Fun Halloween Activity that Strengthens Language Skills

Weaknesses in language processing can be difficult to remediate, and finding fun activities that can help strengthen this cognitive processing area is a further challenge.  I designed my Following Directions - The Fun and Easy Way series to offer activities that help students develop listening skills, attention to detail, vocabulary, mental flexibility, spatial skills, and more.  They were initially created for my own private practice, and now they are available to the public.  Each page is filled with colorful images and students get to draw, complete mazes and work through process of elimination exercises that are fun and engaging.  For added enjoyment, I am now creating holiday exercises that can be used throughout the school year.  My latest download offers three Halloween handouts.  Come view all of the activities by clicking on the image and even download a free sampling.

All the best, Dr. Erica  Warren
www.goodsensorylearning.com
http://www.facebook.com/goodsensorylearning

Help for Struggling Readers: Creating Your Own Color Overlays

You can create your own overlays by using whole sheets or cutting strips of transparent, colored report covers, dividers or overhead projector film. 

Step one: Buy a variety of colorful transparent sheets.  You can use -

• color, transparency film
• color, transparent report covers (plastic)
• color, transparent dividers (plastic)

All of these options can be found at office supply stores.

Step two:  Everyone is different.  Let your students try out the different colors and see which one they like the best.

 

Step three:  For some students, keep whole sheets so that students have the option of changing the background color of the entire page of text.  Other students might like a thin strip of color, as it can help with tracking from one line to the next.  I make them a variety of lengths and widths, and often let students decide for themselves.  Note: The strips also make wonderful book marks. 

Step four (optional):  Place a plain sticker on the end of

the overlay strip or the bottom of a whole sheet so that 
students can write their name on it.  Students can also pick out a sticker of an image too.  Just make sure to keep all stickers on one end of the color overlay strip or the bottom of the overlay page.

Step five (optional): For those students that get overwhelmed by to many words on a page, you can place duct tape around the edge of the overlay to block out competing lines of text. 

At the end of the activity, even if a few of your students don’t find color overlays helpful, they will still have a useful book mark.  

For more great reading remediation ideas, check out my reading games!  You can even get a free sample game!!
http://goodsensorylearning.com/reading-games.html 

Enjoy!

How Can Books on Tape Improve Reading Speed and Reading Comprehension?

Listening to books on tape or to someone reading aloud can improve reading comprehension because the brain does not have to work on decoding the words but can simply focus on the content.  But merely laying back and passively listening is not always the best approach, because it is easy for personal thoughts to interrupt the text content.  Therefore, for this mode of learning to be most effective, it is best for the listener to do one of two things:

 Scan the text: Scanning the text while listening will not only help maintain attention, but it will assist with sight word recognition.  Additionally, students that decode words one letter at a time while reading will begin to see whole words and phrases.  Before long, these skills will apply when the student reads independently, and whole words recognition and reading speed will improve.

 
Visualize the content:  Picturing the characters, the setting and the plot helps to sustain attention, improve comprehension and it also makes the text more memorable.  With practice, many students report that they are able to create a mental movie in their mind and that reading becomes far more enjoyable. 

There are a number of places online that offer books on tape.

1) Learning Ally:
http://www.learningally.org      

2) Audio Books for Free: 
http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/browse/Fiction   

3) LibriVox:
http://librivox.org/ 

If you would like to help students develop their visualization abilities, I have a free image that reviews the 10 visualization skills.  I also offer two PowerPoint presentations that teach the 10 skills needed to visualize.  If interested go to:

http://goodsensorylearning.com/teaching-visualization.html

Teaching Self Control Leads to Academic Success

Come and learn from Dr. Sam Wang about the common myths about the brain as well as the incredible impact that the teaching of playful planning and self control can have on our childrens's future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05vitpSY1vU&feature=relmfu

Monster Multiplication: A New Multisensory and Mindful Approach to Long Multiplication - Free Promotional Copy

Just yesterday I uploaded my new product Monster Multiplication: A New Multisensory and Mindful Approach to Long Multiplication.  If you would like to be entered in a contest to receive a free copy, please follow this blog or "like my facebook page" http://www.facebook.com/goodsensorylearning and follow one of my Pinterest boards http://pinterest.com/drericawarren/ Then send me an email with your email address to let me know (I will not use your email for any purpose other then sending the lucky winners their free promotional copy) - erica@goodsensorylearning.com.  You will then be entered to win!  I will be drawing two winners and sending the promotional copies on Halloween. 

To learn more about the product CLICK HERE
Wishing you all the best, 

10 Ways to Help Students Cope with Making Mistakes

One of the most valuable things we can teach children is how to cope with making mistakes.  Making mistakes is a human quality that all students need be comfortable with.  They need to know that if we didn’t make mistakes, there would be nothing to learn. 

However, most all students strive for the recognition of a perfect score on assignments and tests.  Even a single mistake can create anxiety and disappointment.  Unfortunately, perfect scores continue to be rewarded and mistakes frowned upon.

So what can we all do to help?  Here are ten suggestions:

    1) Be comfortable admitting when you make a mistake.  Show students that it is okay to be wrong and that you can use it as an opportunity to learn.   

    2) Make sure to point out what a student has done right on an assignment as well as what was incorrect. 

    3) Always give your students the opportunity to fix mistakes so that they can learn from them and correct any misconceptions.

    4) Communicate to your students that their mistakes can help you to be a better teacher because it helps you to uncover the areas that need more instruction.

    5) If more than 50% of your students get a test item incorrect, throw out that item out.  For those that got it, you can offer them extra credit.  You can always then make sure to teach the concept in your next lesson and then include the item on the next test.  

    6) Thank your students for making errors and mistakes.   

    7) Instead of telling a student that they are wrong or incorrect, tell them that it was a nice try, or that they are close to the right answer and see if they can amend their response independently.  

    8)  Recognize a student’s effort and guide them to the right answer so that they can be correct.

    9) If a student provides the wrong answer, ask them why they gave you the response that they did so you can analyze their misconception.

    10) Keep a positive attitude when students make mistakes.    

     I'd love to hear your recommendations and thoughts on this matter!!

I

Activities or Games that Remediate Word Finding Difficulties

Many students struggle with word finding difficulties.  This is when a student has the knowledge, but they are not able to express it.   They may not, for example, be able to access the name of a good friend or even an everyday object.  This can be very frustrating and when put under pressure this difficulty tends to worsen.  Therefore, a student may know the content for a test, but they may not be able to access it without a word bank.  So what can we do to help strengthen this cognitive processing area in a way that won’t be too frustrating?

Here are 4 games that can be purchased on Amazon.com that will help in the process.  I have had great success with all four of them!  If you know of some others, please let me know.

1) Hey, What’s the Big Idea: 

2) Word Shuffle:

3) Spot it:

 4) Scattergories: