RESOURCES FOR STRUGGLING STUDENTS
This list is complied based upon the many recommendations of
teachers and home school families within the charter school movement. It may offer parents of a special education
or underachieving students additional ideas when planning their child’s
educational program. This list is
provided only as a resource and intended to help the educational
specialist facilitate a discussion regarding supplemental support/materials for
general education core curriculum selections.
It is not intended as a formal recommendation of
your school’s Special Education Department. Discussion of an identified special
education student’s unique educational needs is a function of the IEP Team.
Information On Learning Disabilities (SLD) or Attention
Deficit Disorder (ADD)
What are Learning Disabilities? Plus additional links for up-to-date information on Attention Deficit Disorders (ADD), Nonverbal learning disabilities, social skills, self esteem, family relations, and processing deficits
http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/resource-guide.html
Enhance
your understanding of specific learning disabilities. Develop strategies to
increase success for students who learn differently. Describe brain functioning
and processing skills. Enable parents to help their students more effectively.
Auditory Memory
Helps improve your
child's short-term auditory memory. For example: remembering several sounds in
the correct order to sound out new words such as, f-r-o-g put together
says frog. Lots of ideas and strategies to improve auditory processing
http://www.succeedtoread.com/memory.html
Visual and Auditory Processing Disorders
Information
on learning disabilities, auditory and visual processing disorders, dyslexia,
and ADHD
http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/process_deficit/visual_auditory.html
Speech and Language
Information is provided on this site about children’s language acquisition. The site discusses early warning signs, and identification for possible speech therapy
http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/speech-language/speech-language.html
Sensory Integration
Site has information on sensory integration, including resources and information for parents. Frequently asked questions, and links to additional websites are available.
Autism
Information is provided which assists families in understanding what autism is, and resources offered for families with autistic children.
Curriculum Materials, Books, and Resources for treating developmentally delayed and autistic students functioning below the 6 year level.
AVCS Books
408-997-0290
Physical Impairments
Discussion of criteria and educational resources for parents
http://www.swsc.org/physicallyimpaired.htm
Deaf/Blind or any student
neededing Books on Tape who has an active IEP
Any child with an active IEP is eligible to check audio materials out of their lending library
Recordings for the Blind / Dyslexic 1-800-221-4792
Outreach services California
School
Free vision screenings and optometrist
services, eyeglasses remain parent’s responsibility
Organizing
for Home School Instruction and Unit Study
The Home School Internet Website Center provides an exciting, safe educational environment for the home schooling family. Free services include: software, a used curriculum exchange, e-pals, a home school news magazine, curriculum reviews and an inexhaustible list of subject reference links - all updated daily to keep you informed!
Home School Starter
Kits including Books, videos, Audio Tapes, and Curriculum Planning Resource
Guide
AVCS Books
408-997-0290
A to Z’s Homes Cool Home schooling provides hundreds of units of study in al subjects
http://www/gomilpitas.com/homeschooling/methods/units.htm
Fundamentals of effective teaching are outlined for parents who choose to home school.. Includes characteristics of kids at various ages (what to expect), learning styles, organization, daily schedules, lessons plans, etc. ($10)
Riverdeep offers a free 60 day trial membership to their
internet-based interactive learning materials and activities
Ah! Math provides some great materials for struggling students in elementary and middle grades. This is a 12 month subscription for on-line home school students with language-based learning disabilities. Another good subscription program is a Time for Learning (on our approved vendor list)
http://www.learning.com
Everything for Education K-12 website gives free information and units
Buckle Down is a
test prep which is aligned to California content strandards, and has new
differentiated instruction in Reading and Math for grades 3-9. It is entitled Break Away Buckle Down (Also
on approved vendor list)
School Express provides thousands of free worksheets
http://www.freeworksheets.com or http://www.schoolexpress.com
Gander’s Academy’s is a series of theme related resources that will help parents plan thematic units of instruction for their home schooled student..
http://www.stemnet.nf.ca/CITE/themes.html
Home School Fun Units of Study can be reviewed at
http://www.homeschoolfun.com/unit/htlm
Free K-6 Lesson Plans for a variety of subjects
http://k-6educators.about.com/education/k-6educators/bllphq.htm
Free K-6 Lesson Plans for a variety of subjects
http://k-6educators.about.com/education/k-6educators/bllphq.htm
Free 7-12 Lesson Plans for a variety of subjects
http://7-12educators.about.com/education/7-12educators/cs/lessonplans/i
Phonics Program that provides supplemental interactive software program where parent and student work together coupled with games and other visual helps.
