special education literacy lesson plans

Your One-Stop Shop for Special Education Lesson Plans and Resources

TeachTastic Publishing provides a wide range of resources and materials that are specifically designed to support special education teachers in creating effective lesson plans and teaching students with diverse learning needs.

With a variety of materials available for students with different levels of prior learning and learning disabilities, TeachTastic Publishing provides a comprehensive suite of resources that can be tailored to meet the unique needs of each student.

Free Lesson Plan Templates

Whether a teacher is looking for free lesson plans, examples of effective accommodations and modifications in a lesson plan, or strategies for integrating technology into the classroom, TeachTastic Publishing has everything that a special education teacher needs to help their students succeed.

Learn How Our Special Education Lesson Plans Can Help Your Students in all Content Areas

And if you ever get stuck just give us a help request - we are always here ready help out with anything you might need along the way. so what are you waiting for get started on making this school year amazing right now by bookmarking or sharing our smart iep goals and objectives bank today.

Special education lesson plans that are scaffolded and differentiated for students with diverse learning needs.

Lesson plans cover math, reading, and writing and are designed to meet the needs of all students, regardless of prior knowledge or learning disability.

Curriculum for kindergarten through 6th grade includes all major learning objectives.

Nothing makes a special education lesson better than having built-in direct instruction that students understand, along with tips for many learning disabilities.

Providing educators with easy-to-follow directions, thoughtful teaching tip ideas, free resources, and classroom activities to use to help their students with special needs.

Our Comprehensive Curriculum Covers All Major Learning Objectives for Special Education Students in Kindergarten Through Sixth Grade

At TeachTastic Publishing, we provide a comprehensive special education curriculum tailored to meet the needs of students with diverse learning needs. Our curriculum is available for kindergarten through 6th-grade students and covers all major learning objectives. We offer math, reading, and writing lessons that are scaffolded and differentiated for all learning disabilities, ensuring every student has access to quality education and equal opportunities for success.

Our Lesson Plans

Scaffolding and differentiation strategies for teaching math to special education students.

Improve Reading Comprehension and Fluency with Our Special Education Lesson Plans and Resources

TeachTastic Publishing's reading lesson plans help students with diverse learning needs improve their decoding, comprehension, and fluency skills. We offer differentiated and scaffolded lesson plans for all learning disabilities, making reading accessible to every student. Our reading lesson plans include strategies such as leveled readers, graphic organizers, guided reading, story mapping, and phonemic awareness activities, ensuring that students learn and make progress.

Enhance Writing Skills with Our Specially Designed Lesson Plans for Special Education Students

Writing Lesson Plans TeachTastic Publishing's writing lesson plans are designed to help students with diverse learning needs develop their writing skills. We offer differentiated and scaffolded lesson plans for all learning disabilities, making writing accessible to every student. Our writing lesson plans include strategies such as assistive technology integration, graphic organizers, sentence combining activities, error analysis, and self-regulated strategy development (SRSD), ensuring students improve their writing skills and self-esteem.

Learn How to Differentiate InstructionforSpecial Education Students with Diverse Learning Needs

Differentiation Strategies At TeachTastic Publishing, we understand the importance of differentiation in meeting the needs of students with diverse learning needs. Our lesson plans include differentiation strategies that provide multiple ways for students to engage with the content and demonstrate their understanding. Our differentiation strategies include strategies for math, reading, and writing lessons and are tailored to meet the individual needs of each student.

Math Lesson Plans TeachTastic Publishing’s math lesson plans are designed to help students with diverse learning needs understand mathematical concepts.

We offer differentiated and scaffolded lesson plans for all learning disabilities, making math accessible to every student. Our math lesson plans include strategies such as modified worksheets, task analysis, graphic organizers, peer tutoring, and mnemonics, ensuring that students understand the material and make progress.

Even More Lesson Plans

Incorporate Direct Instruction Strategies into Your Lesson Plans for Maximum Student Learning & Success

Direct Instruction TeachTastic Publishing’s lesson plans include built-in direct instruction to help students understand and retain the material. Our direct instruction strategies are designed to be engaging and effective for students with diverse learning needs. Our direct instruction strategies include strategies for math, reading, and writing lessons and are tailored to meet the individual needs of each student.

Empower Parents to Support Their Special Education Students' Learning with Our Free Parent Resources and Worksheets

Parent Resources TeachTastic Publishing provides resources for parents of special education students to support their child's learning at home. Our resources include worksheets and activities tailored to meet each student's individual needs, ensuring that parents can support their child's learning and growth.

Create Effective Lesson Plans with Our Time-Saving Resources and Curriculum

At TeachTastic Publishing, we understand the importance of regular lesson planning and instruction for students with diverse learning needs. Our lesson plans are designed to be used on a regular basis, ensuring that students receive consistent instruction and support. Our curriculum is designed to be taught over the course of a school year, ensuring that students have ample opportunities to learn and grow.

Find Support and Resources for Special Education Teachers to Create Effective and Inclusive Lesson Plans

Special Education Teachers Our special education lesson plans are designed for special education teachers, ensuring that they have the resources they need to create effective and inclusive lesson plans. Our lesson plans are easy to use and can be adapted to meet the individual needs of each student, making lesson planning less time-consuming and more effective.

Track and Monitor Your Special Education Students' Progress with Our Comprehensive Assessment Tools

Student Progress At TeachTastic Publishing, we believe that tracking student progress is essential to meeting their individual needs. Our lesson plans include assessments tailored to the individual needs of each student, such as alternative assessments or modified grading scales. Our assessments are designed to evaluate student progress toward meeting the objectives of each lesson, ensuring that every student makes progress and achieves their goals.

