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Ideas for how to improve our ELL's Writing Skills 

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Ideas for how to improve our ELL's Writing Skills 

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This resources provides strategies for when a student is an ELL and is struggling with their writing. It is a great how-to tool, that not only families can use but it is great for educators as well.

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"The meaning of even a single word is rather more complex than one might imagine."

- Editors of the American Heritage Dictionary, 1980, p. viii

"Teacher, do we need our pencils today?" my Puerto Rican elementary students would urgently ask when I came to their classroom to escort them to my English as a Second Language classroom. I was a student teacher in a Massachusetts elementary school, and it took me awhile to figure out the correlation between the pencil and hallway behavior. If I replied, "Yes, you should bring a pencil," the walk to my classroom took 15 minutes and involved a lot of disruptions, student squabbles, drifting students and other various misbehaviors. As a student teacher, I was very focused on keeping order and creating a challenging learning environment. If I replied, "No, you don't need a pencil today," the walk to my classroom took about five minutes, even with a stop at the drinking fountain.

So, what was the correlation? Writing. The students knew that if they had to bring a pencil they would have to do writing in the class, and they dreaded it. If they didn't need a pencil, we would be working on projects or doing more verbal work, and they liked that. What they weren't expecting was that half-way through my student teaching, I bought 10 boxes of pencils and kept them in my classroom, so they never had to bring a pencil to class - I had plenty to go around. This improved the hallway behavior, but still left me with the question of how to improve ESL student writing when they were frustrated by the practice and went to great lengths to avoid it.

I have been teaching ESL for many years and there is no perfect solution to this problem; however, I do believe I have added quite a few writing activities to my bag of tricks and improved my ability to differentiate writing tasks based on student ability. As I improved my ability to ensure that each student would be successful in the writing activity, their confidence increased, and they were less likely to engage in disruptive behavior. You know what I'm talking about - the long, dramatic search for a pencilâ€¦ and then paperâ€¦ or the meandering walk about the room to get yesterday's writing draft, or the ever popular, "15 minute pencil sharpening" session. I hope some of the writing activities I share with you will help you to reduce anxiety in your ESL students and increase their language and writing skills.

There is a very important correlation between writing and language development. As students develop language skills, they often develop listening skills first (lots of input they can understand), then speaking (they begin to formulate their ideas in the second language), then reading (they can understand the sound/symbol correspondence of the new language and make sense of the words) and finally writing (they have enough language to express their own ideas in writing). This is not true for 100% of language learners, but it is true for the majority of them. Why is writing often the last skill to emerge? It almost seems that reading would be more difficult because the student needs to sound out words and understand the author's message. It would seem writing might be easier because students are sharing their own ideas already in their heads and simply putting them on paper. However, writing requires a lot more processing of language in order to produce a message.

First the student must have an idea, then think of the appropriate way to say it, then start to write it and spell it correctly, and then create another sentence to continue to communicate the idea. If we add the students' worry that they are making huge, embarrassing errors or that their ideas aren't very good in the first place, then we begin to understand the complexity involved in writing in a second language. In fact, the way we communicate, or the way students put their ideas on paper, is largely influenced by their culture. In some of my classes, my Asian students were very confused when I told them to revise their writing because this was a "first draft." In their experience they had always written an item once and submitted it as "the final," and then the teacher would correct it. The idea that they had to write it over again didn't make sense to them. Students from other cultures may have developed a storytelling style that involves laying out a lot of background information and detail and takes quite a while to get to the point. In most western writing, we expect a topic sentence or a lead paragraph that will tell us what the point is, and then everything written after that leads to a direct conclusion. Many of my students had great difficulty connecting their ideas this way.

With that said, teachers have a big task in improving ESL student writing skills, but the payoff for instructional dedication can be great. A researcher on adolescent literacy at the University of Minnesota, David O'Brien, did a study on improving the reading skills of adolescent students. All of the students were involved in a six week study and during that time they were responsible for creating brochures and other types of communication on computers. They had criteria to input a certain amount of text and graphics to create a final project. This required lots of thought and revisions to achieve the final result. At the end of the six weeks the students took a reading test and the majority of them had improved their reading skills significantly. This was a very interesting result, considering that the teachers had not focused on teaching reading skills. The conclusion was that students used meta-cognition to process language and work with it in a more meaningful way, so that consequently their reading skills improved even though they were mostly working on writing.

Additional positive academic results have been seen in the "90 90 90 Schools." These are schools that researchers have identified as 90% poverty, 90% students of color and 90% achieving standards. This is a most remarkable combination in the educational world. The researchers examined these schools and found one common denominator among them - they all focused on developing writing skills. Each school had an agreed upon writing curriculum and methodology that was used at all grade levels, and student writing was prominently displayed throughout the building and in classrooms. Students used writing in all content areas to demonstrate academic concepts learned. In the end, 90% of the students in these schools were able to pass state grade-level tests based on the academic standards.

Now that I have hopefully convinced you that all your hard work will pay off, I would like to introduce some effective writing activities. I would like to acknowledge that there are many types of effective writing instruction used in classrooms today, including process writing, graphic organizers as writing planning tools, vocabulary stretchers, etcâ€¦ and all of those are beneficial to ELL students. For the purpose of this article, I will focus on a few writing activities that I think are particularly useful when working with students with a wide-range of English language skills.

How to differentiate writing activities:

With some pre-planning, a teacher can create a writing assignment that will allow every student to be successful. For example, the teacher may give a writing assignment that has A, B and C levels (or they can be number or color-coded).

ELL students at Level A copy a sentence or short passage exactly as it is written. This helps beginning-level students who are not very familiar with the language, but may be able to interpret some of the information as they copy it.

