Connected Learning Days

Overview

This administration-facing 10-day plan provides a predictable, individualized first-grade day for one student. Instruction builds on established spoken and written alphabet knowledge and reading/writing numbers to 100 while adding early literacy, mathematical concepts, functional communication, self-help, play, regulation, and social-emotional participation. Insert student-specific baseline data and IEP goals where indicated: [baseline], [IEP goal], and [prompt level].

The student’s developmental play skills are approximately six months; therefore, play and leisure activities are intentionally brief, concrete, repetitive, sensory-supported, and taught through modeling. Developmental supports are embedded throughout but remain distinct from academic instructional goals.

Learning intentions

Students will be able to:

• Participate in predictable conversations using a complete sentence, gesture, AAC, or modeled response.
• Demonstrate basic print concepts while reading and writing familiar letters, words, and simple sentences.
• Read and discuss a grade-appropriate literary or informational text with prompting and support.
• Count concrete objects with one-to-one correspondence, match quantities to numerals, compare groups, and solve addition or subtraction situations within 10.
• Communicate wants, needs, choices, help, and completion using the student’s established communication system.

Success criteria

• I can attend, respond, and take a turn during a shared activity.
• I can show where reading begins, track print, and identify familiar letters or words.
• I can count each object once and match the group to a number.
• I can use words, pictures, gestures, or AAC to ask, answer, choose, stop, or request help.

Curriculum links

• Speaking and Listening — collaborative conversations with peers and adults about grade-one topics and texts.
• Speaking and Listening — producing complete sentences appropriate to the task and situation.
• Reading: Foundational Skills — understanding the organization and basic features of print.
• Reading Literature and Informational Text — reading appropriately complex texts with prompting and support.

Lesson structure (395 minutes daily)

The following schedule is used every day. The 5-minute gaps are reserved for transition, regulation, toileting, and movement; staff should not add academic demands during these periods.

1. 8:00–8:35 · Arrival and breakfast. Greet the student with, “Good morning. You are here. First breakfast, then meeting.” Offer a visual choice of two foods or activities, practice opening containers and cleaning up, and record independence, communication, and regulation.
2. 8:40–9:15 · Morning meeting/carpet time. Review the visual schedule, calendar, weather, attendance, and a short social-emotional check-in. Use the script, “My feeling is __ because __,” accepting AAC, pointing, or imitation. Read the day’s target from the daily routine and learning-target slides and practice one turn-taking game, song, or movement routine.
3. 9:20–9:30 · Phonemic awareness. Say, “Listen. I will say it slowly. You say it together.” Practice blending, segmenting, identifying first or last sounds, and noticing rhyming words using 5–8 orally presented items. Give wait time, then model and fade prompts.
4. 9:35–10:55 · ELA centers. Complete four 20-minute rotations, with 5-minute transitions as needed: teacher table, TA review station, independent work, and leisure/play. Use the individualized early literacy practice sheet only during the planned independent or teacher activity. Teacher says, “First work, then choice,” and previews the finish signal.
5. 11:03–11:43 · Lunch. Practice requesting, opening, eating, drinking, throwing away materials, and asking for help. Adults model, “I want __, please,” “More, please,” and “All done,” without requiring speech when another reliable communication mode is available.
6. 11:45–12:00 · Hand washing and read aloud. Follow a picture-supported hand-washing sequence, then read a short literary or informational book. Pause for, “What do you see?” “What happened?” and “Show me the answer.” Track print and identify the title, author, first page, and direction of reading.
7. 12:05–1:25 · Math centers. Complete four 20-minute rotations: teacher table, TA practice, independent task, and concrete play/manipulative activity. Use the math demonstration and center-direction slides for modeling and visual reminders. Maintain numeral recognition and writing to 100 while adding counting, quantity matching, comparing, and addition/subtraction within 10.
8. 1:30–1:40 · Science or social studies read aloud. Read a brief grade-one text and ask one supported question. The student answers by speaking, selecting a picture, pointing, acting, or using AAC.
9. 1:40–1:50 · Pack up. Use a checklist and script: “Check, pack, zip, wait.” Practice locating belongings, packing materials, and requesting assistance.
10. 1:51–2:31 · Daily Special Class. Attend the scheduled special; the specific special varies by day. Staff provide the same visual schedule, communication supports, regulation access, and participation expectations.
11. 2:35 · Dismissal. Confirm the dismissal routine, provide a brief success statement, and send home the communication note.

