Where I Aut-a Be

Teaching tips, ideas, and resources for Special Education

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Contact

4 Student Schedule Changes To Prepare For

A lesson I learned very quickly when I started my first year teaching is that if there was ever a student schedule change, the rest of day was rough. There are countless student schedule changes that can happen daily. It is so valuable to practice these surprises and schedule changes BEFORE they happen. This helps them develop the skills to handle those unexpected moments that are inevitably going to happen. Here are 4 student schedule changes you can practice now BEFORE they happen.

image featuring visual supports for student schedule changes like picture day

1. Picture Day

Picture day is the sweatiest day of the year am I right?! Some may think it’s just another picture but you have to remember that this is someone’s baby. Capturing a smile is important (though not always successful). I have a free picture day checklist to help you and your students make it through this schedule change.

image featuring visual supports for student schedule changes

2. Indoor Recess

Practice for those rainy days before they happen. It can be hard and devastating for students to realize that they can’t go outside. A simple visual choice board can help greatly for students who need additional support learning about what can be done during indoor recess. I’ve got another simple free visual to help with those rainy days.

image featuring visual supports for fire drills

3. Fire Drills

Fire drills can be stressful and chaotic to say the least…but they don’t have to be! With practice and additional visual supports, our students CAN be successful! This free social story can help you teach your students exactly what to do.

image featuring visual supports for fire drills

4. Field Trips

Field trip days are another day of the year that can be fun but also exhausting. Social stories are a great way to review expectations and to communicate the order of events! If one of your field trips includes bowling, I’ve got a free social story to help with that!

There are so many more student schedule changes and surprises to account for. There are birthday celebrations, canceled therapy sessions, substitute teachers or anything else that pops up throughout the day. This is why it is so important to practice change as many times as possible. The more frequently you practice, the more your students will be able to recognize and cope with these changes. 

If you enjoyed reading this special education content, be sure to check out my other sped teacher tips too!

Happy teaching,

Sofie

Filed Under: Special Education

« 5 Tasks You Can Delegate To Paraprofessionals
5 Ways To Avoid Power Struggles »

Subscribe via Email

Search

Categories

Latest on Instagram

Toy rotations are a great way to increase toddler Toy rotations are a great way to increase toddler independence during play time!

Here are a few guidelines I try to follow when rotating toys. These are all things I learned in my classroom and teacher days!

⭐️present the toys “undone”. For example, take the pieces off the puzzle to help encourage completing tasks from beginning to end

⭐️encourage a variety of toys. Toys the encourage imaginative play, toys that encourage building/stacking, toys that encourage fine motor practice, toys that encourage problem solving, etc. 

⭐️Be sure that the toys are clearly visible. I used to use tall baskets to display toys within the shelves, but baskets = hidden toys🙅🏻‍♀️ open and easily accessible if possible!

Comment below if you’d like any links!❤️
✨3 MONTHS✨ What I loved the most about month ✨3 MONTHS✨ 

What I loved the most about month 3 are all the memories we made as a family🥰 We got to take the girls to the beach and it was so special! Lily showed us so many smiles and giggles this month too🥹 Month 4 here we come❤️❤️❤️
Lily’s first dip in the ocean🥲 love this litt Lily’s first dip in the ocean🥲 love this little family of mine!
Halloween Toddler Finds! Let me know if you wanna Halloween Toddler Finds! Let me know if you wanna see part 2 🎃🎃🎃
September Sensory Bin Details👇🏼 Trying out September Sensory Bin Details👇🏼

Trying out a new sensory bin filler this month-oats!

What’s in this sensory bin:
Oats
Mini pie tins 
Funnel
Scooper
Apples

What’s on the activity bin side:
Apple trees (made of water containers for painting and paper)
Pouch lids
Scooper tool

Let me know if you’d like to know where anything is from!👇🏼
It’s the final day of 10 days of learning tower It’s the final day of 10 days of learning tower toddler activities and it’s also September 1st so we’re making an apple garland for our September bookshelf!

All you need is apple shapes and literally whatever are supplies you have

Just tape your paper down and put out some art supplies! This was something that took us a whole day and came back to 3-4 times to complete.

Once you’re finished cut out the apples, add a little whole punch, and string them all together. Tape to your bookshelf and you’re done!

I still need to change out my September books but I loved the way this turned out!
It’s day 9 of 10 days of learning tower toddler It’s day 9 of 10 days of learning tower toddler activities and we’re doing a little dot sticker rainbow

All you need is paper, markers, and dot stickers

Just tape your paper down, draw a large rainbow, and hand your toddler some dot stickers. I like to just give her one color at a time so it’s less overwhelming

My toddler loved this activity! Can’t wait to do it with more shapes!

