Coming back from Winter Break, I had a couple of girls want to be "The Teacher." I said okay and asked what they had in mind. They wanted to something other than guided reading. After asking more questions I pulled out ideas like animals, camping, or rain forest. I have three second grade reading/math groups and they each chose something different. The fun part was working out how IEP goals were going to fold into the mix. In some cases, it was easier said than done.

These guys have free PECS too but I love how they have stored them. I like said above I don't tend to hang on to my pictures but this would be an easy way to keep them and a place where I can send teachers who are looking for one or two things without having to do it for them.



I use PECS for more than creating schedules for students. I also create games, books, and activities for them because some have such large language deficits it helps them out. I like this mat because its simple and an easy way for students to build vocabulary around a words with out me having to do tons of prep.



I hope I have inspired you to try something new or started the wheels moving on tweaking something that you do all ready. Have a great weekend and check the out posts.

I was at a training last week that highlighted different Gifted and Talented strategies for classroom teachers to use in their classrooms and Tag Galaxy has become my new best friend. Like many teachers, we knew that anytime you can tie pictures to words even the simple ones, students are more likely to make meaning and connect it to themselves. Plus, to  move words from short term to long term memory students have to build personal relevance with the words. Pictures do that. I have for the longest time used Google Images to do this. But Tag Galaxy is even better than that.

 First when you put in any word, Tag Galaxy creates a sun and satellites. You will want to stick with the sun. the satellites are smaller pictures that tie to your word search but they are not as effective at getting at what you are looking for.



In my search, I used Italian Greyhound. the sun is all the pictures out there and the satellites are everything from dog, puppy, sight hounds, and Italian. If you click on the sun, it will enlarge and you can surf the sun for the picture you are looking for. (Like with all picture searches, I would go out first and make sure that they are clean if you have students using it.)




Once you pick a picture, it will take you to the original picture source. You cannot save from the Sun or print.

Going back to the G/T presentation and what you could do with students--I have a group of 5th graders that I could see using this to pull pictures for their weekly spelling words instead of me doing it or having them draw the pictures. I have always tried to find ways for my students build their own personal relevance with words.  Not only to help their reading and writing but to increase their own vocabularies so they have a greater background knowledge to pull from.

Until next time.

This year I have one group of Wilson and they are tech savvy second graders.There classroom teachers use their Smart Boards for Fundations. It has been fun moving daily lessons to Smart Board. With this group moving to a new book--Book 3. I decided to move the whole lesson to my Smart Board. I still make words on my table. If you are looking for Sounds and Letters for your Smart Board I have one here.

Moving this group from things being placed on the table (as the directions tell you) to being on my Smart Board has changed how they interact with the words. It seems to be sticking more. Not sure but hey if it helps them get the words, strategies, and skills stick--then I'll create it.

I only put the reading day on my Smart Board because the spelling is spelling--yes they would love it I gave them the answers but that not the point. The reading one you can download from Dropbox. Its in Power Point, so you can make changes to meet the needs of your group.

Have a great weekend.

I have spent the better part of my break trying to figure out how to increase student access to text without changing the depth of knowledge. Easier said then down. Well almost--until I stumbled okay fell into a feature in Boardmarker that can be found in 6, Studio and plus-symbolate. Talk about a blessing--a whole lot less cutting and pasting and more learning.

Symbolate in a nutshell adds pictures to words in a sentence. It was so excited to share that I created my first video. I'm going to try it next week with a student with autism to see if it helps him answer questions after he has read. What started this was this student who does better when pictures are attached to what he needs to do. So, knowing that answering basic who, what, when, where questions is tough on a good day that perhaps adding pictures would help him understand and answer comprehension questions after he has read. I can see doing this for other things too like a unit math test--not to change the work but to increase access to the text.

This quick and easy adaptation to text is an instructional accommodation. As an access accommodation that provides access to the core curriculum and doesn't affect the mastery level expected of students.



I've included a couple that I have created to use when I have the student in Wilson. If these work for him than I can see using it for other things like math.

Don't forget that everything in my store will be on sale Monday and Tuesday (12/2 and 12/3). Have a great week!

We have all familiar with Common Core but our parents well that's a whole different thing. If your parents are like mine, understanding Common Core is more than a challenge.  Explaining what it is and how it will change things is hard if not close to impossible. Early this week, I came across a wonderful website that breaks it down for parents. The Parent Toolkit was designed to help parents track and support their child’s progress from preschool to graduation from High School.

