Monday, November 16, 2020

Video of My Little Wagon - An Animated Step-by-Step Resource


This video simulates the interactive use of the Animated Step-by-Step resource,  My Little Wagon.  This resource is a available from Teachers Pay Teachers in 3 formats: Regular (no symbol support), PCS and SymbolStix.  Both complex (Reg, PCS, SymStix) and simple versions (Reg, PCS, SymStix) are available. The Complex versions simultaneously target several descriptors  (e.g. big red ball vs big yellow truck); the Simple versions  target one item at a time, e.g. just size, or just color, or just the requested item. 




 

…’til the next post … 

 

Visit my website   http://animatedstep-by-steps.com

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©2020 Carol Goossens’, Ph.D.

Augmentative Communication Consultant

Special Educator

Friday, November 13, 2020

Video of Goldilocks & the Three Bears - An Animated Step-by-Step Resource


 


Goldilocks and the Three Bears is available from Teachers Pay Teachers in 4 formats: Regular (no symbol support), PCS (Tobii Dynavox), SymbolStix (n2y) and VI (a high contrast version designed to better address the needs of students with visual challenges, although it does seem to work equally well with some students on the Autism Spectrum)







 

…’til the next post … 

 

Visit my website   http://animatedstep-by-steps.com

Follow me on twitter www.twitter.com/@AnimStepbySteps

Follow me on facebook www.facebook.com/AnimatedStepBySteps

Follow me on instagram https://www.instagram.com/animatedstepbysteps/

Follow my blog http://animatedstepbysteps.blogspot.com

Email me canadiangoosse@gmail.com

Visit my digital store http://teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Bloom

 

©2020 Carol Goossens’, Ph.D.

Augmentative Communication Consultant

Special Educator

Video of Little Red Riding Hood - An Animated Step-by-Step Resource

 


This Little Red Riding Hood Animated Step-by-Step Resource can be purchased in Teachers Pay Teachers in 4 formats: Regular, PCS, SymbolStix and VI.



What Happened to the Wolf?

 Fairy tales (Goldilocks & the 3 Bears, The Three Little Pigs The Gingerbread Boy, The Little Red Hen, Little rRed Riding Hood) have considerable longevity and although the story line may vary somewhat with time,  the moral lessons remain intact. 

 

Little Red Riding Hood is the most recent addition to my roster of Animated Step-by-Step Fairy Tales ... joining the ranks of The 3 Little Pigs and Goldilocks & the 3 Bears.







I often struggle with the issue of incorporating 'death" when rendering an Animated Step-by-Step for preschoolers. In Little Red Riding Hood, for example, … What happened to the grandma? Did the wolf eat her or did she escape? In my version she conveniently escaped with her walker … Did the woodsman kill the wolf or tranquilize it and take it to another part of the forest? Although my version, includes a page depicting a dead wolf with a victorious woodsman, this page can be easily altered if you want a 'kinder, gentler' story line. 

There are two options for the 'kinder, gentler' version:

Option 1:

1.     Select the grouped graphics (woodsman + dead wolf + Red Riding Hood) 

2.     Sub-select the wolf within the group (click on the tongue).

3.     Delete the wolf and you will find a log conveniently hidden beneath the wolf. 








O    Option 2:

Just swap out page 14 with the  'kinder' page at the end of the resource. I'm sure most of 

you will go with option 2, but I couldn't resist the urge to impart a technical tidbit. Truth be known, 

I realized (after the fact) that it would be much simpler to just add a duplicate page to be swapped.  : ) 


The phrase 'and came to her rescue' still holds true  … you just don't know the fate of the wolf. : )


Little Red Riding Hood is available from TpT in 4 versions, Regular, PCS, SymbolStix and VI.


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

 

Visit my website   http://animatedstep-by-steps.com

Follow me on twitter www.twitter.com/@AnimStepbySteps

Follow me on facebook www.facebook.com/AnimatedStepBySteps

Follow me on instagram https://www.instagram.com/animatedstepbysteps/

Follow my blog http://animatedstepbysteps.blogspot.com

Email me canadiangoosse@gmail.com

Visit my digital store http://teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Bloom

 

©2020 Carol Goossens’, Ph.D.

Augmentative Communication Consultant

Special Educator

 

 


Thursday, August 6, 2020

Using the Hide Slide Feature of PowerPoint

The Shapes Song is a resource that highlights a variety of simple (circle, oval, square, rectangle, heart) and complex (pentagon, hexagon, octagon) shapes using the tune, I'm a Little Teapot.  


The resource provides crucial information about each shape. Later in the resource, it tests a student's ability to identify shapes using a three choice array.





As a final step students are invited to name (or find) various shapes in an array of rings and a display of objects.  The latter sets the stage nicely for a 'shapes hunt' throughout the home or classroom environment. 



