Caseload Binder

Hi and happy summer to everyone on summer vacation! I just updated My Special Education Teacher's Caseload Binder which is one of my favorite TeachersPayTeachers products and wanted to share some organizational tips with all of you!

This school year marked my 5th year as a special education teacher, and over the years one thing I learned is that special educators need to be extremely organized. I look at my schedule and my paraprofessional's schedules multiple times a day, and I often need to have information at my fingertips such as what accommodations a student requires, or the number of hours of services a student is provided. This product contains 129 pages of binder covers, organizational forms, IEP meeting notes sheets, and data collection sheets for individual student goals.

This product contains two systems the first is my caseload binder which helps me manage the unique needs of the students on my caseload. The second is the system I have created to share valuable information about my students with their general education teachers, and my data collection system.

Click here to view or purchase the product.

The pack starts off with some options for binder covers and dividers. Before this update my binder cover options were limited to mint and gray (two of my favorite colors) but I wanted to expand to some fun patterns- this product now includes 22 options of cover sheets.

Here is my personal favorite:

Here is a sample of some other cover options available:

If there is a certain background you would like to see leave a comment at the bottom of this post and I would be happy to update the product with your request.

In addition to the variety of fun covers the caseload binder contains organizational pages specific to special education teachers.

I organize my binder into sections. The first section is information about my caseload. The first thing I do when it is determined which students are on my caseload is to go over their IEP's with a fine tooth comb,

The first thing I look for and record is when the next IEP meeting or Annual Review needs to be held. I mark all meetings for the year on one sheet so I can see in one glance which meetings are coming up. In addition to the caseload binder I also keep a desk calendar and I write the student's initial on my desk calendar 30 days before their next IEP meeting as a reminder to myself to make sure the meeting is scheduled.

I also look through my IEP to see when the next triennial is due. I mark a reminder on my calendar at least 60 days before the triennial is due. 

If it is my student's triennial year, I fill out this reevaluation form- this helps me keep track of what assessments need to be completed and what days and times are best to evaluate the child. I found that if more than one person is completing assessments (e.g. the SLP, OT etc are also doing assessments) the best way is to A. make a shared document where each person blocks off a testing time, or send an e-mail letting the team know the times you are testing.

In addition to looking for meeting dates, another thing I immediately look for is the number of service hours each student is receiving. On the sheet I list the student on my caseload in alphabetical order, which the number or hours they receive and the level of current performance. 

I also keep a list of each student's accommodations and modifications handy. Next year I am going to be working with third graders for the first time and I think this will be even more useful as I know there will be more assessments in 3rd grade. 

Other forms about the students on your caseload that are provided with this document include allergies / medical forms, transportation forms etc...

The next section of my binder is probably the most important - the schedules! I print out the schedule frame for myself on cardstock and fill it in with pencil, because my schedule changes so much! I do normally type in my student's schedules and my paraprofessional's schedules. In the past I have color coded the schedules by child (on my paraprofessional schedules) or by setting on my students schedules (one color for the resource room and other color for the general education classroom). 

In the schedule section I always print out the yearly school calendar and any other calendars or schedules that are relevant to you. My school has a schedule for recess and lunch duties, a schedule for late openings, and early dismissals. 

Other sheets that I put in the schedule section include yearly professional development sheets, team meeting schedule ...

I created this support service page so I could track of when the related service providers were in my building. This information comes in handy when I am scheduling team meetings and IEP meetings. 

                                       

The next section of my binder is the planning section. 

I use two of these sheets- one to plan my schedule and one to plan what I am planning for my paraprofessionals. 

There are also other sheets available for yearly planning. This year I want to complete a classroom transformation each month. I am hoping this sheet will help me plan and stay on track throughout the year.

Also included are a variety of note taking sheets and to do list templates to keep you organized. 

There are also note organizers for IEP meetings, initial evaluations, reevaluations.