Stay tuned for day 10
It’s day 8 of 10 days of learning tower toddler It’s day 8 of 10 days of learning tower toddler activities and we’re gonna set up a little threading station

All you need is a cut up pool noodle and jumbo pipe cleaners (got these at Target)

You could also easily do this with cheerios and regular pipe cleaners too 

I love these thick pipe cleaners for this activity because the pipe cleaners don’t fall off easily.

Stay tuned for day 9
It’s day 7 of 10 days of learning tower toddler It’s day 7 of 10 days of learning tower toddler activities and we’re doing some toddler science!

Okay this is nostalgic because we did vinegar play all the time in my classroom and now I get to do it with my toddler.

All you need is a large tray or container, muffin tin, baking soda, vinegar, food dye or liquid water color, and some sort of squirt bottle or dropper tool

This activity gets messy so you’ll want to make sure to put the muffin tin inside a larger container to contain all the mess.

First fill all the muffin tin about 3/4 full with baking soda

Then add some liquid water color and mix up the mixture

Fill up your squirt bottle with vinegar and have them pour it over the muffin tin

If your toddler has a tendency to dump things (normal curious behavior!), this may be a better outdoor activity!

Stay tuned for day 8

Latest on Pinterest

  • Science can be a tricky subject to teach in the special education classroom. Often special education teachers aren’t given a science curriculum, which means creating your own. But if you are tired of searching for the perfect science units for your special education classroom, I’ve got you! Here you will find a simple, easy to use science unit designed to help teach your students about Food Chains. This unit includes differentiated worksheets, an adapted book and errorless learning activities.
  • Let’s talk about teacher work boundaries. It can be so easy as a teacher to set up and hold to teacher work boundaries but it is so important. Establishing boundaries for yourself as a teacher helps you create a better work life balance and helps prevent burnout as a special education teacher. If you need help setting teacher boundaries this year, here are 5 boundaries I set as a special education teacher and how it helped me be a happier, more productive teacher.
  • As a special education teacher, it’s rate to be given a social studies curriculum for your special education classroom. So how do you teach social studies when you aren’t given social studies resources to use with your students? Here are so my favorite tips and tricks for creating hands-on, engaging social studies activities your students will love along with my favorite social studies resources for special education students. Learn more here.
  • Science can be a tricky subject to teach in the special education classroom. Often special education teachers aren’t given a science curriculum, which means creating your own. But if you are tired of searching for the perfect science units for your special education classroom, I’ve got you! Here you will find a simple, easy to use science unit designed to help teach your students about Food Chains. This unit includes differentiated worksheets, an adapted book and errorless learning activities.
  • Science can be a tricky subject to teach in the special education classroom. Often special education teachers aren’t given a science curriculum, which means creating your own. But if you are tired of searching for the perfect science units for your special education classroom, I’ve got you! Here you will find a simple, easy to use science unit designed to help teach your students about Food Chains. This unit includes differentiated worksheets, an adapted book and errorless learning activities.
  • Special education teachers, these hacks will be a game changer in your classroom! If you are struggling with classroom organization, data collection, or prepping your classroom materials, these tips and trick are for you. They are by far my favorite special education teacher tricks to not only help you stay organized by all keep up with all the day to day aspects of being a special education teacher. Don’t sleep on these special education teacher hacks.
  • Science can be a tricky subject to teach in the special education classroom. Often special education teachers aren’t given a science curriculum, which means creating your own. But if you are tired of searching for the perfect science units for your special education classroom, I’ve got you! Here you will find a simple, easy to use science unit designed to help teach your students about Food Chains. This unit includes differentiated worksheets, an adapted book and errorless learning activities.
  • Paraprofessionals are an essential part of the special education classroom. Whether it’s supporting students, deescalating behaviors, tracking data, or assisting with centers, paras are some of the most important people in the classroom. But what happens when conflicts arise with paras and support staff in your classroom? How do you resolve conflicts in your special education classroom? Here is my favorite conflict resolving exercise that can help everyone work together cohesively.
  • Do you have any classroom supplies that you just can’t get enough of? Things that use in your special education classroom and buy year after year? Here are my favorite Amazon classroom supplies as a special education that I can’t get enough of. These supplies are perfect for setting up your special education classroom, prepping resources, helping with classroom organization, behavior management and addressing sensory needs. Find my favorite Amazon teacher supplies here.

Latest on Facebook

Copyright © 2025 · Becca Paro Design Co., LLC