OSMO

Today my class was introduced to Osmo, a new form of technology that will blow your mind. The video above is what caught my attention. There are so many games and activities that you can download to your iPad for FREE. It would be great for the classroom. It helps kids learn while being hands on and fun! The next video is right up my ally, drawing! 

Osmo comes with: reflective mirror for the iPad camera; white iPad stand; 2 sets of game pieces (2 complete alphabet letter tile set and 7 wood tangram shapes) and instructions for downloading 3 free apps in the App Store.

Social Stories

What are social stories? Stories that describe a situation, skill, or concept in terms of relevant social cues, perspectives, and common responses in a specifically defined style and format. 

Goal? Share accurate information in a way that is easy to understand by the audience. 

These stories are great for children that need to learn how to raise their hand, use their inside voice, their bathroom routine, how to share, etc. 

Why use social stories? Social stories can provide many benefits. they are great for correcting behavioral problems. A story format that includes pictures or videos grabs kids' attention. These stories are great for children with autism and ADD/ADHD! They learn what's expected of them in a patient, reassuring manner. 

Apps for Social stories? Little Bird Tales, Kid in Story, and My Story.

How does it work?

•  Pick a behavior you want them to develop or change
• write the story in first person
• Include photos or videos****
• involve the person you want to teach
• explain why the behavior is unacceptable 
• describe acceptable behavior

STEM Activities!

STEM= Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

Today we did STEM activities in class. We learned about different ways to incorporate it in our classroom! We had so much fun problem solving, creating, and building. We thought it would be a breeze for us college students doing kid's work but we were surprised. Our first task was to figure out a way to hold up a 1lb book (I'm estimating) only using six pieces of paper AND it had to be 6 inches off the ground. Our second task was to figure out a way to get a life savers gummy around a gummy worm. Sounds easy right? Wrong. The life saver was trapped under a cup and the gummy worm was on top. We couldn't use out hands and we had four paper clips to work with. It was quite the challenge but we succeeded! The last activity I got to do involved using 50 bendy straws to hold up a large bouncy ball. Look below to see how we did it!