The Home site for the Program is:
SCAREDY CAT
http://www.joyceherzog.com/index.html
To view a video of the product:
http://www.joyceherzog.com/scaredy.html
Open Court: SRA/McGraw Hill is an outstanding anthology or basal reading program and directly teaches sound blending and provides decodable books that are truly decodable. The pacing would require parents to pre-teach concepts to insure success. Research Based interventions included
800-662-5958
Scholastic: An affordable supplement for reading and provides detailed lesson plans that systematically go through skills. Available on CD format too. This is supplemental and not intended to be a complete reading program.
800-724-6527
Houghton-Mifflin (Harcourt): A strong basal reading series that has good supplemental materials for research based interventions. Provides strong support for instructors with detailed lesson plans and extension materials. One the State approved adoptions for reading/language arts
wwwhoughmifflin.com
Phonics for Reading: A good, inexpensive supplemental program to support decoding and goes from pre-primer to third grade level. Scripted lessons provide parents with all they need to build these critical skills. Developed by San Diego State Professor, Anita Archer (again not intended to be a standalone reading program).
800-225-0248 or Calif. Rep is 408-293-2221
SRA/Reading Mastery: This is a direct instruction program which is research based and effective at-risk readers. The lessons are scripted, and come with student work books and decodable books
SRA/McGraw Hill Kaleidoscope: A complete reading series which stresses phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary development as comprehension. Comes in multiple levels
www.sra4kids.com
School Speciality (formally EPS) is another company we have heard about that serves struggling student. They claim their materials meet intervention and remediation needs, so would be adaptable for students who are struggling with grade-level materials.
schoolspeciality.com
Pacemaker (Globe Fearon) provides grade level materials written for lower reading levels.
www.bookfinder.com/author/globe-fearon
Weiser Educational
Catalog provides age appropriate instructional materials for struggling
learners in grades 4 through adult in language arts, life skills, math,
language arts, social studies, health, science, and careers by already
connecting parents with a wide range of publishers (AGS, Globe-Fearon,
Pacemaker, Remedia, and more)
https://sec.evso.com/wc.dll?wieser
Learning Styles Inventories: A free on-line program designed to determine a student's learning style and then be linked with specific activities to support their learning preferences.
learning-styles-online.com
Field Trips
Ideas are available at
http://www.hiscs.org/es/handbook/gencurres/csuggest/fieldtrips.htm
California Standards
Be aware
of the kinds of skills your child should know at every grade (K-12)
http://www.cde.ca.gov/standards/
California
Department of Education’s S.C.O.R.E.’s
Cyber Guide website provides many units of study and lesson plans based
on recommended literature selections for particular grade levels.
http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/syberguide/html.
Lakeshore has matched their materials to
grade level standards, and provides free catalogs of their supplemental
materials for each grade level.
Any
California
Department of Education Clearinghouse
916-445-5103 (ask to speak with Ray
Bradley) rbradley@cde.ca.gov
Books on Tape: National Library Service for the
Blind and Physically Handicapped
Library
of Congress
http://lcweb.loc.gov/nls/nls.html
Reading Comprehension/Language Arts
Now you
can see all the components of K-12 reading comprehension, along with
definitions, explanations, and activity ideas.
($12)
Monthly Units of Instruction, information about reading
acquisition, and teaching kids to read.
Also contains a list of recommended reading books for students
http://www.readingrockets.org/lp.php?SID=5
Leveled Readers for Primary Students (grade K-4)
Download
books that are at your child’ appropriate level, and match California State
Standards ($30 for 6 months / $50 for one year)
www.gomilpitas.com/homeschooling/materials/letsgolearn.htlm
Writing
Road to Reading
makes the link between reading and writing. Several skill specific curriculum
materials
800-776-4332
Pathway Publishers, Inc.
K-8
Curriculum designed to support home school families in
Reading
Rods provides a
series of mini-lessons using sound cubes and manipulatives to help students
visualize the phonemes they hear.
http://www.etacuisenaire.com/parentsite/ts_rrguide.jsp
Succeed
To Read gives
parents with excellent resources, free ideas, and other sites to gain expertise
in accelerating a child’s reading level
www.succeedtoread.com/memory.html
Reading Rockets provides a free monthly
newsletter for parents and teachers with suggested activities, thematic units
of instruction, and reading tips. Also
provides a link to special education supports for parents.
Globe Fearon’s materials are designed for the middle and high school students who
need extra help with reading, writing, grammar and spelling. They are
http://plgcatalog.pearson.com/co_home.cfm?site_id=15
360 Literature Summaries, Online textbooks, and SAT Prep: This site contains downloadable materials for
highschoolers http://pinkmonkey.com/
Steck-Vaughn offers easy-to-use, innovative learning solutions that accelerate content-area knowledge, reading skills, and preparation for standards-based tests, allowing learners to meet and exceed expectations. These targeted resources assess, remediate, strengthen, and enhance skills and reading development for all students, including struggling learners of all ages and abilities. (K-12)
800-669-9459
Math Support
Consumer
Math for Middle and High School Level Students
Make Math
practical with applications to daily living skills, Called Writing For the
Real World.
http://www.teachersparadise.com/store/prods/IF2564.html
Keys
to Algebra
published by American Guidance Services (AGS) Also have a Keys To Series for Division, and other skill specific concepts.
