Back to School Sale!

Dry Erase Pockets Can Save Time and Money

I just love these dry erase pockets.  Students enjoy working on activities when they are able to use colorful dry erase markers and you can save a ton of time and money by not having to copy handouts.  You can buy as few as five pockets (see above link) or as many as 25 (see link below).  I personally got 25 pockets.  They were quickly filled with worksheets, large graph paper and more.  They are perfect for doing activities with clocks, tracing letters, fractions, and graphing to name a few.  Have any of you used these?

Teaching Higher Order Language Skills: Abstract and Critical Thinking as Well as Multiple Meanings

Concrete learners, as well as those who struggle with higher order language processing, often experience difficulties when shifting to more abstract ways of learning.  Difficulties may arise when multiple meanings are used in conversation or when reading.  Consequently, “reading between the lines” or searching for a deeper meaning can be a challenge.  Additionally, concrete or rigid ways of thinking can create miscommunication.  It’s easy to misunderstand someone’s intended meaning when they are being sarcastic or they are using unfamiliar vocabulary.  I’m sure you have had one of those ah-ha moments in life where you thought, “Oh, that’s what she meant!”  Finally,  difficulties interpreting jokes, puns, or inferences can lead to one feeling confused or embarrassed.  I am sure we all know of a time when someone told a joke and although we laughed along with everyone else, we did not really “get it.” 

Although learning this important skill is a process for many students, it does not have to be awkward or difficult.  In fact, practicing abstract thinking can be fun.   That is the goal of my new workbook Abstract Thinking and Multiple Meanings: Developing Higher Order Language and Mental Flexibility Through Critical Thinking and Visualization.  It was written to engage learners and help them to conceptualize and practice higher order language skills.  

www.goodsensorylearning.com

If you would like to download a free sampling of the workbook, CLICK HERE

If you are interested in purchasing the 58 page workbook, CLICK HERE

Mindful, Fun, Multisensory Materials for Learning the Vowel Combinations or Vowel Teams

One of the most difficult reading concepts to learn in the English language is the vowel combinations or vowel teams.  Well, not anymore.  I have made the process fun, memorable and multisensory with my workbook entitled Vowel Combinations Made Easy.  It was created for my own students and I have found it to be extremely successful.  Students learn their vowel combinations by finding them hidden in images, coloring, doing mazes and playing card games.  What's more, I am now offering a free sampling of my workbook, so you can have the opportunity to see some of the activities.  

If you are interested in getting the free sample pages and activities CLICK HERE

If you are interested in the full digital version CLICK HERE

If you would like to purchase a hard copy of the workbook CLICK HERE

www.goodsensorylearning.com

Teaching Inference Skills Can Be Fun

 

Teaching students about how to make inferences can be challenging.  Unlike most of the concrete learning that they encounter, this is an abstract notion.  However, most students love the idea of finding or uncovering a hidden message.  So, explaining that, like a detective, they can solve the secret code, students will find this both appealing and exciting. Here are four activities that you can do to help even the youngest of learners find joy in searching for inferences. 

1.    Look through magazine images and see if you can uncover any hidden messages.
2.    When traveling look at billboards and see if you can point out any inferences.
3.    Look at the images on book covers and see what kind of hidden messages they might include that tell you a little bit about the story.
4.    When watching TV pay attention to the advertisements.  What kinds of secret messages are implied?

If you would prefer to use a 60 page workbook, with images, activities and games, you can always purchase Making Inferences, The Fun and Easy Way to Understand and Practice Implied Meaning.  I also offer a free downloadable sample @  CLICK HERE

 

Dr. Erica Warren is a Learning Specialist and Educational Therapist that shares her unique multi-sensory and fun activities through her many publications.  Products are available as downloads and print at her websites to view all her products at www.goodsensorylearning.com & www.dyslexiamaterials.com

Fun, Free Activities That Sharpen and Strengthen Language Processing Over the Summer Break

The old saying - If you don't use it you lose it - often describes the cognitive setbacks that many students experience over the summer months.  Exercising children's brains with engaging and fun activities is a must.  Here are 5 strategies you can use this summer to help your little ones sharpen and strengthen their skills.

