Do your students need Spanish enrichment activities for those times when their work is completed but others in the class need more time and assistance? Here are some links that can provide some enrichment solutions for them---and you!
Headphones may be needed for some links to keep the peace in the classroom!
www.123teachme.com/learn_spanish/spanish_alphabet Online audio Spanish alphabet---helps students learn the correct pronunciation of Spanish letters and words from the very beginning (Please use with headphones in the classroom.) Also, there is access here to an online English/Spanish and Spanish/English dictionary.
www.onlinefreespanish.com/aplica/lessons/alphabet.htm Online audio and pictorial Spanish alphabet (Please use with headphones in the classroom.) This is another great beginner’s link for learning correct Spanish pronunciation.
www.behindthename.com/nmc/spa.php List of boys’ and girls’ Spanish names and their English translations
www.fastq.com/~jbpratt/education/mypages/vocabulary/vocabularylistes.html Site for basic Spanish vocabulary, phrases, and some sentences
quizlet.com/subject/spanish/ A great resource for creating Spanish flashcards!
www.quia.com/servlets/quia.activities.common.ActivityPlayerAP_rand=1954273284&AP_activityType=12&AP_urlId=2599&AP_continuePlay=true&id=2599 Practice the Spanish numbers from 10-100 (by 10s)---If correct, you will uncover a secret puzzle!
atschool.eduweb.co.uk/rgshiwyc/school/curric/Spanish/Numeros/2.htm Practice the Spanish numbers from 11-20 with a “click and drag” activity. Just click on “Verifica” to check your answers.
www.myhq.com/public/v/a/vanderwerken/#101556030769311766 Study your Spanish numbers and other Spanish vocabulary from many different categories. A very comprehensive website for learning Spanish words and phrases!
www.hello-world.com/Spanish/learn/Numbers.php Online audio practice with Spanish numbers---Great preparation for our Spanish Bingo sessions!
www.hello-world.com/Spanish/EN_Spanish.php Games, puzzles, songs, and other activities make learning Spanish at home fun!
Teachers and parents need good resources at their fingertips in order to best address the needs of the children in their lives challenged with ADHD. Here is a set of links to resources that will enable you to get the assistance needed to manage this issue:
For Children and Adults with ADD/ADHD:
Many times, it just takes the right resources, strategies, and tools to address the struggles of ADHD! You can do it, you can do it if you put your mind to it!
Joan
www.ReadingFocusCard.com an effective reading tool for ADHD
Good teachers have a strong interest in and dedication to the success of their students. They know that ALL students CAN succeed---even those challenged with learning disabilities and differences. Parents, too, know they can help their children thrive and enjoy much success in the classroom with the use of the right tools, some good organizational skills, and a few special strategies.
These teachers and parents will want to know that a new reading and learning tool called the Reading Focus Card, invented by a St. Louis educator, was issued a U.S. patent on July 28, 2009. This new tool called the Reading Focus Card (Patent 7,565,759) can assist children and adults of all ages challenged with focusing/reading issues such as those often associated with ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, and other learning disabilities. It is also an excellent tool for young, new readers because it helps to promote left-to-right eye movement. Using the Reading Focus Card can even help promote accurate test taking with machine-scored answer sheets.
Joan Brennan, the teacher/inventor, says that using the Reading Focus Card can immediately benefit many students struggling with different reading issues. She adds that parents will be pleased with the non-invasive and inexpensive features of this special device. Teachers will appreciate the fact that this reading and learning tool supports differentiated instruction. Both parents and teachers will be happy to learn that the Reading Focus Card from Brennan Innovators, LLC is made right here in the USA. In fact, all services and support staff for the company including manufacturing are located in the Greater St. Louis Area.
To access information about a focus study of the Reading Focus Card, please visit http://www.BrennanInnovators.com/study.html. To learn more about the tool itself, please visit http://www.ReadingFocuscard.com.
