Friday Fun: Cat in the Hat Rhyming Hats

The one phonemic skill I hate teaching is rhyming.  It just seems the little ones either hear rhymes or they do not.  I feel like I am a talking idiot as I repeat the word pairs over and over trying so hard to emphasize the end of the words.  I get louder and louder.  Pretty soon my head starts bobbing up and down.  I am pretty sure the kids think I am a living breathing bobble head doll!

I decided to develop some rhyming centers that would remove me from the practice.  We did a week of Dr. Seuss so I created a rhyming center with Cat in the Hat.

You can get it to print here.  Just print on cardstock, laminate and cut out.  I used velcro for the stripes.

It is a simple center where the kiddos put the stripes on the correct hat.  I made sure to include words that were visually different.  Those little ones are smart.  They figure out patterns real quick.  I have to work hard to stay one step ahead of them! 

This was a great center.  However, I must warn you.  I got real excited when the second day they just flew through the center.  I was just sure they had mastered rhyming (and of course it was all due to my incredible hats!) Alas, a little probing revealed they memorized where they went.  Rule number one in teaching....vary your stimulus materials. So back to the drawing board for me!

Stay tuned for more rhyming centers.

Thumbnail Thursday

Today's thumbnails are a bit random.  Princess always accuses me of taking a theme too far.  Well, today I am all over the place.  As I was planning this post, I started thinking about sites that tend to be my "go to" sites.  Today's thumbnails are from sites that are chock full of useful ideas, images and resources.

Kizclub Story Props

KizClub is a wonderful site with resources for beginning readers.  They have a whole section of story props for all your favorite picture books.  The free printables come in color and black and white.  I use them for story retelling activities and whenever I am making centers with a theme.

Florida Reading Research Center Student Activities

If you only visit one website this year, you need to go here.  FRRC has developed literacy activities by grade level for each of the five pillars of reading.  They didn't just create one or two per pillar or per grade level.  They have pages and pages of activities for each element at each grade level.  Each activity has an instruction page as well as all the printables you need.  They are great for centers.  Print, laminate and get those wonderful mom volunteers to start cutting.

 Technology Integration Matrix

This year I was in charge in a special ed innovation grant involving iPad technology.  What I found out was that our teachers really did not have a lot of ideas for their use beyond drill and practice apps.  Princess piloted 1:1 with iPads in her classroom for a portion of the day.  She was determined to integrate the tablets rather than just use apps for drill and kill.  Both of us did a huge amount of research.  This site has an interactive matrix that identifies the levels of true integration.  It has great resources, suggestions and tools for each level and activity.

Random....maybe.  Useful....definitely.

Word Wednesday - Affixes and Roots Bingo

Remember this vintage Bingo game Princess found in an antique store?

She knew she wanted it in her classroom.  However she did not want it relegated to a party game.  She had read that students who know and understand root words and their prefixes and suffixes did significantly better in not only standardized test skills, but also overall reading skills.  She asked me to create a bingo game for word study.  We came up with this.  This is not your grandmother's bingo!

Each day her class would take some time to spin the cage and get one or two bingo balls.  They would then mark off the square they drew and discuss the affix or root.  She was pleasantly surprised how much fun her class had trying to come up with words that had the prefix, suffix or root.  They often even referred to it if a word came up during the day.  She said it was very interesting to watch them try to figure out the meanings of the affixes by listening to words in which they occurred.

We decided to make two boards.  Here is the grades 3 through 5 board and the kindergarten through grade 3 board.  You can download and print theme here and here.

Here is the breakdown of affixes and roots by grade level that we used to help create the boards.  Because this was an enrichment activity, we included several grades on a board.

Princess rewarded her class with an extra few minutes of recess or a favorite game when they completed a Bingo.  However, she said they really enjoyed the bingo game more than the reward. 

Technology Tuesday - QR Codes

Today's technology is the easiest way to jump into technology in your classroom and your kids will love it.  All you need is some device that will scan (ipad, ipod, smart phone etc) and regular computer and a printer.  Basically you are going to create a marker (or QR code ) that when scanned will either take your kids to a website, a video or will show them text or an image.

The first thing you do is download a QR scanner on your device.  There are many choices for a scanner.  We use this free app and you can get it here.  Then you go to a computer attached to a printer and create your code.  Princess and I like QR Stuff because it gives tons of choices of what your QR code is linking to and it gives a shortened URL all in one step.  Create your code and print it.  Put where you want to your kids to scan and watch them become enthralled.

There are a ton of uses.  Princess had her class use them on their Young Author's Books.