Level B students receive a paragraph or two that has blank spaces in the text. The students write the word or phrase that completes the sentence. This allows the student to write an amount that is not overwhelming and helps them comprehend the information.

Level C students write on their own, but perhaps they receive paragraph prompts or are allowed to look in a book, but must put the idea in their own words. After some practice with this system and getting to know your students' English language skills, you will be able to create a system that works best for your class.

Language Experience Approach

The Language Experience Approach draws on instructional techniques used with younger children who have not yet developed literacy skills. In this approach, the teacher presents information to the students, or they have an "experience" of some sort - for example, a field trip, or acting out a scene in a book. Then the students tell the teacher what to write on the board to explain the experience. This may be useful as an activity for a volunteer or teacher's aide to use with a small group of ESL students during literacy time. Here are the steps.

1. Experience something - for example, the students have listened to the story, "The Little Red Hen" and then acted it out.

2. The teacher stands by the board or a large sheet of paper and says to the students, "Tell me the story of the Little Red Hen."

3. As each student tells a part of the story, the teacher writes it down on the board, just as it was stated. For example, a student might say, "The Little Red Hen work so hard and nobody want help her." This continues until each student has spoken or the story is finished.

4. Then the teacher tells the students, "Let's read the story together and listen to see if the story makes sense and if there is anything we want to change."

5. After reading the story, the teacher asks students if they want to change anything. For example, one student may raise her hand and say, "I think it should say, "worked" not "work." The teacher may ask other students if they agree or disagree.

6. If the suggested change is correct, the teacher offers praise and moves on to the next suggestion. If the suggested change is not correct, the teacher should help the student analyze the suggested change. For example, if the student says, "I think it should say, â€˜The Little Red Hen she worked so hardâ€¦." The teacher would ask if others agree and see if there is discussion, then the teacher could point out that the Little Red Hen is the pronoun or "name," so in English we don't need to put it in twice. We can say "She worked so hard." Or "The Little Red Hen worked so hard."

7. When students have analyzed and corrected the whole text, the teacher may either circle a few more spots where students missed corrections and they can be challenged to figure out what the change should be, or the students can be instructed to copy the text with the corrections included.

8. As a final activity, students are instructed to take the story home and read it to three people and bring it back with signatures.

After this activity, usually even beginning-level ELL students are able to read the story to others because it was their experience, it is in their own words, and they have worked with the text in a meaningful way.

Sentence Auction

This activity helps students analyze common writing errors through a personalized activity since they are trying to buy their own sentences. Once a week or once a month, a teacher can hold a "Sentence Auction." The teacher takes sentence examples from student writing - some of which have errors and some that don't, and writes them on a handout or overhead projector. The identity of the student who wrote each sentence is not revealed. To begin the sentence auction, each student is given an "account" of perhaps $300. The students are told to "bid" on the good sentences. The winner is the student with the highest number of "good" sentences.

1. The teacher takes on the persona of an "Auctioneer" and opens the bidding at $10.

2. The teacher reads out the sentence confidently exactly as it is written. "Him want to go to school very bad." Who will give me $10?"

3. The students take turns bidding until the teacher decides who has "won" the bid.

4. Some sentences will not sell because students will know they are "bad." Just leave those sentences and move to the next one.

5. After all the sentences have been sold, the teacher goes through the list and the students say whether the sentence was good or bad. If they agree that it was a bad sentence, then the teacher asks them to explain how they can make it a "good" sentence.

6. Finally the students can count how many "good" sentences they have (since they may have bought some bad ones) and a winner is declared.

7. The teacher may want to give a little prize or certificate to the student. In a variation of this activity students can work in pairs or groups to buy the sentences.

Error correction

I have never "corrected" my students' writing mistakes, at least not in the traditional way. I have always told my students, "If I correct your English, I improve my English; if you correct your English, you improve yours." I handled corrections in one of two ways: either I identified what errors I would be looking for in the writing submission or I told them I would only circle five errors in the whole paper. If I pre-set the errors I would look for, for example correct use of past tense, I would only correct past tense errors, even if I saw other glaring errors in the paper. Sometimes this was hard to do, but I wanted to maintain the students' focus on the writing improvement we were working on. If I set a number of errors I would circle, for example, five, then I carefully chose those five and ignored the rest. When I returned the papers, the students were responsible for correcting their own mistakes. If they weren't sure how to do it, they could check with a classmate, and if no one knew, then I would assist. Invariably the students would ask, "Are these the only errors in the paper?" and I would tell them no. They might be disappointed, but they came to understand the value of correcting their own errors when they submitted a piece of writing.

Quick Write

One of the challenges for ELL students when they approach writing is their anxiety about writing their ideas correctly and writing a lot of information in English. This may feel overwhelming when a student is assigned an essay. In order to get students comfortable with the idea of just putting ideas on paper and not worrying about mistakes, we do regular "quick writes." For "quick writes" I give the students a topic and then tell them to write as much as they can for five minutes. They need to keep their pencils on the paper and even if they can't think of anything to write or they are worried about how to spell things, they are supposed to keep writing. At the end of five minutes, the students count how many words they were able to write and they keep track in a log. The objective is that they will see progress in the amount of writing they are able to do in five minutes' time and hopefully apply this fluency to their essay writing.

Cinquain poems

Cinquain poems offer great flexibility in working with ELL students of a variety of language levels. The basic Cinquain formula is as follows, but teachers can modify it as needed according to the student language level.

One noun
Two adjectives
Three gerunds (words + ing)
A short sentence.
A one-word summary
An example of a Cinquain a student might write:
Home
Warm, happy
Loving, welcoming, helping
People you love.
Family

There really is no wrong way to do a Cinquain, students can put key vocabulary words together any way they like to create the message they desire. Teachers may want to use Cinquains to reinforce new content vocabulary and concepts as well.

With these writing activities to try in your classroom, the only thing left is to buy a few boxes of pencils, hand them out to your ELL students and help them discover the possibility of joy in writing. Teachers who use a variety of activities and strategies to help ELL students become comfortable with expressing their ideas in a new language and finding success with small writing tasks, will give their students' confidence for a lifetime of self-expression. I offer this Cinquain poem to sum it up.

Writing
Fun, creative
Thinking, sharing, revising
Lots of ideas.
Proud
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Improving Writing Skills: ELLs and the Joy of Writing

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"The meaning of even a single word is rather more complex than one might imagine." - Editors of the American Heritage Dictionary, 1980, p. viii "Teacher, do we need our pencils today?" my Puerto Rican elementary students would urgently ask when I came to their classroom to escort them to my English as a Second Language classroom.

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Writing is quite challenging in a distance learning environment, therefore there might be quite a bit of reteaching happening in school. These are strategies that families can use with their students.

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Teaching and assessing writing can be challenging, and even more so when you're trying to identify effective ways to scaffold writing instruction for struggling students. Set teenagers up for success by incorporating these teacher-tested, student-approved strategies.
It was big. HUGE. Overwhelming, actually. It sat on my desk, taunting me.

I dare you to grade me, the stack of papers whispered smugly.

You see, this was my first year teaching. I was fresh out of college. As is the case frequently with newbies, I was given the low-achieving, at-risk students. Honestly, I loved those kids, but I had no idea how to teach or assess their writing. As I slumped over my desk, staring at the pile of papers that threatened to take away my social life for the next two months, I felt tears creep into my eyes. These kids couldn't even spell simple words. Their essays were huge paragraphs that spanned multiple pages, yet there wasn't a period in sight. That was the moment I knew I needed a different strategy.

If you've ever taught writing to a group of struggling pupils, you can identify with the sense of helplessness you feel as a teacher who wants to catch them up on all they have missed, but they're so far behind you have no idea where to start. For the last ten years, I've taught students who were years behind grade level - ninth graders who wrote like elementary students, who couldn't hear the awkwardness of a poorly constructed sentence, who misspelled their, they're, and there like it was their job.

Good teachers adapt to their students' needs. Struggling writers are just as frustrated with the task of writing as we are with trying to assess their work. I've learned that students who have low self-confidence benefit from scaffolding and differentiation. Whether you teach students who fall into this category year round or just during summer school, these strategies might help you to adjust your instruction, thereby increasing their engagement and chances of success.

1. BEGIN BY GATHERING DATA.

Every year, I start my first writing unit with a pre-assessment. In order to cater my instruction to the group's basic needs, I have to know where to start. The pre-assessment provides the data I need. While many people use multiple choice formats, I find those ineffective. If I'm assessing a student's writing ability, I need to see a sample of their writing. The genre of writing for the pre-assessment should be determined by the type of writing you expect students to practice in class.

2. BUILD CONFIDENCE.

So many struggling writers walk through our doors with negative preconceptions about their abilities and futures as authors. They live up to the minimal goals they have developed and own the pessimistic self-images projected both by themselves and others. In order to build up students' confidence, I take the information I glean from their pre-assessments, and I begin with simple writing tasks I know they can tackle. For instance, when given a debatable topic, most students are capable of writing their opinion on said topic. With each skill my students complete successfully, they slowly begin to develop a more positive image of themselves and their abilities.

3. DEVELOP A LOGICAL INSTRUCTIONAL SEQUENCE.

By introducing individual writing skills one at a time and slowly building upon each one, students will be less overwhelmed when you ask them to write an essay. As a high school English teacher, I've noticed that when I begin with grammar instruction (like subjects, verbs, fragments, and run-ons), I can then speak to my students in a more intelligent manner regarding the use of complete sentences in their writing. I teach them to identify sentence errors at the beginning of the year, and they are well-versed at identifying the misuse of a semi-colon by October. As students gain confidence with each learning target, I add in a more advanced skill.

4. REDUCE OVERWHELMING CHOICES.

I'm not a creativity or interest squelcher. To the contrary, I firmly believe students will be more receptive to writing if we allow them to write about what matters to them. Still, I've taught remedial writing classes long enough to understand that when struggling writers are given too much freedom, many of them become paralyzed. For this reason, I've always found it beneficial to scaffold writing instruction by offering students a list of topics (for which I know they can easily find research), to brainstorm possible thesis statements together as a class, and even to offer students the option to use sources I've already gathered for them.

5. READ & WRITE FREQUENTLY.

When learning a new language, immersion is crucial. If you surround yourself with the new language, you will learn it exponentially faster. The same is true with writing. For some students, composition is so difficult for them that it's similar to the learning curve of adopting a new language. In order to provide our students with optimal opportunities for success, they need to write frequently (every day, ideally). Because reading and writing are the perfect literacy companions, struggling writers will also benefit from reading every day. Marrying reading and writing together in your daily routine will reap bigger gains.

6. MINIMIZE ASSIGNMENT LENGTHS.

So often, teachers beat themselves up if their students cannot write an intelligent multiple paragraph essay by the end of the year. In truth, much of students' ability to do so is determined by influencing factors that occur before we ever meet them. I've learned to lighten up, and we all should. Quality trumps quantity. With my struggling writers, I celebrate success when we write a single sentence eloquently. Besides, when teachers assign three-page essays to a group of at-risk students, those teens often immediately decide not to complete the assignment. It will be "too hard," "too frustrating," "too time-consuming," "too boring," or downright "impossible." A paragraph, on the other hand? That's do-able.