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It has been determined that there are approximately 3.5 million school-aged children in the U.S. who have been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD (Attention Deficit Disorder-Hyperactive or Non-hyperactive type). At the same time, it has been estimated that as many as 1.5 to 2 million more children may have the disorder but are as yet undiagnosed. Those who are affected by this condition have difficulty focusing on tasks, reading, and thinking. Although the treatment for the disorder often involves medication, at least in part, there are other options that can prove to be of benefit, especially if a non-invasive approach is preferred.
There is the increasing opinion that many children who have been diagnosed with ADD/ADHD, may actually be facing a totally different challenge that does not require medication at all. In those cases, very often something called vision therapy can prove to be "just what the doctor ordered" and without any invasive side effects. This can also be true for another condition called dyslexia, a variable often familial learning disability involving difficulties in acquiring and processing language that is typically manifested by a lack of proficiency in reading, spelling, and writing. Vision therapy involves visiting a specialist such as a behavioral optometrist (or developmental optometrist) for related testing and evaluation. If the child is considered a good candidate after this evaluation, vision therapy sessions are begun, which usually include various approaches to reading. One of these approaches may involve reading through colored but transparent overlays or filters. Each individual may experience a different result with each individual colored filter used. Sometimes, discovering just the right color of filter can mean all the difference in the world for an individual reader. It has been helpful to many children and adults.
You have a strong interest and dedication to excellent education through differentiated instruction. You know that ALL students CAN succeed---even those greatly challenged with learning disabilities and differences!
Because of this, you will want to know that a new reading and learning tool called the Reading Focus Card recently became available. This non-invasive tool can assist students of all ages challenged with focusing/reading issues such as those often associated with ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, and/or other learning disabilities/differences. In addition, it is an excellent tool for young, new readers in the primary grades because it promotes left-to-right eye movement. As a veteran educator of more than 15 years here in St. Louis and the inventor of this tool, I can attest that this Reading Focus Card can make a difference for many students struggling with these issues. In addtion, this reading and learning tool supports differentiated instruction.
To access information about the 2007 focus study of the Reading Focus Card, please visit http://www.brennaninnovators.com/study.html. To learn even more about this helpful reading tool, please visit www.readingfocuscard.com. Also, please feel free to call 314-892-3897 for more information about this inexpensive, yet effective, reading and learning tool called the Reading Focus Card.
With ADHD, Soothe the Five Senses
It can be more than challenging to overcome the symptoms of ADHD, especially when trying to complete a project or assignment at school or in the workplace. There are some techniques that can bring immediate results. Discovering what works, however, may take a bit of trial and error on your part.
Sometimes, it takes some "soothing" techniques to tame the ADHD "monster" inside an individual. Some of these techniques may involve connections with some of the five senses. Try these approaches the next time you are trying to meet a work deadline:
1. Knead or squeeze a stress ball or Nerf ball. Also try reading in a rocking chair or glider to improve comprehension/ retention (soothing to the sense of touch).
2. Softly play wordless music (such as classical instrumental) at a low but audible volume (soothing to the sense of hearing).
3. Try reading, writing, or printing your work on pastel-colored paper. For many ADHDers, working with or on white paper is "offensive" to the senses. (soothing to the sense of sight).
4. Have available a cool, iced glass of water (in summer) or a hot cup of decaf tea (in winter) as you focus on your work. Also, try chewing some sugar-free gum in your favorite flavor. Refresh as needed throughout your work session (satisfying/ soothing to the sense of taste).
5. Try aromatics such as various potpourri scents in the room were the work will be done (satisfying/ soothing to the sense of smell).
You may even consider several combinations of the above at the same time before you come upon the right "formula" that works for you. Everyone is different. Experiment with different types of instrumental music, scents, teas, etc.