In addition to organizing yourself the product also focuses on the organization our your student's goals and objectives. Over the last five years I have spent a lot of time trying to find the best way to collect data on each of my student's objectives in an organized way. The system I have used for the last few years has really worked for me. I keep a binder for each of my students with a tab for each of their objectives. 

I fill out this IEP at a glance sheet so I can easily see this information without flipping through the entire IEP. Once I fill this out I share this sheet with the student's classroom teacher. 

Once I have determined my student's schedule I make a copy of it and place it in the binder. In addition I fill out this service sheet to keep track of when my students are receiving special education and related services. 

I make a table of contents with each of my student's objectives. 

Each objective gets a cover sheet.

Each cover sheet lists the materials needed to work on the objective, the prompt hierarchy, and instructions for the teacher / staff working on the program objective.

A variety of data sheets are included to collect data on each objective.

Click here to view or purchase the product. 

Leave a comment and let me know how you collect data on your students!

Closed Syllables

I'm back to discuss closed syllables!

To view my post outlining each syllable type click here.
To grab my free syllable types posters and syllable guide click here.

This post will explain closed syllables further and showcase some closed syllables activities available in my teacherspayteachers store. To visit my teacherspayteachers store click here.

To grab this poster free click here

Closed syllables have one vowel and the vowel is closed in my one or more consonants. Word that contain digraphs like duck, much, and fish are concerned closed syllables. Words that have ending consonant blends such as last, spring, and blend are also considered closed syllables. VC or VCC wrds such as an, and off are also considered closed syllable words.

I use the visual of a cage to remind my students that the vowel is closed in by a consonant letter. This visual also helps remind students that these are called closed syllables.

This is a visual example of one syllable words that are considered closed syllables.

This is a visual example of two syllable words that contain two closed syllables.

Here is another visual example of how these two syllable words are broken into individual syllables.

When I begin teaching a syllable type I want my students to understand the characteristics that define each syllable type.

I pass out magnifying glasses and encourage my students to be detectives when searching for closed syllables.

This activity is found in my closed syllable pack here

I created this freebie exclusively for my blog readers to practice differentiating between closed syllable words and other syllable types.

Click here to get this closed syllable sort for free! 

In order to reinforce characteristics for closed syllables I have my students complete this sorting activity. Students sort cards into piles of words that contain closed syllables and words that do not.

In addition to making sure my student can identify a closed syllable I want to make sure they can read closed syllable words.

I love matching activities like the one below because it is self checking if my students make a mistake their matches won't line up and they will make sure to go back and find out what went wrong.

I also love QR codes for the same reason! My students are able to self check their work, this builds their independence and my students are engaged by the technology.

I also want to increase my students ability to read and build words that contain multiple syllables. 

In this activity my students choose cards from envelopes and build two syllable words.

This activity allows students to read two syllable words in a game format. Students read words and add toppings to their pizzas as they read words.

I also created an assessment portion of pack which includes reading real and nonsense words.

My closed syllable pack includes 10 activities to practice identifying and decoding closed syllable words. View my pack and read the full description and reviews here.

What is your favorite way to teach closed syllables?

Syllables Made Simple

Is it just me or does teaching multisyllabic words make you sweat? Sometimes I think the longer the word the more my students guess when they are attempting to decode. I learned how to teach each individual syllable type when I was completing my master's degree in special education. Over the last few years I have found a lot of success explicitly teaching each syllable type, my general education teacher friends are my inspiration for this post since the love when I share my syllable knowledge with their classes each year!

This blog post is the first in my Syllables Made Simple series. In this post I will explain the difference between the six syllable types, the rules for each syllable type, examples of words in each syllable type, and how the mark each type of syllable.

I created this syllable guide as a reference to help you and your students differentiate between syllable types.

Once your students understand the syllable rules for each syllable type they will be able to split multisyllabic words into syllables and decode each individual syllable.