After they wrote and illustrated their books, she had them record themselves reading the book at Vocaroo.   This site stores the recording online at its own web address.  She created a QR code that linked to the recording.  The codes were placed inside the covers of the students' books.  When the code was scanned, a recording of the book was started and a person could follow along as the author read the book.

In the speech room we use them to make our centers independent.  Lady A created codes for each one of our verb photo cards for past tense practice.

 

She created a QR code for each card that answered the question: What happened in the picture?  Because we have nonreaders, we needed our QR codes to talk.  She used QR Voice which lets you type 100 characters to create a talking QR code.

 

Scan the above to see what I mean 

There are so many uses for codes.  Here are a few:

Class Website Direction: Create a code that that when scanned opens up your classroom website. Place the code at the bottom of your class newsletters.

Safe Navigation: Instead of your students typing in a web address, have them scan a code that takes them directly where you want them.

Answer Key: Code your answers and have students self-check their answers.

Announcements: Record announcements and have students scan them to hear them. Keep an ongoing interactive bulletin board.

Real World Application: Create a scavenger hunt throughout the school that demonstrates concepts in everyday use.When the student scans the code, the concept explanation/definition would show.

Create a Class Tree:  For back to school night, create a tree that has QR codes as leaves. Parents can scan the codes to learn about the various aspects of your class. Better yet, have each student do a video introducing themselves and create a code for each student.

Differentiating Instruction: Use codes to direct students to different resources that are based on their levels.

Word Wall:  Create a video, an audio recording or a text definition of the words on your word wall. Create a code for each word and students can scan to get more information about the word.

There are many, many more uses.  Check this handout that gives the how-tos and tons of ideas for uses.

Princess says her kids loved QR codes.  They felt like scientists in the future.  Our speech kids were definitely more engaged.  They tend to whip through centers as if there was some great prize for getting finished first (even though I just tell them to do it again!)  With the codes they got a real kick out of checking their answers.

Happy coding!

Monday's Musings - When a Mess is Downright Fun

Today's musings are going to veer a bit from education.  After all a teacher has other interests in her life.  We don't live at school as some of our younger students believe.  As the Princess told you, I have been on vacation.  We were up visiting friends at a camp in McGregor, Minnesota.  No wifi for the week....it was a bit of withdrawal for me.  McGregor is a tiny town (pop. 391...now 392 as our friends just had a new babe!)  There really isn't much there, but my friend Beth knowing that the Princess and I are thriftin' vintage bargain lovin' nuts told me I had to go visit Molly's Mess.

I feel the need to explain.  I love vintage, retro, old things.  However, I am not a collector.  I am way way too cheap.  I love a good bargain and I love when you stumble upon a find.  I will wander through an antique store and look, but I am not going to pay those prices.  I would rather treasure hunt in a thrift store or half price day at an estate sale.  Imagine my delight as  I walked up to Molly's Mess and this is what I saw.

There was stuff all over the yard.  Dented stuff, rusted stuff, old stuff, good stuff...you name it, it was there.  The prices were more thrift store than antique store.  The place was not designed for the discerning buyer.  It was better suited for the picker.  In fact Molly told us that the TV show "American Pickers" wanted to come visit, but she turned them down.  "The place is a mess and I am too fat."  she told us.

  American Pickers loss was my gain!  I had a ball.  I wish I had taken more pictures of the inside.  It was three floors jam packed with stuff. 

Princess collects old cameras.  Even at antique stores, she finds just one or two.  Molly had a whole wall.  I had to send Princess a "I bet you wish you were here" picture.

The record room had three walls lined just like this.  My husband and the Princess do not listen to CDs, they listen to vinyl.  He stayed in here while I wandered the other rooms. There were rooms with toys, rooms with kitchen utensils, rooms with glassware.  Each spot did not have one or two items, but 10-20.

Sorry for the poor quality of pictures.  I was snapping with my phone.  I never expected to come across such a treasure in the middle of nowhere!  I have been lusting after jadite pieces for years, but I can't afford them.  Molly had a slightly cracked batter pitcher that I scored for $10 and a perfectly fine creamer that I got for $3.50.  I also bought a minnow bucket, enamelware and this weird old metal display rack.  Nothing I got was in pristine condition, but someday I will explain the philosophy of "wabi-sabi" to you.