7. OFFER VARIOUS PREWRITING OPTIONS.

Whether it's a graphic organizer, an outline, note cards, a mind-map, or something else, students benefit from pre-writing. I model how to use both a graphic organizer and an outline with my students so as not to pigeon-hole them into one mandatory strategy. Regardless of the approach, pre-writing is essential to help students organize their thoughts before drafting.

8. WRITE TOGETHER AS A CLASS.

Struggling writers benefit largely when teachers model the drafting process. In my classroom, here's what that looks like. I sit at my computer, and I ask probing questions, like:

"How should we begin?

What do you call the first sentence of an argumentative paragraph?

How should we word our standpoint?"

From there, I write down whatever students volunteer without critiquing.

After the sentence is written, I ask the class to reflect on it as I read it aloud. "Is everyone happy with what we have so far? How can we make this stronger? Does it include a clear argument that can be defended logically?" Almost always, students share opinions for how we can improve upon the existing content, and they are engaged. They enjoy the collaborative writing activity. Why? They can sit back and analyze what's on the board without pressure. They benefit from hearing their peers' opinions. They don't feel like failures because even though they are writing the paragraph, we are improving it together.

10. USE GUIDED PRACTICE STRATEGICALLY.

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14 Ways to Support Struggling Writers: Build Confidence and Increase Success - Reading and Writing Haven

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Teaching and assessing writing can be challenging, and even more so when you're trying to identify effective ways to scaffold writing instruction for struggling students. Set teenagers up for success by incorporating these teacher-tested, student-approved strategies. It was big. HUGE. Overwhelming, actually. It sat on my desk, taunting me.

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Resource Guide for Students with Special Needs

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Resource Guide for Students with Special Needs

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This resource provides a number of activities that families can do with their children who have special needs.

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As people learn at different rates and in different ways, it's important to include differentiated content and opportunities in the classroom for students who need it most. Storyboard That is a great way to use visual aids for learning and communication. Visual resources are particularly helpful for nonverbal students and students on the autism spectrum. The following special education resources will help you plan for all students and create individualized materials to fit each student's needs.

Teaching & Project Ideas

Graphic Organizers and Learning Aids

Social Stories

Learning Difficulties

Classroom Management

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Special Education Resources & Activities

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As people learn at different rates and in different ways, it's important to include differentiated content and opportunities in the classroom for students who need it most. Storyboard That is a great way to use visual aids for learning and communication. Visual resources are particularly helpful for nonverbal students and students on the autism spectrum.

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This is a tool for schools to provide an organized way of communicating with students' families.  It is very user friendly and a crucial tool for distance learning.

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An example of an Anchor Chart to provide an ELL with Visual Cues 

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An example of an Anchor Chart to provide an ELL with Visual Cues 

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Anchor charts are a great tool that can be used for an IEP accommodation. They can also be created virtually for distancing learning. This is an example for ELL's but can be modified for students with Special Needs.

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Opinion Writing Worksheets for Students with Special Needs

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Opinion Writing Worksheets for Students with Special Needs

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These prompts can allow for families to give their children a variety of ideas for when they are writing at home. They also make a great practice tool.

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This opinion writing unit is meant to reach your learners on the adapted curriculum and the general curriculum at the same time! Students in special education who are non-writers can benefit from this resource.

This unit is intended to reach all your special learners with various levels of differentiation and is aligned with Virginia SOL standards.

Watch the full video preview!

I have always had a hard time meeting the needs of my students on grade level and students on the adapted curriculum track. This unit meets both needs at the same time.

2 levels are included:

Level 1- No physical writing- cut/paste or circle/daub the answer- (adapted curriculum)

Level 2- writing (general education curriculum)

A unit guide is included that walks you through the writing process. Also included is:

3 mentor text activities using the following books (books not included)

"Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed" by Mo Willems

"Hey, Little Ant" by Phillip and Anna Hoos

"Earings" by Judith Viorst

fact vs. opinion anchor chart and fill-in the blank anchor chart

fact vs. opinion sort activity (2 levels)

would you rather... worksheet

What do good opinion writers do? anchor chart and fill-in the blank anchor chart

Opinion Writing idea bank

2 mini-lessons to practice the following skills

using commas in a series

abbreviations

Differentiated planning, drafting, and revising pages

Editing checklist

Includes 9 writing topics for level 1 students

Not sure how to use this resource? Check out this blog post to help:
https://totallyautism.net/engaging-students-with-ot-difficulties-in-the-writing-process/
Check out my other writing resources for special ed
Intro to the Writing Process for Special Ed Personal Narrative Writing for Special Ed Writing Sentences for students with autism Weekend Writing for students with autism Writing Activities for students with autism Bundle
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This resource covers the following Virginia SOLs for grades 1-3

1.12b- use prewriting activities to generate ideas

1.12c- focus on one topic

1.2d- organize writing to suite a purpose

1.2g- use letters to phonetically spell words

1.2h- share writing with others

2.10a- understand writing as a process

2.10c-use prewriting strategies to generate ideas before writing

2.10e- organize writing to include a beginning, middle, and end

2.10i- revise writing for clarity

2.11- The student will edit for capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and Standard English

3.8a- engage in writing as a process

3.8c- use a variety of prewriting strategies

3.8d- use organizational strategies to structure writing according to type.

3.9- The student will edit for capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and Standard English.

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This opinion writing unit is meant to reach your learners on the adapted curriculum and the general curriculum at the same time! Students in special education who are non-writers can benefit from this resource. This unit is intended to reach all your special learners with various levels of differen...

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This is a tool for schools to provide a place for students to complete their classwork and to increase their independent skills. It is very user friendly and a crucial tool for distance learning.  The app also provides great resources for Distance learning.

