Lincoln Logs at Annie's Resource Attic

Annie's Resource Attic has just posted a great new activity around Lincoln Logs and log cabins. She explains it far better than I ever could so head over and check it out!

P.S. As always she has Clicker5, Classroom Suite, Dynavox and PowerPoint versions of various options.

Making the Grade

Today I was feeling very grateful for a creative solution. You all know of my struggles with having only one computer online, which also happens to be the one computer attached to the LCD projector. In addition that one computer online does not allow me in anyway to install 99.9% of all software. Oh, and that computer does not have a printer and will not allow me to install a printer. However here is a work around that is going well for us.

1) Using the converter for U3 flashdrives we have been able to run Classroom Suite Player from a flashdrive on the internet enabled/LCD connected computer. (Read how to do this here.)

2) Using a "no software needed" switch interface (we like the Don Johnston Switch Interface Pro), the LCD projector and a Jelly Beamer students who are switch users, have low vision or both can do all sorts of academics using Classroom Suite (most of which I am able to download for free from the Intellitools Exchange)

3) Using the free program Cute PDF Writer (which does not install to the registry and therefore is part of the .1% of software I CAN install) we print completed work to a PDF and I e-mail it to myself for data collection and alternative assessment (and I can e-mail it to parents as well.)

This post is less about the actual solution we are using and more about creative problem solving. Sometimes it is difficult to see it, but most of the time there is a way to make things work.

Fun Things We've Been Up To in Kate's Class

We have been having a rocking good time in my classroom lately. Here are some of the things we have been up to:

• Playing Hoops on the Help Kidz Learn site. Set on "easy" you still need to wait until your player aims to score a basket. We had the student nearest to the computer use a wired switch and the student further away use the Jelly Beamer. Only one of my students is a regular switch user and he has been kicking some rear end in this game. We adapted it for low vision by simply having all the staff shout, "now!" for the student with visual impairment.
  
• Learning about and playing dreidel using Classroom Suite, our new Jelly Beamer and the LCD Projector on the big screen (we don't have a SMART board.) The Hannukah and driedel activties were downloaded from the Intellitools Activity Exchange. We listened to the information about Hannukah and driedels and then we switched over the the driedle cause and effect activity, from the same author on the exchange and passed around the Jelly Beamer to spin the driedel. We played three times today and the same student won every time!
• Making "stained glass" candles for Hanukkah (yes, I know it isn't until December 21st) using the free symbol based directions from Slater Software, which we posted on the "big screen" via the LCD projector and used the Jelly Beamer to scroll down the directions as we worked through each step.
• Reading Hoover's New Wheels, also downladed from the Intellitools Classroom Exchange and played a yes/no comprehension game.
• Working on 1:1 correspondence, counting and greater than/less than using Power Point Presentations based on the counting candy canes presentation available from Jefferson County Schools. We do this on "the big screen" as well, and even without a SMART board it is very, very fun. One of my student inparticular is VERY motivated to point to things on the "big screen" and his accuracy increases by merely using it.
  
• Playing "Christmas Squares" another power point from Jefferson County Schools with customized holiday questions to continue our work on yes/no.

For Christmas I would like either administrative privileges (or at least an administrator to install a few things) on the computer connected to the LCD projector or a way to make Boardmaker Player run from a flashdrive like Classroom Suite Player can. That way we would have a world of Boardmaker Activities to use on the "big screen" in addition to Classroom Suite Activities.

Downloading Activities

I traditionally spend Sunday evening moving all of the Boardmaker, Classroom Suite and Clicker 5 things I will use during the week onto my travel disk drive so that I can import them into my classroom computers (one set up for switch users and two for touchscreen or head tracker users). This means that whenever I can I download any activities I find online and save them to use when they fit into my curriculum.

Today (while updating the Free Boardmaker Boards and Activities Permanent Post) I discovered some great new activities at My Dynamic Therapy. Be sure to check them out.

Also be sure you are getting the monthly downloads from Mayer-Johnson and the boards everyone posts at the Yahoo Boardmaker Group.

How You Know...

Back when I did the survey of what people wanted to see on this site lots of people said they wanted more stories about my classroom, so here you go.

I have a student who has highly unintelligible speech, is significantly hearing and visually impaired and is waiting for an AAC device trial, yet she manages to make her point much of the time. One of the ways I know that she LOVES something we have or do in school is that she will say something that sounds like the grown-ups in a Charlie Brown cartoon with the words "in" and "bookbag" very clear in her "sentence". She will then attempt to take whatever it is she adores, put it in the bag on her walker, bring it to her back pack and place it inside.

