Mrs. D's Corner

teaching from the heart, not the books.

Coding and STEM in a special education class, planned and differentiated for you... making the entire unit easy. The only thing you need to do is facilitate the learning and higher level thinking. The teacher guide walks YOU, the teacher, through everything in simple words so that coding is not overwhelming, and so you are easily able to introduce how to code to your special needs students. Guided Coding Stories are all about combining stories and coding together in an easy, understandable way.

Coding in Special Ed – Guided Coding Stories

Computer science is a trending topic, and is a topic that a lot of teachers are being asked to teach in elementary schools these days. More STEM Labs, Makerspaces, robotics clubs, and technology classes are in our schools than ever before. The reality is that the current model is not simple enough for all learners to succeed. There needs to be a level of understanding (about coding) before students can successfully program a robot or build an algorithm for a block coding program. This is where Guided Coding Stories comes to the rescue! My technology teacher friend, Brittany, and I developed… Read More

Teaching is hard, but we are strong and capable of doing all the things. Read these 20 teacher affirmations when you feel alone, when you need a pick me up, or just to put some positivity into your day. Blog post at Mrs. D's Corner.

20 Teacher Affirmations to Keep a Positive Mindset

Teaching is tough. No two days are the same, which is also what makes our job the best. But, for real, it. is. tough. Legislation changes, new students in the middle of the year, a million and one meetings… the list goes on and on. And I will be the first to admit that some mornings I struggle to get out of bed to do the one thing I love: teaching. I truly love teaching, and I know that you do too. But if you’re like me, which I’m guessing you are, you struggle with feeling like you are not… Read More

25 valentine's day books about friendship and love, perfect read alouds for any classroom. Blog post at Mrs. D's Corner.

25 Valentine’s Day Books for Any Classroom

It’s that time of year: hearts, cards, kisses, and reminders of love and friendship! Here are some great kids books celebrating affection in it’s many forms and encouraging kindness to one another. Porcupining: Porcupining is the passionate tale of love and friendship between two prickly creatures in a petting zoo, and a perfect read aloud for Valentine’s Day. Hokey Pokey – Another Prickly Love Story: In the second adventure, Barb loves to dance, but Cushion has two left feet, and usually ends up prickling someone with his quills. How will he ever learn to dance? Love Monster: Love Monster is a slightly… Read More

Core Vocabulary is an essential part of every person's life, and for our nonverbal students they access core vocabulary and language through assistive technology and AAC devices. Learn about the simple lesson I use with my students to practice the use of AT devices, while practicing the basic skills all students need (including fine motor). Includes a free printable for implementation tomorrow. Blog post at Mrs. D's Corner.

Assistive Technology and Core Vocabulary: A Look Inside

Core Vocabulary is an essential part of every person’s life, and for our nonverbal students they access core vocabulary and language through assistive technology and AAC devices. Today I want to share with you an activity that I do in my classroom during centers. It has to be done in a 1:1 or small group setting, so it’s not something that’s fully independent, but you could certainly adapt to make it fit the needs of your classroom. This is a GoTalk32. This past school year I got to learn how to program one and use one for one of my… Read More

Using music in the classroom for transitions, sensory integration, and more. The supplies you need to get started, when to use music in the classroom, why you should be using music in the classroom, and other ideas for incorporating music in the classroom. Blog post at Mrs. D's Corner.

Music in the Classroom: Put a BOOM in Your Room

Music is a saving grace for many people, including our students. For many reasons. Music is a powerful tool, and as a teacher you should be utilizing the power of music in your classroom. Not only does music help to facilitate positive feelings during the school day, but music can also be used to create a routine. When students learn cues in specific songs, they will know that it is time to clean up, move to the rug, or time for any other transition to occur. Let’s think about it… have you ever thought about the reason why children are… Read More

Hosting a Classroom Friendship Valentine's Day Party in your special education classroom. FREE center rotations and ideas for a classroom valentine friendship party. Blog post at Mrs. D's Corner.

Hosting a Class Valentine’s Day Party in Special Ed

Holidays are a great opportunity to infuse fun and excitement into your classroom. While holiday party’s can be a lot for us to plan, students surely enjoy them and what better way to practice friendship than a Valentine’s Day Friendship Party. It might be a few days, weeks, or months until Valentine’s Day, but right now is a great time to plan a partayyyy. 🙂 A friendship party! One benefit of having a friendship party for Valentine’s Day is that you can use the activities to strengthen friendships among your students… in your classroom and the regular ed classroom. Here… Read More

Emergency Backpack. Doing more than just surviving unplanned for events in the school day, like fire drills and lock downs. Also being fully prepared for field trips and classroom evacuations due to behaviors. Free emergency backpack checklist included. Blog post at Mrs. D's Corner.

Emergency Backpack: Being Prepared for Anything

As a special education teacher, we try to plan for everything. But how do you plan for unplanned for events, like fire drills, lock downs, and evacuating the classroom due to severe behaviors? With an emergency backpack. Welcome to the SPED Connection, a collection of tips and tricks from other special educators all over the world. Because we’re all in this together! Today’s tip comes from Allison M. You can find her on Instagram here. She is a K-5 self contained special education teacher, and also works extensively within the community coaching baseball, wheelchair soccer, and volunteering. She says her favorite… Read More

Mrs. D's Corner. Winter Games crafts for any elementary special needs classroom. Winter crafts books for kids. Winter Games crafts for kids. Olympic crafts for kids.