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Seesaw | Elementary Learning Experience Platform

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Seesaw | Elementary Learning Experience Platform

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Elementary Learning Experience Platform | Seesaw

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Seesaw is a Learning Experience Platform with 25M+ users, enhancing elementary education, engagement, and school culture while improving academic success.

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This a great graphic organizer that families can use with their children. Students with special needs tend to struggles with figuring out which type of writing matches what is being asked them in class.

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An example of an Anchor Chart to provide Special Education Students with Visual Cues 

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An example of an Anchor Chart to provide Special Education Students with Visual Cues 

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Graphic organizers are key to increasing academic success for students with special needs. In fact most IEP goals include graphic organizers as a tool for accomplishing their goals. Families can use these to help their students at home while distance learning.

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Within the LAUSD site, there is a guide for every facet of Special Education. There is an IEP process guide, Early intervention guides, resources to support the families. Many great reads that thoroughly explain Special Education.

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Learning Continuity Plan and COVID Community Report

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Question and Answer forum for The IEP Process

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Question and Answer forum for The IEP Process

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This website dives into every general question a parent might have about how a student goes through the IEP Process. Each question is simplified for every level of ones' knowledge. It is a great starting off point into Special Education.

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At a glance

Special education refers to a range of services that help kids with disabilities learn.

It's not a "one size fits all" approach - special education is tailored to meet the needs of individual kids.

Kids who qualify for special education have an IEP.

Special education refers to a range of services that can be provided in different ways and in different settings. There's no "one size fits all" approach to special education. It's tailored to meet the needs of students with disabilities.

Special education focuses on helping kids with disabilities learn. But it doesn't mean placing kids in a special classroom all day long. In fact, federal law says that kids who get special education services should learn in the same classrooms as other kids as much as possible. This is known as the least restrictive environment (or LRE).

The services and supports for one student may be very different from those of another student. It's all about the individual child and giving them the resources they need to make progress in school.

For example, some students may spend most of the day in a general education classroom. Others may spend just an hour or two in a resource room working with a specialist. And others might need to attend a different school that specializes in teaching kids with learning disabilities.

Kids who qualify for special education have an Individualized Education Program (IEP). They get individualized teaching and other resources at no cost to their families. Specialists work with kids on strengths as well as challenges. And families are key members of the team that decides what kids need to thrive in school.

Dive deeper

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Special education refers to a range of services to help kids with disabilities learn and make progress in school. Explore this guide to special education basics.

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Differentiated Math Materials and Programs

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Differentiated Math Materials and Programs

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This website has a variety of tools that a family can use to help differentiate for their students' needs. There are videos, strategies, and programs that can help families work their children at home.

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Use for Students Who Are: Visual or Kinesthetic Learners, Challenged by Math, Experiencing Dysgraphia or Dyscalculia, Atypical Learners, or Needing a Slower Pace

See also:

Special Education Math Programs:

Making Math Real DVD and training program for parents/teachers:
www.makingmathreal.org
Learn how to teach your child math at home. Highly regarded program for parents and teachers, learning to help children develop concepts with use of manipulatives.

Watch YouTube video of student using Numicon blocks here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lj3Yg1TbA8
Purchase Numicon Kits here: http://store.dseusa.org/collections/numicon/numicon-kits
The only US retailer is the Down Syndrome Education Store but check Amazon for some new and used products for sale.

Click here to read an article by Judy R. Birsch on the theory and practice of Stern Math

SEE ALSO: "One Place for Special Needs" Website - Math Section
www.oneplaceforspecialneeds.com/resources - math

Math Programs and Manipulatives for All Learners

Math-U-See DVD lessons with manipulatives
www.mathusee.com
Popular and effective lower cost complete instructional program, using manipulatives that help the student to visualize concepts. Comes with teaching videos, teacher guides, student workbooks, placement tests, etc. For all types of learners. Goes from early learning up through high school math.

Mathwire.com
http://mathwire.com/
Find standards-based math activities you can make to do at home or in small or school groups. They also have lots of good charts and templates to help those students with dysgraphia, organization, and concept building, such as 100's charts, function machine templates, multiplication/division triangle card printouts, and many more - all for free!

Montessori Math
www.montessorimaterials.org/math.htm
Downloadable online color pdf's for printouts of materials.
Or go here: www.alisonsmontessori.com/Montessori_Materials_s/6555.htm

Key To...Series Workbooks
www.keypress.com/x6469.xml (Also available at Kaleidoscope) Offers step-by-step, easy to follow, few problems per page, help for students with LD or for basic intro or review of fractions, decimals, measurement, percents, geometry, measurement, and algebra.

Hands-On Equations
www.borenson.com/
Purchase the DVD, manipulatives and the booklets for around$100 to take your child through 3 levels of algebraic equations (for grade 3 to grade 9) which use a scale, colored pieces and a grid to help students visualize equations. Check out youtube videos to see a demo.
Multiplication Tricks

I-Pad APPS

Eddy's Number Party - app www.brainsparklearning.com/kinderspark/eddysnumberparty/ Scientific Learning's App, which "promotes math readiness skills such as cardinal number concepts, counting, and other beginning math skills."

Numerate Offers 4 different activities with simple design for young learners; just tap objects to count, add, or subtract numbers (20 and under.) Use with 'helper' mode or on their own.

"Classroom-Focused Software" 10 Frame Fill
Classic visual method with frames to enforce the understanding of number pairs that make 10 and adding to and subtracting from 10.

Math Tablet - tap toadd virtual discs and then move them between two sides to learn number concepts and addition and subtraction facts.

Finger Numbers - the user views images of fingers or numerals and then presses their own fingers on the iPad to match the same amount, in this developmentally sound approach to early number concepts.

