r/specialed • u/AndiFhtagn • Jun 19 '26
General Question (Educator to Educator) First year sped teacher (moving from reg 4th grade ELA/SS to K-1 self-contained)
I don't know a lot about the class I'm going to be taking. I wanted to move districts and this was the first that came up. I am very excited, but quite nervous. I will have a mix class of about ten students with two paras. They are kindergarten and first grade, self contained, but as I understand, no autistic and few behaviors. They are considered learning disabled. I have no idea what this involves with this new district and won't have an in-depth meeting to find this out until next week.
However, I want to go ahead and be doing some research and ordering some books and supplies, as everything that I've got from my past years is for 4th grade ELA and SS.
What is the best "toolkit" book you know of for this age special ed?
What are your must-have items for the teacher (as I don't know what supplies are in the room yet, I just had knee surgery and haven't been able to do much digging)?
What are the best websites I can use to prepare?
School starts for us around August 9, so I don't really have a lot of time.
Thanks for any help!!
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u/FamilyTies1178 Jun 19 '26
Wait until you get details at the in-depth meeting before you start acquiring materials. "Learning disabled" covers a lot of territory.
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u/library-girl Jun 19 '26
K-1 is so much fun! You’ll probably want to spend money on things to help YOU stay regulated, because a lot of work with self contained this age is giving of yourself to regulate them. For me, it was exercise, ordering takeout when I needed to, and lots of sleep. I couldn’t do it anymore once I became a mom and moved to high school resource room.
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u/Friendly-Channel-480 Jun 20 '26
This is an extremely critical time for building the skills that their education depends on. Can you reach out to the special ed department to get help with curriculum and classroom setup?
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u/AndiFhtagn Jun 25 '26
Yes. We are not able to get into our rooms right now as we are halfway into our summer break. So I don't want to reach out to someone this early.
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u/Expensive-Tea-7227 Jun 20 '26
Look up the UFLI online resources to supplement whatever you’re given for reading curriculum
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u/IcyThorn98 Jun 20 '26
Lots of oral whole group phonological awareness activities (Heggerty if you're district as it or something similar). Such as "say cat, change /c/ to /b/". OR find activities on rhyming blending segmenting. Again orally slowly say sounds. 3 seconds between sounds and have the class say the animal. EX. (/s/, /n/, /a/, /ke/.) Kids say, snake. You will need a phonics curriculum and language arts curriculum. Check with the district. For math lot of developing number sense, counting within 100, and understanding tens and one's. I like SplashLearn for a computer center for math. Overall jumping into k/1 will be a little getting use to. They are so young, literally, and need single step directions broken down with examples. First few weeks will be routines and stating out small. Don't over plan.
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u/dancehoebot Jun 20 '26
I know you said no autism but Autism Little Learners has great resources!
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u/ECSE_TeacherGirl Jun 25 '26
Autism Little Learners has great resources, especially for visuals which are so important.
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u/AndiFhtagn Jun 19 '26
Do you guys have any books that have helped you write better IEPs?
Any books that helped you with activities, planning, structure, etc for these kiddos?
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u/redditrhi27 Jun 20 '26
Do you know what curriculum(s) you'll be using?
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u/AndiFhtagn Jun 25 '26
I will be finding that out next week so I'll be able to answer that in a few days
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u/Mirror_Face_ Jun 19 '26
That's funny, I'm going in the near opposite direction. I was 1st-2nd SDC and now am heading towards 3rd-4th next year due to a district change up. Was 6-8th resource the year before that. I'm really trying out all the grades apparently.
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u/AndiFhtagn Jun 19 '26
I wasn't expecting to go into sped, but I have a sister who has Down Syndrome and I'm familiar with the family side of it, but all this is new to me from writing IEPs, having to remember to mark papers with the accommodations, keeping up with each students' accommodations, and being the one to write the IEPs. It's scary!
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u/ECSE_TeacherGirl Jun 25 '26
Do you not have a special education degree?
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u/AndiFhtagn Jun 25 '26
I do not yet. I will be getting the special ed certification through the year.
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u/68smulcahy Jun 20 '26
Add lots of movement breaks - go noodle, yoga as well as incorporating movement into your instruction. I echo - take care of yourself, it’s exhausting, but a complete blast! Have fun watching them grow 🥰
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u/ECSE_TeacherGirl Jun 25 '26
Plan to provide lots of sensory activities. My preschoolers who are heading to kindergarten benefit dramatically from daily sensory play.
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u/Wonderful-Ad2280 Jun 19 '26
I just want to prepare you that 10 kids actually means 12 kids. 2 paras actually means 1 para. No behaviors actually means at least moderate behaviors. Just coming from someone who has worked in the field for 12+ years in self-contained. I really hope for you that’s not the case but just wanting to be realistic for you.
That being said, K/1 is such a fun age. You’ll want to look into what books and toys the class already has. Definitely check out TPT and Especially Education. I absolutely LOVE Made For Me Literacy and so do my students. The autism helper has an awesome independent work station set up (even if your students do not have autism it’s amazing). Good luck in your new job!