Simple Finals Exams for Special Education Classes

So it's the end of the year and you're busy trying to gather some last minute goal data, update your goals, pack up your classroom, plan fun end of the year activities...and then you remember you have to give your students final exams, simply because the rest of the school does it. You might think, are you kidding me?! How am I supposed to give my students an EXAM?! Ain't nobody have time for that, amiright?!

I hated coming up with appropriate exams for the longest time...until I finally got smart. Are you ready for this GENIUS idea?

0

End of the Year Memory Books

So today was our last full day of school! Craziness, right?! We just have 3 half exam days to finish the year off. This year my students and I created a class memory book for them to take home. (In the past I would go crazy printing pics of each student and have them each make a collage...this is way better and looks a little nicer too!)

Each month we went on a community trip which I always took lots of pictures for, so I mostly included those along with any other fun things we had done during that month.

Remember when we made our class Christmas cards? You all need to be doing this! It was so much fun :) Pin and remember for next year!

Then all students had to do was glue each page onto their color choice of construction paper, front and back, and then decorate the front. I gave each student the title and a pic of me with them and a pic of them and their aide. Simple and efficient.

I wrote a note to each student in their book as did their aide. And all classmates signed their names. Kinda like a mini year book :)

I think they will enjoy this book as a memory from this year!

Psst, I made an even better template with borders students can color and am sharing with you on TpT! Grab it here and happy memory book making! :)

0

Special Education Final Exams

I like to have some fun with our final exams! I can't quite give my students paper and a scan-tron, so we do things a little differently and a whole lot more fun.

This year, during our language arts and resource final we made homemade ice cream! The kids were so excited and completely focused. We went to the kitchen to heat up the milk (which they all thought was really weird) and then combine all the ingredients together (heavy whipping cream, half and half, sugar, salt, vanilla - it was the recipe on the box). That then had to go in the fridge for a half hour so we went back to class and reviewed some of our environmental print stories.

Then the fun began!! First students had to fill the surrounding part with ice and rock salt. Then we took turns cracking the ice cream. The ice cream maker we used was awesome because you can start by hand-cranking and then switch to electric. The electric cranker is awesome, but I have to admit, it got a whole lot louder as it started to turn into ice cream, so next time I'd do it outside of my classroom. During this time I took my students out to assess them on the community signs we had learned this year for their resource final. After 45 minutes of the electric stirring the ice cream was ready to eat! We loaded on the toppings and sprinkles and every single one of my students had seconds. It was probably the best ice cream I have ever had, no joke! Students were assessed on their ability to behave and follow directions.

For my fine arts finals, I had students identify the different instruments on the garage band app and while I was working with individual students the others had time to compose their own music. It was a lot of fun to watch them be creative. Then I had them paint a picture and assessed their ability to get started, choose colors, and paint on their own. I just used a simple +/- system to assess both of these skills and determined percentages from those. We also watched a movie that we had created of video clips and pictures throughout the year.

Last, we had our math final exam. Similar to what I did last semester, but this time instead of a restaurant, I set up a store and put a bill in front of each item to purchase. Students then were given money and had to match/pay with the correct bill to get each item they wanted.

And now, let summer break begin!!! Until I start ESY in 10 days that is :)

1

Functional Special Education Final Exams

Since I teach in a regular high school, I am expected to give semester exams to my students. I often get asked what do we actually do for exams. I often do a following directions activity and fill out a simple rubric for each student in order to get their exam "grade".

Language Arts and Math Final Exam ~ Classroom Restaurant
I asked for parents to volunteer to bring in breakfast items like donuts - and we got so much more than I asked for which was wonderful! We had orange juice, chocolate milk, yogurt, bagels, pancakes, strawberries, chocolate donuts, and glazed donuts. As a class we created a menu and I gave each student $7. Students were graded on appropriate behavior, naming prices, counting money, ordered food, being patient, and saying thank you. See the rubric here. Students were even able to make their own pancakes in the microwave. We had a ton of fun with this!

Fine Arts Final Exam ~ Following Directions + Christmas ornaments
I used this following directions worksheet and let students complete as independently as they could. I then graded it on their ability level. For example, many students received full points even though they didn't color the correct number of objects. For some students, I expected them to read the directions on their own, and for others the directions were read and broken down into simpler steps. I was so proud of many of my students!
I got wooden ornaments from JoAnn's on clearance for about 70 cents each, and students painted them on their own and then we added a favorite picture from the semester on the back.

One of my CP students, has begun to use a coloring cuff this year, so even though she can't hold onto a pencil, she could move the pen/marker around and draw on her own. This has been awesome this year, but even so I didn't expect her to be able to color in the correct areas - and did she prove me wrong! She found all of the items and colored them on her own! Ahh - so proud. I wish I had taken a picture to show you!

Resource Final Exam ~ Cookie in a Jar (measuring and following directions)

Our resource exam doubled as presents for parents. We followed this recipe for cookie-in-a-jar mix. Students had to work on measuring and pouring in the jar. (Use of a funnel is HIGHLY recommended!) The final exam rubric I used is here. It got super messy, but that just meant I had jobs of wiping down the tables and vaccuuming to give to students when we were done.

And M&Ms are more expensive than I thought...so we mixed them with some chocolate chips as well. The cute little snowman top is a cupcake liner underneath the jar lid.


Does anyone else have to give their students exams? A few years ago we made frosted Christmas trees for one of our exams.

7

Special Ed Exams - Frosted Christmas Trees

So last week was exam week at school and I had a lot of people ask me on how I give exams to my students (I was also asking the other teachers in our program trying to figure out the same question!) Even though we are a multi-needs special education program, we are still in a regular high school, so we still do things like exams...

The answer for how to do exams - rubrics. I didn't have all my student sit at their desks with a pencil and pages of a test - that wouldn't truly assess the abilities of my students. Instead I had my students complete a project and I would mark how well they performed on various activities.

For Language Arts, I had the students make a Christmas card. I used a rubric to asses if they chose an appropriate greeting, if sentences started with capital letters, if sentences ended with periods, if they used an appropriate closing, and if they signed their first and last name.

For Math, I took each student aside individually (while the rest of the students were working on a Christmas activity with a paraprofessional in the room) and assessed (with a rubric again) their ability to count bills, count change, pay for items with the dollar over method, calculate change back with a calculator, know which item costs less, ect.

For my Resource Class I had some fun. I have such a wide range of abilities in this class and I wanted to make sure that each student felt like they could be successful and also enjoy the activity. One of the other teachers found this recipe, and we used it to make Christmas trees out of ice cream cones!

Here's what we needed:

• cone shaped ice cream cones
• white frosting + green food coloring
• m&ms
• sprinkles
• gum drops

Here I assessed students on following directions, such as putting the cone upside down, putting frosting on cone (or telling someone where to put the frosting), putting on 5 M&Ms, ect. They were so proud of their creations! And thought they tasted pretty good too...

I love my job! :) Seriously, how can you NOT have fun doing things like this! :)

5