Access Free Resources and Worksheets to Support Your Special Education Lesson Plans and Instruction

Special Education Resources TeachTastic Publishing provides many free resources and classroom activities to supplement our lesson plans and support student learning. Our free resources include worksheets and classroom activities tailored to meet the needs of students with diverse learning needs. Our classroom activities are engaging and effective for students with diverse learning needs, ensuring they progress and enjoy their education.

Engage Your Special Education Students with Hands-On Classroom Activities for Every Learning Style

Classroom Activities TeachTastic Publishing's lesson plans include many classroom activities that are designed to reinforce learning and engage students. Our classroom activities are effective for students with diverse learning needs and are tailored to meet the objectives of each lesson plan. Our classroom activities include hands-on, group, and independent activities, ensuring that every student can learn and grow.

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Teacher Lesson Plans for Special Education Students

For educators, keeping a classroom organized and structured can be difficult. For special education teachers, it can sometimes seem impossible. Teacher lesson plans help educators enter a class prepared with objectives and strategies for their goals. However, special education requires a lot of extra effort, changing plans when they go awry, helping students struggling to comprehend material and working hard to achieve the main objectives.

While many websites offer teacher lesson plans, some are better than others for finding lesson plan ideas and building upon them. After special education teachers develop their teaching style, understand their students’ capabilities and craft realistic goals, they can create their own lesson plans that fit the class’s specific needs and they can use the Internet to help get them started on preparing the right lesson plans.

Creating special education lesson plans

While many lesson plans can be used universally, special education requires a bit more crafting. Even the best special education lesson plans will be catered to a specific class style and level of development. Each teacher must do some added work to decide what parts of the lesson plan need to be adjusted for the class as a whole.

Certain students will also require varying levels of attention in their assignments. Special education teachers know how important it is to individually work around their student’s abilities and lesson plans can incorporate different approaches for specific students.

Learning from experience

Special education teachers learn a great deal from their experience in handling each class. They might utilize some of their past experiences years later with similar students and have new ways of handling difficult situations.

A special education lesson plan might seem like a disaster the first time around, but as the teacher redevelops the outline based on what events occurred, he or she can better prepare for where the objectives did not come through and how assignments and instructions could be better explained.

Where the lesson plan ends

Lesson plans are a crucial part of any teacher’s approach to the classroom. However, they are just one added tool in the educator’s belt. A great lesson plan can help special education teachers maintain better control of their classroom with clearer objectives and purposeful assignments.

As the course unfolds, teachers can make adjustments and rework their lesson plans to accommodate their students’ needs. While a lesson plan may work well with one class, the next year it may bring about a completely different result. Teachers must not get discouraged and instead use their own experiences and the lesson plans of other educators to keep changing their work and preparing for each new class.

Online teacher lesson plans

Technology has embedded itself into nearly every aspect of education. Today, teachers can find lesson plans online to help them get a jump start on the course or compare how others are approaching the curriculum. Many websites showcase free lesson plans and some include categories for special education. Here are some popular websites for finding free teacher lesson plans in special education:

Teacher Planet
Teachers.net
TeAchnology

The importance of top quality

Every teacher knows that the quality of a lesson plan is determined by how well it can be followed during a course. Top-end materials yield more engagement from students who will better follow handouts and assignments and show more interest in the studies.

While there are many online lesson plans available for free on the Internet, another option is to purchase them at sites like TeachersPayTeachers, which lets educators upload and sell their own lesson plans, prompting them to put more effort into their work and allowing other teachers to buy, review and rate each lesson plan.

Special Education Lesson Plans

Have you been looking for new ideas for special education classroom lesson planning?

Don't miss the the update and my reflection on the special education lesson plan process below!

I've been asked to share ideas on lesson planning, but first – I have a few questions for you!

How does your school or grade-level team lesson plan?
Do you lesson plan together as a team, vertical plan based on content, or individually plan for your own class?
Are you required to submit special education lesson plans to a “coach” or administrator?
Is there a required lesson plan template that you follow?
Do special ed lesson plans look different than general education?
Our grade-level teams plan in the following way: each teacher tackles one content area: Math, Comprehension, Writing, Language, Vocabulary/Morning Message, and Phonics. This general education teacher writes the unit plans and assessments, weekly lessons, resources for class (flipcharts, activity pages, exit tickets), and homework. These lesson plans are shared out 2 weeks (10 days minimum) in advance on our “intranet” where we can upload files. Each teacher is also required to presubmit their lesson plan to a designated Teacher Development Leader (often an administrator) for review. This review is a big process at the beginning of the year with constructive feedback, and then often falls into a “check for completion” after the first quarter of the school year.
We backwards plan the year, so the scope and sequence and unit plans/calendar are already shared out before the school year starts (we work during the summer!). This “big picture” is extremely helpful to the special educator (me!) and I access them often. Weekly grade-level team meetings often include discussions regarding timing adjustments to the completed plans due to field trips, snow days, and/or data review (i.e.: our students need more practice!).
The lesson planners also meet vertically with other grade levels planning the same content area. For example, the first grade teacher planning math will meet with the kindergarten and 2nd-4th grade math teachers to discuss key teaching points.
As the special educator, I download the general education weekly lesson plans and then differentiate them for students on my caseload. I'd love to say I do it the same way every week/month/year, but as my students' needs change, so does my planning!
This year, I've often “stuck to the script” for comprehension, phonics, and math, and then differentiated the presentation (small groups, more guided practice, parallel teaching). Next, I supplement and add in tons and TONS of spiral review based on data analysis (I collect data daily!). In previous years, my students have been in a completely different place than the general education population, so my lessons were following a different (more “bare bones”) scope and sequence. It completely depends on my students' IEP goals and objectives and their areas of strength/growth. VERY interesting, especially because my first graders seem to grow and change WEEKLY! This makes my job exhausting exciting! 🙂
I submit my lesson plans 10 days in advance to my team leader. This is the accountability piece our school has built in for every teacher. I find that my lesson plans can be cumbersome and I don't refer to them too often throughout the week. Still, they are a great resource when I'm prepping and/or a student is absent and we need to find a way to catch up the instruction.