NBC News and education company Pearson have come together to form Parent Toolkit, a plain-talk, grade-by-grade digital guide to Common Core and benchmarks for each grade. Parents can drill down by grade to see what the math and English language arts requirements are, and get sample problems that illustrate the concept.

Since parents are also their children’s teachers, the site provides ideas for everyday ways to support what your child’s learning at school. For instance, if he’s working on fractions, give him a real-world lesson by dividing a sandwich. The site is also planning to add social and health and wellness milestones for each grade in 2014.

A heads up I'll be throwing a sale at my Teachers Pay Teachers store the beginning of next month.

The last month or so I've had a wonderful time reviewing a produce from SmileMakers. I use timers for everything. I have a stash. Everyone laughs because I often have two or three timers out for groups-one for me for the group time; one for a specific task that they do daily like sounds and letters; and a third should a student need a minute or two. This year I have several students who need visual support to manage time. I reviewed the Time Tracker
Visual Timer & Clock.

I loved:

• 3 colored lights and 6 sound effects that alert children to time remaining
• Helps students learn to manage time 
•  Viewing and a large, easy-to-read LCD display
• Time break down: 80%, 15%, and 5%

• Poor directions; not easy to change times
• The main drawback is that the controls are awkward
• Engineering is horrible
• No AC Adapter and to use 4 AA batteries

There is both a manual and an automatic mode, but they are both pretty similar. "Manual" means you set the amount of time for each phase, along with the optional sounds. "Automatic" means you set the total time, and the percentage of the total for each phase. Once you have a standard one set, you can reuse it but if you need to change it you have to do some button-pushing.

I was not a good speller growing up. I was never given strategies to help me just list after list and sentence after sentence in the hopes that I could become a great speller.  I think it was when my family bought our first computer did I begin to see some light. But I still had to work at it. Even today, I type everything, but that does little when it comes to teaching spelling. I have created a list of spelling apps that I use with students to help them practice spelling.

Phonetically Regular, One-Syllable Words

Sound Beginnings by Preschool University

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sound-beginnings/id541898864?mt=8

 This app matches pictures at the beginning, middle and ends of consonant-vowel-consonant words and by matching letters to sounds. By touching the letter, the user can hear the associated sound; touching pictures allows the player to hear the name of the picture.

ABC Spelling Magic Short Vowel Words by Preschool University

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/abc-spelling-magic-short-vowel/id429301553?mt=8

The Word Building game includes only the three letters needed; the Moveable Alphabet includes all letters. Consonants are in red; vowels are in blue. Touching the letters reveals the sound. Touch the picture to hear the word; then drag letters into the boxes under the picture to spell the word. Incorrect spellings won’t stick! The letters of correctly spelled words blend into the word.

ABC Spelling Magic 2 Consonant Blends by Preschool University

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/abc-spelling-magic-2-consonant/id438133737?mt=8

ABC Spelling Magic, Spelling Magic 2 focuses on beginning and ending consonant blends and double letter spellings (e.g., ff, ll, ss). Touching the picture reveals the oral word; touching the spaces below the picture reveals the sounds; touching the letters reveals the corresponding sounds.

ABC Spelling Magic 4 Silent Final e by Preschool University

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/abc-spelling-magic-4-silent/id598794973?mt=8

In the Short/Long Vowel game, the CVC picture and word appear first (e.g., cap). When the player drags the final silent e into place, the picture changes (cape) and the corresponding word is spoken.

Simplex Spelling Phonics 1

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/simplex-spelling-phonics-1/id481553580?mt=8

Students learn how to spell the words on the given lists and also learn common patterns in spelling, which will help them spell words that aren't included on the app's embedded lists. The voice commands are clear and helpful, as are the color clues and clearly laid out spelling rules that pop up when players choose to get a hint on the words they misspell. This app supports multiple users, so it's easy to keep track of progress for each student. The app comes close to matching Wilson Reading Systems scope and sequence.

Phonetically Regular, Two-Syllable Words

ABC Spelling Magic 3 by Preschool University

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/abc-spelling-magic-3-multiple/id446294881?mt=8

This app builds two-syllable words with 4 – 5 letters. Most are closed syllables, but a few examples have open syllables.