This resource is optimized from tele practice. Items can be indicated by color or alternately the pen tool of powerpoint can be used to number the choices or the facilitator can perform partner assisted scanning, i.e., This one? (point) ... This one? (point) or This one? (point)

Now you might be thinking ... circle, oval, square, rectangle, heart ... yes ... but complex shapes are too advanced for my students. Rather than simply surfing through the 'extra slides', consider using the hide slide feature  under Slide Show on the PowerPoint Menu Bar. The 'hidden slide' will appear greyed in the slide listing on the left. This is definitely a 'more eloquent' solution to slide management. 
















…’til the next post … 

Visit my website   http://animatedstep-by-steps.com
Follow me on twitter www.twitter.com/@AnimStepbySteps
Follow me on facebook www.facebook.com/AnimatedStepBySteps
Email me canadiangoosse@gmail.com

©2020 Carol Goossens’, Ph.D.
Augmentative Communication Consultant
Special Educator

Thursday, July 30, 2020

The ABC's of Alphabet Knowledge & Phonological Awareness

Wow!  Don't miss out on this excellent resource. Caroline Musselwhite, Deanna Wagner and Gretchen Hanser have just posted a 92 page resource chocked full of wonderful suggestions for enhancing alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness.  This resource is available through TpT  and is being offered at a spectacularly low price.  Click on the image below to link to the TpT site.




Tuesday, May 26, 2020

Mary/Joey Wore ... A Flexible Song Resource

I recently posted a revamped version of a 2015 resource, Mary Wore Her Red Dress
Being 'on a roll' I decided to also add a 'boy version', Joey Wore His Red Pants. Both versions can be personalized with photo faces of your student/class members using the instructions provided in the resource.

In many ways these resources are reflective of what I've learned in 5 years of developing educational resources using PowerPoint! Each resource offers two distinct interactive activities …. identifying colors and identifying articles of clothing. It also provides a forum for pronouns and name/ letter identification. 


General Instructions:

When using this resource I usually read the page first, simultaneously adding one new clothing item to the page/slide using the starred animations. In the process students are invited to find a particular clothing item in a three-choice array, e.g. "green socks"  "yellow mitts"

If correct, the requested clothing item will disappear from the choice array and reappear on either Mary/Joey. The item's name is announced. 

If incorrect, a mildly negative comment ('huhugh') is heard, and the student is encouraged to "try again".

Personalizing Your Resource to Heighten Student Interest

Instructions are provided to personalize this resource. If you are providing Tele-practice, personalization is  a great way to heighten interest and keep your student(s) engaged. 

















Implementing Differentiated Instruction

The downloaded version offers a colored text cue, 'setting the stage' for an color matching task. If you wish to conduct a more difficult activity, i.e., identifying the item without the benefit of a color cue, simply drag the colored text 'off slide'. 
DO NOT eliminate the text … just move it to a location where it will not be seen when triggered in the animation sequence. 




The song can be sung during morning meeting. Children take turns choosing  an article of their clothing to sing about. " Jenny … what would you like to sing about today?  Your pants? Or your top?   Your pants? Okay what color is Jenny's pants? That's right! Let's sing about Jenny's red pants. Is Jenny a boy or a girl? A girl … that means we say her (not his).  A slide is included to visually support this extension activity.  Use thePowerPoint Pen tool to write in the child's name and circle the color, pronoun and clothing item. 





Tele-Practice

The revised format is more amenable to interactive tele-practice. The three choice array includes numbers to facilitate choice-making (when able to recognize numbers and unable to directly access the buttons due to distance learning). "choice 1 … or 2 ..,. or 3. You pick; I'll press"





Adding a Literacy Component

Personalize your resource with photo faces your class.  The educator can use the PowerPoint pen tool (comman p or Right click p while in presentation mode) to provide the class with a hint to guess the identity of the mystery student (that has not yet been animated to appear on the slide/page). 



The type of clues provided can be tailored according to student needs.
e.g. Our mystery student's name starts with the letter 'R'  (Randy)
e.g. Our mystery girl's name starts with the 'mmmmm' sound  (Maggie)
e.g.  Here's a hint …. B __  __ t (Bret)
e.g.  Our mystery person's name rhymes with 'fan'  (Sam)

I then invite students to sing the verse using the song button to set the pace. As we sing the page/slide, the facilitator follows along, pointing to either the text or the symbols (depending upon the version purchased). 

As always there are three versions of these resources: Regular, PCS and SymbolStix. Resources can be displayed on the 'big screen' (interactive whiteboard, large screen TV using Apple TV) or the 'small screen'  (computer monitor, iPad/Android tablet or iPhone using the free Microsoft PowerPoint app specific to each). 

…’til the next post …  

Visit my website   http://animatedstep-by-steps.com
Follow me on twitter www.twitter.com/@AnimStepbySteps
Follow me on facebook www.facebook.com/AnimatedStepBySteps
Email me canadiangoosse@gmail.com

©2020 Carol Goossens’, Ph.D.
Augmentative Communication Consultant
Special Educator