14 Winter Games Crafts for Any Classroom

Winter is a great time of year, but it’s cold. Possibilities of indoor recess loom around during this season, so it’s always a great idea to have a backup plan. Crafts are always a great go-to for indoor recess. Crafts are also great for lesson extensions, fine motor practice, and creating student-built bulletin boards. Can you tell that I love doing crafts in the classroom? The special, curated list of 14 Winter Games crafts goes along great with the 2-week unit. If you are in need of a Winter Games unit to teach your students all about winter sports and… Read More

20 winter sports books for kids. Winter Sports books for kids. Winter Games books for kids. Olympic books for kids.

20 Winter Sports Books for Kids

Winter is a great month for reading indoors by the fireplace, but it’s also a really fun time to play winter sports! Combine both loves with this list of winter sports books for kids. (This post contains affiliate links.) This self-curated list of winter sports books is great for talking about the sports people play during the winter months. These winter sports books also double up as great conversation starters for the Winter Games (aka the Olympics!). How do I use themed books with my students in the classroom? I love reading ALL books with my students, but I definitely… Read More

Rated G movies for movie day with lesson extensions. Blog post at Mrs. D's Corner. Movie days are rare, but a special occasion for students. While it's seems like a simple lesson, it's very complex for teachers. Let me make it easy for you.

Rated G Movies with Lesson Extensions for Teachers

Movie Day in school is a rare, but special occurrence for students. This day is typically around a holiday, or a reward day after state testing or big event. But what looks so simple to outsiders (I mean, it’s showing a movie… how difficult can it really be to plan, right?!), is actually one of the hardest lesson plans to write. What many non-teachers don’t know is that we have to ask for approval to watch a movie with our students. And it can’t be just ANY movie. Oh, no… it has to be rated G (which I can totally… Read More

Adapted Piece Book Set Q&A

Using adapted books in the classroom brings so many benefits to you and your students. Book discussions, comprehension practice, fluency… the list could go on and on. And adapted books aren’t just for the special needs classroom or your lower level readers. They’re for everyone. I get a lot of questions, as the author and creator of Adapted Work Binders and Adapted Piece Book Sets, about adapted books… What are adapted books? How do you make them, where do you find all of the books, would these be a good fit for my classroom, and mostly… how do you even… Read More

Tips for how to build your classroom library on a budget and where to find inexpensive cheap books for your classroom.

Building a Classroom Library on a Budget

Building a classroom library can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be if you know where to look! Having a classroom library with diverse reads and all types of genres is essential to promoting a love of reading. Have a full classroom library allows students to find more than one book that they want to read, and gives students the opportunity to fall in love with more characters, more authors, and more books! The reality is, though, that books can be so expensive… especially an entire classroom library of tens and hundreds of books. And I know that most… Read More

lesson plans and center ideas for a classroom thanksgiving dinner party

Classroom Thanksgiving Feast in Special Ed

November is the month of gratitude, not to mention a very busy time of year for everyone. While it’s important to teach and practice kindness all year round, November is the perfect time for students to learn and practice being thankful. It is also a great chance to teach students about the origins of Thanksgiving. One of the best ways to help students learn about the holiday is to have a classroom Thanksgiving Feast. There are so many activities that can be used to plan and prepare for the classroom feast, that is can honestly be overwhelming. So much goes into… Read More

what is a reading toolkit, why you need one, and how it will save you

Reading Toolkit – Meet the Needs of All Readers at Home

Reading exercises our brains, strengthening our prior knowledge and building new knowledge. And not only is it important for children to learn and read at school, it is equally (if not more) important for children to read at home too. Reading Toolkits give teachers and parents the right means to help their children read and learn to love reading. But what is a Reading Toolkit? How do you use it, what do you put inside, why is it beneficial, and how do you get parent buy in? Let’s take look together, and I’ll answer all of the questions you have. 🙂 A… Read More

sensory bin fillers header

Sensory Bin Fillers for Any Classroom

Play is and should always be an essential part of every child’s day – at home and at school. Play helps improve cognitive abilities, social skills, emotions and communication, and increases a child’s creativity. One simple way to integrate play that doesn’t look like “traditional play” is through the use of sensory bins. But sensory bins can be messy. And we do need to update them regularly with new activities and fillers. Before I taught in a self-contained special needs classroom setting, my answer to changing out the sensory bin fillers would have probably been, “Uh… rice and beans?” Actually,… Read More

The In’s and Out’s of Word Walls in Special Ed

Every classroom has a cornucopia of learning styles… kinesthetic, auditory, visual… Some students learn best by listening to the lessons, others are hands-on learners, and others need visual cues to support their learning. As a teacher, it is important to implement strategies that allow all  learning styles to succeed in the classroom. And as special education teachers, we have this intrinsic love and ability to support all the students in our classroom. Word walls are one quick and easy way to do just that. Students add hundreds of words to their vocabulary each school year. They learn new vocabulary across… Read More

Adapting Children's Books for Kids with Special Needs

Making Adapted Books Out of Children’s Books You Love

Having a set time of the school day for Story Time is an incredible way to instill a love of reading, model fluency, and introduce new genres of stories to your students. But for some of our students, reading anything is overwhelming and may cause distress. As teachers, we need to do our part in making all books accessible to all of our learners. Enter: making adapted books out of the children’s books you [and your students] already love and know. It wasn’t until last school year that I started making adapted books out of published children’s books. I love… Read More

Prompt Hierarchy + Using Prompting Effectively

As special education teachers, we often need to give directions and help our students learn how to respond appropriately to complete a task. For example, how to use glue sponges or how to button a sweater. We can start with the lowest level of prompting, or there are times when a behavior needs to be managed immediately, and we choose a higher level prompt. Essentially, we instruct students to work through tasks by adding supportive prompts and cue into the child’s instruction. With varying levels of student abilities, we need to be prepared as the teacher to not only provide the appropriate… Read More

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