Special Education Teacher Resources

From resources for the special education classroom to accommodations for mainstreamed students with special needs, explore Lesson Planet’s reviewed and rated teaching strategies, assessment tools, apps, lesson plans, videos, resource collections, and activities designed to make learning come alive across disciplines!

Whether new to special education or an experienced veteran, starting out the year can be difficult. Here is a model you could use when developing your own weeklong schedule. There are apps to help instructors write IEP goals and objectives for all kids in your caseload. Check out this video review of one such app.

Lesson Planet has resources, lessons, and apps designed for learners on the autism spectrum, sample lessons provided by an ADHD specialist, lessons for children with moderate disabilities and/or Down syndrome, and activities for other students with profound needs. The resources in our collection are designed to make your job just a little bit easier.

Showing 3,431 resources
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Instructional Video3:57
TED-Ed

The Science of Macaroni Salad: What's in a Mixture?

For Students 4th - 8th Standards
Mix things up in your physical science class by introducing mixtures. The three types are defined: suspension, colloid, and solution. It all depends on the size and type of the involved particles. With attractive animation and an...
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Instructional Video3:55
TED-Ed

The Science of Spiciness

For Students 8th - 12th
Spice up a nutrition, biology, or cooking class with this hot topic: the science behind the spiciness of many beloved foods. There are actually two different types of spice, depending on the chemical compound causing the pain:...
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Instructional Video3:47
TED-Ed

Where We Get Our Fresh Water

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
This fresh resource explores the world's fresh water: where it can be found, and how humans use it. You might be surprised at the variety of domestic uses! Short, but sweet, this feature can be followed by a class discussion using the...
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Instructional Video3:46
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TED-Ed

You and Your Microbes

For Students 6th - 12th Standards
Humans are like planets, hosting a plethora of microbial communities. This concept is explored with vivid narration and animation, bringing to light the benefits of the huge variety of microbes that live in and on our bodies. What a fun...
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Instructional Video3:50
TED-Ed

An Athlete Uses Physics to Shatter World Records

For Students 6th - 12th
Have you heard of the Fosbury Flop? It was invented by a college high jumper in and has become the standard technique for high jumpers world wide. Learn the physics of this move and why it is more effective for clearing the bar than the...
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Instructional Video3:56
TED-Ed

Poison vs. Venom: What's the Difference?

For Students 4th - 12th Standards
Did you know that poison and venom are not the same? Both are toxic, but poison must be inhaled, ingested, or absorbed, while venom must be injected into a wound. The narrator explains that some toxic compounds may be used for good, as...
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Instructional Video3:55
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TED-Ed

Does Stress Cause Pimples?

For Students 7th - 12th Standards
After this video, make sure to give a pop quiz on pimples! The question that is answered is whether or not pimples are caused by stress. Stress hormones give our bodies what we need for a fight or flight, but what happens if we don't do...
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Instructional Video5:00
TED-Ed

How Do Nerves Work?

For Students 8th - 12th Standards
This lesson won't get on your nerves! Find out how one kind of cell can cause comfort, terror, or pain in your brain. Comic strip and cartoon style animation is used to help explain the transmission of electrical nerve impulses and the...
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Instructional Video4:31
TED-Ed

How Does Work...Work?

For Students 7th - 12th Standards
What makes a clock tick or a bulb light up? The concept of work is explained to a backdrop of clever animation. Physics fans learn that the amount of work equals the product of the force and distance, and that the rate equals the amount...
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Instructional Video2:54
MinutePhysics

Parallel Universes: Many Worlds

For Students 7th - 12th
Which path will you take in your physics career? Here, the proposed theories for how quantum mechanics meets the real world is explained. Are the many possible outcomes all happening in a universe, far, far away? Inspire aspiring...
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Instructional Video2:17
MinutePhysics

Do We Expand With the Universe?

For Students 7th - 12th
The cat's out of the bag (or off the leash, in this case) regarding the expansion of the universe. In this intriguing episode, the narrator explains that space is expanding, not the objects within it. He also tells how expansion...
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Instructional Video2:34
MinutePhysics

Can Humans Really Feel Temperature?

For Students 7th - 12th
Explore thermal energy with this short episode. Jiggling molecules and hand-drawn animation help to explain that just because something has a lot of thermal energy, it doesn't necessarily feel hot to the touch. This is an ideal addition...
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Instructional Video3:47
TED-Ed

The Case of the Vanishing Honeybees

For Students 6th - 9th
It's time for CSI: Honeybees! The numbers of domesticated honeybees in the US have been diminishing at an astounding rate, and investigators are out to find out why. The included video features three possible explanations and illuminates...
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Instructional Video3:51
TED-Ed

Dead Stuff: The Secret Ingredient in Our Food Chain

For Students 6th - 9th
A disgusting and direct description of detritus and decomposition is digested in this drill! Your life science class learns about the importance of decomposers in the food chain and finds out how one organism's trash is another...
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Instructional Video2:49
TED-Ed

Climate Change: Earth's Giant Game of Tetris

For Students 6th - 10th Standards
In this colorful animation, our current problem with climate change is likened to a block-stacking game of Tetris. Greenhouse gases are increasing in the atmosphere at an increasing rate. Can we place them properly before it's too late?...
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Instructional Video3:37
TED-Ed

How Tsunamis Work

For Students 7th - 10th Standards
A flood of information about tsunamis can be learned by viewing this feature. How do they get started? How fast do they travel? How high can they rise? The answers to these questions, plus a little bit of history, are given for your...