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Adapting Reading and Math Materials in the Inclusive Classroom

Access to the mainstream reading and mathematics curriculum is not about place. Simply placing students with mild disabilities in the general education classroom and issuing them a grade-level textbook is not enough. To ensure the individual student's the basic right to learn, teachers need to provide appropriate and reasonable adaptations. But how can this be accomplished? How can the busy professional implement adaptations for the individual children while maintaining the equilibrium of the class as a whole?

Offering Students Choices from Day One

• Give students one free homework pass each quarter.
• Give five homework options a week. Students choose three they want to complete.
• Give assignments at the beginning of the week that are due at the end of the week. For those who complete their assignments by Friday there is no weekend homework. Others have the weekend to finish.
• Post homework assignments on a bulletin board each week.

Creating Opportunities When You Only Listen

Sometimes teachers are first-rate talkers and second-rate listeners. It's easyfor us to interrupt, over explain, finish a student's ideas, give advice, correct someone too quickly, or make sure we have the last word, especially if it's clever or funny. It takes a conscious effort to ONLY LISTEN without responding. This simple gesture surprises students when we do it. Here are a few ways to try it out.

Learning Students' Names Quickly

If people don't know each other's names, it's hard to call a group a community. Learning and remembering everyone's name is a sign of respect. Taking time to discover who we are in a group always pays off. The more we know about each other, the more comfortable we feel working with each other.

Setting the Stage for Conflict Resolution

Meet, Greet, Repeat

The “meet and greet” that teachers do before class begins seems to be a critical benchmark for many students. They almost always respond positively when teachers hang out by the door saying “Hello” and calling them by name. Furthermore, kids say that teachers who “meet and greet” are the ones who also care about them personally, and this personal interest motivates them to do better in class.

Thinking About the First Day of School

The first day of class is the one day in the entire year when students will come home and actually share their impressions of classes and teachers with their families. Your heartfelt hope, no matter how many years you've been teaching, is that more kids leave your class saying, “This is okay. I can handle this,” than muttering, “This really stinks. This is going to be bad!”

A Long Way from Chicago and A Year Down Yonder

Preparing for the First Day of School

Your first contact with parents and guardians sets the stage for communication the rest of the year. We know that kids do better in school when parents are involved in their children's school. We also know that parents' influence on their teens is far greater than they think.

A Year Down Yonder Curriculum Connections

Language Arts

Allow the class to work in teams of two. One student should act as Mary Alice and the other as Joey. Instruct the pairs to write daily letters to one another for one week. Joey's letters should reflect his curiosity about Mary Alice's life with Grandma, and Mary Alice's letters should share the lessons she has learned from Grandma.

A Year Down Yonder Discussion Questions

1. What is the irony in Mary Alice Dowdel being called “rich Chicago girl” by her classmates? What do Mary Alice and Royce McNabb have in common?
   
   
2. Mary Alice spends many days “on the sidelines” at school. How is beingan outsider difficult? What is her first impression of her classmates? At what point in the novel does Mary Alice begin to feel that she belongs atschool?
   

Social Studies Readers Theater

By Mildred Knight Laughlin, Peggy Tubbs Black, and Margery Kirby Loberg

Please Note: this material was created for use in a classroom, but can be easily modified for homeschooling use.

Zia
Scott O'Dell

This suggested script comes from chapters 1, 2, and 3.

SUGGESTED STAGING:
Zia, Father, Mando, Vicente, Narrator

NARRATOR'S OPENING LINES:
In this scene from Zia by Scott O'Dell, fourteen-year-old Zia and her brother Mando discover a boat on the California beach below the Santa Barbara Mission. The boat had washed ashore during a storm. They hide it and later Zia talks to Father Vicente during confession.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond
Elizabeth George Speare

This suggested script comes from chapter 4 where Kit begins to understand that her life in Connecticut may be very different from the life she has led in Barbados.

SUGGESTED STAGING:
Rachel, Judith, Kit, and Mercy are seated on chairs. Matthew is seated on a high stool. The narrator stands at a lectern.

NARRATOR'S OPENING LINES:

Johnny Tremain
Esther Forbes

This suggested script is taken from chapter 4, "The Rising Eye," in which Johnny desperately decides to present himself to Mr. Lyte.

SUGGESTED STAGING:
The narrator stands at a lectern, Johnny sits on a low stool. Mr. Lyte, Lavinia, Aunt Best, and Sewall sit on chairs.

Little House on the Prairie
Laura Ingalls Wilder
This suggested script is taken from chapter 11, "Indians in the House," in which the Ingalls family is visited by nearby neighbors; mysterious and demanding Indian men.

SUGGESTED STAGING:
The narrator stands at a lectern. Laura and Mary sit on low stools. Pa and Ma sit on chairs.

NARRATOR'S OPENING LINES:

Journey Home
Yoshiko Uchida

This suggested script is taken from chapter 10, in which the Sakane family hears the news that the war is over at last.

SUGGESTED STAGING:
The narrator stands at a lectern. Yuki, Emi, Uncle Oka, and Mrs. Jamieson sit on chairs.

The Drinking Gourd
F. N. Monjo

This suggested script comes from chapters 2, 3, and 4 when Tommy Fuller discovers runaway slaves hidden in his father's barn and accompanies them along the Underground Railroad.

SUGGESTED STAGING:
The narrator stands at a podium. Each of the other characters is seated on a chair.

NARRATOR'S OPENING LINES:

The House of Sixty Fathers
Meindert DeJong

This suggested script is taken from chapter 1, "Rain on the Sampan," in which Tien Pao first meets the American airman.

SUGGESTED STAGING:
The narrator stands at a lectern. Tien Pao sits on a low stool. His mother and father and the neighbor lady all sit on chairs.

Readers Theater Sample Script

Poppleton by Cynthia Rylant

NARRATOR: Poppleton's friend Fillmore was sick in bed. Poppleton brought Fillmore some chicken soup.

FILLMORE: I feel terrible, Poppleton.

POPPLETON: Have a bowl of soup.

FILLMORE: First I have to take my pill.

POPPLETON: Where is it?

Inside the Newbery Award Committee
By Dianne L. Monson

So many qualified people want to be on the Newbery Award jury that members can serve for only one year. What is it like to be a Newbery judge? Read the inside story written by a past judge to find out.