Planning Math Concepts for the Year in a Special Education Classroom

Welcome back!  If you saw my post last week, I shared my scope and sequence for thematic literacy planning in my special education classroom. If you missed it, click HERE to check it out! This week I will be going over how I plan for math in my classroom.

I find that math is bit more difficult to plan since it is so skill based.  It can be a challenge to have a unifying theme when everyone is working on completely different skills.  While it is important to focus on the individualized program of each of my students, I also feel a sense of obligation to provide a "typical classroom experience" (aka theme) for all of my kids, especially those who spend a majority of their day in my room.

For our basic skills activities, I have a general theme that matches up with the season or an upcoming holiday.  This gives my students a bit of variety while providing the consistency and repetition than they need in order to master these foundational concepts.  I love using my Seasonal Counting Packs (found HERE) for my students who are working on numbers 1-20.   However, my students need to move beyond just the basics.

More often than not, most of my students are working on our state's alternate achievement standards, which are aligned to the Common Core State Standards.  Because of this, I base my monthly math topics on the elementary Common Core Math Domains. Each month from September-May I focus on a different topic.  Some of the math domains are spread out over multiple months.  For example, money and time are incredibly important concepts for my students so I stretch out measurement and data over three months.

Here is a list of my monthly math focus:

September - Counting and Cardinality
October - Numbers and Operations in Base Ten
November - Number and Operations - Fractions
December - Operations and Algebraic Thinking - Addition and Subtraction
January - Operations and Algebraic Thinking - Multiplication and Division
February - Geometry
March - Measurement & Data
April - Measurement & Data - Money
May - Measurement & Data - Time
June - Focus on IEP goals

I find that by having a common theme for my math instruction makes planning much easier.  Before I started focusing on monthly math concepts, all of my students were working on completely different skills.  Don't get me wrong, they were all getting a well-rounded education and were challenged with work at their own level.  But there was nothing unifying their instruction with their classmates.  In addition, without a general scope and sequence, it can be too easy to focus solely on number sense and miss the rest of the standards.  Click HERE if you would like a copy of my scope and sequence template.

Having a unifying theme allows me to create shared experiences and common vocabulary with all of my students.  It also allows me to more easily communicate what is happening in the classroom with my families.

I like to send home a letter at the beginning of each month that gives an overview of the math domain that we will be focusing on the for the month.  You can find a copy of my letters HERE.  I also include activities that they can do at home to extend their child's learning.  There are a variety of differentiated activities included so that all of my families can find at least one activity that is appropriate for their child.

With all that being said, my students continue to work on very individualized skills during math.  I typically split our time between instruction related to their IEP goals and the monthly concept. Now, how I split my time... that's a topic for another day!

3/2/2018 UPDATE - Many people have expressed interest in getting a copy of the completed scope and sequence that I have been using in my classroom.  Click HERE to download a copy.  Enjoy! 

Thematic Literacy Planning for the Year in a Special Education Classroom

Teaching in a self-contained special education classroom carries its own unique set of challenges.  Planning instruction that meets the needs of all of the students is one of those challenges.  There are so many factors to consider that it is tough to know where to start. Are you aligning your instruction to the grade levels standards?  But what if you teach multiple grades... how are you going to swing that?  What about the general education curriculum?  Are you utilizing this as well?  Oh yeah... then there are the IEP goals... you should probably work on those skills too... but everyone is at a different level.  Does this sound familiar?

Over the next 2 weeks, I am going to share some of my tips for planning out your year.

First up - Thematic Literacy Planning for the Year in a Special Education Classroom

I like to plan out my entire year, week by week, before school even begins.  I find that mapping everything out at the beginning of the year frees up time during the school year to work on the important things that come up... because let's be real... I don't have time to wing it!  If it isn't planned, I don't do it.  I am way too busy during the school year to be creative!

Here is how I make it work in my classroom:

I like to start out with a theme.  I was resistant to go with themes at first because all of my students were working at their own level and in their curricula.  I felt like I didn't have time to squeeze in an additional topic.  However, my reasons for avoiding thematic units were actually the reasons why they work best in my classroom.

I base my themes on the essential questions and books from our general education reading curriculum.  I find that this is a great jumping off point and provides common vocabulary for my students.

Since I generally have a span of 2-3 grade levels within my classroom, I like to choose a combination of essential questions from each grade level to make sure that I am providing grade level content for all of my students.

Once I have my essential questions, I choose a book and letter of the week.  I also add in possible writing prompts that tie in with the essential questions... one less thing to think about later! I read the book(s) during a whole group story time, giving my students the opportunity to participate in a shared experience before they break off into their small groups.

I also like to add in a sentence frame or core word of the week for my students who are using communication systems, an art or cooking project, and a sensory bin since I try to tie them into my essential questions.

It has taken me a few years to come up with a scope and sequence document that works for me.  You can find a free template HERE if you would like to try it out for yourself!  Because my students' skills can vary significantly from year to year, I don't use every activity every year.  For example, last year I didn't use the letter of the week, but I will this year.

As far as skill-based curriculum goes, I can't map that out as easily.  Each of my students works at their own pace and in their own curriculum.  I use a combination of Read Well, Reading Mastery, Edmark, Wired for Reading, and Wonders.  I don't include this information on my scope and sequence since it is so heavily dependent on the needs of my students.  However, I do include it in my planner, which you can pick up for free HERE.

What about you?  How do you map out your year? Please share!  And keep an eye out for next week's post where I will be talking about Planning Math Concepts for the Year in a Special Education Classroom.

10/19/17 UPDATE - Many people have expressed interest in getting a copy of the completed scope and sequence that I have been using in my classroom.  There are projects that have not been planned, but I am happy to share what I have so far.  Click HERE to download a copy.  Enjoy!