Today I’m sharing my favorite math manipulative for kids with (or without) Down Syndrome in Grades K-2. Math can be a challenging subject for many children. But the use of select manipulatives can help them grasp mathematical concepts. They also add fun and variety to math lessons, giving students a break from workbooks.
Summer is almost here! So today I’m sharing a set of summer-themed worksheets I made for my son last year to help him retain the skills he had learned during the school year. We need to keep those basic reading, writing, and math skills sharp!
This set contains three units:
Take a look:
Continue reading “Gr. 1-2 Summer Bridge Worksheets for Kids with Special Needs” →
Here’s a set of worksheets I made for the kids in our Down Syndrome co-op to help them recognize and count coins of the same type.
Many of the money units I’ve seen are either only in black and white, or too busy. This makes it difficult for our kids to use. Our students need clean, uncluttered worksheets with clear large pictures and text. They also have better success when there is only ONE type of activity per page.
Here’s what I made for our first unit on money:
Continue reading “Let’s Learn About Money: A FREE Unit on Counting Coins” →
Skip counting is an important math skill, especially for counting money. Many children with special needs require extra practice with skip counting to master the correct sequence of numbers. Providing a variety of ways to practice keeps them interested. One of our favorite ways is practicing with puzzles. Here are FREE puzzles for counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s. They are a fun, motivating way to practice skip counting.
Continue reading “FREE Skip Counting Puzzles” →
I just had to share this with you.
Because parenting is hard. Today, more than ever.
As most of you know, one of the hardest parts of parenting is managing our children’s use of addictive screen-based tech: Smart phones. Social media. The internet. These are wreaking widespread havoc on the mental and emotional health of our youth. And navigating screen-based tech with our kids and teens has been challenging… exhausting, actually.
If parenting weren’t hard enough, along comes AI, that powerful tool that is rapidly changing the landscape of innovation, work, and education.
So parents have yet one more thing to worry about, monitor, and try to keep up with.
Continue reading “Introducing a Catholic AI Platform Parents can Trust” →
As Christmas draws near, it’s fun to take a break from our regular curriculum and dive into Christmas-themed unit studies. My son really enjoys pretending to shop with play money, so here is a set of Christmas shopping cards and activities I made for him.
Continue reading “Christmas Shopping Math Activities for Kids with Special Needs” →
Using subtraction flash cards are a quick and easy way to help our kids practice the subtraction facts. I searched high and low for rekenrek subtraction flash cards with large numbers and finally ended up making them myself. For children with Down Syndrome and other visual learners, including a visual aid on the flash cards makes subtraction more concrete. So that’s what I did:
Continue reading “Subtraction Flash Cards and Worksheets for Kids with Down Syndrome” →
Here’s a collection of ALL my spelling worksheets made especially for children with Down Syndrome and other special needs. I use them to supplement All About Spelling, but they can be used with any Science of Reading aligned phonics or spelling program.
Continue reading “Spelling Worksheets for Students with Special Needs” →
As summer rapidly approaches and the school year winds down, it’s a great time to think about easy ways we can keep speech and language moving forward. One of the easiest and effective ways is Shared Book Reading. If you have a young child with Down Syndrome, you’re probably doing it already to a certain extent. After all, reading a book out loud to a child is one of the most natural ways parents cozy and connect with their young ones. But today I’m sharing with you some ways to make that magical story time more purposeful and productive for a variety of goals.
Continue reading “Shared Book Reading for Children with Down Syndrome” →
About this time last year, my son was really into all the Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site books. We read them over and over again. So I decided to make him Construction Vehicles Three-Part cards.
Continue reading “Construction Vehicles Three-Part Cards” →