That was A LOT of information about lesson planning!

Here's what my weekly lesson plan overview looks like:

UPDATE – Wow, this post brings back a lot of memories! It was originally written in 2012 and has received many revisions along the way.

Upon a lot of reflection and opportunities to have meaningful conversations with other special educators, I actually can't believe the expectations we had way back when. It was a WHOLE lot of extra and while the intentions were well-meaning, it was just so much.

I'm keeping the information here because I think (hope!) it may still be helpful for others, especially if you've tried out many special education activities and lesson formats and still haven't found one that works. Maybe some components of these sped lesson plans will be helpful to you and spark some fresh ideas!

If you interested in learning more about special education lesson planning, check out this video:

I'm Jennifer!

I’m Jennifer and I was a special educator in the elementary school setting over the past decade. I entered the classroom every day dedicated to making learning inclusive AND engaging.

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enCORE English Language Arts Lesson Plans

TeachTown’s enCORE curriculum provides equitable, inclusive access to the general education curriculum with a K-12 standards-aligned and evidence-based adapted core curriculum . Read on to learn more about each segment within enCORE’s ELA Lessons.

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Special Education Reading Curriculum

enCORE is a comprehensive approach to delivering grade-aligned academic instruction for students with moderate to severe disabilities. As a blended learning curriculum, enCORE includes:

Hands-on learning through scripted, print-based lessons
Teacher-led technology lessons (ideal for small group or individual instruction)
Data-driven, individualized technology lessons for students to complete independently

The English Language Arts (ELA) domain of enCORE was systematically designed to align with the key tenets of the Science of Reading . Additionally, all literacy instruction is grounded in evidence-based instructional practices, including the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis and systematic, explicit instruction.

ELA lessons are structured to flow through the gradual release of responsibility, guiding students towards greater independence as they show they are ready.

Lesson plans consist of multiple segments that each focus on a different core literacy skill. (See Elementary , Middle , and High School sections below for grade band explanations of each segment). Each segment begins with anchored instruction to help students connect the new learning objective to their existing background knowledge and to make connections to their everyday lives. For example, in Unit 37 in enCORE Middle School, anchored instruction helps students prepare to read White Fang this way:

After activating background knowledge, teachers move through this sequence:

Direct instruction (interactive read aloud) and modeling (think aloud)
Shared instruction and guided practice
Independent student practice with ongoing teacher monitoring

This progression is noted within the print lesson plans as ‘Model, Lead, Test’ for Elementary and ‘Model, Guided Practice, Independent Practice’ for Middle and High School. This framework will likely be familiar to educators as the I Do, We Do, You Do model.

Introducing students to new skills in small, bite-sized pieces supports complex learners by ensuring students receive multiple exposures to the new skill, prompting and regular feedback to avoid practicing incorrectly, and plenty of practice to reinforce new learning.

Sample ELA Lesson Plans

View sample enCORE Elementary ELA Lesson Plan
View sample enCORE Middle ELA Lesson Plan
View sample enCORE High ELA Lesson Plan

Adapted Reading Library

The adapted reading library is one of the most celebrated components of the entire TeachTown curriculum. With hundreds of titles across K-12, the comprehensive adapted reading library provides students with significant disabilities with equitable, inclusive access to general education curriculum.

enCORE literature selections –

Incorporate a wide array of genres, from classic literature to poetry to nonfiction and more
Include lifelike illustrations and real-world photos that support generalization
Reflect the wide diversity of the student population
Are both socially and developmentally appropriate (e.g., 10th grade students are not reading books intended for 1st graders)

Check out a brief sampling of offerings below:

enCORE Elementary School: Structure of the Lesson Plans

In enCORE Elementary, each Unit includes one fiction book and one nonfiction book. The nonfiction book always dives deeper into a theme introduced in the fiction book. For example, in Unit I of enCORE Elementary, the fiction book is Peter Rabbit. In this book, Peter goes into Mr. McGregor’s garden and eats his vegetables. This book is strategically paired with the nonfiction book, Food Groups, which teaches students about the different food groups and healthy eating habits.

In enCORE Elementary, each ELA lesson plan includes 5 segments:

Segment 1 – Interactive Read Aloud

Segment 2 – reading comprehension, segment 3 – foundational skills, segment 4 – language, segment 5 – writing.

Throughout the Interactive Read Aloud Segment, scripted reading instruction provides teachers with instructional strategies to increase engagement and participation during shared reading activities. Prior to reading, target vocabulary and sight words are taught. Students learn and acquire print literacy skills as teachers guide them through an interactive read aloud of the text.

Throughout enCORE Elementary ELA curriculum, students are given opportunities to engage with the text by signaling when it is time to turn the page, finger tracing the text as it is read aloud, engaging in choral reading opportunities, and language development skills. Students practice questioning, predicting, identifying key vocabulary, and answering comprehension questions.

In the Reading Comprehension Segment, students take a ‘picture walk’ of the story to review key elements and details. The teacher systematically leads students through a guided practice activity of sequencing the events or sorting the details from the story. Students are then given differentiated comprehension questions to test their understanding of the story or information presented.

