3rd- 5th Grade Language Unit 9/16- 9/27

Our 3rd-5th grade students have gotten off to a great start using the Unique Learning System curriculum for the daily language lesson. Our monthly topic is "Friends in Different Places." Our first 2 weeks consisted of talking about birthday celebrations, our birthdays and how birthdays are celebrated in other parts of the world. This week we will be taking a closer look at "friends in different places" by exploring Mexico & Canada and celebrations in these countries. Students have also enjoyed the new math, reading, writing and spelling lessons that correspond with our ULS lessons. You will see many of the corresponding worksheets coming home with your students in their home folders throughout the month.

Work Stations

Each day students complete independent work stations. Work station are set up in the back of our sensory room giving students a separate space outside of the classroom to complete these tasks with an aide. This also allows for small group instruction in the classroom when groups are out completing work stations.

When students enter the work station area they find their seat and check their task card for the day.

Student Task Card

Students are given three tasks each day. All task boxes are numbered and color coded. Students match the numbers on their card to the numbers on the boxes and complete one task at a time. 

For students who are not yet ready to find the correct boxes independently, they complete their 3 work boxes in a 3 drawer cart.

Work box tasks include academic, fine motor, matching/sorting and functional skills at varied levels. The objective of work stations is to teach independent work skills and task completion, so tasks are assigned at a level which allows students to complete independently. Work stations are considered pre-vocational education, beginning to work with students on simple skills they will need to be able to gain independence. 

New Curriculum

Starting this week our 3rd-5th grade students will begin using a new curriculum for language units. The curriculum is called Unique Learning System. ULS is a standards-based curriculum designed for special education students. Each month a new thematic unit is presented which includes lessons in math, science, social studies, reading, writing, and language arts. Each lesson includes differentiated levels to meet each student at their level of functioning. Lessons are aligned to common core standards at each grade level. If you are interested in looking at this curriculum further check out their website: https://www.n2y.com/unique/. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you can choose to view a sample of lessons and materials. Make sure to put in "intermediate" to view 3rd-5th curriculum. 

"All About Me" Language Unit

Each day students participate in a small group language lesson. These lessons are designed around a theme and work on improving student communication and language skills. Lessons are individualized to meet the communication and language needs of each student. 

During the next 2 weeks our language lessons will focus around the "All About Me" theme. During day one students worked on introducing themselves or identifying their name. Some students worked on identifying their written name while others worked on identifying their picture. Readers worked on identifying the names of other students and letter patterns within names. Some students worked on verbally introducing themselves and others worked on using communication devices to introduce themselves.

Day two built on lesson one by adding the concept of boy/girl. Students looked at pictures of people and stated whether the picture was of a boy or a girl verbally or with communication devices. Some students added to this with man/woman. Readers used the pictures to complete sentences using the action verbs shown in the pictures.  Below are a few pictures of some of our materials for this week. 

Don't forget to send in the "All About Me" book for sharing this week!

   

Visuals

Visuals are a large part of our classroom everyday. Visuals help students understand our daily schedule, remember classroom rules and provide behavioral support. 

Visual supports are anything that students see that are used to enhance communication. Visual supports make communication more specific and encourage consistency in expectations and classroom procedures. 

Many students use an individual picture schedule to help them keep track of what their daily schedule looks like each day. Students place the current activity on their blue box. When the activity is over they place the piece inside the box and check to see what's next. 

For some students a picture schedule can be overwhelming. These students use a first/then board to help them understand the daily activities. 

For students who require more reinforcement with completing individual activities, they may use a picture schedule with reinforcement provided after each task is finished. 

Visual Supports for Behavior/Task Completion:

Some students use a visual board for their reward system. Students choose what they want to work for at the beginning of the day from a choice of 3 pictures. As they complete tasks or show appropriate behavior they receive tokens on their board. When the board is filled they receive their reward. 

Welcome Back to Our Classroom!

Day one is done! 

Students had a great start to the school year! Here is a peek inside our classroom setup. 

Our circle time area. 

Students move crates to their assigned spot on the carpet outlined by the green tape.

Student work areas. 

Some students sit in small groups while others have individual work areas based on student need.

New center area.

This area is used for fine motor and functional play time.

Class Schedule

Below is our class schedule. Names do not appear for privacy reasons. You can get a good idea of your child's schedule by following the grade level. You can see we stay busy all day!!

Each student has an individualized schedule to meet their needs. If you have specific questions about your student's schedule, please let me know!