Birthday Cake Animated Step-by-Step

Birthday Cake is a flexible Animated Step-by-Step Counting Poem. Here are the words:

Mix up the batter

Make a birthday cake

Put it in the oven

Let’s watch it bake

Don’t forget the icing

Need some candles too

Today is someone’s birthday

Can you guess who? (yes, I know it probably should be 'whom')

Today is __________’s birthday

______ years old

Let’s add the candles.

Make a wish and blow

Happy Birthday!!!!!

This resource is available in three formats (Regular, SymbolStix, Picture Communication Symbols) and can be displayed on the ‘big screen’ (interactive whiteboard, TV using apple TV and an iPad) or the ‘small screen’ (computer monitor or iPad). 

There are 10 children represented in this poem, ranging in age from 1 to 10 years old. Students are invited to help put the appropriate number of candles on each character's birthday cake. There are animations for lighting the candles, making a wish and blowing them out.  As the candles vary in color, you can also work on color concepts or modify the resource to celebrate a special birthday within the class. Visit previous blog posts for further information on personalizing ASbyS.  http://bit.ly/1MvB0Md    http://bit.ly/PhotoFaces

In symbol-supported versions, the symbols are designed to appear after the page animations have been completed. This allows the initial focus to be on a literacy agenda. If you wish the symbols to appear when the page/slide opens (allowing you to ‘read’ using the symbols), please visit an earlier blog post for further information. http://bit.ly/SymbolsUpFront

I usually don’t go through all ten birthdays in one sitting, but prefer instead to use the velcro-receptive ‘learning fun cube’ (http://www.mayer-johnson.com/learning-fun-cubes-3-pack-black) (loaded with dual=representation numbers) to randomly select three or four ‘birthdays’ to target.  As you will recall from previous posts, after a number has been chosen, it is flipped to its opposite side to indicate that it has already been used. This particular version of the number dual=representation symbols lends itself well to nurturing one-to-one correspondence. 

As is the case with many of the ASbyS, I like to build an extension activity to provide more ‘hands on’ practice with the concepts being addressed in the ASbyS. For Birthday Cake I have made some birthday cake props using a disposable plastic container, spray painted on the inside of the container, candle holders, a black permanent marker and of course, colored candles.

Melissa and Doug also offer a lovely birthday cake toy http://mcys.co/1N6g8eT that can complement this ASbyS nicely.

Have fun using these functional resources!

…’til the next post …  (new posts every Monday)

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©2016 Carol Goossens’, Ph.D.

Augmentative Communication Consultant

Speech-Language Pathologist