As a teacher, often our other passions get indulged during the summer months.  Molly's was a huge indulgence for me!  If you love vintage and a great bargain, you have to visit Molly's Mess in McGregor, Minnesota.  Take an empty car, a can of bug spray (northern Minnesota apparently breeds mosquitos) and a willingness to sort through stuff.  I guarantee you will not regret it!, 

Technology Tuesday- Padlet

Happy Tuesday everyone! It's Princess Kay here...Queen Pea is on a much needed vacation.  Today for technology Tuesday I want to share one of the websites my third grade class loved to use this past year....Padlet.

Basically, this web based program allows you to make an interactive, collaborative wall.  There are endless possibilities for how to use this in a classroom. It is super easy for students to use.  I would set up a wall and then Padlet gives you a QR code that links to the wall's URL.  I would print off the QR code and my students could just scan it and add their response to the question at the top of the wall.  It was in real time so the students could see each others' responses and I could even put it up on the smartboard.

I used it to informally assess what they were reading during read to self.  The kids loved doing this because they got to see what others were reading.

  

 

I also used it as a way to have them assess their own literature circles.  M kids are very honest when assessing themselves as you can tell.  I have had them record their lit circles as well and those are also every enlightening!

 Check out just a few resources on padlet....or google it like I do! (my third graders would tell you that google is my best friend!):

This website is full of awesome tech ideas and is worth checking out for more than his ideas on how to use padlet!

 Here is a handout that Queen Pea came up with for our school's Technology Show and Share:

NWCS Tech Show and Share-Padlet

There are endless ways to use Padlet in the classroom and I am excited to come up with more ways to use it in the upcoming school year.  The possibilities are endless!

We would love for you to share ideas of how you use Padlet in your room or get a chance to see how it works! Head on over to the Padlet we set up to share your ideas!

Friday Fun

  Fridays are the best day of the week when you teach school.  Fridays are filled with a sense of anticipation of the weekend.  This year our speech schedule was super busy on Friday.  Lady A and I have vowed never to do that again.  Fridays are for fun.  On Fridays, you never know what may happen.
  Today I am going to share the Princess's latest thrift store find,  (Cue Macklemore singing "I'm gonna pop some tags.")  As I have said before we are big thrift store, dollar store, make it yourself people.  Whenever we are near a thrift store, we always stop in to check it out.  This past Tuesday we were in Goodwill when we found this gem.

You know this young lady, don't you?

   Olivia is the main character in a series of books written and drawn by Ian Falconer.  Princess loves Olivia because she is a pig after her own heart.  She loves to perform and her life is a vintage lover's dream.  Princess loves the vintagey colors and illustrations in Olivia books.

This is an Olivia theatre (Olivia would never spell it the American way too provincial.)  When you open it up it looks like this.

 

See this insert.

It had even more set backgrounds and characters.

     Indoor recess in third grade may never be the same.   Princess is in a quandary....should she laminate these pieces to keep them safe from grubby fingers?  Everything is a pretty hefty cardstock weight.  She is afraid laminating will take away from the muted tones. What do you think?

Oh and by the way, she paid a whopping $3 for this.  There is nothing like a thrift store find to make your heart soar.

Thumbnail Thursday

   Hasn't Pinterest and teaching blogs just completely changed your life?!  I began teaching back in the days when a copy machine was simply high tech.  I hand drew verb cards when I was back in college and painstakingly colored each one.  Newbies like the princess have no idea how good they have it.
   Thursdays are the day I share others' wonderful ideas with you.  There are so many great ideas out there.  Once you start clicking, hours will fly by.

InTech Insights Blog

 
 I came across this blog when I was looking for ideas for our teachers to move beyond using technology just for practice and drill.  She has a ton of great ideas for real teachers and they range from tablet to web based technology.  She hasn't posted since March, but what she has on there will get your brain humming.

Picture of the Day - Science Notebooking Blog

 I saw this idea and loved it.  On the blog, she describes a science class where a teacher warms up with a picture such as this.  He has the students make five observations. Then he makes the students make five inferences. Finally he has the students make five predictions.  We turned it into a bulletin board outside the speech room.  We did a weekly picture.  Our students made five observation, five inferences and five connections.  It was great fun...although Lady A (my trusty assistant said finding the pictures to fit all grades was sometimes a challenge.  Since she is my lifeline most of the time, I let her whine now and then.)

Rockabye Butterfly Blog

 
    Rockabye Butterfly is an awesome blog that has great workbox ideas.  In the summer with my wee special ones, I do work baskets (TEACCH style.)  I made the pre-writing practice books like seen above.  I laminated them and had my kids dry erase markers with them.  They were wonderful.

  I know these are three somewhat unrelated thumbnails, but that is what's great about the digital age...there is something for everyone!

