Hands on Math Activities

Do you have students who struggle to complete paper/pencil tasks? Do you have kids who need hands on materials? Check out some of the tasks I have set up for our March math centers.

Color Matching Tasks
Here I use the same sorting bin but switch out the items to sort. This makes it somewhat of a routine task for my students but enough change to generalize the task.
 These are super fun, especially for March! I love themes so this is a perfect way to carry our literacy theme of the week/month over into other subjects.

This is a color matching task set up in a T.E.A.C.C.H bin style. The students can still work on color matching but have the opportunity to work on a variety of tasks throughout.

Incorporating Core Vocabulary in Math

Fine Motor

These are parmesan cheese containers. You could make them way cuter but I change them regularly and haven't eaten enough parmesan cheese to have an abundance of containers :). So I just wrapped them with computer paper and wrote what I wanted in each container.

You can differentiate these tasks by offering varying levels of fine motor.

While this may typically not be considered a fine motor task, adapted books offer tons of fine motor practice. The students have to turn the pages, hold the book with one hand and detach and attach the icons with the other hand. All of which can be done while learning new math concepts. You can check out these Read It: Number Series books here.

Number Tasks

Students can practice counting while learning where the Touch Dots go. These are perfect for all of my students (even my pencil/paper math students). You can check out these Monthly Themed Touch Dot Mats here.

 Students can do direct number matching on the tens frame. They can also add monthly themed items like hearts, gold coins or mini apples.

I love using these puzzles. I store them in baggies by number sets to make it easy to grab. I have students who are working on numbers 1-2 while I have others who may be working on numbers 18-20. Organizing it like this allows for quick center changes and differentiation.

You can work on a variety of skills here. Students can sequence the numerals, count the objects and read the number words. You can have this be a completely independent task or provide support for certain parts.

These cards are great for introducing addition. My students love to match the dots and then use the calculator to check their work.

Need Kids to Move Task?

Here is one activity I have set up in my room. The students have the main mat on the desk but the answer cards are on a board across the room. This not only offers the students movement while working but it also works on their recall skills. They are forced to look at the mat, walk across the room and then remember what they were looking for.

I would love to know what kinds of hands on math tasks you have in your classroom!

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Math Instruction for Students with Significant Disabilities

Are you looking for engaging ways to teach math concepts to students with significant needs? Are you in need of some fresh ideas? Keep reading to find out how I incorporate math into my students daily schedules.

This post is going to be geared towards students with significant needs. Students who are working on very basic math concepts and/or need a lot of support with communication (non-verbal) and routines.

I started with taking a look at my students IEP goals. I found that a lot of the students have similar goal areas. I decided that these overlapping areas would be our focus of the day. Here is what our schedule looks like:

 
   Monday: Numbers (1-5)
   Tuesday: Shapes
   Wednesday: Colors
   Thursday:  Days of the Week
   Friday: Months of the Year

It would be nice to be able to teach a whole group lesson but even within this group of students there are diverse needs. I find it more beneficial to teach concepts in centers. Centers allow me to teach the concepts individually or in small groups and differentiate to truly meet the needs of all the students. Here are the centers I have:
 
    Technology: A para shows a video that corresponds with our daily focus. They also work on  calendar daily using Star Fall.
    Teacher Time: I run this center and we work on IEP goals and objectives.
    Hands on Learning: A para works on the daily focus by using hands on materials.

Most of my students in this group are working on transitions, mobility and building routines. In order to save time I have the adults bring the centers to each group of students rather than moving the students from center to center. If you teach in a self-contained setting and have the time to move students I would strongly encourage it as it would be a great time to work on the above mentioned areas. Since I don't work in a self-contained room I simply do not have the time to do this.

Alrighty, so here is how I incorporate basic math skills into my students schedules. I have included the technology video links we use, listed some hands on activities and some sample goals I would be working on that correspond to the daily focus.

Technology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SV6iC34a46w

Hands on Learning:

   

Grab these Monthly Themed Touch Dot Visuals HERE!

Using our princess manipulatives to count. 

Teacher Time: 
By (date), during math instruction, (student) will repeat numbers (parrot count) up to 20, in 3 out of 5 trials, as measured by teacher observation and anecdotal notes.

By (date), when given manipulatives, (student) will count objects to match a given number up to 5 that is stated orally and a visual cue is presented, 3/4 times in 3 trials, as measured by teacher observation and anecdotal notes.

By (date), during 1:1 math instruction, (student) will count the Touch Dots on 2 numbers (1-5) by pointing to them and identify the sum using their communication device, 3/4 times in 3 trials, as measured by teacher observation and anecdotal notes.

Technology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTeqUejf3D0
Hands on Learning:

 Monthly Themed Binder Sets from Autism Adventures

 

FREE shapes book here

Teacher Time:
By (date), when presented visuals, (student) will point (receptively answer) to shapes (circle, square, triangle, rectangle, star, heart) from a field of 3 that are said aloud, 5/6 correct in 3 out of 5 trials, as measured by teacher observation and anecdotal notes.

