Enhance Black History Month with a twenty-page resource designed to boost scholars' knowledge of the great accomplishments made by African Americans. Learners take in fun facts about famous inventors such as George Washington Carver and...

How can evidence and perspective challenge even the most well-known of stories? Through primary and secondary source analysis, think-alouds, and discussion, young historians evaluate the historical narrative of Rosa Parks across multiple...

First graders tellacollaborate with other students around the world sharing their ideas about what earth day means to them. They share ways in which they recycle, reduce and reuse.

Nearly all students have seen pregnant women and may have questions about human development. Intended for secondary students with mild to moderate mental disabilities, this lesson defines the process of pregnancy  in a...

Independent living skills and skills that can be used to gain employment are very important for any learner. Teens with visual impairments explore the kitchen to understand what everything is and what it all does. The lesson includes a...

Get your class outside to observe their surroundings with a lesson highlighting weather patterns and seasonal changes. First, learners take a weather walk to survey how the weather affects animals, people, plants, and trees during...

Sorting and matching are skills that have all kinds of applications. Learners with low, but useable vision work to match an object to an object, an object to a picture, and a picture to a picture. This will help them identify objects...

First graders explore the days of the week.  In this days of the week instructional activity, 1st graders listen to the story The Billy Goats Gruff, then act out the events by stepping on "rocks" that name the days of the...

First graders label three major holidays on a February calendar. In this calendar lesson, 1st graders watch a video about and discuss Valentine's Day, President's Day and Arbor Day. Students label these three holidays on a February...

A civil rights movement lesson designed specifically with the Common Core State Standards in mind, young learners are introduced to the story of Ruby Bridges as the first African American child to attend an all-white elementary...

Students sort out important information and create a visual framework for reviewing in the future. They organize a large quantity of information thus helping with learning and remembering details, cause and effect, comparison and...

Here is a fascinating lesson about the life cycles of plants and animals, and other cycles found in nature. Learners explore the cycle of the moon, the tides, and other sequences of events in every day life. The big activity is the...

Teaching a child with low or no vision how to read is the same as teaching a sighted child how to read — it all starts with letter recognition. This is a simple way to provide your learners with an opportunity to practice reading and...

Turn the act of following directions into a fun and engaging game! Especially designed for students with cognitive or intellectual disabilities, this lesson uses a game format as a natural reinforcer. Write a set of directions onto a set...

What would you do if...? That's a great question, and, when posed to learners with visual impairments, a question that can foster concept development and speaking and problem-solving skills that relate to real-life situations. The...

Have your learners with special needs practice cooperative work skills, teamwork, and packaging. The kids will form an assembly line. Each pupil will add an item to a paper bag and then hand it off to the next person until the bag is...

Students listen to "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and summarize to story to demonstrate comprehension. They review the days of the week and create their own book.

I hate doing laundry, even if it is an independent living skill that requires me to count money, follow a sequence, and sort clothing by color. Learners with multiple disabilities discuss what laundry is, why they need to do it, and how...

It is key to the learning process to make everything a child with visual impairments does as tactile as possible. After reading Anne of Green Gables, the class discusses her life events in order to make a tactile time line. They...

Students review a calendar and the days of the week along with their abbreviations. They practice identifying, writing and recognizing the days of the week and months of the year by playing the game of "concentration."

Maybe the idea of putting placemats on trays doesn't sound that great, but it is, especially if you have a physical disability or are visually impaired. This task is one that can be used in a vocational setting and helps develop skills...

Keeping a daily journal is fun. It builds strong writing skills and provides an expressive outlet. For children with visual impairments, it's even more important. It provides a way for them to connect written word with real events,...

Using a number line or a 100s chart that extends past 100, practice counting from 1 to 120 with your class. As a part of daily instruction, chant count in sequence from 1 to 100 and then randomly chose a number and count onward to 120....

Here is a great way to bring core content to your special education classroom. Included is a set of instructional ideas intended to help learners increase their verbal and written expression through storytelling. Tape recorders, story...