Mainstreaming Notebooks

I thought I would feature a few of the things I do in my classroom to stay organized and on top of all that paperwork in Special Education over the next couple of weeks.

Each year I make notebooks with information for each of the General Education teachers that my Deaf/Hard of Hearing students mainstream with. My Deaf/Hard of Hearing students are mainstreamed into the General Education classrooms with an educational sign language interpreter whenever possible. I like to give the Gen. Ed. teachers as much information as possible about their incoming student so they know what to expect before school starts.  Usually I do this during the first work day back since I spend way too much time focusing on my classroom set up rather than important paperwork and planning. So I decided to get way ahead of the game and get them completed now. Whew! What a relief to have these done.

What is included in the Confidential Mainstream Notebook?

• Welcome Back letter
• Student CST scores as soon as they are available
• My contact information
• Student Summary form that includes: name, birthdate, disability & secondary disability if applicable, student photo, IEP date (if already scheduled- if not, write the date it's due by), if the student wears hearing aids or uses an FM system, which subjects they will be mainstreamed for, and what additional support services the student receives.  In the boxes, you'll write about the student's strengths and limitations. List any other important information and what accommodations and supports the student requires (taken from their IEP).
• A copy of the IEP at a glance
• Guidelines for Gen. Ed. teachers working with DHH students
• Behavior Support Plan if applicable

When I meet with each of the General Education teachers during those staff work days before school starts I briefly go through the notebook with them. It's helpful for them to have as much information as possible.

 

If you'd like the Student Summary sheet and the guidelines for General Ed. Teachers working with DHH students you can download them here from Google Docs. I also edited the Student Summary sheet so any Special Ed. teacher could use the form. The general Student Summary sheet can be downloaded here from Google Docs.

Assessment Time

The school year is drawing to a close. We only have three more weeks of our Fairview rotations (two for the 6th graders since they are away at Science Camp for a week).  So that means it's assessment time.

One of the things they stressed at my Fairview Regional Training was assess, assess, assess. We did beginning of the year Guided Reading, Adapted Dolch, ASL and writing assessments. I've been assessing the Adapted Dolch words and Bridge Phrases as often as needed throughout the year. Also, I assessed for Guided Reading levels (using the DRA) as I felt the students were topping out on a level and it was becoming too easy for them.  But now it's time for the end of year assessments.

In the Fairview student progress book there is a simple Progress form to fill out. It has everything you need to compile information for the assessments and then document the results online. But it's missing a spot for Guided Reading and our DRA assessment.  So I created this cute little form to use to document progress. I like that it's all on one sheet and is a quick little snapshot of the student's levels.  It's a nice little quick-reference sheet for current levels.

Click over to Google Docs to download a copy of the progress form if it would be helpful in your classroom.

Classroom Economy System

At the end of last school year I decided to start up a Classroom Economy system for this school year. I have a few challenging students that I knew would really respond to these tangible rewards. Rather than having a different system for a few students, I made it a class-wide project.

Here are the basics:  The students earn $1 for coming to school each morning. (I purchased the Lakeshore paper bill pack for our class money.) They can earn $2 for homework, and at the end of the day, they earn $5 for still having a green behavior card. So the students earn $6-$8 daily. Then on Friday afternoon's we have our class store where they are able to purchase one item.  Some of these items are toys, crafts, erasers, snacks, etc. Then there are items that do not actually cost me money, like my classroom reward passes. These are actually the most popular items in my class store. It's amazing how they love free play on the iPad. I also have high-ticket items like lunch with the teacher, pizza lunch, and movie with a friend. I have students that have been saving since day one to choose one of these high priced items.

Since starting the classroom economy system, my challenging students have really responded well. They love to earn money and hate to lose their money. I'd say they really think twice about actions when they know money is involved.

Just like in real life, there are bills to pay. The first Friday of the month, rent is due. I charge for desk, chair and textbook rental. In the beginning my students would whine on rent day. I told them to talk to their parents about how expensive it is to pay rent or a mortgage. And yes, that happens every month. Now they do it without complaints, which is always nice. They also have to pay for their supplies such as new pencils or glue. It seems like the students are taking better care of their supplies this year knowing they have to pay for replacements.

When I started this system at the beginning of the year, I was looking forward to better behavior choices and consistent behavior consequences. But what has occurred has been amazing.  Students are learning to delay their gratification by saving their hard earned money for bigger items. They can count money and make change (the older kids). On the job chart each week one student is the banker. That is a coveted job and they look forward to being the banker.

In November I applied for, and received a Teacher Innovation Grant to help pay for some of the rewards I've been using in the class store. This will really help off-set the out of pocket costs and provide items for our store in the future. I can't imagine what kinds of behaviors I would be seeing this year without the use of the classroom economy. The little bit of work it takes to keep it stocked pays off in the long run and makes my job easier.

I've opened up a TpT store to share some of the things I'm using in my classroom. Stop by my store and download my Classroom Economy Reward Passes for free. While you're there, rate my work and follow my store.