Twenty Frame - Add or subtract within the two ten frames, with highly visual support, up to 20.

100's Frame- Use this touch and tap 100 board to learn patterns of adding and subtracting with units and tens.

"Braining Camp"
http://www.brainingcamp.com/product/apps.html
Search their website for apps for math reasoning and basic skills. (See pre-algebra and algebra apps in end of this section.

Number Rods - Use virtual Cuisenaire Rods to learn basic math skills in addition and subtraction by comparing and sequencing.

Pattern Blocks - play with these virtual blocks to learn early concepts in patterning, fractions, and geometry.

"Experience Math"Using visual representations and animations in ABA form for each topic, with very little need to understand language, users can find answers with this graduated training for each operation or concepts in fractions, multiplication, division, and decimals.

Attainment Dollars & CentsThree progressive programs with options to use either U.S. or Canadian currency: Counting Coins, Spending Money, and Making Change.

Horizon Business Inc. Math
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/math-cards-!-!/id463193339?mt=8 Add or subtract coins for visual money amounts in Count Money app. See correct placement and do easy carrying with apps for addition, borrowing with subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Fraction Line
This offers a quick, easy way to compare fractions, decimals and percents visually, using color coding to reinforce the location and function of both the numerator and denominator.

"National Council of Teachers of Mathematics" Equivalent Fractions
Interactive online manipulative for making 3 different equivalent fractions with views of each fraction as a square with shaded parts, as well as a numberline which shows the place of each fraction.

"Hands on Math:"Base Ten Blocks (and other concepts apps)Work with virtual manipulatives to build concepts of place value, addition and subtraction (with regrouping) through representations of numbers and their operations with units, tens, and hundreds blocks. Also offers other virtual manipulatives for basic concepts and skills, with these apps:
Color Tiles Geoboard Attribute Blocks Numbers Sense Number Balance Hundreds Chart Graph Cubes

"Braining Camp" Math
Use their visual approach to understanding pre-algebra topics, through their interactive tutorials, virtual manipulatives, and practice activities, with the following apps:
Area of Rectangles, Area of Parallelograms , Area of Triangles , Fractions (addition, subtraction, and multiplication) Dividing Fractions , & Order of Operations

Math Galaxy Whole Numbers Essentials (& 3 other apps)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/math-galaxy-whole-numbers/id556462716?mt=8
Full program of math tutorials for whole number operations, with explanations, practice, and games that cover addition and multiplication tables, basic operations including alternative algorithms, place value, rounding and estimating, patterns and sequences, word problems, time, money, length, area, volume, pictographs, bar graphs, and probability.

Interactive Integers - Use a numberline or number tiles for negative and positive numbers and then calculate addition problems by cancelling out the tiles or by moving along the numberline.

Hands On Equations Using balanced scales, elementary and older students can build equations with a scale and tokens for unknowns and integers, all the way from simple equations through complex equations.

"Braining Camp Algebra"Offers interactive tutorials, virtual manipulatives, and practice activities for each topic above: integer tiles, algebra tiles, solving equations and simplifying expressions.

Computer or Online Programs

Classroom Suite and Intellitools
www.intellitools.com
Computer program (Classroom Suite) with Intellitools and Activity Exchange activities geared toward students with disabilities such as blindness, Down Syndrome, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, and other learning or developmental disabilities that require multi-sensory and differentiated curriculum or assistive technology to learn. Can be purchased for classroom or home learning.
Offers all academic subject areas. Math covers basic math skills.

Vizzle - Software for Visual Learners www.monarchtt.com/

Use their extensive library of images and shared lessons (or create your own) for all subjects to teach students who are visual learners, (autistic, language or learning disabled, or those who learn best with images to support their learning.) Animated click-on activities in ABA style. Subscriptions available to individuals or schools to use the program materials. (Cost ???)
Try math sample here: http://prod.monarchteachtech.com/play/a3444b92791d29cb553888380be05ae3244589d3

Interactive Online Math Activities - all FREE activities

See also: Learning Online - Mathematics

Other Illuminations Activities: http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activities

Ambleside Basic Math Operations
www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/numeracy.htm

Ambleside School Math Practice Activities
Big Calculator
www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/BigCalculator.html
Easy to use large calculator buttons for basic operations.

Clock
www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/clock.html
Move the hands backward or forward as many times 1, 5, or 15 minutes or 1 hour ahead or back, as you like to see the new time.

'The Decifractor'
www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/fracto.html
Use this large, colorful 'machine' to find equivalent decimals for fractions, create your own fractions, or look for patterns as you increase or decrease the numerator or denominator.

Function Machine
www.amblesideprimary.com/ambleweb/mentalmaths/functionmachines.html
Play with different operations on numbers and try to guess the answer before you click on the 'activate' button.

ICT Games: http://www.ictgames.com/counting.htm
www.ictgames.com/countingwithstick.html
Easy to use skip-counting machine - have the child skip-count and push the button to check each skip-counted number.

Beadstring www.ictgames.com/brilliant_beadstring_with_colour.html

Fingers: www.ictgames.com/funny_fingers_v2.html

Place Value Building Numbers - by Learning Box
www.learningbox.com/Base10/BaseTen.html Place tens and ones blocks for given number.

