once Again uses literacy as a means to provide structure and predictability.
1. One popular child’s storybook is chosen and repeated to provide the consistent framework for teaching foundational skills throughout every domain within the classroom. Other them-related stories are recommended as supplements.
2. Focusing on storybooks with repetition and detail in the preschool setting creates life-long lovers of reading.
3. Read It Once Again is partnered with Scholastic Literacy Partners to provide storybooks that accompany our units, at a 43% discount.
7. Read It Once Again’s structure and strategies make it easy for therapists to provide services within the classroom.
1. Speech and language goals along with activities are included in most every activity throughout the entire unit.
2. OT and PT goals and objectives are provided along with activiites related to the story.
8. Read It Once Again consistently provides and repeats the most basic foundational skills for young children who struggle with limited receptive and expressive language.
1. Most curriculums offer foundational skills, but often do not provide materials at the appropriate level for nonverbal children or children with limited language.
2. Read It Once Again offers a wide range of storybooks identifying the amount of text in each story.
3. Limited text storybooks are appropriate for very young children or for those just acquiring expressive speech.
4. Read It Once Again Level 1 units are designed around research based teaching strategies that utilize the effectiveness of using repetition to consistently ensure that children have a solid base of foundational knowledge before attempting higher academic skills which are typically the entry skills found in other preschool curriculums.
5. Repetition is not to be confused with “drilling.” Our strategies instruct teachers to present activities based on foundational skills throughout the child’s entire day in a variety of situations. In this way, children learn how to generalize foundational concepts as opposed to learning in isolated activities.
9. Read It Once Again utilizes technology as a tool.
1. Each unit includes a color CD for unlimited reproduction of graphics found in each unit.
2. Graphics are included in both WORD and PDF format. When teachers access the files in a WORD format, they have the freedom to manipulate the graphics to add text, change the size, or use that graphic to create their own activities.
3. Teachers can import graphics into other communication assistive technology devices.
4. Read It Once Again provides an optional interactive white board (IWB) CD. Over 20 activities are chosen from every unit and offered on the CD, which allows teachers the opportunity to teach on an interactive white board. The skill is introduced in a large group fashion and then can be repeated kinetically during center time.
5. Having activities in an IWB format further ensures that children are able to generalize foundational concepts.
10. Level 2 units address a higher level of foundational skills using the same story.
1. Blending Level 1 and Level 2 units provide all the foundational skills to ensure that preschoolers will be successful in kindergarten.
2. Teachers working in a blended classroom setting are assured that they will have the activities they need to appropriately meet the needs of lowest functioning students to those who will be entering kindergarten. This is achieved by using the same storybook in Level 1 and Level 2 which then provides a wide range of activities and skills.
11. Teacher and staff training is available.
1. Initial training is provided at no charge with qualifications.
12. Read It Once Again is founded on researched based strategies.
1. Formal research was conducted in 2010 at Clemson University.
2. Positive outcomes were presented at the DEC Conference in 2010 and published in Head Start Research to Practice 2013.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

I rely mostly on Level 1 units and some Level 2 activities (when available for that unit). It has been almost 3 years since I started using this curriculum and have spent this time printing, laminating and using the provided CD to make expanded activities. I have used the printables to make file folder games. More to come when I post on individual units. 

The one big con is that the curriculum is paper only, so it is up to the teacher to provide the 3-D manipulatives for object matching, sorting, counting, etc.It has taken these past couple of years for me to find and put together identical, non-identical, big/little, 10 of the same objects to use for both the curriculum activities and the Discrete Trials we run daily in the classroom. I look forward to sharing my materials and ideas for each storybook unit. 

Upcoming posts: Overall classroom tour, detailed classroom area tour, The Mitten Unit

It's Break... So Its Time to Work!!

Welcome All,

Don't get me wrong, I love the perks of 2 weeks off during the holidays we teachers get each year, but like most teachers we use it to make our classrooms better. I mostly love the break from being on ALL the time. The break allows my creative part of my brain to work again. It seems planning and coming up with new materials/resources is more difficult after exhausted from the day.

I have one more week left and I have so many ideas and plans for upcoming curriculum units. I utilize "Read it once again" curriculum for special education preschool age children. The curriculum is literacy based, using popular children's books to develop skills in the areas of language, cognitive, fine motor, gross motor, self-help and socialization. I love this curriculum and is a good jumping off point but I have expanded a great deal on it to make it work for the students in my classroom who need a greater amount of support from the materials.

 I am starting a new adventure and sharing these ideas and resources on this blog.