Special Education Students Love Excellent Literature! Gold Rush Time~

By the Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman is a fabulous piece of literature. Humor, history, adventure, fine writing.....my special education students can really get caught up in this book! In my group of 15 4-6th graders, we have the range of special ed eligibilities you will find in a resource class: learning disabilities, emotional disturbance, and autism. I can truly say that each kid loves this book. It is timeless. Of course, we are Californians, and some of the geography is very familiar to us! If you are not familiar with the story, here's some info: By the Great Horn Spoon! takes place during the gold rush in California in 1849. Jack and his butler Praiseworthy stowaway on the Lady Wilma a ship. They meet many interesting characters on their adventure to find gold in California. They must make money to pay for Jack’s house back home, so that Aunt Arabella and his sisters can keep the family home. I've got reading levels from 1st to 6th in this group, and behaviors that require some creativity on the teacher's part. We break up into groups and I use my incredible senior citizen volunteers to read to partner read with kids. Yes, there are some who we read to! I have discovered that my interactive journals are a fun way to get the students writing and thinking, along with a journal which they value and re-read at the end of the year. I have actually had the students ask me to create these interactive journals for other books! Here's a sample:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Special-Education-and-Intervention-Interactive-Writing-By-the-Great-Horn-Spoon-1841969