To start off, I want to describe my emergent learner. These are my complex communicators with significant cognitive delays. Many of these learners use AAC devices and are at a pre-academic level. I am passionate about getting them involved in my classroom and this blog post provides examples of how I engage them during read-alouds.
My literacy block is hands down my favorite part of the school day. My students are engaged and involved in the text. They are eager to participate and their communication tends to explode. It is a magical 30 minutes.
I have not always loved my literacy block. Teaching literacy to low-functioning, non-verbal children is not an easy task. I struggled to find ways to engage my students. However, once I pinned down the best tools literacy became fun!
5 Tips for Leading Literacy Groups
Adapted Books
Adapted books are my favorite tool for literacy groups. The movable pieces help students get more involved in reading. These texts are readily available and easily customizable. I like to take the adapted pieces and sort them among students. For example, if I am reading a book with 10 pieces and I have 5 students in my lesson, I give them each 2 pieces. They listen and add their piece to the book when it is their turn. If they are working on simple sentences or commenting, I use this as a time to reinforce vocalizations. You can grab one of my free adapted books here!
Adapted Piece Sets
I love the Adapted Piece Sets from Stephanie over at Ms. D’s Corner. Her book sets enable you to bring the same books that general education students are reading into your special education classroom. This allows for generalization of skills and brings a more diverse library to your students. She designs sets that take a traditional text and adapt it for your students. Grab a free version here!
Story Time Packs
Gabrielle with Teaching Special Thinkers has also done a great job at bringing classic children’s books into the special education classroom. Her storytime packs are a fantastic way to incorporate traditional storybook reading time into your classroom. Her packs come with all the materials you need to lead a whole group reading lesson. Try one of her packs for free here!
Tangible Objects
My students always seem to connect more when they are holding something in their hand. Miniature toys are a great way for me to achieve this. I found this awesome pack of safari animals on Amazon which will match my animal theme perfectly! I created some easy-reader texts, with pictures to decode, to pair with the animals. If you download the preview, you can access the Zebra book for free!
Tar Heel Readers
Tar Heel Reader is a free online library perfect for friends with special needs. When you enter the website, you can search for books by topics. A wide range of books in various reading levels become instantly accessible. If you contact Tar-Readers through this portal, you can create your own log-in. This allows you to customize texts to a specific student’s interest. You can also change the color of the background for visually impaired students or have the book read out loud for students who benefit from auditory processing support.
I hope one of these 5 tips helps you be more confident in bringing literacy to your classroom!
Thank you so much for sharing your amazing work. I cannot wait to share this with teachers that I work with.