When I was working as an SLP doing group language activities for early childhood students with a developmental delay, the only way I could get them to sit still and pay attention for 20-30 minutes was to engage them in a multi-sensory experience. Some of my favorite activities involved actual books or stories I invented. One activity I base on the book, The Napping House, by Audrey Wood. I brought […]
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27
Feb
2018
The Best Resource Room Ever UPDATED!
About 4 years ago I asked one of the teachers I work with if she would share with our viewers how she organized her room with structure and visual supports for her students with resource services. That video to date has had over 56,000 views! Now, Chloe Diedam has a new and much larger classroom space that she has organized like a pro! She has created a peaceful, functional, and […]
Read moreWhen I first heard of these top ten influence factors for student achievement, I was actually surprised at which ones rated the highest and which ones I would have rated higher. I was also surprised at which ones were rated the lowest especially just how low student mobility was rated. I would have thought that our transient students would be at a higher risk for negative influence on student achievement […]
Read moreHow often do you see something that you say, I wish I had that when I was a kid, or I wish I had that when my kids were little! I’ve discovered something that apparently has been around for several years, but I’m just now finding out about it! I plan to keep these packed away until I have grandchildren of my own. Creating Memories has always been a “thing” […]
Read moreI don’t know about you, but I work best if I have all the tools I need for my work close at hand. I hate doing something twice. I hate needing to stop any forward motion toward a goal just to fix something, to look for the right equipment, to gather the right materials….whatever. When I’m in the groove, I just want to keep going. Part of my need for […]
Read moreOnce again, reading comprehension is that part of reading that seems to be the last frontier. We all need to make sure that we are presenting all of the components of reading comprehension if we expect students to fully understand what they are reading. Teaching students how to use their schema plus evidence in a story to form an inference can actually be a lot of fun. Take a look […]
Read moreIt’s a new year and I’m ready with new and exciting ideas! I’ve been targeting Reading Comprehension because it seems to be that piece that causes issues with students once they master decoding. You’ll see two concrete ideas on how to introduce the concept of deciding what’s important while reading. Students need to understand that everything in a story is not important so filtering out the fluff is a must […]
Read moreYou know how much I LOVE visuals! I especially love it when I can use concrete items to teach a concept. When you have a strong visual like this, you’ve got a winner! I found today’s 3D example in a book by Tanny McGreager called Comprehension Connections. This is just one more great example from her book that I’m excited to share. She uses several very creative, concrete examples and […]
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