1. When watching TV, discuss the commercials.  See if they can figure out what product each commercial is promoting and see if they can uncover any inferences or hidden messages.
2. Play with anagrams - Write down a word that has at least 6 letters.  In 5 minutes, see how many new words you can create by scrambling the letters.  
3. Play catch with a football, baseball or beach ball.  When you first toss the ball, call out a main idea such as days of the Week.  When your child catches the ball, they have to say one of the days of the week.  When they toss it back to you, you say another day of the week.  Players can only say each detail once.  If a detail is repeated, the player can't think of another detail, or there are no more detail options, that player loses the round.  Keep score and play to 10.  Other main ideas could be vegetables, types of dogs, forms of transportation, shapes, presidents and so on.  
4. Read a short passage aloud to your child.  Before you read it, explain that their job is to visualize or create a mental image of what you read to them in their mind.  Once you have finished the passage, give them a blank piece of paper.  Ask them to draw an image of what they saw.
5. Take a beach ball and on each color write a different part of speech: verb, noun, adjective, adverb, preposition, article and so forth.  When you toss the beach ball back and forth to one another note where your right thumb lands on the ball.  If your thumb lands on a verb, you have to say a verb.  If your thumb lands on a adjective, you have to say an adjective.  Each word can only be played once.  The game continues until a player repeats a word or can not think of another option.  You can play the same game by using figurative language terms such as metaphor, simile, onomatopoeia, assonance...

If you would prefer to purchase some workbooks that focus on language skills, Dr. Warren has a few products that you might like.  Click on the following titles to learn more.

Following Directions the Fun and Easy Way
Making Inferences: A Fun and Easy Way to Understand and Practice Implied Meaning
Word Shuffle
Hey, What's the Big Idea

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Dr. Erica Warren is the author, illustrator and publisher of multisensory educational materials at Good Sensory Learning and Dyslexia Materials, and she is the director of Learning to Learn, in Ossining, NY.  To learn more about her products and services, you can go to www.goodsensorylearning.com    www.dyslexiamaterials.com   and  www.learningtolearn.biz 

Do We Need to Reform Education? Why So Many Students Are Struggling With Executive Functioning.

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As a learning specialist and educational therapist, I have been overwhelmed with calls from parents claiming that their children struggle with executive functioning.  These students are often described as lazy and unmotivated, and by the time that I meet many of these students they also have a case of learned helplessness.   Although executive functioning weaknesses can manifest in different ways, the majority of my students find it difficult to record assignments, organize their materials, turn in their homework, pull out the salient information, focus in class and employ meta-cognitive strategies.

Part of the problem is that we live in a society where we are continually multitasking.  It’s almost impossible to find a quiet, distraction free spot where one can direct ones full attention to an undertaking.  Instead our thoughts are continually diverted to the bleeps, jingles and bings of text messages, phone calls, emails and so forth.  Distractions that often make a 15 minute task become an hour long chore.  What’s worse is that because attention is so sporadic, little is learned from completing the process. 

The other part of the problem is that education reform just can’t keep up with the rapid changes.  Schools are continually accommodating new technology without the needed research and structured plan.  As a result, executive functioning difficulties have become so prevalent in schools because teachers now expect their students to be “executives,” yet many schools do not allow them to use the personal technology that would help them to succeed.  Can you imagine how a teacher would feel if you told them that they could not use their personal smart phone or computer while at school?  I do believe that this will change in the future, but at present, many kids in this generation are suffering.  The other problem is that teachers each have their own unique plan and expectations.  Therefore, there is little structure across subjects.  When I was in school, all teachers communicated homework by writing it on the black board at the beginning of class and they all prompted and collected our homework.  Now, because teachers lie anywhere on the continuum of technophobes to techno-geeks, they each have their own, often contrasting, methods. 

So what can we do?  I believe that schools must:

1)   Embrace technology, do the research, train the staff, and define structured guidelines that can help to assure the proper use technology.

2)   Enforce a consistent plan for communicating and collecting assignments for all teachers. 

3)   Hold teachers accountable to "practice what they preach."  They need to be organized, plan projects, and return assignments in a reasonable amount of time.

4)   Offer students a syllabus at the beginning of each term.  If high school, for example, is trying to prep kids for college, why don't they give the students a syllabus at the beginning of each term with all assignments and expectations clearly documented.  This would also assure that teachers would get through the course content.

I would love to hear some of your ideas too.  Change only comes from awareness and communication.

Dr. Erica Warren is the author, illustrator and publisher of multisensory educational materials at Good Sensory Learning, and she is the director of Learning to Learn, in Ossining, NY.  To learn more about her products and services, you can go to www.goodsensorylearning.com www.dyslexiamaterials.com and www.learningtolearn.biz