Weather Test

As I mentioned in my last post, during March, our science theme was Weather.  At the beginning and end of each month (which is the length of our science units), I have my students take a little test to see how much they have learned over the course of the month.  I have really enjoyed giving "tests" to my kids for science because I am amazed at all the weird behaviors I encounter that I have never seen before.  The behavior I see most often is cheating....and crying (lots of crying!).  My kids canNOT handle getting things wrong so they cheat and/or cry when they have to mark an answer as wrong.  Well, I actually find this awesome...because they CARE about getting things right.  This means that, most likely,  getting a good grade is reinforcing!  And, as most of you know, conditioning a "good grade" to be a reinforcer is not always easy with our students with autism!  Well anyway...enough of my ranting about grades being reinforcing and onto another FREEBIE.  

Weather Experiment

Our thematic unit this month for science was weather.  This is a hot topic in my classroom every day, but especially during the months where seasons are changing.  For instance, why is it still snowing when it is Spring? My kids get very confused about the weather during this time of year, so it makes it a perfect time to really target the topic.  

For each science topic, we have a little experiment.  This month, we made the old school tornado out of two 2-liter bottles.  My kids LOVE this simple little thing.  Some of them even work for it as a reinforcer throughout the school day.

Part Part Whole Math Work

 I was lucky enough to win this great packet of worksheets from TheHappyTeacher earlier this month.  They have been a great addition to our math time!  Since these kind of worksheets are completely new to my kiddos, I have been using them as work in our small, direct instruction math time.  Eventually, these will be great to include as homework, independent work, or as part of a math center.

Weather Graphing

I just added this weather graphing activity to my TPT store (you can find it by clicking here).  This is a great addition to my morning binders (see this post) that we do each day after we finish our morning group/circle.  During our morning group, my students practice identifying the weather on the board together as a group.  

They also have an opportunity to do so by themselves in their morning binders.  

This new activity allows each student to track weather patterns over an entire month.  Each day, students add the appropriate weather picture to their graph.  

Plural vs. Singular FREEBIE

Plural nouns vs. singular nouns are one of the concepts we decided to target as we planned our guided reading groups this month.  My students really struggle with this skill that comes so naturally to most of us.  They need to be directly taught the difference between singular items vs. multiple items and how to express these differences appropriately through their speech and writing.   In order to do this, I try and provide them with as many examples and non-examples as possible.  Another thing we wanted to target this month with this specific reading group was reading accurately.  When many of my students are reading, they often leave off the endings of words.  For instance, if it says "apples," my students will read it as "apple."  So, I am hoping that by targeting plural vs. singular nouns in our guided reading groups, I will not only see improved spoken/written grammar, but also, more accurate reading.   

Silly Sally and FREEBIE

Due to the fact that I am missing a couple work days for my wedding, I have been working to plan some guided reading activities that can be done independently or with minimal adult support (i.e. a substitute or one of my assistants).  Silly Sally, by Audrey Wood, is meant for younger children, but sometimes I think these books are good to re-visit when kids get a little older too.  When we read this book in my first grade class, we only worked on matching pictures and reading some of the animal words.  Now, with my 3rd and 4th graders, I want to focus on content, sequencing, and rhyming words.

March Story and Comprehension

I think this is the longest blogging break I have taken since I started...4 whole days with no posts!  I have been super busy with my last minute wedding celebrations and planning!  I cannot believe I am getting married in less than 3 weeks!  So, please forgive me if my posts are spread a little thinner than normal over the next couple weeks...I promise to be back in full swing after the wedding!  To make it up to you, I will try and post some extra Freebies this month!  So check back soon for those....

I love having my students read these little stories about seasons and holidays.  Adding pictures to them helps aid in their comprehension as well.  When explaining seasons, I find them helpful to prepare students for changes in the weather.  It also helps them understand the concept of each season and what to expect in the upcoming months.  The same is true for holidays.  A little story like this helps explain what the holiday celebrates, as well as any traditions that come with it.  You can also tie in calendar concepts with both seasons and holidays to work on identifying months, days, and dates.

I recently added this packet to my TPT store (you can find it by clicking here).  It includes a story for St. Patrick's Day and Spring.