I have been avoiding posting stories about people with disabilities who have somehow overcome obstacles in life to become 'inspirational'.
This story is different, though. It is about a team of people coming together to enable a man living in a group home to communicate, marry, and have a job outside of the group home.
This story is special to me because my daughter ( back from the Peace Corps) is now part of this man's team, and when I went to ASHA this year, I met Gerald at the group home where he lives. Andorra (my daughter) recently shared this video with me and described him as "one of the coolest guys I know." Please watch! This is why I love what I do.
I like to develop units around a good book, and a friend of mine enlightened me to "The Pout-Pout Fish"!
I loved it for the rhyme, the characters, the central theme of feelings, and the humor. Your kids will love it too!
My kids need extra visual supports and extension activities to supplement mainstream books, so I have developed some and listed on TPT for a modest price.
Here's the description:
This is an literacy/activity companion pack to the book,
“The Pout-Pout Fish”. The Pout-Pout Fish book is not included—you will need to get
that separately. This pack meant for the more linguistically challenged
students and is perfect for speech/OT or speech/special ed
collaboration. This
is nice for integrating literacy and hand-on activities. You are purchasing
visuals and questions for the “Pout-Pout Fish”, an interactive book and a craftivity with an assortment
of visual supports for all. Most clipart by Smarty Symbols copyright 2016.
Enclosed:
•Visuals
for the “Pout Pout Fish” book—icons, sentence frame, wh-questions,
and a sequencing worksheet (3-8)
•‘Everyone
is a Pout-Pout’ interactive
book with simple text and icons and sentence frames for matching and building
simple sentences. Special emphasis on simple feelings. (page 9-21)
•Step by step booklet
and templates for making a Feelings Fish(23-33)
•Communication board
for the craft(Page 34)
•Yes/No and Wh-questions to go with
the Feelings
Fish craft(page 35)
• Sequence worksheet
for Feelings
Fish craft (page 36)
I looked on YouTube (which seems to have everything) and discovered this book is set to music in two distinct styles---rap and folk! Check them out with your students! Take a vote--which did they like best?
I love shorts (short films, that is)! And, I found one I can use posted originally by another blogger. The other blogger has an awesome website "Film English" and actually provides lesson plans for using short films to teach English to non-English speakers. His focus is different than mine, but many of the films he highlights can be used for a variety of purposes.
The film he highlighted recently involved an animated short---boy meets girl, both are taking photos, and they go off together. There is no dialogue---the whole scene is conveyed through body language, actions, eye gaze, and facial expressions. The animation art work was amazing, and he captured subtle gestures, eye gaze direction, and facial expressions. Kids sometimes attend to this style of film better than real life (as in Thomas videos!). I would probably use this with older elementary, and middle school students.
There are lots ways to go with this. Here are just a few ideas.
1. Have your students act out the scenes without words. Can they catch the subtle gestures for things like "Wait a minute", or "Copy me"?
Wait a minute!
2. Have your students tell you what each character is thinking in different scenes based on eye gaze. You can stop the video at different spots for this.
What are they thinking about?
3. Have the students retell the story with words. A graphic organizer or cue cards for characters, setting, first event, problem, and solution might help.
4. Since nothing is actually said in this film, it's great for inferences. Questions can be simple like "What time of year is this?" "Where do you think this story takes place?" "What do you think went wrong with the camera?" "How do you think the girl got to the other side of the canal?" but since there is no text or dialogue, the kids have to figure out the answers from the video. With older kids, it might be a great way to actually teach them what the word 'inference' means.
When I was a kid, my dad would scoop me up and dash to a train crossing when one came. We would count the cars, and wait for the caboose. Back in the early 60s, we sometimes rode a train from where we lived in Washington DC to Lexington KY. We then moved to High Bridge KY which hosted an impressive bridge over the Kentucky River. At the time, it was possible to climb onto the bridge and cross the river. (Forget about safety rules!)
I still love trains, and our family has taken some great trips across the country on Amtrak. Recently my husband and I traveled across Java, Indonesia among volcanoes and rice paddies by train.
Yes, I'm on this train as it goes around a curve in Java. This shot was taken from the window.
Without actually looking dangerous, trains are a nice springboard for use in a speech therapy session or an EC classroom. Many kids have an interest in them, and there are myriad therapy materials available which use trains (e.g. Thomas) as the subject. I've jumped into the fray with my own set of materials here. You can use this in a small group, and then take off with it. Bring in some big cardboard boxes and set up a pretend train in the classroom! Kids will love it!
Here's the description:
This is an literacy/activity pack for the thematic unit
of trains.
This
pack meant for the more linguistically challenged students and is perfect for
speech/OT or speech/special ed collaboration. This is nice for
integrating literacy and hand-on activities.
You are purchasing two interactive
books and a craftivity with an assortment
of visual supports for all. Most clipart by Smarty Symbols copyright 2016. The special train
clipart is from Charlotte’s
Clips.
Enclosed:
•“Lots
of Trains” real photo
interactive book with manipulative icons and sentence frame (3-14)
•‘Where
is the Train Going?’interactive book with simple text and icons
and sentence frames for matching and building simple sentences. Special
emphasis on prepositions. (page 15-27)
• 9 page step by step
booklet for making a Name Train(28-36)
•Communication board
for the craft(Page 37)
•Yes/No and Wh-questions to go with
the Name
Train craft(page 38)
• Sequence worksheet
for Name
Train craft (page 39)