Word Wednesday

    I added a center component to the speech room about five years ago because I was so tired of passive students sitting at my table.  Since then the challenge has been to find resources for them to use for self practice and practice with a buddy.  Many of my fellow SLPs have wonderful blogs and have created a wealth of great activities.  The one thing I have found missing is pictures.  I love all the great activities, but they are often just with text.  I don't know about you, but my caseload is heavy on the K-2 end.  Many of my kiddos are also struggling readers.  If they are going to do self practice, I have got to have pictures....so what does a techy SLP do?  Make her own, of course.

   For work on synonyms and antonyms, I created this Cherry Pie game ( Have you seen the cute Synonym rolls pins on Pinterest?  I guess I just had food on the brain!)

  Each of the cherry pairs has either a set of synonyms or antonyms.  My students sort them into the correct pie plate.  They get practice with antonyms and synonyms as well as knowing the difference between the two concepts.  It is great for my kids who do great with synonyms only to get confused when I switch to antonyms and heaven forbid I should do a mixed drill!

  I also had single cherries that the must use to match up a pair and decide if they are synonyms or antonyms before dropping them in the pan.

 

 You can download the set here.  I printed them on cardstock, laminated and then cut them out (okay, let's me real...I had m SLP-As cut them out....I am quite sure cutting out a hundred little cherries is in there job description.)  I purchased the pie pans from the dollar store.  I thought about printing blank cherries so my kiddos would also have to create their own....but let's be real, there is not an elementary school student alive who could write small enough to fit on those cherries!

Technology Tuesday - Perfect Captions

       The other thing that kept me so busy this year was a special education innovation grant that I authored.  It allowed us to purchase 63 iPads that I was in charge of.  Our school district is still investigating the concept of 1:1, so this was a trial run.  And "trial" it was at times.  However what fun we had learning.  The princess piloted 1:1 in her classroom for part of the day and the speech room went high tech this year.  There are so many awesome blogs and ideas out there.  Each Tuesday, I am going to share something we have learned.

     

    Today's app is Perfect Captions. 

 This free little app is designed to add fun captions to your photos.  It is super easy to use.  Open the app and either take a picture or use a picture from your camera roll.  Use your fingers to open a text box.  Type in your caption and add an arrow.  Super simple!  

     A first grader showed me this app.  He was taking a book and looking for nouns.  He snapped a picture ("See, I don't even have to open the book because the cover has nouns!" Such a cutie.). He made a text box and wrote out the nouns. He then selected send and emailed it to his teacher.  Our teachers took it a step further and used it for literary responses.

This from a second grade classroom.

  This is from Princess's third grade class.  Don't you just love the spelling.

This is also from Princess's class.  She had to have a little meeting about just what makes a good response.  Technology does not mean immediate improvement in skills.

 Then she got this...overachiever or just maybe if  "I write more, I get to keep the iPad longer!"

I love the questions about words in this one.  I hope to introduce this app to our speech centers next year.  

If you would like more information and ideas for this app, here is the handout created for our teachers.  If you have other ideas for ways to use this app, we would love to hear them!

  

Mondays Musings

   Obviously keeping a blog while in your first year of teaching and in the midst of a SLP shortage was a little harder than we anticipated!  It was quite the busy year for both of us.  However we ( well really I....the princess loves to offer advice, but the nuts and bolts stuff is not her thing) are determined to do this blog thing.  So here I go again....with a few changes.

   Mondays are going to be my musing day....who knows what I might write about...the teacher evaluation system....reform....my messy house....even my hot flashes ( you young things may think that's odd, but there is a whole host of your veteran colleagues fanning themselves shouting "Preach it sister!)  Today I am going to share the Father's Day present I put together for my hubby and my son's    FIL.  You see we are fairly new grandparents with two beautiful (and of course gifted, intelligent blah blah blah) grand babies.  Of the four grandparents, three of us are educators.  Now that is just a bundle of parenting advice just waiting to be dispensed.  When I came across this book, I knew we had to have it.

   I purchased the book and many of the items the book says is essential for babysitting a grandpa and made gift baskets like these for each grandpa.

      

      Aren't they cute?  I just love a book that you can bring to life!  The great thing about this book is that it is entirely true....at least in my husband's case.  When he "babysits" his grandkids rule the roost.  Now Grandpa T. Might be a different story...he is a principal after all.  Of course...a sticky bundle of energy somersaulting her way across the room while singing the Barney song has been known to melt the sternest of hearts!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads who make a difference in our kids lives!