School Supply Lists

I teach in a middle school (grades 6-8), and each grade level creates a school supply list at the end of the year that is sent out to parents, with all the required items for that grade level.   I always create my own lists for my students, as they often need very different items than their typical peers.  This year, my classroom will be a little different than the past, as I will be housing a variety of students, not just students who have severe/profound disabilities.  While working on supply lists, I actually found myself creating 3-4 lists for students that I had to send home.  The way my class is broken down, I have 3 students who are severe/profound, wheelchair users, with medical needs; I have 3 students who have moderate/severe Autism, 2 students on the Autism spectrum but spend most of their day in inclusion, and 4 other students with mild disabilities who I check in with 1x per day.  I had to break my school supplies down into three different lists, and here is what I came up with:

List 1:  The original school supply list for their grade level, with the items they will actually need highlighted on the list (for some students, most of the supplies were highlighted; for other students, only a few supplies).

List 2: The supply list I usually use for my students.  This is for my kiddos with medical needs who are switch users, so I put the following items instead of traditional pencils, paper, notebooks:

2- pack of Clorox wipes

2- 9V batteries

8- AA batteries

2- C batteries

6- rolls of paper towels

4 Magnetic Bulldog Clips

Grocery bags

List 3: Supplies for life skills that will be worked on during the school day (this list went to 8 of my 12 students):

-Wallet/Change Purse

-Toothbrush and Toothpaste (optional)

-Deodorant (optional)

-Complete change of clothes in case of spilling, accidents, etc. (optional)

-Any toileting supplies needed for students who are not toilet trained (undergarments/diapers, wipes, etc.)

-Brush or comb (optional)

-Pillow and Blanket (for students who are wheelchair users and need to get out of their chair)

-Donations of laundry soap, dish soap, and Clorox wipes are always appreciated throughout the year.

Hopefully I didn't confuse my parents with all of these lists!  I work in a building where the cost of supplies is not usually a concern for parents, but when I have had students who may not be able to afford supplies, I usually purchased these items for them.  What do you usually expect your parents to send in?

News from News-2-You

In case anyone did not receive this email, I wanted to pass on the news I got today about News-2-You's programs.  N2Y online newspaper site, Unique Learning Systems curriculum site, and Symbolstix online symbol library.  I have used N2Y's newspaper for years, and just started using Unique Learning last year.  I was really excited to receive the following info in an email from their company today:


"N2Y’S NEW PRODUCTS AND ADDITIONS FOR 2010/2011

The 2010/2011 school year is almost upon us and everyone at N2Y would like to be the first to welcome you back for another exciting year.  We have been busy enhancing and adding some great new content to our News-2-You newspaper, Unique Learning System curriculum and SymbolStix ONLINE symbol set.  We are very excited about what we have developed and want to highlight a few of these additions.

Starting early August, the immediate change that everyone will notice when they visit [ http://www.n2y.com/ ]www.n2y.com is a BRAND NEW LOOK!  Our developers have been hard at work to bring a completely different feel to all of our websites.  Check out some of these great new features that will be added throughout the upcoming school year!

·         Single Sign On!  If you subscribe to more than one product, you can now use a single username/password to access the materials  *COMING SOON*
·         Web Store!  Ready to order?  Check out our new interactive store featuring the ability to manage all your subscriptions through a personalized account  *COMING SOON*
·         Websites now share the same layout and theme making navigation much easier going from site-to-site
·         All our websites have been completely rebuilt providing enhanced speed and user experience
·         Facebook/Twitter integration allowing our subscribers to connect with us and stay informed
News-2-You Newspaper:  We are now offering even MORE content than ever before!  Subscribers will still have access to current event news each week plus some exciting additions!

