VoiceThread
Sight Word Shockwave
We were looking for a computer-based way to determine which sight words we needed to teach which students. This one met our needs. Basic sight words are flashed one at a time, and you (or parent volunteer, or best reader) answers Yes or No depending if the child got it right or not. At the end, you print out how the child did.
http://rbeaudoin333.homestead.com/sightvocab_1.html#anchor_383
Scroll down to “Cando’s Flash Cards — Fry’s Hundreds List.
Parenting The Spirited Child
I love these 7 tips!
Fatherhood and the Fiery Child: 7 Tips for Parenting Your Spirited Child
1. Keep your cool: First and foremost, don’t let your child lead the situation (or better yet, don’t follow their lead), and make sure that you’re in control of your own mind and emotions, so that your own reaction doesn’t escalate the situation.
2. Practice diversionary tactics: Knowing how and when to use diversion to ‘break the spell’ can be the most powerful tool in your parenting skillset, as some of our kids act as if they are under the thrall of their emotions and they need something to break the cycle. A simple quiet “Look at this” or “Let’s go see what’s happening in the back yard” in a calm voice works wonders to shift their focus and help them move past the emotional issue at hand. This doesn’t mean that we ignore or gloss over their feelings – we are just giving them space to change their focus, and we can talk over the underlying issue when the yelling and screaming is done.
3. Use the sidelines: Many times, if there are other kids around, it’s best if we can take our child away for a bit until they have gained a little control over themselves again. I explain to mine that if she is screaming or using her body on the ‘other players’, then she needs to go ‘sit on the bench’ until she is ready to play nicely with others. Removing a kid from the situation without an explanation or a way for them to return to playing might just blow up in our face – kids need to know why, and they need an ‘out’ for their situation.
4. Please feed the animals: This may seem overly simple, but when children get hungry, they can get pretty cranky, which sets the scene for a meltdown if we aren’t careful. And some kids are very sensitive to low blood sugar or an empty belly – mine sure is! If we can address the situation and feed them before the doo doo hits the fan, or if we can ‘break the spell’ and put food in front of them, it might give us the edge we need in order to bring some order back into our chaotic family condition.
5. Follow the schedule: Some kids freak out on a regularly occurring schedule – i.e., at 3 pm everyday, little Joe loses his patience and throws a fit – and therefore knowing our own child’s schedule and adjusting our activities accordingly goes a long way toward helping things go smoothly. Consider keeping a snack bag or coloring book or favorite CD (with headphones!) at the ready, and try to feed them before the regularly scheduled meltdown happens. Or don’t schedule play dates or group activities during this time.
6. Everyone needs downtime: One of the biggest challenges for parents of young fiery children happens when they stop taking a nap during the day. Our own ‘quiet time’ disappears, and we’re left scrambling for things to fill that time with them. Even the most spirited child needs some time to play quietly by themselves, and just because they don’t need a nap anymore doesn’t mean that they don’t require some ‘down time’ to recharge. Having a special bag or box of activities just for quiet time will help us to facilitate some independent playtime for them.
7. Empower them: I’ve noticed that my daughter really needs to feel like she has some control over her life, and not just what outfit she wears or what she wants to eat. We try to give her some power over the activities in her life, and always attempt to respect her choices. We don’t let her control us or her siblings, but we do let her know that we listen and respond to her with love. Sometimes it’s as easy as allowing her to decide the order of things in her life (Get dressed before or after breakfast, sit over here or over there, turn left or right when we go for a walk, etc.), and sometimes it’s more about just listening to her and acknowledging her feelings and decisions than about ‘giving her power’.
While these spirited children may be cause for extreme frustration, and may cause us to stretch and grow as parents, our world is in need of more spirited individuals, and I can’t wait to see what gift mine brings to the world!
LEA BSV
LEA BSV (Language Experience Approach, Basic Sight Vocabulary)
Kids with high verbal intelligences will have a tough time learning basic sight words (went, they, into) by rote. But if you ask them to learn the sight words in context –in their own stories– they learn them quick and easily.
The boy who drew this picture is a first grader and fascinated by undersea stuff as well as dinosaurs. He did the picture first, then told me about the picture, which I wrote down. I read it back to him and he added more. I then asked him to read it, where he got 1 point for each word he read and I got 1 point for each word he couldn’t read yet. I then underlined some basic sight words and I pointed to each one, encouraging him to read the sentence it was in. We kept repeating this process until he knew the words when I covered up the sentence.
Make An Educational Arcade Game!
http://www.classtools.net/education-games-php/quiz
Put in 6×4*24 and 6×4 will be a question in your video game, and 24 will be the correct answer. You can then play 6 different games with your questions. Use it for vocabulary, missing letter in spelling, etc.
Copy the math facts below and paste them into the opening screen and play the game “Word Shoot” to try it out . The kids like this one the most.
4×3*12
5×3*15
6×3*18
7×3*21
8×3*24
9×3*27
3×4*12
3×5*15
3×6*18
3×7*21
3×8*24
3×9*27
FlipWords and Chicktionary
Click on the letters to spell a word. You can click up, down, left, right, or diagonally to spell it. http://www.primarygames.com/langarts/flipwords/index.htm
Another good game for spelling is Chicktionary. Use the letters on the chicken eggs to spell words.
http://www.primarygames.com/langarts/chicktionary/index.htm
Sign of the Beaver
In the book Sign of the Beaver, Attean and Matt have a little treaty where Matt will teach Attean how to read, while Attean will show Matt the ways of survival, Native American style. One thing Attean teaches Matt is how to snare rabbits. This video shows what a snare is:
http://quietube.com/v.php/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLRG6I8GIV0
A site that shows different kinds of snares Native Americans used, with good descriptions and pictures, can be found here:
http://www.wilderness-survival.net/food-2.php
Musical Intelligence
We have a large number of students who respond to music. What if you had to summarize the chapter you read in your book as a rap? Wrtie it out so it’s legible, then put it to music. Here is some background music. Use a digital recorder or video cam to record the results.
http://quietube.com/v.php/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYxzf-NQtUk&feature=related
http://quietube.com/v.php/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfQ5UA5yvwE&feature=related
Wordlist Generator
You always need a wordlist for something. Select PrePrimer, Primer, First, Second or Third Grade, select serif (where the l looks like the number 1) or non-serif (where the l looks like a line) and font size (try large).
http://www.interventioncentral.org/tools/wordlist-fluency-generator
http://photofunia.com/
Need a fun writing story starter that’s visual? Take your student’s picture and run it through http://photofunia.com. It’s Fun! It’s Photo! It’s Photofunia!