Gold Ridge Math Games
www.goldridge08.com/mathhows.htm
There are many great interactive games, models and practice activities here!
Coins Learn about Addition and Subtraction Addition Table
Connecting Tubes The Number Line Base Ten Blocks
Hundredths Chart Multiplication Table About Fractions Fraction of Shapes Find Equivalent Fractions Comparing Equivalent Fractions
Fractions and Decimals Equivalent Fraction Bars

Johnnie's Math Page
http://jmathpage.com/
Automatic links to some of the best visual and educational math activities in 8 different math areas - number, fun, geometry, fractions, multiplication, measurement, statistics, and probability. Number Concepts Section: jmathpage.com/JIMSNumberpage.html

Mr. Nussbaum's 'Draggable Math'
www.mrnussbaum.com/draggable.htm
Users of this site can do their math work on the computer by 'dragging' numbers into a grid for all operations. May be useful for those with dysgraphia or other disabilities.
Harcourt School Publishers E-Lab - around 30interactive activities for each of grades 3, 4, 5, And 6, in the areas of number sense, algebra and function, measurement and geometry, and statistics, data analysis, and probability.

Braining Camp
http://www.brainingcamp.com/index.html Middle School Math - Free sampling of pre-algebra regular curriculum but with visual interactive activities (topics such as bisection, area, integer multiplication, rounding, rates, and more.) Get access to all lessons with a short term ($10) or year long membership ($50) for up to 3 children.

Harcourt School Publishers E-Lab - around 30interactive activities for each of grades 3, 4, 5, And 6, in the areas of number sense, algebra and function, measurement and geometry, and statistics, data analysis, and probability.

Hands-On Equations
www.borenson.com/
Purchase the DVD, manipulatives and the booklets for around$100 to take your child through 3 levels of algebraic equations (for grade 3 to grade 9) which use a scale, colored pieces and a grid to help students visualize equations. Check out youtube videos to see a demo.

Algebra Balance Interactive
www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/add-subtract-balance.html
Click on the variable blocks and integer blocks to balance the scale and learn about solving algebraic equations.
For more algebra visual explanations and interactive models, go here: http://www.mathsisfun.com/algebra/index.html

Integers: Model and Solve with National Library of Virtual Manipulatives
http://enlvm.usu.edu/ma/nav/bb_dlib.jsp
Adding integers: http://enlvm.usu.edu/ma/nav/activity.jsp?sid=nlvm&cid=2_1&lid=161
Subtracting integers: http://enlvm.usu.edu/ma/nav/activity.jsp?sid=nlvm&cid=2_1&lid=162
Use chips to make the given integer problem and then solve it by pairing any negative and positive chips which cancel each other out.

Books

www.lawrencehallofscience.stores.yahoo.net/familymath.html
By Jean Stenmark, Virginia Thompson and Ruth Cossey. Order through the museum, Amazon, or your favorite bookstore or available in libraries or homeschool resource centers. Great hands-on activities for tactile/kinesthetic learners - building concepts in fun family activities.

FAMILY MATH: The Middle School Years - for middle school students http://lawrencehallofscience.stores.yahoo.net/fammatmidsch.html
Non-intimidating algebra activities for enrichment, algebra class preparation or for homeschool math group.

Printables

Incompetech
www.incompetech.com/graphpaper/
Loads of useful types of free downloadable or customizable specialty graph paper which can be used for those with writing disabilities or for help with organization and comprehension by use of these as templates. Printable templates for graphs, numberlines, scatterplots, trigonometric graph papers, polar graph papers, and more.

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Differentiated Math Materials and Programs | Choices for Learning

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Making Math Real DVD and training program for parents/teachers: www.makingmathreal.org Learn how to teach your child math at home. Highly regarded program for parents and teachers, learning to help children develop concepts with use of manipulatives.

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This is an app that can used on any method of technology, it is free and it is also user friendly. Family members can help their children's reading level by encouraging them to use fun reading apps to read at home.

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Reading A-Z: The online reading program with downloadable books to print and assemble | Reading A-Z

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Award-winning reading solution with thousands of leveled readers, lesson plans, worksheets and assessments to teach guided reading, reading proficiency and comprehension to K-5 students

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Epic is also a great reading app! It allows for the app to read to the students when needed. This is crucial for our students with special needs. Not only is it user friendly but it also provides questions and assessments that check for understanding. Families can use with their children at home.

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Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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This app helps supports learners that struggle with decoding. Which is a foundational skill that most special needs students struggle with. It sounds out challenging words and models how to pronounce them syllable by syllable. It also has youtube videos which is great for visual learners.

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Australian Touch and Write apps use the licensed fonts of School Fonts. Check out their great work! Funds from sale of their fonts are used entirely to establish schools in Yolŋu Land (Arnhem). www.schoolfonts.com.au

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This app can help create visual schedules and routines for students.  Structure and predictability are crucial for a student with special needs especially for someone with Autism. This allows students to see what is happening now and what is going to happen next. This can also help families in their home and personal life as well.

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Interested?

RoutineFactory is adaptable to the situation and needs for a person with special needs. Just try it out!

It is easy to get started:

Register an account on routinefactory.com

Install the RoutineFactory app on an iPhone, iPad, Android device

(Optional) install on WearOS Smartwatch

You can test for free for 14 days, no obligations or commitment.

Are you an organization? We offer a special account for professionals utilizing the app to guide clients. Please contact us for more information.

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aid for people with intellectual disability

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RoutineFactory is adaptable to the situation and needs for a person with special needs. Just try it out! It is easy to get started: Register an account on routinefactory.com Install the RoutineFactory app on an iPhone, iPad, Android device (Optional) install on WearOS Smartwatch You can test for free for 14 days, no obligations or commitment.

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Simplified and Visual Guide to Special Education

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Simplified and Visual Guide to Special Education

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This website provides a more consise and visual way of explaining what Special education is and what it entails. I think it is great for families that are just walking into Special Education for the first time. There are also videos that are crucial for a visual learners.

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Special education law is not easy to decipher, with several regulations that govern special education services for disabled students. In this article, learn about the core components of the laws, rights, and individual education plans that can help create the best public school environment for your child.

