Animated Step-by-Steps®

Monday, January 2, 2017

Being a Follower Has Its Benefits

Thank you to those of you who have become followers of the Animated Step-by-Step blog! To become a follower just click on the G+ Follow button

You can also become a follower of the Bloom Where Your Planted store on the Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) site http://teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Bloom .

Just click on the green star in the Bloom Header. Followers are notified when new Animated Step-by-Steps are released and they receive a brief monthly newsletter highlighting recent blog posts.

BONUS: About every two or three months, I notify TpT followers of the availability of a FREE Animated Step-by-Step download on the TpT site. It is usually available for a limited 2-day period. Followers are notified of the free download through the monthly TpT Note to Followers so there are real benefits to becoming follower of the Bloom Where You’re Planted Store.

Given the benefits, consider becoming a follower. Would love to have you 'onboard'.

Hope 2017 will be a good year for all of us.

…’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

Augmentative Communication Consultant

Speech-Language Pathologist

Special Educator

Monday, December 26, 2016

Another Great Literacy Component

Where Does Milk Come From? is a reverse ‘farm to table’ tale, tracing milk back to it’s origin, the udder of a cow (Where does milk come from? ….a refrigerator? …. a jug or carton? … a shelf in a supermarket? … a milk processing plant? … a truck and a farm? … a cow on a farm? … the udder of a cow!). This resource is available on the Teachers Pay Teachers site in three formats: Regular (no symbol support), SymbolStix (n2y) and Picture Communication Symbols (Tobii/Dynavox).

http://bit.ly/WhereDoesMilk

After completing this journey, students are invited to 'weigh in on' which is faster .... milking by hand or milking by machine. Students are then guided through the steps for conducting a simulated milking by hand activity using a disposable glove filled with warm water tinted white.

I’m always searching for ways to creatively engage students in the learning process. Animated Step-by-Steps® strive to heighten engagement by allowing students to trigger animations that support what was just read. They also strive to incorporate opportunities for problem solving to promote more active learning. In the Where Does Milk Come From? story, for example, numerous ‘fill in the blanks’ are designed to build in suspense and provide problem-solving opportunities, e.g. Calcium. Good for your _______ ★(teeth). Good for your ________ ★(bones). Yikes! What happens when the child correctly guesses ‘bones’, but ‘teeth’ is the first animation in the animation sequence?

To circumvent this dilemma, each blank is offset with an initial letter cue. e.g., Calcium. Good for your t__ (teeth). Good for your b_ (bones). This initial letter cue is crucial to maintaining the correct animation sequence, but it does have the added benefit of providing a nice literacy component for students working on letter-to-sound identification. After the ‘mystery word’ has been successfully guessed, the remaining letters appear in the blank and a supporting visual animates on to the scene, e.g., y__ (letter cue)… yogurt text enters… yogurt photo enters … ‘yogurt’ spoken word is heard.

I was raised on a farm with cows that had to be milked each day. And yes, one of my favorite childhood memories is Dad milking the cow and squirting milk at the cats!

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