The Foundational Skills Segment targets letter identification, letter sound correspondences, phonological and phonemic awareness, decoding, and more. Special education teachers are provided with explicit scripts using systematic instruction to lead students through the various activities.

The Language Segment promotes deeper understanding of the vocabulary, concepts, and categories that are addressed within the unit. Teachers are provided with an explicit script to build concept knowledge with example and non-example training.

In each Writing Segment, students are asked to recall information and write about literature or experiences. Teachers are provided with differentiated writing tasks to meet the needs of all students. Writing activities include necessary support for those students who require it.

enCORE Middle School: Structure of the Lesson Plans

In enCORE Middle School, each Unit includes one chapter book and two companion texts. The companion texts include a variety of genres including poetry, speeches, short biographies, and short expository texts.

In enCORE Middle School, each ELA lesson plan includes 5 segments that are designed to each cover two days of instruction.

Introducing the Text

This segment focuses on Chapter 1 of the chapter book. It includes activities and instruction for anchoring instruction, vocabulary, reading and reviewing the text, comprehension, and writing. Sight word instruction is also included in this segment.

Text Introduction

This segment focuses on the first companion text. It includes activities and instruction for anchoring instruction, vocabulary, reading and reviewing the text, comprehension, and writing. Multiple meaning word instruction is also included in this segment.

Initiating Events

This segment focuses on Chapter 2 of the chapter book. It includes activities and instruction for anchoring instruction, vocabulary, reading and reviewing the text, comprehension, and writing. Phonics instruction is also included in this segment.

Researching Ideas

This segment also focuses on the first companion text. It includes activities and instruction for anchoring instruction, vocabulary, and writing. Connotative meaning instruction is also included in this segment.

Expanding Events

This segment focuses on Chapter 3 of the chapter book. It includes activities and instruction for anchoring instruction, vocabulary, reading and reviewing the text, comprehension, and writing. Decoding instruction is also included in this segment.

Text Introduction 2

This segment focuses on the second companion text. It includes activities and instruction for anchoring instruction, vocabulary, reading and reviewing the text, comprehension, and writing. Figurative language instruction is also included in this segment.

Building Ideas

This segment focuses on Chapter 4 of the chapter book. It includes activities and instruction for anchoring instruction, vocabulary, reading and reviewing the text, comprehension, and writing. Spelling instruction is also included in this segment.

Connections and Big Ideas

This segment also focuses on the second companion text. It includes activities and instruction for anchoring instruction, vocabulary, and writing. Spelling instruction is also included in this segment.

Drawing Conclusions

This segment focuses on Chapter 5 of the chapter book. It includes activities and instruction for anchoring instruction, vocabulary, reading and reviewing the text, comprehension, and writing. Figurative language instruction is also included in this segment.

Learning and Sharing New Information

This segment focuses on finishing the writing assignment for the lesson plan or unit. Morphological awareness instruction is also included in this segment. Generalization and extension activities are included here as well.

High school student with disability. Working independently on the computer on adapted ELA curriculum.

enCORE High School: Structure of the Lesson Plans

In enCORE High School, each unit includes one chapter book and two companion texts. The companion texts include a variety of genres such as poetry, epics, periodicals, speeches, short biographies, and short expository texts.

In enCORE High School, each ELA lesson plan include 5 segments that are designed to cover 2 days of instruction:

This segment focuses on Chapter 1 of the chapter book. It includes activities and instruction for anchoring instruction, vocabulary, reading and reviewing the text, comprehension, and writing. Context clues instruction is also included in this segment.

Text Introduction 1

This segment focuses on the first companion text. It includes activities and instruction for anchoring instruction, vocabulary, reading and reviewing the text, comprehension, and writing. Decoding instruction is also included in this segment.

This segment focuses on Chapter 2 of the chapter book. It includes activities and instruction for anchoring instruction, vocabulary, reading and reviewing the text, comprehension, and writing. An introduction to the morphological awareness target is also included in this segment.

Text 1 Analysis and Evaluation

This segment also focuses on the first companion text. It includes more in-depth activities and instruction for vocabulary, reading and reviewing the text, comprehension, and writing. Spelling instruction is also included in this segment.

This segment focuses on Chapter 3 of the chapter book. It includes activities and instruction for anchoring instruction, vocabulary, reading and reviewing the text, comprehension, and writing. This segment also includes instruction on analyzing the morphological awareness target in the context of that unit’s literature.

This segment focuses on the second companion text. It includes activities and instruction for anchoring instruction, vocabulary, reading and reviewing the text, comprehension, and writing. Connotative meaning instruction is also included in this segment.

This segment focuses on Chapter 4 of the chapter book. It includes activities and instruction for anchoring instruction, vocabulary, reading and reviewing the text, comprehension, and writing. An introduction to the figurative language target is also included in this segment.

Text 2 Analysis and Evaluation

This segment also focuses on the second companion text. It includes more in-depth activities and instruction for vocabulary, reading and reviewing the text, comprehension, and writing. Instruction in using reference materials is also included in this segment.

This segment focuses on Chapter 5 of the chapter book. It includes activities and instruction for anchoring instruction, vocabulary, reading and reviewing the text, comprehension, and writing. This segment also includes instruction on analyzing figurative language in the context of that unit’s literature.

This segment focuses on finishing or presenting the writing assignment for the unit. Students also make connections between the texts for the unit. Generalization and extension activities are included here as well.

enCORE Lesson Plans:

Click on a subject area to learn more.

