Focus on Five: Ways to Level Up TAH’s {Leveled} Daily Curriculum!

The school year’s back in full swing! Now that your centers and procedures are ready to go, it’s time to set up curriculum! This is my third year of using the fabulous, functional Language Arts Leveled Daily Curriculum and the dazzling, differentiated Math Leveled Daily Curriculum. Here are five very easy ways to make the most of this product in your classroom….

1. Anchors Away! 

Create a daily routine using the beautiful and functional anchor charts included with unit of the Language Arts and Math Daily Curriculum.

  • For students who are limited in their verbal skills, say the parts of the anchor chart each day and have the student point and follow along on their own anchor chart.
  • Have students lead the the group in saying and pointing to the different parts of their anchor charts
  • Quiz students on different parts of their anchor charts (“Point to red”, “Tell me five even numbers”). Works for verbal students and those working on expanding their verbal skills!
  • Designate an area in the classroom for anchor charts-put them in a magnetic pocket, in file folders, on a specific wall area or bulletin board, in a community binder or in students’ individual binders.
  • Send the charts home! Great for assisting with homework or practicing with parents!

2. The Direct Approach  

This school year, I started to using TAH’s Leveled Daily Curriculum for its intended use- direct instruction. After giving the pretests, I began modeling completing 1-2 pages of the Leveled Daily Curriculum each day. I am starting on Unit 1 and when we complete the whole unit, the students will complete a second copy of Unit 1 independently. I’m not planning on keeping the modeled work accessible to see how much they can complete on their own (and so I can pull students one-on-one for IEP goal work!). Give this a try and see if it works in your classroom!

I also made a binder for my para and myself in order to model how to complete the pages and show students how to manage using a binder to store and complete their work.

3. Independence Day

Use the curriculum as independent work. This works well during those times paras are at lunch or when you want to pull students individually for instructional programs. When setting up, make sure you use each student’s independent level instead of their instructional level. Also, give students access to the anchor charts to limit interruptions and increase independence.

4. Practice Makes Perfect! 

All students can benefit from repeated practice. Making multiple copies of units or pages within the curriculum gives students many practice opportunities.  Another way to do this is to laminate sheets and have students use dry erase maker on these pages. This limits the number of copies you have to make and the work is always ready to go.  Also, if a student makes a mistake, it’s easy to erase and try again!

5. Do Your Homework

Give the Language Arts or Math Curriculum as homework!  Here are some ideas:

  • Give a one sided sheet to students who are just getting used to homework
  • Give to students who are still mastering their fine motor skills since the letter sizes are larger
  • Give students packets to work on over breaks
  • Complete a page in class together and give the same page to the student for homework
  • Use for enrichment-give a student who excels in a specific subject area curriculum that is one level up for homework
  • Give packets to students who would benefit from extra homework (I’ve sent units home in a large envelope so parents can give the extra work at their own discretion).

Sending the curriculum home is also a great way to show parents what their child is working on at school and can help them to understand their child’s strengths and skills to work on.

I hope you are inspired to use TAH’s Levled Language Arts and Math Daily Curriculum with your students! Share other ways you use this fabulous product!

Holly Bueb
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2 Comments

  1. Hi! Do you keep the binders at the teacher table or do students take them back to their desks area? Thanks!

    Reply
  2. Hi Clara! My answer to your question is that most famous special education answer, which is…it depends on the student! I have most of my students bring their binders back and forth, but I have a couple of friends that keep their binders with me… hope that helps!

    Reply

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