Hope you find these techniques of some benefit:
Joan
www.readingfocuscard.com For ADHD tools that can make a difference
Many high school teachers know of the Botball organization that makes the study of robotics possible for their students. However, did you know that in recent years, middle school students have also been invited to participate in the renown program? Yes, exposing students in this age group to the study of robotics is possible through this great organization.
Last year and for the first time in the history of not only our school but of our entire parochial system, our school was able to form a Botball Team that fully participated in the 2008 Greater St. Louis Regional Botball Tournament (April 2008). Our school helped to sponsor this voluntary team of 15 students. With a generous scholarship award from Botball (varies from year to year depending on available funding) and supplemental funding from our own school through local merchant shopping credits, it was possible for our students to learn more than even their teacher could ever have expected.
Not only did these young students learn about the science of robotics, but also about information and concepts from many other content areas. Numerous concepts in engineering, physics, algebra, and geometry were involved. At the same time, students improved their writing and technological skills through detailed journaling and data collection with the online submission of that information. The team also learned all about team work and communication between individuals and the small groups within the whole team. Organizational skills were very important since three deadlines for the submission of data were required as part of the Botball process. A wonderful lesson about respect for others and their ideas also became part of the learning process on this project.
The students built an autonomous robot---that is, no remote control devices, etc. to determine the mechanical operations. This autonomous robot, which the team named "Earl", was programmed with a code uploaded to the robot by means of a computer. The students on the team learned an Interactive C program provided online through the Botball organization's website (see below for link). The code developed with this program became the sequence of "moves" made by "Earl" in the practice sessions and in the competition. The students were the programmers---not the teacher. All materials were provided through the registration and participation fees (scholarship covered a good deal of this cost).
The Botball process began with registration in the fall of 2007. A two-day workshop at SIU-E was conducted in late January 2008 (for 3 team members and their team leader, the teacher). Continuous work was done by the student team from early February 2008 right up until competition day in late April 2008. The students were outstanding in their ability to stay focused and maintain an extraordinary positive attitude even when "things went awry". Needless to say, this teacher was extremely proud of her students.
To learn more about this outstanding opportunity for middle school students that allows for regional competition across the USA and beyond, please visit botball.org . You will be glad you did. We certainly are!
Joan
www.readingfocuscard.com
www.brennaninnovators.com
It's about time that teachers receive at least as much recognition as do TV celebrities! It is the teachers of America who work diligently each day in their respective classrooms "wearing many more hats" than any other actor ever wears in a single Emmy season.
Today's American teachers are asked to be and actually take on the part of a parent when a child needs consoling. They act as nurses when one of their students falls on the playground resulting in a scraped knee. They are artists when their classrooms are decorated in all colors of the rainbow---for every single season, holiday, or celebration all year long. They take on the work of writers when asked to help work on the school newspaper or yearbook, and even help write an IEP---usually, at no additional financial compensation. They often feel that they must almost become attorneys when needing to defend their own classroom discipline methods to parents and supervisors. With NCLB, teachers are directors and cheerleaders who are asked to teach and encourage students so they will pass the tests. Yes, these American teachers even become actors in their own classrooms when they don the costume of a Tom Sawyer or Anne Frank to make a literature unit "come alive" for their students.
Each year, more responsibilities are taken on by American educators who teach an entire day and then go home to plan for the other lessons to come, often after picking up their own children from school, preparing dinner, and caring for their own families. It is time to televise the Emmys for our teachers in this country. They deserve the real trophies and adulation. What a virtual reality show that would be! Dr. Bill Cosby would be a great host!
Children and adults challenged with ADD/ADHD can often learn more easily and successfully when graphic organizers are introduced during the learning process. Using a cluster format, storyboard, or other graphic organizer can mean all the difference when studying for a test, outlining a unit, writing a paper, etc. Those not challenged by learning disabilities can benefit, too. See your organizational skills take off!
The following link offers a "buffet" of various graphic organizers that will allow you to pick and choose what will work for you:
The following link might offer even more help (many more choices!):
Pick the one or ones that work best for the job/project you are trying to do.