English Language Arts Math Science Social Studies

English & Reading Goals For Special Education

Drafting goals for any subject area can be difficult, especially if you are unsure where to start. Here are a few sample English/Reading IEP goals (across various ability levels) to get you started. Please adapt and modify to meet the specific needs of your students. Keep in mind a goal should be a skill you believe is achievable by the student in 1 school year. You can always do an addendum if a student has met all criteria for the goal/objectives.

Remember, when writing objectives, break down the goal into smaller steps. You can lessen the percentage of accuracy, the number of trials (3/5 vs 4/5), or amount of prompting. Make sure each objective builds onto the next and towards mastery.

* Depending on how specific/broad your goal is, you can collect data over multiple settings/classes, which will only help with data and work samples! Try not to tie yourself into ONE specific activity, exercise, or mode of collecting data (unless that is what you and your team is going for).

Book Orientation/Parts:

Goal: Student will independently identify the parts of a book (front cover, back, spine) with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will identify what an illustrator and author are and be able to locate where to find this information on a book with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Letter Recognition & Identification:

Goal: Student will be able to recognize and identify letters of the alphabet independently with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Letter Sounds:

Goal: Student will be able to verbally dictate the sound of all 26 letters of the alphabet with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will demonstrate their awareness of letter sound relationships by identifying the letter and their corresponding sound with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will recognize a picture, identify what letter the picture starts with, and the corresponding sound with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will be able to use their decoding skills to read a list of 10 words with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will demonstrate their knowledge of letter sounds by reading CVC words independently with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Sight Word Recognition:

Goal: Student will learn 10 new sight words every quarter and be able to read and write the new works independently with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will recognize and read 25 sight words from the ____ grade level Dolch/Fry word list with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Match Pictures to Phrases:

Goal: Student will independently match 5 words to the corresponding picture with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will read phrases and simple sentences and match them to the corresponding picture with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Reading Comprehension:

Goal: Student will read a passage/story and independently identify if the passage is fiction or nonfiction with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will read text at their level and answer 5 ‘wh’ (written or verbally) questions about it with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will read text at their level and answer ‘wh’ questions when given multiple choice options, from a field of 3 with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will read text at their level and independently identify the main idea with 3 supporting details with 80% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Making and Confirming Predictions:

Goal: Student will read the title of a text, independently make a prediction of what will happen in the story, and confirm if their prediction was accurate with 80% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Summarizing/Retelling:

Goal: Student will read a text on their level independently summarize what happened (verbally or written) with 80% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will be able to retell a story they have read with 80% accuracy with story details on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Compare & Contrast:

Goal: Student will compare and contrast 2 topics (teacher’s choice) using a Venn diagram independently by listing at least 3 facts in each column with 80% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Parts of Speech:

Goal: Student will be able to independently define and identify if a word is a noun, verb, or adjective with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will be able to read a sentence and independently identify which word is the noun, verb, and adjective with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Fact vs. Opinion:

Goal: Student will independently read a sentence and identify if it a fact or an opinion with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Writing Simple sentences:

Goal: Given a model, Student will independently write a grammatically correct simple sentence (pencil/paper or using communication device) to include a noun, verb, and adjective on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will independently write a sentence (to include a subject and predicate) using their communication device with correct grammar and punctuation on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Punctuation:

Goal: Student will independently write sentences with correct punctuation to include; capital letters and a period with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will read a sentence and decide whether it requires an exclamation point or a question mark with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will read a sentence and edit it for correct punctuation (capital letter and period) on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will read 5 sentences and edit them for correct punctuation/grammar (to include…..) on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Making Inferences:

Goal: Student will independently make inferences about a text (by expressing -written, verbally, using pictures-what it is saying and what it actually means) with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Implicit vs Explicit Details:

Goal: Student will independently read a text at their level and answer 5 explicit and implicit questions pertaining to the text with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Resource Referral:

Goal: Student will independently look back in the text they’ve read to answer questions about the text with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will independently use a dictionary to find the meaning of 5 unknown words and write their definition with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will locate specific phrases or sight words in a familiar text with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will independently match an idiom to the corresponding meaning with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Goal: Student will be able to explain the meaning of an idiom (verbally or written) with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Beginning/Middle/End:

Goal: Student will independently read a story passage on their reading level and identify the beginning, middle, and end events with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Story Elements:

Goal: Student will read a story or passage at their reading level and independently identify story elements (character, setting, problem, solution) by answering questions or filling out an anchor chart with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Sequencing of Events:

Goal: After reading a story/passage, student will independently sequence events (written or verbally) in the story with 80% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

Context Clues:

Goal: Student will independently use context clues to find the meaning of an unknown word and either write the answer or choose from a field of 3 with 100% accuracy on 4 out of 5 trials measured quarterly.

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Fall Lesson Plans and Resources for Any Special Ed Classroom

Fall is a refreshing time of year with those crunching leaves and breaths of fresh air. Not to mention, you’re likely settling into the school year with your new students.

So if you’re searching for Autumnn lesson plans and resources for your classroom, look no further!

Here are 10 of our favorite Fall resources:

Fall Literacy Lessons

The Autumn Adapted Piece Book Set is a seasonal staple for storytime. These interactive pieces will help you transform eight of the most famous children’s books into an exciting reading experience. We’ve found that even students who don’t love reading enjoy these! This set includes pieces for titles such as Red Leaf Yellow, Leaf, Ten Orange Pumpkins, and Pumpkin Jack.

Teach your students about the changing seasons with this Autumn Adapted Book and use it during small group instruction or morning meetings. This reader focuses on changing leaves, Fall holidays, and other seasonal vocabulary.

Have you read Fletcher and the Falling Leaves? This is an adorable Fall story about a fox named Fletcher who worries when the leaves start falling from his favorite tree. The Fletcher and the Falling Leaves Book Companio n is filled with cross-curricular, no-prep lesson extensions. It’s a story unit made easy!

