Adapting Science & Social Studies Topics in Special Education

When I was teaching in a self-contained classroom, covering those tough Science & Social Studies topics were always so difficult for me. We had no adapted materials, and often the topics (like force & motion) were very difficult topics to teach to my students! I started creating full Science & Social Studies units with a variety of worksheets for this very reason - and just recently had the idea to make smaller adapted book + comprehension sets to briefly cover a topic without spending an entire month on it.

For some of these topics, you might just want to introduce your students to the subject. This is where adapted books are a GREAT fit!

Each topic comes with an adapted book just like this Forms of Energy book. This is a great resource to read in a whole group/small group/or 1:1 setting to discuss the topic. I would sit down with a small group and read this book each day during the week. Often we need to repeatedly cover materials like this, so this is an easy way to discuss the topic! You could use one book and have students take turns matching the correct picture on the pages, OR you could print out and staple books for each student to follow along. You wouldn't necessarily need to laminate and bind each book. It would be a great resource to use throughout the week, have students practice following along, and then they could take it home to read with their parents!

After reviewing the book throughout the week (or longer if you need more time on it!), there are differentiated comprehension worksheets to fit all of your learners needs. With each book I created 6 different levels for the comprehension - but ALL of them contain the same questions & answers. You see above that I included an errorless Level 1 option for students who need it. These can be marked by circling with a pencil or even dotting the answer with a bingo dauber!

Below you can see the other 5 levels I have included. The following levels are included:

• Errorless (1 option per question)
• 2 answer choices with pictures 
• 3 answer choices with pictures
• 3 word answer choices
• Write in the answer
• Cut/paste the correct answer

This bundle of adapted books will have 20+ topics when it is complete and is such a great resource for self-contained special education classrooms with next to no Science or Social Studies materials/curriculum.

Topics included are:

• Landforms
• Simple Machines
• Life Cycles
• Five Senses
• Forms of Energy
• Outer Space
• Weather
• Force & Motion
• Lab Tools
• Recycling
• Rocks & Minerals
• Sink or Float
• States of Matter
• Water Cycle
• Hot & Cold
• Community Helpers
• Now & Long Ago
• Animal Habitats
• Continents
• Map Symbols

Are there other topics you'd like to see covered for your classroom? Leave them in the comments below and I will add them to the list!

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