Center structure and differentiation

ELA centers use the same four predictable stations each day. At the teacher table, introduce the day’s small challenge through letter-sound work, name or familiar-word reading, picture-to-word matching, shared reading, or one dictated sentence. At the TA review station, practice previously mastered alphabet, print-direction, letter formation, and sight-word tasks with errorless teaching before reducing help. Independent work uses 3–5 familiar items, clear start/finish containers, and a visual model. Leisure includes sensory bins, cause-and-effect toys, books, blocks, pretend-play props, or a simple turn-taking activity; adults model functional play and communication but do not turn all leisure into work.

Math centers retain numeral identification and writing to 100, then add one small challenge: count 1–10 objects into a frame, match a numeral to a quantity, compare “more,” “less,” or “same,” or act out addition/subtraction stories within 10. Use real objects before drawings and drawings before symbols.

Resources

• the daily routine, literacy, math, and reflection slides
• the individualized early literacy practice sheet
• Visual daily schedule and first-then board
• AAC device, communication board, or choice cards
• Alphabet cards, familiar-word cards, decodable books, and writing tools
• Counters, ten-frames, numeral cards, dice, linking cubes, and sorting trays
• Sensory and cause-and-effect leisure materials
• Data sheets, timer, visual finish box, and toileting/self-help sequence
• Grade-one literary, informational, science, and social studies books

Ten-day sequence

• Day 1 — Establish routines: Baseline alphabet/print behaviors, numeral recognition, counting, communication modes, transitions, and leisure choices. Teach the schedule and center routines.
• Day 2 — Print and counting: Practice title, page turning, left-to-right tracking, letter matching, counting objects to 5, and requesting “help” or “more.”
• Day 3 — Sounds and quantity: Blend or segment familiar two- and three-phoneme words; match quantities 1–5 to numerals; teach “my turn” and “your turn.”
• Day 4 — Familiar words and comparison: Read the student’s name and selected familiar words; compare two groups using more, less, or same; practice “I notice __.”
• Day 5 — Shared reading and addition: Read a repeated-pattern text; solve concrete addition stories within 5; complete a midpoint data review and adjust [IEP goal] prompts.
• Day 6 — Sentence meaning and subtraction: Track and reread a simple sentence; act out subtraction within 5; practice choosing between two leisure activities and communicating “finished.”
• Day 7 — Informational text and counting: Identify a topic and one detail; count and match quantities to 10; fade adult models during familiar routines.
• Day 8 — Retell and compare: Retell beginning/middle/end with objects or pictures; compare quantities to 10; practice a complete sentence or AAC equivalent with reduced prompting.
• Day 9 — Apply skills: Read a familiar book, complete a mixed literacy task, and solve addition/subtraction stories within 10 using manipulatives; increase independent center time.
• Day 10 — Demonstrate and generalize: Repeat selected baseline tasks, share a preferred book or math activity, demonstrate communication and self-help routines, and document next steps for [IEP goal].

Assessment

• Record accuracy, independence, response mode, and prompt level for literacy and math tasks at teacher and TA stations: independent, gestural, verbal/model, partial physical, or full physical.
• Use a daily transition, communication, play, self-help, and regulation checklist; note duration of engagement and successful replacement communication.
• Compare Day 1 and Day 10 performance with [baseline], attach work samples, and complete a brief family communication note describing one success and one generalization target.

Differentiation

• Provide visual directions, predictable language, reduced choices, enlarged print, adapted writing tools, manipulatives, movement breaks, sensory access, and toileting opportunities.
• Accept speech, AAC, signs, gestures, eye gaze, pointing, matching, or action as valid responses; staff model the communication system and wait 5–10 seconds before prompting.
• Use least-to-most prompting, reinforce attempts immediately, and fade prompts from physical to gestural to visual to independent responding. Never require eye contact or spoken language when the student has another effective response.
• Extend learning by adding one item, one comparison, one sound, or one step only after success is consistent. Coordinate with the family and service providers so the same scripts and communication symbols are used at home and school.