Fall Life Skill Lesson Plans

Give students the chance to practice an important life skill, addressing envelopes! The Fall version of Addressing an Envelope will prepare an envelope with ‘to’ and ‘from’ labels, as well as a stamp. This center time activity comes in 2 levels, “errorless” and fill-in-the-blank.

Get students in the swing of dressing for the season with the Dress Me for the Seasons File Folder game. Practice the same skill in a different format with these Seasonal Clothing Sorting Mats .

Fall Lesson Plan Bundles

The All About Autumn Bundle is an all-encompassing unit that includes math, science, and ELA activities. It also has three Fall book companions! This bundle will help you fill your Fall planner with the click of a few buttons and very little prep. Similarly, this Autumn Thematic Unit will get your students excited about the season with vocabulary cards, readers, graphic organizers, graphing activities, science activities, and more!

The Seasons Adapted Work Binder is a great tool for morning work. This work binder is filled with functional and differentiated skill work that includes labeling seasonal pictures, sorting seasonal pictures, and identifying months within each season.

More Fall Lesson Plans

Students can practice following step-by-step directives and visual-motor skills with these Autumn Directed Drawings . This set gives students the chance to draw ten different Fall designs, including scarecrows, acorns, sunflowers, leaves, and more.

The Fall Memory Digital Activity is an excellent independent task that can be set out during center time or for early finishers. This paperless skill work has thirty different pages, all in the theme of Fall! If you love this one, you’ll want to check out the Autumn Digital Activity Bundle as well.

Debate time: When you teach this unit, do you call it Fall or Autumn? Let us know in the comments!

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Education Standards

Wyoming standards for english language arts.

Learning Domain: Reading for Informational Text

Standard: Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

Maryland College and Career Ready English Language Arts Standards

Common core state standards english language arts.

Cluster: Key Ideas and Details.

Follow the Path Game

Running record, special education lli reading intervention lesson plan.

This is a special education reading intervention lesson plan using the Fountas and Pinnell program LLI. Brain based strategies as well as special education strategies are incorportated into this lesson. This is from the green kit and is lesson 80, which is level G.

Lesson Plan and Materials

Lesson Plan Title: LLI Lesson 80

Teacher’s Name: Crockett

Unit: Alpha Level G Subject: Reading/Writing Grade: 2

				Running Record
Brain Based Strategy: Make Emotional ConnectionsSPED/ELL Strategy: Have student use highlighter to take important notes				N/A
book book for
Ask and answer such questions as , and to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

10 min.	bookRunning record	Have student use highlighter - ELL/SPED	Re-Reading: The students will re-read the book, , which we read yesterday. One student will be reading the book to me as I take a running record. The students who are not reading to me will be using highlighter tape to highlight important parts of the book to include in their writing.
10 min.	Student writing books		Writing: The students will write 3 sentences to summarize the steps of how a frog grows. They will use their book to assist with spelling and also to look back at the notes they took with their highlighter tape.
5 min.	Follow the path game		The students will play the follow the path game. This game helps them practice reading words on their instructional level.
10 min.	book	Make emotional connections - brain based	Reading/Comprehension: The students will then read to themselves. After each student is finished reading the text the teacher will ask comprehension questions. Questions:Who were the characters in the story?Where did this story take place?What were the differences between Taco and Orson?How did Taco show that he was brave?Tell me about a time that you had to be brave like taco.
Students will complete the assignment with 90 % accuracy.		Running Record	Assessment: The running record taken at the beginning of the lesson is the assessment used to track progress in this program. Students should be able to read the text with at least 90% accuracy and be able to answer ⅘ comprehension questions.

Instructor Notes:

I chose this lesson because my students have a harder time comprehending nonfiction text than they do comprehending fiction text. I modified this lesson to include the students using highlighter tape to remember important information that they will use in their writing. I also modified it to add the comprehension question for them to make an emotional connection.

Growth in Literacy Skills: 5 ELA Curricula for Special Education

fullspedahead
July 3, 2023
Back to School , Curriculum , Functional Life Skills , Teacher Tips

Introduction

When it comes to supporting struggling learners in the realm of English Language Arts (ELA) and literacy skills, special education teachers need comprehensive and effective curricula designed to meet their students’ unique needs. In this blog post, we will explore five outstanding ELA curricula that have proven to be highly beneficial for special education classrooms.

These curricula not only offer engaging content but also provide differentiated instruction, multisensory approaches, and comprehensive support to help struggling learners succeed. Let’s dive into the details of each curriculum in no particular order and discover how they can transform ELA instruction for students with special needs.

1. Readtopia by Building Wings

Website: https://www.buildingwings.com/readtopia/.

Readtopia by Building Wings is a research-based ELA curriculum that engages students through real-world, high-interest content. It provides differentiated instruction, scaffolded support, and multimedia resources to help struggling learners develop reading comprehension, vocabulary, and critical thinking skills. With its interactive features and flexible implementation options, Readtopia ensures that students with diverse abilities can actively participate in ELA lessons and build confidence in their reading abilities.

2. Early Literacy Skills Builder (ELSB) by Attainment Company

Website: https://www.attainmentcompany.com/curriculum/english-language-arts/early-literacy-skills-builder.

Early Literacy Skills Builder (ELSB) by Attainment is specifically designed for students with significant cognitive disabilities. This curriculum focuses on early literacy skills such as letter recognition, phonemic awareness, and basic sight words. ELSB provides hands-on activities, visual supports, and repetitive practice to help students develop foundational reading skills. With its systematic approach and adaptive materials, ELSB empowers special education teachers to support their students’ literacy growth from the earliest stages. This curriculum is perfect for kindergarten literacy skills and literacy skills for preschoolers.