By (date), given pictures of shapes, (student) will match the corresponding shape words in a field of 6, answering 5/6 correctly in 3 out of 5 trials, as measured by teacher observations and anecdotal notes.

Technology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQASh8bbkUY
Hands on Learning:

                                      Monthly Themed Binder Sets from Autism Adventures

Teacher Time:
By (date), when presented visuals, (student) will point (receptively answer) to colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, brown, black and white) from a field of 4 that are said aloud, 3/4 correct in 3 out of 5 trials, as measured by teacher observation and anecdotal notes.

By (date), given pictures of colors, (student)with adult support and prompting,  will match corresponding color words in a field of 6, answering 5/6 correctly in 3 out of 5 trials, as measured by teacher observations and anecdotal notes.

Technology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tx0rvuXIRg

Hands on Learning:

Day & Month File Folders from The Autism Helper

Teacher Time:
By (date), during calendar instruction, (student) will identify the day of the week when visuals are provided, from a field of 2 in 3/5 trials, as measured by teacher observations and anecdotal notes.

By (date), when asked a question about the date, (student), with adult support and prompting, will correctly identify the date (number) when visuals are provided, in 3 out of 5 trials, as measured by teacher observations and anecdotal notes.

Technology: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86kYp9hpab0
Hands on Learning:

Independent Work Binder found here

Teacher Time:
By (date), during calendar instruction, (student) will identify the month when visuals are provided, from a field of 2 in 3/5 trials, as measured by teacher observations and anecdotal notes.

By (date), when asked a question about the date, (student) will correctly identify the month when visuals are provided, in 3 out of 5 trials, as measured by teacher observations and anecdotal notes.

Teaching math to students with significant needs can be tricky. As you can see I do not have a curriculum to follow (I have Unique Learning system but it doesn't work well with this group) so I base my instruction solely on their IEP goals and objectives. These kids have done an excellent job with this method and best of all, I get it all done in 30 minutes. 10 minute centers are the perfect length for this group. They don't get bored of the same person or activity and are able to stay engaged during the entire math block.

What math activities do you incorporate for your students with significant needs? 

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Keeping it Simple: All in One, Student Binders!!

After moving into a much smaller classroom this year I needed to have a plan on how I was going to help keep myself my students organized. In the past, I had individual binders at each center. I liked this because no instruction time was lost. The students showed up to the center and could start working instead of having to run back to the last center to grab their binder. With my new space there was no way I could do this, so I decided to make 1 binder for each student. Keep reading to see what I included and how they are organized!

Last year I used wall schedules....again with the smaller classroom this just wasn't an option. I have the schedules set up so they are the first thing the student sees when they open their binder. I have a variety of levels in my classroom so student schedules vary from student to student. For my students who still have velcro schedules I have included a pocket on the inside cover for them to put their schedule pieces when they are completed.

In the past I have used these behavior management boards. While these boards are great they are no longer functional for my classroom. I decided to create an all in one work time visual chart and thought it would be perfect to put inside the student binders. Each student will be able to see the work time expectations, have access to common work time questions and have the opportunity to work for a reward. You can grab this work time visual along with my rules pack for FREE here! 

  In the reading section I keep these Reading Response Sheets. For our reading instruction we do a close read model so I read the same story for an entire week. Each day we focus on a different part and the students use the response sheets to show their understanding.

I also include there weekly assessment and these Monthly Comprehension sheets for my students to complete during teacher time.

 Most of my students have functional/fine motor writing goals so we work on writing throughout the day in a variety of ways. One thing that we do consistently is respond to our Daily Journal Questions. These are leveled so each student has the opportunity to practice their writing daily. I have enough pages for the students to complete one everyday for the entire school year. Including all of the pages in the binder made it bulky so I included enough for the first trimester.

This is the section that is the most individualized. Due to the nature of my classroom my students math skills vary greatly. The math section contains their math papers for 1-2 units at a time. I make all of the copies at the beginning of the year and add a new unit once we completed another. I am going to LOVE having all of their math worksheets in 1 spot. Last year I was constantly running the copier and let's just say.....I felt like we didn't get much math done :(.

Everyday I work with the students on their specific IEP goals. Let's face it, not all goals can be covered during curricular content time. I load each students binder with activities that match their goals and objectives. We work on these 1:1 everyday. I also keep their data sheets in this section.

This is probably what I am most excited about. Before I clean out the other sections to put in a new monthly theme or unit I plan to go through each section and pull out 1 sheet. Then I will store them in this "Filed Work" section. This will be PERFECT to showcase work the students have done all year. I don't have a picture of this yet as we haven't started school....therefore there is no work to be filed :). Here is a glimpse of what the binders look like when the students first open them.

Do you want to know the best part about putting EVERYTHING in 1 binder? I don't have to go all over the place collecting work samples. I plan to simply grab student binders when I go into IEP meetings. No more lugging baskets of papers home to grade and file. No more "where is this and where is that". Everything is in 1 spot!!!!

I am very excited about these!!! How do you keep your students work organized?

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