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New(ish) Product :: Cause & Effect Lesson Pack

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My students often have a difficult time thinking about cause and effect – especially when related to their behavior, so I created these activities help them learn cause and effect using fun school-related situations and home and community events. It contains the following:

– What’s the Cause? Worksheet
– What’s the Effect? WorksheetScreen Shot 2013-01-20 at 11.29.49 AM
– 2 Cause and Effect Graphic OrganizersScreen Shot 2013-01-20 at 11.30.09 AM
– 36 Cause and Effect Question Cards with Decorative Card Backs (editable – also found in Social Skills Land Extension Packs). I use these for Jeopardy and other games/contests and the kids don’t even notice they’re “working.”

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Files are presented in PDF format except for the editable cards, which are in Microsoft Word format.

Enjoy!

 

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New Product :: Graphic Organizer Pack

Graphic Organizers

I don’t know about you, but one of the more frustrating things about working with students with ADHD is how difficult it is to teach them executive functioning skills, you know, things like problem solving, prioritization, planning, organization, and memory!

And I think part of the difficulty for me was that I wasn’t really ever trained how to teach these things! I mean, I’m a social worker! I’ll give you charts, coping strategies, visual schedules, blah blah blah…but teaching a kid organization?  Can’t they just LEARN to keep their desk clean and take notes like everyone else?

And right there’s the key…they CAN’T just learn “like everyone else.”

By the nature of ADHD, these students’ brains can be a place where information gets misfiled, forgotten, and confused (if it even gets through their ears to begin with!) We can’t just tell a student with attention difficulties information and expect them to process, store, and remember it. School is often an auditory place, but it’s just not going to happen! Even students that make medication that may help them focus don’t necessarily “magically” gain executive functioning skills.

So this is where I came in. Ideally, executive functioning skills are taught to every student, in the context of a great general curriculum. But we all know that ideally and realistically aren’t always the same thing. So I ended up with tons of kids who couldn’t organize information in their brains and as a result had a really difficult time learning.

After a lot of trial and error, I learned that graphic organizers are HUGELY helpful for kids with ADHD (and really, most kids!) The only thing is, most graphic organizers were SUPER boring and very specific for a certain subject. I wanted general graphic organizers that I could use for everything from academic subjects to relationships and life situations.

So I made my own 🙂 I put some of them into my Organization Activities for Students with ADHD, but here are 26 of them! In addition to being usable for any subject or situation, they’re also super colorful and can hold students’ attention a lot easier than plain old boring black and white.

One thing I did (that saved me tons of colored ink), was print them in color and laminate them. Then, students can fill them out in my room with dry erase marker, I can make a copy to keep or give to them, and then erase them for the next week or the next kid.

Here is what’s included:

– Lined 3-Column Chart
– Unlined 3-Column Chart
– Answer Organization Sheet
– Cause & EffectScreen Shot 2012-10-28 at 3.51.20 PM
– Lined 2-Column ChartScreen Shot 2012-10-27 at 9.55.06 PM
– Unlined 2-Column Chart
– 4-Step Cycle
– 5-Step CycleScreen Shot 2012-10-28 at 3.51.48 PM
– Fact & Opinion
– Cause & Effect Fishbone
– Idea WebScreen Shot 2012-10-27 at 9.50.55 PM
– 4-Section WheelScreen Shot 2012-10-28 at 3.52.04 PM
– 8-Section Wheel
– Triangle Chart
– Inverted Triangle ChartScreen Shot 2012-10-28 at 4.36.12 PM
– Main Idea WebScreen Shot 2012-10-28 at 3.51.03 PM
– Positives & Negatives
– The Five 5’s Table
– 5 Senses Chart
– 3-Step SequenceScreen Shot 2012-10-27 at 10.31.22 PM
– 6-Step Sequence
– Story Parts OrganizerScreen Shot 2012-10-28 at 4.34.33 PM
– 2-Part Venn DiagramScreen Shot 2012-10-27 at 10.30.47 PM
– 3-Part Venn Diagram
– Organization Web

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New Product :: ADHD Complete Bundle

This year, millions more students will be diagnosed with ADHD. In fact, I’d venture to say it is one of THE most common disorders teachers and special education staff come across (second only perhaps to Learning Disabilities).

While these students often struggle with demonstrating appropriate behavior at school, ADHD often causes even more difficulties with executive functioning and organization. Often, students struggle with picking important details out of situations and stories, sequencing events, organizing information they encounter in life and in lessons, and maintaining a positive self-esteem. Usually, a student’s “hyper” behavior will decrease as they age, but these difficulties remain.

Along the way, I’ve made a whole lot of my own activities for my students. This download is a collection of a lot of these executive functioning activities. Enjoy it free here until 11/3 for all of you loyal readers!  After that, it’ll be available here. It contains:

Activities Include:

Cause & Effect Lessons

 

– Social Skills Cards: School Success Pack


– Social Skills Rubrics: School Success Pack


– Sequencing Activities


– Student Planner Pages


– Brain Breaks


– Following Directions Game & No-Print


– Focus Trading Cards

Enjoy!!