3. Adapted Classics by Attainment Company

Website: https://www.attainmentcompany.com/curriculum/english-language-arts/adapted-classics.

Attainment’s Adapted Classics is a unique ELA curriculum that brings the world of classic literature to students with special needs. It offers simplified adaptations of well-known novels and stories, making them accessible and engaging for struggling learners. Through Adapted Classics, special education teachers can introduce literary elements, comprehension strategies, and critical thinking skills while nurturing a love for literature. This curriculum provides inclusive materials, interactive activities, and extensive support to help students explore the beauty of classic literature.

4. Unique Learning Systems by N2Y

Website: https://myaccount.n2y.com/.

Unique Learning Systems by N2Y is a comprehensive curriculum that encompasses various subject areas, including ELA, for students with complex learning needs. It offers adaptable lessons, interactive activities, and differentiated materials to meet the diverse abilities and interests of students. The literacy skills component of Unique Learning Systems focuses on developing language skills, reading comprehension, writing, and communication. With its rich resources and personalized learning options, this curriculum empowers special education teachers to provide meaningful development of literacy skills instruction to struggling learners.

Learn more about how I plan for N2Y in this blog post.

5. Fundations by Wilson Language

Website: https://www.wilsonlanguage.com/programs/fundations/.

Fundations by Wilson Language is a systematic and explicit phonics and spelling program designed to support students with dyslexia and other reading difficulties. It provides a structured approach to phonemic awareness, phonics, and word study, helping students develop decoding and encoding skills. Fundations incorporates multisensory techniques, including tapping and handwriting, to reinforce letter-sound connections and improve reading fluency. By implementing Fundations, special education teachers can equip struggling learners with the foundational skills necessary for reading success in pre-literacy skills.

Incorporating effective ELA curricula is essential for special education teachers seeking to empower struggling learners with the literacy skills and confidence needed to navigate the world of literacy. The five curricula highlighted in this blog post—Readtopia, ELSB, Adapted Classics, Unique Learning Systems, and Fundations—provide special education teachers with comprehensive resources, differentiated instruction, and inclusive materials. By leveraging these curricula, teachers can create engaging, accessible, and impactful literacy skills experiences that unlock the full potential of their students with special needs.

What are the 6 abilities of literacy?

All of these curricula have six early literacy skills:

Phonemic Awareness: This skill involves the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. It includes activities like recognizing rhyming words, blending sounds to form words, and segmenting words into individual sounds.
Letter Recognition: Early literacy development includes recognizing and identifying letters of the alphabet. Children should be able to recognize uppercase and lowercase letters and associate them with their corresponding sounds.
Print Awareness: This skill refers to understanding how print works, including knowing that print carries meaning, recognizing the difference between letters and words, and understanding the directionality of reading (left to right and top to bottom).
Vocabulary Development: Building a strong vocabulary is crucial for early literacy. It involves learning and understanding the meanings of words, which enables children to comprehend and express themselves effectively.
Phonics: Phonics is the relationship between letters and their sounds. It involves teaching children the sounds that letters or groups of letters make and how they can be blended together to form words.
Comprehension: While comprehension skills develop over time, even at an early age, children can begin to understand and interpret simple stories and texts. Comprehension skills involve understanding the meaning of what is being read, making connections to prior knowledge, predicting outcomes, and answering questions about the text.

Read more about how I adapt curriculum to meet the needs of all learners.

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Especially Education

Adapted high-quality curriculum to help special education students succeed in the classroom

Upper Elementary Lesson Plans for Special Education

September 5, 2021

It was my first year as a self-contained teacher. I was teaching 3 rd , 4 th , and 5 th graders.

My students were crushing their IEP goals. We were mastering letter sounds, counting to ten, and writing our names. We were really “living our best lives,” as the young kids say these days. 🙂

Young woman teacher standing in front of her decorated door that says "Throw kindness like confetti."

Then, it happened.

The 4 th grade resource teacher walked in, handed me a copy of the Declaration of Independence, and said, “here you go, Michaela, adapt this for your students.”

I felt absolutely defeated.

After all this time providing my students with instruction geared toward their IEP goals at THEIR level (you know, the INDIVIDUALIZED education plan we are following), I was now expected to spend hours adapting curriculum that was not tailored to my students’ needs AT ALL. Not that this isn’t an important subject to teach, because it IS. But I just felt so much pressure on my shoulders to adapt the grade level curriculum.

(Do the general education teachers not realize that, hey, 3 rd -5 th grade means you teach other grade levels, too??)

Not only did I feel like my time was being wasted, but it was disheartening to feel forced to provide instruction beyond my students’ academic levels.

After polling hundreds of teachers, my teacher-author Made For Me Literacy partner, Gabrielle Dixon ( Teaching Special Thinkers ), and I learned that 95% of special education teachers struggle to adapt curriculum for their 3 rd -5 th grade classrooms . Because academic skill level becomes increasingly difficult past the first-grade level, teachers are expected to use materials that are too low or adapt materials that are too high.

This told us there is a huge need for effective special education teaching materials for upper elementary curriculum. While modifying the curriculum for K-1st grade isn’t easy by any means, there is less of a discrepancy between the content of the curriculum and the student skill levels.

Meaning the content and skill level of a kindergarten worksheet is often appropriate for a student in a K-1 classroom. However, while that same worksheet may be academically appropriate for your 5 th student, the content and cutesy clip art is oftentimes too “babyish” and not grade level appropriate.

Our Level C Made For Me Literacy lesson plan bundle is here to change that.