·         WEEKLY publishing of Advanced edition including digital pictures
·         Skills practice sheets organized by subject area with new skills addressed
·         New online games that reinforce vocabulary
·         Weekly science experiments
·         Enhanced PowerPoints to extend weekly topic and tie to the Unique Learning System Curriculum
·         Open ended questions added to Simple and Advanced editions
·         Interactive links to websites featured in the news
Unique Learning System Curriculum:  With two successful years of curriculum development behind us, we have taken steps to make the third year even more comprehensive.  Again with the great feedback from our user community, we have incorporated several product enhancements for the upcoming school year. 

·         Improved Instructional Tips
·         Online version of the monthly checkpoints
·         Transition Band monthly checkpoints added
·         More Transitional materials
·         Geometry and Algebra lessons added to all grade bands
·         Training Modules available to all subscribers
·         Additional monthly extension activities
·         Administrator Curriculum Implementation Guide
·         Intellitools Templates are now available
SymbolStix ONLINE:  SymbolStix ONLINE has taken off and revolutionized how subscribers utilize and access symbols.  With over 12,000 of our SymbolStix Symbols available, users have endless possibilities in creating symbol based materials for use in their classrooms.  SymbolStix ONLINE users are provided online access to download and use our symbols in the devices of their choice or utilize our free templates!  For 2010 we are providing some great additions as well.

·         Templates now support drag & drop functionality
·         User defined folders for organizing and downloading multiple symbols
·         Unique Learning System symbols will be available each month for download  *COMING SOON*
·         Refined and faster search capabilities
The N2Y family would like to wish you a great upcoming year, and as always, if there is anything we can do to assist please send us email at [ mailto:contact@n2y.com ]contact@n2y.com or give us a call at (800) 697-6575."

 This is great news, as I think these additions/changes will be a big improvement to N2Y and Unique Learning.  The website has not been updated yet, but I'm excited to see these changes take effect and figure out how to incorporate the new material in my classroom!

Do you Vizzle?

Vizzle is a program created by Monarch Teaching Technologies, based out of Shaker Heights, Ohio.  This company has created software for visual learners, and helps teachers 'save time and drive achievement with visually rich interactive lessons for special education.'  I hadn't had any previous experience with Vizzle until this past spring.  I am on our district's assistive technology team, and we were determining what AT requests we could fulfill that were submitted by teachers in our district.  While going through requests for various types of hardware, software, subscriptions, etc.  I came across two teachers in our district who requested a subscription renewal for their Vizzle software.  This is the first I had heard of it, but I know these teachers had students who were similar to mine, so I immediately started doing research.  I found the vizzle website at www.monarchteachtech.com, and signed up for their free 14 day trial.  I have to say that I loved having the option to trial the software, but I also did it during one of the last weeks of school, also one of the busiest, so I didn't get to try out as much as I would have liked.  Anyways, I liked what I saw and I think this could be really useful for some of my students with Autism who are visual learners and who really enjoy working on computers.  I requested a subscription for my class, and it should be starting soon.  I feel like during my trial period, I barely touched on all the ways this program could be used in the classroom.

So my question is: do you Vizzle, and if so, how do you use it in your classroom?

iPad/iPod touch apps

In May, I was grateful to receive  a PTO grant and was able to purchase two iPads for my classroom.  They arrived right before school let out, but I had a chance to trial one of them during my summer school and ESY classes.  I still have many apps to explore, but here have been some of the favorites over the summer so far:

Time Timer:  This has been really helpful with one of my students, as we use a regular time timer with him frequently.  One of the benefits to the app is it is more discrete, more portable, and he can keep it in his pocket if he is working on a task that makes him get up and move frequently.  This app is $4.99-- a little pricey, but I thought it was worth it.

Brainpop:  My district has a subscription to Brainpop, and we use it frequently in my class.  This app is free, and offers free videos of the day.  I am very happy that Brainpop has an app, but I wish they had a 'members' app where we could have access to all of their great videos.  This would be really helpful when I'm with a student in their inclusion science class, and the rest of the class is reading an article; we could just pull out the iPad/iPod to watch a Brainpop video on that topic.  I'm hoping they come out with another app soon.