The punch line: today she attempted to take the computer monitor with the touch screen because she was enjoying the Classroom Suite activity she was doing so much!

(F.Y.I. The activity was Beauty Makeover, which is a brilliant user created activity available in the Classroom Suite Materials exchange. Other words we understood from her speech during her time using Beauty Makeover were, "wow", "ugly", "icky", "roho" (she is an ESOL student) and "brouja").

Website of the Day: Annie's Resource Attic

Annie's Resource Attic is a site for teachers that offers activities and animations for download in a variety of formats including Classroom Suite, Clicker 5, My Own Bookshelf, Power Point and Test Me, Score Me. This is the "attic" of the Anne Brundige studio..

All activities are free, list suggested ability level (cause and effect and up) and have a description of the activity. The site is set up like a blog and can be subcribed to using an RSS reader like Google Reader or Bloglines.

Activity Sharing

Official AAC Software and Devices Sharingweb Sites

• AMDI Activity Exchange
• Crick Clicker5 Learning Grids
• Dynavox - none (although there are some files for download they are not true "sharing")
• Intellitools Classroom Suite Activities Exchanges
• Mayer-Johnson Boardmaker, Boardmaker Plus, Boardmaker Speaking Dynamically Pro Adapted Learning
• Prentke Romich Teaching Materials Exchange 
• Proloquo2Go - None 
• Satillo - None
• Tango- None
• Tico Projects
• Tobii Communicator/Viking Communicator and Symbolmate Page Set Central

Other Places to Find Materials:
(B=Boardmaker, WWS=Writing with Symbols, CS=Classroom Suite, Click=Clicker5)

• Baltimore City School Boardmaker Adapted Books (B)
• Behavior Boards (B)
• Boardmaker Yahoo Group (B)
• Burnaby Boardmaker Resources (B)
• Call Centre Boardmaker Files (B)
• Cindy's Activities (B, WWS)
• Clickerpedia (Click)
• Communication Overlays (B)
• Creative Communicating Freebies (I+)
• Dade School Resources (B)
• Dilite Activity Boards (original)
• Dynavox Board Downloads (UK Site)
• Dynavox Page Exchange (D 2c and 3100)
• East Gippsland Boardmaker Support Group (B)
• Eau Claire School Boardmaker Files (B)
• Engineering the Classroom Boards
• Fairfax County Boardmaker Activities (B)
• Gateway Communication Board
• How to make a back up copy of Boardmaker
• Intellitools Activities Exchanges (CS)
• Jewish Picture Sets
• Kidspiration Collection (K)
• Learning Grids (Clicker/Clicker Paint)
• Mayer-Johnson Activity of the Month (B, SDP)
• Mayer-Johnson Sharing (B, SDP)
• My Dynamic Therapy (b, i, dynavox)
• NYC AAC Resouces (B,WWS, I)
• OATC Activity Exchange (b,i,c,k)
• PictureSET (B)
• Print and Teach Free Stuff
• Project Participate Curriculum Creations (b, wws, i)
• Queensland Boardmaker Resources (B,C,D,I)
• Reducing the Risk (b)
• Region 2 Library
• Speaking of Speech Materials Exchange (B)
• Spectronics Activities Exchange
• Speech Games (B)
• Sunrise Boards (B, PDF)
• Switch Use Resources (PPT)
• Teacher Created Resources (B,S,I)
• Text Communication Board
• Tinsnips Boards (B, PDF)

Website of the Day: New England News

New England News is a free special education newspaper geared towards, as the name says, New England. It is created using Classroom Suite from Intellitools and can be downloaded in classroom suite format or as a PDF. Inside gossip tells me it is created by a very dedicated special needs teacher who has an assistive technology degree from my (double - BA/MS) alma mater, Simmons College.

I debated quite a bit with myself over posting this as a site of the day, because it is rather locally based and this blog is more international everyday. In the end I decided to share it as a resource to teachers from around here and as inspiration to teachers from across the country and around the world. If you know of similar projects more local to you please share the link through the comments section.

P.S. The new links pages are shaping up nicely. They are designed to clarify and simplify the website collection to the left on this blog. Check them out at Teaching Learners with Multiple Special Needs Resource Pages.