Elementary students on the cover of a notebook on top of a desk surrounded by school supplies

Not only do we provide 3 rd -5 th grade curriculum that is both academically and age-level appropriate, but we hope to take the burden off teachers when it comes to differentiating instruction for multiple grade levels.

Upon completion in May, this bundle will contain 10 months of themed literacy instruction to give you to a full year of lesson plans for your special education classroom.

Each monthly unit will include:

Month-long lesson plan: Our curriculum map breaks down the included activities into 4 day-by-day weeks.
Each month focuses on 4 forms of literacy. Some books will need to be purchased, while others are written by us and are included in the download. Check out our upcoming book list here . (edits are currently being made, but will be posted ASAP!)

Resources for each book include:

Story map printables (author, illustrator, character, setting, title, sequence)
Comprehension questions and assessments (both printable and digital formats)
2 levels of assessments (picture cues, word cues, and blank to fill in the answer)
Adapted book pieces
10 vocabulary word cards : We include posters to display in your classroom. Each poster contains a high quality stock photo, vocabulary term, and definition. 2 sizes of each poster are available.
20 daily hands-on activities : These include anchor charts, predictable writing chart & class book, Easy Art crafts, process art crafts, writing activities, class graphs, labeling/butcher paper activities, sensory bins, and visual recipes (snack and sensory fun!).
20 centers : Our centers cover literacy, math, vocabulary, and the cross-curriculum theme for each month. There are 12 print and prep centers of your favorites (think task boxes, file folders, flip-and-write book). Each of these centers comes with an expansion activity already included to help with differentiation. We also include 8 DIGITAL centers that can be accessed on any device (printable version, interactive version, and Boom Cards versions ALL included!).
16 skill practice sheets : Print and go, and perfect for reinforcing skills covered in the unit. Each practice sheet contains 2 levels of difficulty.

Take a more detailed look inside our first unit, Classroom Community !

Amanda Sullivan says

July 29, 2022 at 6:45 am

I am a first year 3-5 resource teacher, and I am looking for ways to support my student’s needs. Thank you for creating this program.

Especially Education says

August 23, 2023 at 4:47 pm

You are so welcome! Thank you for your comment, Amanda.

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10 Easy Functional Reading Activities

In order to be able to have lifelong success in reading, special education classrooms need to target functional reading activities. Here are 10 different activities that will help students generalize reading and comprehension skills across functional and life skills-based situations.

10 functional reading activities blog post pin image

This list includes 10 activities where students will need to be able to apply their reading skills at home, school, and in the community.

Emails for reading and writing

Students need to be able to read and respond to emails. Teach students to both read and respond to emails. Begin by sending simple emails back and forth and gradually build up to asking & answering questions , gathering info, etc.

This is also a great time to introduce reading and replying on smartphones and to text messages.

follow written directions

Students need to be able to read and follow written directions. We use visually supported & leveled cards to teach students even at the Pre-A reading level to read and act on written directions.

Materials for targeting reading and following written directives.

It’s imperative that students move past simply being able to read a direction. They need to be able to act on the directive to truly be functional outside of school.

functional reading with recipes

Following recipes is a critical reading skill for students to learn. Start with visually supported recipes and gradually fade out the supports so students can read and use recipes from cookbooks, on food packages, on the internet, etc.

Specifically, teach the vocabulary that students will need across many recipes to students in direct instruction to help students gain these skills quicker. For example words such as bake, mix, add, flip, etc. are words that can apply to many recipes. Knowing these words will help students be more successful in these functional reading activities.

use schedules for functional reading activities

Reading a schedule is a critical life skill for students. Be sure to teach students to read a variety of schedule formats to help them generalize this skill and be able to apply it in all settings. Examples of different types of schedules to teach students to read:

School schedule in daily and weekly formats
Bus schedules
Work schedules
Games or recreational schedules
TV show schedules
Appointment schedules

teach students to Read receipts

Students need to be able to read receipts to make sure that they weren’t overcharged and if they need to make a return. Teach students how to find, match and read receipts and tags on items purchased.

Grocery lists during functional reading lesson

There are so many ways to combine the grocery store and functional reading activities . For example:

Writing and reading a grocery list
Reading grocery signs to help students find the items on their lists
Reading the price tags on the shelves
Reading and matching coupons to the items

There are TONS of functional reading tasks that incorporate the grocery store .

Read & comprehend Community signs

Being able to read and understand community signs is a critical and functional life skill.

community signs of the week bundle for functional reading activities

Use the community sign bundle to teach students to read and identify different versions of the signs and understand what the sign means.

Use cards & invites in reading activities

Use greeting cards and invitations in your functional reading activities. Students can use them to practice writing and reading the cards. Use invitations to work on WH questions like who, what, when, and where.

Ideas for types of cards to use in your reading lessons:

Birthday cards
Holiday cards (Christmas, Valentine’s Day, etc.)
Invitations
Announcements (graduation, the birth of a baby, marriage, etc.)

to-do lists are a functional way to target reading

Most people make and read a to-do list on a regular basis. It can be as simple as a list of activities you need to get done in a subject, a day, etc. Making and reading a list of chores students need to do is a great way to combine reading and life skills instruction.

Students need to be able to read labels

Being able to read and understand a label is a skill students will need across all settings. Here is a list of different labels that students will need to be able to read:

Nutritional labels on cans and packages
Medicine bottle labels
Cleaning product labels
Store signs
Directional labels and signs

There are so many ways to target functional reading skills and activities in your special education classroom. Be sure to pin the image below to share with colleagues and refer back to.

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5 Ways To Teach Safety and Community Signs In Special Education

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