Animated stories:  One of the biggest hits with some of my kiddos has been the animated story books you can purchase in itunes.  They are accessible to my students who typically use switches to access material, as the pages of a book are turned by touching anywhere on the screen. Usually you can choose a mode so the story is read to you, with the words highlighted while it reads.  The biggest downside to these books is how expensive they can get!  Some of the Disney books are $8.99 each, but I've been lucky to find some that were free for a limited time or on sale.  Here are some of the class favorites so far:

Shrek Forever After: $2.99

Toy Story Read- Along: FREE (There are Toy Story 2 and 3 books, but those are each $8.99)

How to Train Your Dragon- Kids Book HD: $2.99





I know there are so many more apps out there to try, but these are a few that my students have really enjoyed so far.  What apps are favorites in your classroom?

Unique Learning: Transition Level Curriculum

This spring, I started to work on scheduling my classroom and students for the following year, as well as planning out what our day would look like and what types of curriculum we will be using.  I really enjoy using the Unique Learning Systems curriculum by the folks at News-2-You, although I can say I am still only using it here and there and definitely not yet to it's full capacity. 
While browsing the free materials offered by ULS for summer school, I noticed that the transition level materials were also available.  On this level, there is a link to core materials that are supposed to be used each month when using this level.  I felt like I came accross a secret treasure trove; even though these plans and materials are meant for students above the high school level, I feel like it offered me the perfect plan for my middle school students.  I'm a big stickler for age appropriateness, and I love the age appropriate 'classes' and activities offered by this level.  I spent at least a weekend browsing through all the materials, and figuring out how they could work within my own class schedule.  I love some of their ideas, like having a daily living club, jobs club, etc.  I encourage you to check it out if you haven't yet, as it won't be available for free after they take down their summer materials.  I will continue to post how I plan to use some of these ideas in my classroom this year!

Task Boxes

I'm looking at putting together some tasks boxes for the students in my classroom.  I created some last year and we used them, but I'm looking at using them with some different students and I need more of a variety of tasks.
For anyone not familiar with task boxes, they are a great component of a TEACCH or STACK program, especially for students with Autism.  They consist of a plastic box with lid, with items inside that are used by the student to put together different types of tasks depending on the skill you are working on.  Some different types of tasks include put on/in tasks, fine motor, matching, stacking, sorting, assembly, packaging, and job training.
I love the idea of purchasing task boxes, as everything is ready to go, there is no running around to different stores trying to find all the items you need for your activity.  However, for the websites I have looked at who sell pre-made task boxes, I just can't justify spending that much money (like $30-40 a box for some activities) for items I can go buy at Target or the Dollar store for so much less.
As I teach middle schoolers (grades 6-8), I plan to focus more on pre-vocational and academic tasks.  Here are some of the tasks boxes I have previously created:
-Putting greeting cards in envelopes and closing envelopes
-Folding washcloths
-Placing toothbrushes in matching toothbrush cases by color
-Place CDs in a CD case book
-Sort pencils according to color/style

My choices were somewhat limited in the past as the student I was creating them for only has use of her right hand, so the tasks were limited to those that she could do independently.  If you are looking for ideas to make or purchase task boxes, I recommend checking out www.hot-ideas.org, www.shoeboxtasks.com, or the books by Tasks Galore.

I will post info on the task boxes I create after deciding what to make and putting them together.  For now, off to Target!

Assessments-- What do you use?

I'm trying to research some different assessments, checklists, and rating tools that are used for students with multiple disabilities during an MFE/ETR (reevaluation).  I'm in a middle school classroom, and I feel that the assessments we use when my students have an ETR really are not appropriate-- we can barely answer most of the questions as they end up being not applicable.  I typically use the Employability Life Skills scale, for speech we use the Functional Curriculum Checklist, and others just do record review. 

I would love to hear from those of you in the same field, what assessments do you use when  completing an ETR?