If you have a child with special needs, you are no doubt familiar with many of the services and accommodations provided to them by their school. You may also have a clear understanding of some of the laws that guarantee your child the appropriate support services in an educational setting. You are likely also familiar with the time, energy and red tape required to obtain services for your child. It is a complicated process indeed, with many legal underpinnings guiding the development and administration of programs for special needs kids.

Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

First passed in 1975 as the Education of Handicapped Children Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), as it stands today, is the result of revisions in 1990, 1997 and 2004. Prior to 1975, children with disabilities were either placed in segregated classrooms in public schools or denied access to public education altogether.

This video explains IDEA.

Today's iteration of IDEA includes four parts, including Part B, which outlines the service requirements for children from 3-21 years of age, and Part C, which governs the administration of services to children from birth to 2 years of age. IDEA, among other things, establishes that families have a right to:

A Free and Appropriate Public Education for school-aged children.

An Individualized Education Plan for public school students.

A consultation with a school professional to determine the level of a disabled child's needs.

Access to early intervention services for infants and toddlers.

An Individualized Family Service Plan for infants and toddlers.

IDEA provides guidance with regard to the process by which a student is identified as having a disability. First, a child is identified, usually by referral from school personnel. Parents can also request that their child be evaluated if they suspect a disability is present. Once the child is evaluated, his or her eligibility for services is determined. If the determination is made that the child has a disability, an IEP meeting is scheduled and the document is written. From there, services are provided and annual progress is measured and reported.

Free and Appropriate Public Education

An essential component of IDEA is the guarantee of a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 protects the rights of disabled individuals with respect to programs that receive federal funding. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act specifies that:

"No otherwise qualified individual with a disability in the United States . . . shall, solely by reason of her or his disability, be excluded from the participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance..."

Provide, at no charge, special education services to qualified students.

Provide, at no charge, support services, such as occupational therapy, mental health counseling or speech services to qualified students

Provide educational programming in a Least Restrictive Environment (LRE).

Schools must offer accommodations to disabled students such that they can participate in regular education classrooms.

Schools can place disabled students in restricted classrooms only if they cannot be educated appropriately in a regular education classroom

Develop an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), which outlines the services to be provided to the student.

There are some limitations to FAPE, however. Schools are not required to provide services superior to those that students without a disability receive. For example, where a public school district might pay for a regular education student to attend a private school in order to have better opportunities, they are not required to pay for private school for a special education student if the services provided in the public school are appropriate.

Likewise, schools cannot give preferential treatment to a child with a disability. If there are limited spaces available in a particular class, a special education student has an equal - not greater - chance of getting into that class as his or her regular education peers. Similarly, schools are not required to offer specific programs or accommodations at the request of parents. While parents can make suggestions or ask for specific adjustments to be made, the final decision on special education programming is left to the school district.

Individualized Education Plan

Another critical aspect of IDEA is the creation and administration of an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). The purpose of an IEP is to improve the processes of teaching disabled students and increase their ability to learn. The IEP is essentially an outline that describes in detail the educational program and supportive services that have been identified for each specific child. Each IEP contains the following:

Statement of Current Performance: Explains how a student is currently doing in school. Testing results, classroom performance, and input from parents, teachers and other service providers are included in the statement.

Goals: Includes realistic, measurable goals that the child can accomplish in a given year. Goals may be physical, behavioral, emotional or academic in nature. The IEP must also explain how progress will be measured, as well as how parents will be informed of progress.

Special Services: Services for which the student is eligible, such as support services like counseling, as well as classroom-based accommodations.

Participation With Nondisabled Students: Explains the extent to which a disabled child will be able to interact with nondisabled students.

Testing Requirements: Outlines the accommodations special education students are eligible to receive during standardized testing.

Dates and Places: States when special services are to begin and end, where they will be provided, and how often the child will receive services.

Transitional Services: Identifies the courses the child needs to take in order to achieve his or her goals after graduation. An explanation of services available for transitioning out of school is included as well.

Age of Majority: At least one year before the child reaches the age of majority (which is 18 in most states), the student must be informed of the rights that will transfer to him or her upon reaching the majority age.

The IEP team is composed of various parties, including special and regular education teachers, service providers such as speech therapists, school administrators, representatives from transitional services such as Vocational Rehabilitation, parents and the student. Together, the team establishes the criteria outlined above, implement the plan, and review the plan at least once a year.

This video explains the IEP.

Many parents express confusion about the difference between an IEP and a 504 Plan. Where an IEP outlines the specialized instruction and support services a student is entitled to receive, a 504 Plan merely outlines accommodations that will facilitate a student's access to and success in the learning environment. Therefore, a student on an IEP may be entitled to special education instruction, speech-language pathology services, and other support services, in addition to specific classroom accommodations such as extra time to complete assignments. A student on a 504 Plan, however, would only be eligible for the extra time to complete assignments and other classroom accommodations.

Special education laws can be extremely confusing for parents to decipher. The regulations and requirements are many, and the manner in which they are implemented may be frustrating as well. Staying informed about your child's rights with regard to IDEA is essential if they are to receive the services they need to achieve their highest potential.

Your local school district has a special education coordinator that can answer your questions regarding special education services in your area and at your child's specific school. Many districts also employ parent liaisons or advocates so parents have all the information and support they need in order to ensure their child has appropriate support services.

Questions? Contact us on Facebook. @publicschoolreview

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Parents' Guide to Special Education | PublicSchoolReview.com

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Special education law is not easy to decipher, with several regulations that govern special education services for disabled students. In this article, learn about the core components of the laws, rights, and individual education plans that can help create the best public school environment for your child.