Tag: T21 Gr. 1

Let’s Learn About Money: A FREE Unit on Counting Coins

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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:

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FREE Skip Counting Puzzles

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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.

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Simply Subtraction Level 2 Workbook: Math for Kids with (or without) Down Syndrome

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Here’s the Simply Subtraction Level 2 workbook for helping children with Down Syndrome and other special needs learn to subtract with the help of a rekenrek. It follows Simply Addition Level 1, Simply Subtraction Level 1, and Simply Addition Level 2. The Simply Subtraction Level 2 Workbook teaches children to subtract numbers within twenty.

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Simply Addition Level 2 Flashcards and Worksheets

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Using addition flash cards are a quick and easy way to help our kids practice the addition facts. I searched high and low for rekenrek addition 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 addition more concrete. So that’s what I did:

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FREE Number Sequence Puzzles in Art

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Does your child need extra practice sequencing numbers from 11-20? Here are four FREE sequence puzzles featuring the artwork of Homer Winslow. (I like exposing my kids to beautiful artwork in any way I can!)

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My Favorite Handwriting Tools for Kids with Down Syndrome

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Today I want to talk about my favorite handwriting tools for kids with Down Syndrome. These include markers, crayons, pencils, pens, and pencil grips. What my son with Down Syndrome uses for writing makes a difference not only with the legibility of his writing but also with how long he’s willing to work. So I’m sharing with you the tools that have been most beneficial for his handwriting.

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Spelling Worksheets for Students with Special Needs

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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.

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Spelling Frames: Effective Visual Aids for Helping Children with Special Needs to Spell

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When teaching my son with Down Syndrome to spell, I have found spelling frames to be an extremely helpful tool. Spelling can be challenging for children with Down Syndrome who struggle with short term memory and handwriting. There is so much involved in spelling: students need to hold the word that they are supposed to spell in their working memory, segment the word into its phonograms, remember the sequence of those phonograms and hold that sequence in their working memory while recalling how to write each letter.

Spelling frames, accompanied with pictures for each word, are a great visual support. These, along with phonogram tiles, have allowed my son to make progress in spelling with confidence and to become increasingly independent.

Here’s how:

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Teaching Children with Down Syndrome to Read: Phonics or Sight Words?

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Parents and teachers of children with Down Syndrome may wonder how to start teaching their students with Down Syndrome. Should they start with sight words or phonics?

Currently, the educational trend is strongly in favor of explicit phonics for children at large. However, many experts, such as Sue Buckley, Natalie Hale, and Terry Brown, and many reading experts in Europe who have extensive experience teaching children with T21 recommend starting with sight words first. This is true even in countries such as Spain, where the rules of phonics and pronunciation of Spanish are much more straight forward than English.

Here are five reasons why you should start with sight words, especially if your child is just starting kindergarten:

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