Hope these help.
Miss Joan
There are some very easy tips that teachers can use to help their ADD/ADHD students increase the opportunities for learning success in the classroom. These tips can also contribute to an individual teacher's "peace of mind" throughout the entire school year. Here are just a few ideas as you begin to set up your classroom for the new year:
1. To keep distractions at a minimum, try to seat the ADD/ADHD student away from both the hallway and windows.
2. Arrange for the ADD/ADHD students who are challenged with distractions to be seated nearest to the place in the class where you will give directions or lectures (at least as close as possible without it appearing to be "a punishment").
3. From the first day of school, make rules clear and be sure to post them in the classroom. Remember to include logical and fair consequences as well as rewards for the behaviors.
4. Consider using what are often called "privacy boards". They can be quite inexpensive (even made from corrugated cardboard) and yet provide a priceless, "focused" view of a student's desk or other workspace thereby eliminating as many distractions for that student as possible.
5. Once in awhile, consider arranging desks in a "horseshoe" configuration to allow for discussion when appropriate. At the same time, this arrangement will permit independent work when needed.
To access more ideas for the ADD/ADHD student in your classroom, please visit http://readingfocuscard.com/strategies.html or http://brennaninnovators.com/strategies.html
I would like to pass along one more idea that I use in my classroom. Some students (ADD/ADHD or not) experience more reading comfort with this strategy:
*** Try using colored paper for printing all materials including worksheets, outlines, notes, etc. Experiment with pastels as well as bright shades. One particular color may produce the best results for a certain individual student. Those persons with ADD/ADHD challenges often find that the white background on a page of text can be (1) distracting, and (2) it decreases their ability to focus and read.
You can try out this idea (FREE!) by going to www.readingfocuscard.com and clicking on the the various color blocks at the top of the pages. By doing so, you will see what it is like to read text over each pastel shade available. I hope that this will help you and your child.
Hope your students AND you will find this strategy helpful.
Joan
http://brennaninnovators.com
I have been receiving some positive comments about the ADD/ADHD strategies posted earlier this month in my blog. Thank you to all! As we are starting to plan again for a new school year, it seemed like a good time to add a few more strategies to this list. If you have any others to add, please reply to this blog and I will put those strategies on my own list!
Here are a few additional ADD/ADHD strategies:
Politely request (as a parent) or allow (as a teacher) for the following:
1. The use of colored paper for all printed materials including worksheets, outlines, notes, etc.--- The white background of a printed page can be quite "distracting" for a person challenged with ADD/ADHD. Experiment with pastel colors as well as bright shades. One particular color may produce the best results for a certain individual.
2. The posting of all classroom rules so that they are easy to read and in full view---When students know what is expected of them, they will feel more reassured and secure.
3. Repeating directions---Students with ADD/ADHD issues need to hear things more than once. Also, present directions and instructions in various ways---in print, orally, and pictorially whenever possible.
4. Making frequent and effective eye contact with students---You can "bring back" an ADD/ADHD student with good eye contact. Do it often.
5. "Walking" the classroom---Teachers should avoid teaching "from the desk" or lectern. Using effective and appropriate gestures and genuine enthusiasm in classroom presentations will make it harder for students to daydream in class.
Hope you will find these strategies helpful, too!
For more ADD/ADHD strategies, go to http://readingfocuscard.com/strategies.html or
http://brennaninnovators.com/strategies.html
Miss Joan
We all know that for real learning success to be possible, it is most important to tailor our classroom lessons to the learning styles and interests/talents of our students. Each of us has a "tool box" of strategies to accomplish this. What are your strategies? What are your favorite lessons that manage to achieve this? How do you BEST utilize differentiated instruction techniques in your classroom from Pre-K all the way to grade 12? Let's hear about your best and favorite lessons, strategies, and techniques!