High Frequency Words

English Words 1-300: Everyone Learns by Teacher Created Materials ($8.99)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/english-words-1-300-everyone/id659204648?mt=8

This app offers seven interactive games and four learning activities designed to read and spell 300 of the most common high frequency words. Touch the robot to hear the word; then write the word below. Then tap the check at the end of the word to hear the word pronounced and spelled. Instant feedback will not let you make a mistake. At any time, the player can easily access oral instructions and tap the words to hear them pronounced. Images and sound are professionally produced.

Customized Word Lists

 SpellingCity by SpellingCity

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spellingcity/id538407602?mt=8

Although the provided word lists are not particularly useful for increasing spelling achievement, one can easily create customized lists to suit any purpose. This is particularly useful for students learning to spell advanced words. On a PC, the adult creates an account at www.vocabularyspellingcity.com. Then one can easily create a new list with a specific focus. After the words are entered, one selects definitions and sentences or creates original text. Once done, users can play a game on the iPad or computer.

These are the ones that I have tried-some I love and a few my students dislike but I have seen their spelling improve over time. I'd love to hear of others--please share. Have a great week.

Throughout the previous school year, I collected 200 plus apps for student use. The problem-well-there is no way we would use all of them. So I had to come up with a plan on how I wanted to start the year off. That plan had to include attacking SAMR.

I'm sure I'm not alone when it comes down to downing apps with the promise to play with them all later. Figure out which ones will work best for what and which ones are not so good. So in the ten months since I received my iPads I figure I have downloaded close to 200+ apps. Some great and others I wish I got remove from my cloud.

I prefer having my apps organized by Bloom's thinking which they have been since the beginning. (I talk about that in an earlier post there.) The problem was that keeping them all organized was tough. This year I'm moving to more SAMR thinking, so the apps that I want my students to be need to provide more than one way of thinking. Many are student favorites like Explain Everything and Haiku Deck. Others are plug and play like magnetic letters and all the math practice apps.

The plan this year is to "Teach Above the Line" when students use technology.  The apps I have pulled together represent a couple from each bubble with the plan being that these are the apps students will use the most and are now easy to find since they are not buried.

With hope, I will not take students to long to understand how we use apps when they come and I get some great products.  I'm back to school soon. Keep an eye out for my up-coming sale at my Teacher pay Teachers store. Enjoy summer while it lasts.

 The standards are color coded and are broken down for easy navigation. From this menu, I can open up the standards to the specific grade level targets.

 The piece that I really love is once I open the specific target are the strategies. They provide other ideas in how to work on the target. From there I have the option to enter notes, precursors and successors for that target. I love that fact that I don't have to go looking to for the information what skills they should have mastered todo the grade level skill. And if students have mastered the grade level skill how to push the skill to the next level. I can send the task to classroom teachers with the share button. Mentoring Minds highlights if there is something they don't need to  know at a specific grade level. (Love this!)


The second section Strategies  has tons of information from accommodations and management to RTI and Critical Thinking. Each one has a page of ideas that can be easily implemented. Think twenty books in one place-makes planning with twenty books to one app. Just like there flipped charts in all right there. No more trying to remember where my Depth of Knowledge chart is or where the question stems are Bloom's.

 The last section Vocabulary covers all the common core math words that students need to know. I wish that there were pictures to support the words. But having short and simple definitions makes planning word walls easier.


I was very unsure when I bought this app that it would have everything I was looking for. As you can see you get tons for the twenty dollars.  I have bought the ELA app as well but have not played with it but understand it is set-up the same way. I'm cheap when it comes to buying apps but I love this one just for the simple fact that the strategies and what comes before and after the target are outlined for me. Its less stuff to find or to bring home when I'm planning. This app has been helpful when planning math for one of my tutoring clients. I can't wait to use the app when school starts.

I'm enjoying the last days of my summer break. Happy End of Summer and Beginning of the School Year.

This coming year, my new mate is split between two schools half time. Question: How do you share RTI information with team members who spend half of their day in another building? Answer: With a Google Site.
As I have shared earlier, I want my team to have there own chart with just the identified students and maybe the tiered students within those groups to track growth. Just like our general education teachers have for all their students.

It's hard to believe that school will be starting soon. I spent my morning unpacking my room. I'll share pictures of my new way to store my iPads later this week.  Have a great week. If your traveling--safe travels.