The first syllable I teach is the closed syllable. The closed syllable is a word with one vowel that is closed in by a consonant letter. Closed syllables have short vowels. CVC words such as jam, kid, and bus are closed syllables. Words that follow  a VC pattern such as, on, in, and as are also considered closed syllables. In a closed syllables the vowel can be closed in by one consonant letter such as cat or dog, or multiple consonant letters such as spill, drink or junk.

The visual I use to represent closed syllables is drawing a cage around the vowel, this represents that the vowel is closed in.
Some examples of multisyllabic words that contain two closed syllables are catnip, chipmunk, polish, pumpkin, relish, bathmat, cabin, and goblin. When splitting two multi syllabic words the words are mostly split in between consonant letters. For example, the two syllables in catnip are cat and nip, the two syllables in chipmunk are chip and munk. Sometimes splitting syllables between the consonant letters won't work relish is split rel and ish and polish is split pol and ish, The meaning of the word polish can change depending on how the syllable is divided. Split like pol and ish the word is made up of two closed syllables. When split into two closed syllables the word is polish as in I will polish my silverware, split like po lish the word becomes Polish as in I am from Polish descant. When split like Polish the word contains an open syllable- Po and a closed syllable-lish There are words like polish/ Polish that do come up during reading, at these times I encourage my students to try the words both ways- then ask themselves is there a word that makes sense?

The next syllable type I teach is the open syllable. The open syllable is the opposite of the closed syllable. The vowel is left open in the syllable and make it's long sound.

I use legs as a visual under the vowel in the open syllable words to represent how the vowel is free in the open syllable and able to "run away" the vowel is also free to say it's long sound without a pesky consonant closing it in. The words I and a are considered open syllable words. An example of a word that contains multiple open syllables is solo.

Next, I teach vowel- consonant- e words. Some teachers call this spelling pattern magic e, or silent e.

To be a vowel-consonant -e syllable the vowel must make the long sounds and the e is silent. The visual I use for vowel- consonant- e is a leg "kicking" the vowel to remind the vowel to say it's long sound. I explain that the e is too busy reminding the vowel to say it's name that it doesn't make a sound.

Then I teach r-controlled syllables. R-controlled syllables are controlled by the r the vowel does not make a long or short sound.

I know some teachers the refer to this syllable as the "bossy r" because the r controlled the vowel, I like to use the visual of a coach because the r is coaching the vowel on the new sound they are making together, I also circle the r and the vowel to remind my students that these two letters make one sound. When teaching r-controlled words or syllables I teach or and ar separately since they make a different sound (think barn and thorn) and ir, er, and ur together since they make the same sound (think dirt, turn, and herd).

The double vowel syllable is next! Both syllables with vowel teams and diphthongs are considered double vowel syllables. Syllables with vowel teams are two vowels together in a word that make the long sound of the first vowel in the team. Examples of vowel teams are ai, ay, ee, ea, ey, ow (as in snow), oe, oa, ie, ui, ue. Diphthongs are what some people consider the "whiners" they are two vowels (and sometimes a w) that make a new sound examples are aw, au, oi, oy, ou, and ow (as in cow).

The visual I use for the double vowel syllable is a pot of soup. I use the pot of soup because I explain that the two letters work together to make something new like the ingredients in the soup work together to make a new flavor. I circle both letters to provide a visual to demonstrate how both vowels work together as a team to make one sound. 

Finally, the sixth syllable type is the consonant-le syllable type. The consonant- le syllable is part of a multi syllabic word that contains another syllable type. This syllable contains three letters a consonant, a l and an e. The consonant- le syllable ends a multi syllabic word. To decode consonant-le syllables the e is silent and the consonant and the l sound blend together.

The visual I use for consonant- le syllables is a pair of lips, when I read consonant - le syllables the notice the position of my tongue and my lips when I am producing the consonant and the l sound.

You can download my syllable guide and all six syllable posters for free in my teacherspayteachers store. Click here!

I'm looking forward to continuing to blog about syllables in my Syllables Made Simple series- what types of questions do you have about syllables that you would like answered? What types of products would you like to see created to help you teach syllables and syllable types? Let me know in the comment section below.