Miss Joan
www.readingfocuscard.com
http://brennaninnovators.com/strategies.html
Last week on PBS, Charlie Rose had as his guests four outstanding Teachers of the Year from 2008 and recent years. How motivated and MOTIVATING they all were! Hopefully, many of you were able to view the program (later re-broadcast on some local PBS stations).
Three of these teachers were quite young while one was more “seasoned”. All were genuinely enthusiastic and looking forward to the coming school year. Each of them was articulate, polished and professional, very informed, and innovative in the way they think and practice the art--- yes, the ART!---of teaching. Several of these teachers were from previously under-performing schools in financially challenged communities. However, that did not prevent them from achieving excellence in their profession, and more importantly, helping their students to achieve excellence in their classrooms.
Attitude is everything! Such is the case with these four outstanding teachers. Their attitudes were very positive. Each teacher had a real vision for education in our country. Currently, the American educational system needs much in the way of improvement. The 2008 Teacher of the Year, Michael Geisen, made mention of the fact that China currently has more high-achieving, “honor” students than the U.S. has (total) students. This should be a major wake-up call to all of us if we are going to enable our students to be fully prepared for this global economy that has already grown exponentially in recent years.
To do this, other skills must be measured in addition to that of reading and math proficiency. How can we accurately evaluate the all-important critical and creative thinking skills, artistic abilities, the sciences such as biology, and many others? What’s more, it is critical to remember that tests do not tell us the whole picture. Other skills and talents are definitely important and need to be measured appropriately as well. To do so, will involve innovative thinking AND teaching. Learning as much as possible about our students’ talents/interests and their learning styles early in each academic would be a good beginning. Tailoring or teaching then to those interests, talents, needs, and individual styles of learning will enable our students to achieve the goals set both by each teacher as well as those set by each community and eventually those of our country. In the current world of education, this is called differentiated instruction. The practice of this will also address the needs of those challenged with learning disabilities and differences. In fact, this approach would create a scenario where ALL “boats” would rise!
Networking opportunities for educators within their own school communities were also mentioned by these Teachers of the Year. In-house professional development sessions offering practical techniques and strategies for teachers are just what educators need and desire. Often, however, the school schedules prohibit or prevent these kinds of collaborative efforts. Often it is not about funding or finances, but it is about “creating time” for teachers to flourish and grow together.
Incentives for teaching well were also mentioned during the program. Assistance and support to under-performing teachers were also recommended. Finally, help and services for repeatedly underachieving teachers to actually transition out of the teaching profession were also suggested.
As mentioned by these fine teachers, the current state of education in the U.S. is a civil rights issue and a social justice issue. Equity for all students is possible. However, we will ALL need to “get onboard” to make it happen. Thank you, Charlie Rose, for helping to begin this all-important dialogue!
Miss Joan
http://readingfocuscard.com/focus_card.html
When working in the classroom, I find it very helpful to have a ready-to-go list of websites for parents with children challenged with ADD/ADHD. On occasion, the sheet has even helped a few of my colleagues. Here is the list I use. Feel free to download and use as you need to help make success a reality for the students in your school!
ADHD Websites
www.chadd.org - Children & Adults with ADD (CHADD)
www.add.org - National Attention Deficit Disorder Association
www.additudemag.com - ADDitude Magazine for People with ADD
www.addvance.com - ADDvance OnLine Resource for Women & Girls with ADD
www.nimh.nih.gov/healthinformation/adhdmenu.cfm -
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder link for the National Institute of Mental Health
www.oneaddplace.com - One ADD Place
www.ldonline.org - The official website of the Coordinated Campaign for Learning Disabilities.
A place for parents, educators, and kids to learn, to find help and to exchange ideas.
www.ldanatl.org - Learning Disabilities Association of America
Hope these links are helpful to you and your students!
Joan
www.readingfocuscard.com
http://brennaninnovators.com/resources.html