When we use students’ IEPs or individualized education plans to set up our centers, they will run smoother and be more effective. Read for 4 different ways to use the info in the IEP to design your special education classroom centers.
There are 4 key sections of students’ IEPs that we can use to help us set up and run centers in our classroom.
- Program modifications & accommodations
- Present Levels
- Goals & Objectives
- Management
Using the modifications & accommodations section
The modifications and accommodations sections of the IEP give us information about which supports we will need to have at the center for the student to be successful. Use this information to decide:
- Visual supports that will be needed at the center
- If supervision is needed for the center
- Arrangement of furniture & students’ seats
For example…
IEP lists:
- Hands-on materials and practice
- Graphic organizers
- A high level of feedback
Setting up a math center with this info:
- Snap blocks
- Addition graphic organizer
- Para support to give immediate feedback
Present Levels Information For Center Set-up
This section of the IEP highlights what the student has mastered and what he or she is working on. This information is very helpful in setting up centers where there is little to no staff support. Use this section to create a list of skills students have mastered or are proficient in to use in planning center activities.
For example, if the group of students are all proficient at identifying upper and lowercase letters, plan a variety of alphabet activities for this center. Some ideas might be:
Use iep goals & objectives to set up centers
This section highlights what the student should be working on during this school year. Use this information to plan centers that are going to be staffed by teachers and therapists. Use this section to decide:
For example:
If my group of 5 students all have goals for reading comprehension with visual support, then I would set up the center to target reading comprehension using books that have picture choices to help them demonstrate their comprehension.
The goals are 90% for mastery and the schedule is weekly, so I would plan to take data on one student each day of the week.
Grab FREE reading centers planning sheets by clicking the photo below.
Management section of the iep
The management section of the IEP lists the behavior supports the students need to be successful in learning. Use these supports and strategies in the centers to manage and prevent behaviors.
For example:
IEP lists:
- Token economy or work for card with reinforcer visual
- Visuals of rules and expectations present
- Small groupings of 2 to 3 peers
The center looks like this:
- Students all have work for cards where they clearly see how many tokens they need to earn before they get their reinforcer
- Classroom rules & expectations visuals at the center and reviewed before starting the tasks
- Students are split into groups of 3 to rotate through the centers
When you use these sections of the IEP to set up your centers, your classroom will run smoother and students will be more successful during centers time.
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