Basic High School Level Math for students with a 2nd-3rd
grade reading level
AVCS Books
408-997-0290
Basic Math and Pre-Algebra for high school aged student
(with a 4th grade reading level )
AVCS Books
408-997-0290
Math
in a Nutshell
gives skills based instruction in specific skills areas for all ages.
Delta
Education
Touch
Math takes
students from basic addition and subtraction to regrouping utilizing a system
of tactile devices and manipulative dots.
Has had proven success with student who are at a concrete learning
stage, and unable to conceptualize higher order math concepts.
Basic Math and Reading Manipulatives; Visual Perception Screening and Therapy Ideas
Insta-Learn by STEP Inc.
(800) 225-7837
http://www.insta-learn.com/html/programs.html
Algebra via Video – 6 modules with 170 video lessons (each 5-10 minutes in length). Video Text Interactive 1-800 897-6181
P.O. Box 19761
Indianapolis, Indiana 46219
Saxton Math covers the state standards at each grade level, and good for drill (downfall is the number of problems on a page) but couple with Borenson (set of 26 interactive videos) if you want a "hands-on Algebra" approach
www.saxonpub.com 800-284-7019
www.borenson.com 800-993-6284
Writing Skills
A good site for current articles and writing assignments:
http://www,nytimes.com/learning/
A complete writing curriculum including loads of graphic organizers and story starters
ZB Strategies for Writers
1-800-421-3018
Comprehensive
Composition
One Volume covers grades K-12. Teaching tips include easy-to-use strategy encouraging better writing and editing ($14.00)
Through this on-line writing course, students get their own private writing teacher who communicates with you and your child exclusively via e-mail. Each student’s curriculum varies according to the diagnostic needs of the student. Offers one to ten month courses beginning at $55 for one month, to $470 for a ten month course
Writing Strands is a program designed to teach 2nd through 12th grade students how to use their language effectively in creative and expository modes. The upper levels of the series have creative, basic, research and report, argumentative, and explanatory training. The lower levels teach the skills needed by the students to be able to take advantage of the upper levels' exercises.
http://www.writingstrands.com/
The Write Hand is an individualized writing program in the comfort of your home
www.thewritehand.org
Easy Grammar: A
reliable program for middle grade students who need extra reinforcement, but
can be a little boring so needs to be use in conjunction with something
else Easy Grammar 800-641-6015
easygrammar.com
Scott Foresman has some excellent spelling materials (AIMES) for everyday reinforcement plus curriculum in math, science, social studies, and reading
800-552-2259
www.sf.aw.com
Harcourt School Publishers: Can buy portions of a kit to meet your needs, and is very rich and complete in supporting Language Arts, math, and social studies. Also have components for health and science
800-225-5295
www.hbschoo.com
The Sounds Abound Multisensory Phonological Awareness +CD program is a program that can be previewed online at www.linguisystems.com . It costs $39.95 and is very helpful in giving suggestions for auditory and motor cueing and kinesthetic feedback along with developing basic phonological skills.
Earobics: Is another CD program which helps children develop listening skills, phonological awareness, and auditory processing and can be viewed online at www.superduperinc.com. Different ordering numbers are needed depending on the computer used in the home.
Science and History/Social Studies
Neuroscience for Kids has been created
for all students and teachers
who would like to learn about the nervous system.
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html
Life Packs/Dawn Publications provides science activities with a teacher's
guide and activity packet for elementary aged students.
http://www.dawnpub.com/our-books/drop-around-the-world/
Science Units designed to support students (with a 2nd
grade reading level) Units include: Life Science with Labs; Green Plants,
Animals, Five Senses, Human Systems, Earth Science, Weather, Changing Earth,
Sound, Electricity, Energy). Also offers a complete Physical, Earth Science,
Chemistry and Environmental Science set for high school students.
AVCS Books
408-997-0290
Lawrence Hall specializes in science and math and helps you "spice up" you science or math instructuion for elementary through junior high aged students
800-897-5036
www.lhsberkeley.edu
United States History via DVD’s (cost $19.00 per month – unlimited
number mailed to you home)
Dawn Publications offers good support for social studies, science, and world history
800-545-7475
www.dawnpub.com
Drivers Training
Take course work on
line. (Need at least an 8th grade reading level to successfully
access materials)
Career Planning
www.californiarealitycheck.com
www.careergames.com
www.careerzone.org
Please help us expand this list by providing
your suggestions as well.
E-mail our special education department at: