Signs of Dyslexia?

This week, I am going to tell you about the early signs of dyslexia, and what are normal letter reversals in written kindergarten work as opposed to reversals that indicate a problem such as dyslexia.
But before we begin with that, I feel the need to celebrate!  I finally made it to Spring Break, so yippee!  I can just about taste summer coming around the corner!  I love this time of year!!!  My students have just transitioned from our extended day schedule to our full day schedule, so we have dropped the after school tutoring group and now EVERYONE stays until 2:15.  So now we'll have lots of time for more journaling and other fun activities in the afternoon, plus more time to play!  And I have decided to go ahead and teach the children the songs from Sing and Spell Vol. 5.  I think that they are really going to enjoy the number word songs, as my classes have in the past.  The new words that we are learning will also help them in their writing as well.

Below, I have also posted some examples of my students' writing from last week, and I specifically chose writing that included what I consider to be "normal" reversals in them as examples.  I will explain more about that below, but just in case you were wondering about the writing project itself, I decided to have the children make a sticker book to try to motivate some of my reluctant writers.  The idea was that everyone would title their book, "What is it?" and then write a "This is a _____," sentence with a sticker above it.  I told the children that they would receive the sticker of their choice for their next page AFTER they wrote the sentence for the first page!   Children that finished the "What Is It?" book in a timely manner had enough time to do a "What Are They?" book as well!  In this book, the children were allowed to choose more than one sticker for each page, but then had to write a "They are _____," sentence about each set of stickers before they could get another set of stickers for the following page.  As you can imagine, the stickers were very popular with my students!  It was just a little hard to control the distribution of the stickers in general.  Next time I do this, I am going to only get out a FEW stickers and keep them in my LAP!  Then they will have to SHOW ME that they have written their sentences before I am going to give them a sticker!  My students started this project while I had a sub and when I returned, many of them had already decorated their whole book, but had written very little- and that was certainly not supposed to be the point!  It was supposed to be a trade off:  I'll trade you a sticker for each sentence that you write about the sticker.  Unfortunately, it was a sticker explosion for some of the kids, and it was pretty hard to get it back under control, once the pattern was set, unfortunately!

An example of Kindergarten student writing with NORMAL reversals.

So what are the early signs of dyslexia in Kindergarten?  And how many letter, word, or number reversals are too many?  How do you know if your child is dyslexic?  Only a qualified reading specialist can tell you for sure, but this is a commonly asked question by concerned parents regarding their children in their journey to become readers and writers.

When parents see children writing or reading reversals, they often ask me if their child could be dyslexic.  First, let me define reversals, just so we all know what I am talking about.  A reversal is when a child either reads or writes a letter backwards from the way it ought to be.  For example, a child that reads a “b” as a “d” or a “p” as a “q” just reversed both of those letters.  A child that writes “deb” instead of “bed” just wrote a reversal, in that he or she turned the direction of the d and the b around when writing them.  A child that writes "der" instead of "red" reversed the entire word, and is struggling with left to right progression.  This may be in addition to reversing the direction of the printed letters within the word!  Children often write a number twelve as a twenty-one without realizing it as well, etc.  These are things that happen normally in Pre-K, Kindergarten, and First Grade.

An example of Kindergarten student writing with NORMAL reversals.

Most adults don’t struggle with reversals, but many children do.  Reversals are usually thought of as a progression of the development of visual perception rather than of fine motor skills.  A nice, strong, coloring and printing stroke indicates good fine motor skills.  A "shaky" or wavy line, (made when a child is trying to draw a straight one,) is indicative of undeveloped fine motor skills.  A child that cannot color inside the lines when asked to do so, and who cannot cut along a straight or curved line has undeveloped fine motor skills and needs to work on that.  But then, I think that we all know that some children simply choose not to make neat work their priority, so you have to figure out what exactly is going on before making that judgement call!

An example of Kindergarten student writing with NORMAL reversals.

As children mature, their visual perception matures right along with everything else, and those reversals usually start to disappear in a normally developing child.  In a child with dyslexia, those reversals persist and continue take over the page of the child's writing on into second grade and beyond.

An example of Kindergarten student writing with NORMAL reversals.

In my kindergarten class, I typically see children start off the year with only a few reversals, and then as fluency in writing picks up and the children write more and more, I start seeing even more reversals in their writing than before!  This often concerns parents who are concerned that their child may be dyslexic.  Usually, what is happening is that the children are writing more frequently, and writing the letters completely from memory, rather than copying them from another source.  As they continue to experiment with pulling the letters from memory, they often remember them “a little off” and write them down backwards or upside down.

An example of Kindergarten student writing with NORMAL reversals.

In a normally developing child (at least in my 25 years of experience, this phase quickly passes (like in a few months) and the child only reverses a few letters on the page.  Naturally, the most commonly reversed letters are the ones that look the most alike:  the b, d, p, and q.  So, if the child has written two short sentences, we might see two or three reversed letters.  As a general rule, in a sentence like “I can ride a horse,” you might expect to see one or two reversed letters, and this is normal in Preschool, Kindergarten and first grade.  I have not taught second grade, so I cannot comment on that, but I would assume that a few normally developing children probably still have some of these issues on into second grade.  Certainly, one or two reversed letters on an entire page of writing is not a reason to panic, even in the higher grades, in my opinion!

An example of Kindergarten student writing with NORMAL reversals.

So when should the alarm bells go off?  When your child has finished Kindergarten and is STILL writing sentences with MANY reversals, and is doing this time and time again, consistently, then it’s time to first get your child’s vision checked.  Make an appointment to see your pediatrician and/or optometrist and express your concerns. Let the professionals direct you the right specialist.  Talk to your child’s teacher as well.  If you ask your child’s teacher for an evaluation, and you don’t get one, then put it in writing and submit it to the school principal or the district office.  Make sure that you date the paper, too.  Most districts respond very well to requests such as these that are submitted in writing, and are required by law to respond in 60 days.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that they MUST test your child for a learning disability, but my basic understanding is that they must respond officially somehow (at least in CA).  Just remember that funding now for all special services is very tight, so you will have to be your child’s advocate and educate yourself on your child’s rights by searching online and reading up on it.  Some parents seek and pay for outside testing by professionals, and then submit this testing to the school and ask for services to be provided by the school based on the results of these tests.  I am not sure exactly how this works, but I have heard that this can be done.  You’ll want to research it yourself, of course, before investing a lot of money in hopes that the school will then provide the educational services based on the results of the tests.

An example of Kindergarten student writing with NORMAL reversals.

 In the past, I have encountered only a few students that I thought were probably dyslexic, but it can be very hard to spot in Kindergarten because the children’s visual perception is simply not done developing at that point in time. In Kindergarten, it’s really too early to diagnose that particular learning disability, in my opinion.  But the ones that I thought had dyslexia, and who went on to receive special education services, were simply unable to copy nearly anything!  I could put a letter down in front of them on the table, and the child could not copy it correctly, even though he or she was five years old.  Some copied it backwards over and over and over again, even though I pointed it out many times.  We would trace it with our fingers, draw it in sand, form it with play dough, and still the child would just “see it differently” in their heads.  When the child drew the letter, it came out differently.  I remember a few years ago, showing one little boy how to make a lower case h five times in a row, and having him write it backwards for me- five times in a row!  And this was with me sitting right there with him, telling him, “No!  It’s the other way!  Go on the other side!”  And then I would trace it for him on the page, and he would STILL draw it backwards!  And unfortunately, there seems to be a very good chance that the parents of these children will vigorously deny that there is any problem whatsoever when you suggest that there may be an issue.  These types of learning disabilities tend to run in families, and also seem to, for some reason, bring a sense of shame upon the parents, even though it is really an accident of birth and not their fault at all.  After that, the teacher is simply “out to get their child,” or “had it in for him from the very beginning.”  This is unfortunate for the child, because without parent support, the child cannot get any extra help, and could very well grow up barely literate.  And unfortunately, our correctional system is filled with adults who are barely literate and who have learning disabilities, so if they gave this some thought, they would probably go a different direction.

My advice to any parent is that, if your child's teacher is telling you that there may be a problem, then check it out- even if you are offended and "absolutely sure" that there is nothing wrong.  It is not easy for teachers to give this news to parents because we know that we risk alienating the parents and that they may very well turn on us.  No teacher wants to give bad news to parents, because most parents would prefer to blame the teacher or school if the child is not successful.  Few parents accept responsibility for these problems as their own; placing blame on the teacher and schools is far easier.  The fact of the matter is that a learning disability is usually NOBODY'S fault!  It is an accident of birth and a malfunction of the neurons in the brain, and it does not indicate that the child is not intelligent.  In fact, in order to receive services at school, we must first show that your child does have at least normal intelligence, if not above average or beyond! So my best advice to anyone that is facing problems like this is to put your aside your own pride and feelings about your child's teacher, and remind yourself that early intervention is the key to your child's success.  Waiting to see if it will get better next year or the next is really not the best course to take, for the sake of your child.  If the teacher thinks that your child has a problem, or if you suspect a problem, then check it out!  (Don't kill the messenger!)
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As a footnote to this post, a reader left a comment below regarding her own child's diagnosis with dyslexia, and early warning signs that they missed.  Be sure to check the comment left by "Caught in the Middle" for more information.

More iPad Apps, and a New Counting Creatures Addition Book!

This week, I am going to tell you about more great iPad apps for Kindergarten, and also about our new Addition Counting Creatures book that we have completed!  I am really excited about the new addition book, because I think it is absolutely PERFECT for Kindergarten!  My team mates and I have been trying it out over the last few weeks at my school, and everyone really loves it!  It has given the children lots of great opportunities for extended practice with addition, and they really LOVE the creatures and monsters on each page!

A page from the Counting Creatures Addition Book!

Since the book is now only available as a download, we broke it down into five individual 20 page sections for $3.00 each, or the complete downloadable book for $15!  These pages are based mostly on some worksheets that I created over the years to give my kids some extra practice in addition when we ran out of lessons in our Saxon book, but they still needed more practice. Here is a free sample so you can see a few of the pages for yourself.

Our Counting Creatures Addition Center in Dry Erase Sleeves

One thing that we did with them that was an incredible hit was to put a good variety of the worksheets into dry erase sleeves and let the children work on them at their own pace using dry erase markers.  It made a great learning center for math, and it worked well whether or not there was an extra adult to supervise them.  (I certainly preferred to have an adult supervising them, because then there was someone to tell them whether or not they were getting the answers write or wrong, but it wasn't absolutely necessary.)

A page from our new Counting Creatures Addition Book!

The children also did some of the worksheets on paper with a pencil, of course.  I love that each page includes something fun to color, too!  Plus, there are never more than eleven equations on a page, and most often, there are only five or six!  This means that most kids can finish the papers in a reasonable amount of time.  Plus, most pages have a space for the children to "show their work," as in drawing pictures to help them solve the problems, and I have always liked this method of teaching children to figure out addition and subtraction problems!

A Screen Shot from Shape-O

Shape-O is a puzzle app that gives children a very wide variety of puzzles to put together, but the pieces are all basic shapes.  The kids do like it, but it is best for Kindergarten at the beginning of the year or for Pre-K.  It is $1.99 and works on the iPad only.

A Screen Shot from Timed Reading Practice

K-12 Timed Reading Practice is an app that gives you reading passages for your students to read, and then sets a timer.  You push “start” when you are ready to listen to the child read, and then “stop” when he or she is done.  Then it counts how many words the child read per minute.  There are no comprehension questions or any more features to this app.   It is $1.99 and works on both the iPad and the iPod.  I have not had a chance to try it out with my students yet, but I this one has gotten some great reviews.  Obviously, you would get more out of this app if you work with older students that can really already read, such as first grade and up.

A Screen Shot from Little Sky Writers

Little Sky Writers is a fun app for teaching kids to write the letters correctly.  There is a neat stylus that goes with it that the children can use to practice writing that makes it a much better app as far as I am concerned.  I picked up my stylus at a conference, but you can order yours online HERE. The app is $1.99 and works on both the iPad and the iPod.  The great thing about this app is that when the child finishes a stroke, the airplane flips itself around and points itself in the direction that the next stroke ought to go!  I LOVE that! 
I am still waiting for an app that makes kids write an entire sight word.  Does anyone know of one?

A Screen Shot from Picture Dot to Dot

Picture Dot to Dot is also great, and it is customizable for the amount of numbers or letters you want to include in the connect the dots exercises.  It's $1.99 and works on the iPad only.  I blogged on that near the beginning of the school year.

A Screen Shot from Moofy Recognizing Patterns

Moofy Recognizing Pattern Games is a new app I just found that is by the same company as Cimo Can Spell, and it's a fun one.  I like the hardest level best for this time of year, though.  It is $1.99 and it works on both the iPad and the iPod.

A Screen Shot from Photo Touch Sight Words

Photo Touch Sight Words is a good one that is free for sight words, and it is customizable for your own words, too!  Plus, it's FREE!  The only problem is that be careful about deleting a sight word on a list.  I couldn't figure out how to put it back once it was deleted!  And in order to add one of your own words, you'll have to add your own PHOTO of a word!  You can't just type the word in- it has to be a jpg file of the word!  That turned out to be more work than I had time for, so I wound up deleting the entire game and downloading it again, which was much easier.

Great iPad Apps for Pre-K and Kindergarten!

Today I am going to tell you about my favorite iPad and iPod apps that I use in my Kindergarten classroom!  These are all apps that we have been using regularly in my room for reading, math, and some other subjects.  The iPads are definitely the favorite literacy and math center in my room, and as soon as you read the descriptions of the apps, you'll know why.

And as for me, I just made it back last Sunday from the Illinois ASCD Pre-K and Kindergarten Conference, and so now it's back to work again!  Just in case you missed it, I posted the link to all of the handouts for the IL ASCD conference on my Facebook page, (including my handouts, too!) and I am re-posting it here for you now!  There were lots of technology sessions, and one really great one on iPad apps that I went to on my lunch break.  Plus, all of the other handouts are there, too, including mine for all four sessions that I gave.  By the way, here is another link that I found for "65 Free Interactive White Board Resources."  I don't have an interactive white board, but I did spend some time looking at the site and drooling a little!

The IL ASCD Conference was the last of my speaking engagements for the school year.  My next conference will be the I Teach K! Conference in Las Vegas, NV from July 9-12, 2012. I sure hope to see some of you there, because it's a wonderful conference in a great location, and it's great fun!  I love the new Venetian Hotel that SDE has chosen for their venue, and there are always so many great sessions, exhibits, and people to meet!  If you can find the funds to get there, you won't regret it!

ITK!  July 9-12, 2012

This is how I use the iPad in my classroom.  I have three iPads to use in my room, and I have set aside one day a week for them to use the iPads in their math or language arts "independent" center.  This lines up conveniently with a day that I often wind up short on volunteers, so that works out well.  On the days that I do have a person to run that center, I assign a specific game for them to play and tell the volunteer to make sure that they stick with it and help them understand how to use it.  But I only "make" them play the games that are standards focused, such as the reading and math games.  Or at least, let me put it this way:  I stick to the topics that I test on, and I assign them the games to play that help teach that.  So basically, once a week I assign a game for a center that they must stick to.  And then, on another day, I let them choose and discover the other games on their own during some free exploration time.  But they only get to do this if one of my volunteers doesn't come, so I use that as a fill in activity, which works out GREAT!  The six kids in the group are expected to share the three iPads nicely, or I will take them away and give them something less motivational, like puzzles.  My rule is that if I have to get up from the reading group that I am teaching and solve your "I can't share" problem, then I am going to take away the iPad and give you something else to do.  I do give each group of two children who are sharing an iPad a one minute egg timer to help them figure out when it is time to pass it to the other person.  I have also explained and fully demonstrated HOW to share the iPads, which is very important.  I had some children come to the front of the room and show everyone how we use the one minute egg timers, and how we must let the other person that we are sharing with push the buttons when the sand runs out.  I also demonstrated what would happen if that person refuses to let the other one "have" the iPad when the sand runs out:  I take it away, and those two children get something else to do.  Bummer, right?  I ask those two children to pretend to cry, and then I pretend to turn my back on them because I just don't care, that they are crying, right?  Then everyone laughs at how silly the whole scenario is.  I get my point across!  My kids may also choose the iPads during their playtime, as long as the children have been being good most of the day and I think I can supervise the activity well enough while I also supervise playtime in general. Sometimes, I feel like they are just not sharing or getting along well enough, so I just say no, and that's the way it is!

But no matter when they get the time, the children do like the free exploration time on the iPads!  And believe me: they have gone through just about EVERYTHING on them, including the calculator, LOL!  Yesterday, I saw them happily pushing the calculator buttons over and over again, watching the numbers come up, listening to the beeps, and giggling excitedly!  Another day, I saw them taking photos of each other using the Photo Booth app that even I have never even used myself!  Then one of them started morphing and twisting the photos of his friend!  I was really amazed!  I assume that he learned how to do that at home, but I am really not sure.  I just smiled to myself and went back to teaching my small group.  :)

 People often ask me which iPad and iPod apps I use and like best, and in fact, it is one of the most frequent questions that is posted on my Facebook page!  Here is a short list of my current favorites.  All of them work on the iPad, and most work on both the iPad and the iPod as well.  

A Screen Shot From "Feed Me!" by Pencilbot Preschool

My kids like Feed Me by PencilBot Preschool, but now there is a brand new version out that many people are reviewing poorly, so I don't know what to say about that because I haven't tried it yet!  (It could be that it isn't designed for the iPad One; check that before purchasing if you own one of those.)  My old, previous version of the game is a class favorite. However, it is so basic that it is more for the beginning of the year than for now, at least in K.  It's probably perfect for preschoolers and Pre-K, since it is so intuitively put together that children don't even seem to need directions for this one!  They just get it; all they have to do is look at the monster's thought bubble and push the related item into the monster's mouth.  So in the picture above, he wants to eat the item that begins with an H, which is the heart.  This app works on both the iPad and the iPod, and the beginning level is free.  After that, there is a purchase, but I don't know how much the new one is.  The previous version had several in app purchases of 99 cents.

A Screen Shot from Monkey Math

Monkey Math is a nice app for addition and number concepts, such as numbers in order, shapes, and patterning.  My kids love it and they caught on to it immediately!  Very often, I find them choosing to play with it during their playtime.  It is only 99 cents, and it works on both the iPad and the iPod.

A Screen Shot from Butterfly Math

Butterfly Math is also a good simple app that helps practice addition and subtraction.  In it, the children catch butterflies and put them into their net, as they count out the answers to an addition or subtraction problem.  This app is also only 99 cents, and it works on both the iPad and the iPod!

This is an image from the Adding Apples website.

Adding Apples is also very simple and easy to use, and it costs 99 cents.  However, it is for the iPad only.  I found it later in our study of addition, so we didn't use it as much, but it looks great.  I am looking forward to exploring it more.  There is a related game by the same producers that I am eager to try called Subtracting Sardines.  We'll be using that one starting next week, I think, when we introduce subtraction.

A Screen Shot from Adventures Undersea Math:  Addition

 Adventure Undersea Math:  Addition is also a good one, but only for the children that can already do addition problems in their heads.  There are no visual clues or objects to count, and it is a timed game, so the object is to gain fluency in addition facts.  In it, children try to match up the addition problem with the correct answer to reveal the picture.  Unfortunately, I have noticed some of my lower kindergartners just guessing at every single available answer to complete the picture.  This app is for advanced Kindergartners or for first graders, and it is FREE! It does have some in app purchases that you can make that will open up more games, I think.

A Screen Shot From Park Math

All of the apps from Duck Duck Moose are wonderful, but Park Math is my current favorite of their apps. It is available for iPad and iPod; it is $1.99, and worth every penny!  I really love the problem solving game shown in the picture above, and we use it as the basis for math lessons sometimes, by giving the children each a white board and having them each write the equation that they see on the screen.

A Screen Shot From Fish School

I also like Fish School for alphabet review, though.  Basically, anything by Duck, Duck, Moose is going to be top notch and very reasonably priced at $1.99, and is available for iPad and iPod, plus many are available for the Android as well.  Their app called Word Wagon is for learning how to spell words, and I do think that it is very valuable, but my kids find it boring after about five minutes and ask to change to a different one!  I think that this is because it is actual work, LOL!  Musical Me is teaches kids about notes, music, rhythm, and instruments.  I did buy it, but I don't assign it to them to play it because it is not focused on reading or math.

A Screen Shot From Howie Find Vowel

For CVC words and phonics, Howie Find Vowel is a good one, and is customizable by level so that you can have your kids stick to either CVC words or more advanced phonics sound spelling patterns if you like.  It is $2.99 and is available for both iPad and iPod.

A Screen Shot From Bob Books # 1

The Bob Books apps are really good, too, and are divided by levels.  They go right along with all of the Bob Books that many people already tend to use for beginning reading, so that is great if your kids are already familiar with the characters in the books.  It is $1.99 and works for iPad and iPod.  I have only tried level one.  My kids find it work, and ask to leave the app to do something more interesting, of course, so this is an app that must be assigned when they need to practice CVC words, and doesn't make them very excited, unfortunately, even though they do like using the iPad itself.  They certainly like doing this better than filling out a worksheet, that's for sure!

Could this book become an iPad app?????

Still, the kids are not really sounding out the words, they are spelling the words.  If anyone knows of an app that forces the kids to SOUND OUT and READ the words rather than spell them, let me know!  I keep looking, and not finding any!  I am hoping one day to turn my CVC book into some kind of an iPad app, in which the children must read the word and find the corresponding picture in a fun and motivational way.  I think that this would be GREAT!

We are also looking into creating an iPad app out of our Sing and Spell DVD's, if we possibly can!  I think it would be wonderful to let the children watch the word song of their choice from the DVD and then try to trace and then write that sight word with their finger on the screen!  Oh, the possibilities for games using our songs and graphics from our DVD's our really only limited by our own creativity and imagination, (well, and funding -cough- too!) but we are really excited by the possibilities!  If you have any ideas for what we might include on an app for our products that you would like to share or suggest, please be sure to let us know!

A Screen Shot From Cimo Can Spell

Cimo Can Spell is also good for practicing spelling CVC words, and I have just discovered that there is a sight word version, too!  It is $2.99 and is good for practicing CVC words and other phonics spelling patterns.  Luckily, you can customize it so that you can allow only CVC words or more difficult words, as you choose.  Again, the children are spelling words rather than reading them, however.  And again, the children found this to be real work, and wanted to do something else!  I guess that this probably means that they need to do it, right?  :)  Another problem is that it is more fun to get the answer WRONG than get it right!  When you get the answer wrong, the penguin falls into the sea, and splashes around, etc.  When you get it right, he hops across the ice.  It's just more entertaining to get it wrong; however, I didn't see any children deliberately getting the answers wrong, just to see the penguin do his stuff.  That is just my evaluation of the app from an adult perspective.

A Screen Shot From Millie and the Lost Key

The Meet Millie ebooks for iPad and iPhone are really wonderful!  They are all about the adventures of a little dog named Millie who loves bacon.  There are three different apps:  Meet Millie, (free,) Millie’s Book of Tricks and Treats ($.99), which is themed for Halloween, and Millie and the Lost Key ($3.99).  These apps are like playing with pop-up books, but on the iPad, and the children seem to really adore them!  My kids play with these apps during their free time constantly!  These apps are a real winner and worth every penny.

A Screen Shot from Counting Caterpillars

Counting Caterpillars is good for sequencing numbers.  My kids really enjoy this app, and it can be customized to use certain numbers of your choice.  You can also change the settings for practicing skip counting as well.  It is $1.99 and is for both the iPad and the iPod.  My children choose to play it during their free time quite a bit, which I like to see!

A Screen Shot From Mia's Playground

Mia’s Playground (free, but with several $.99 in app purchases) is a fun app that helps kids practice shapes, numbers, and colors, and has kids using their visual perceptual skills to find the matching objects.  These shape matching exercises get more and more tricky as you pass through the levels, and I do think that they are very good practice for the children.  It has some fun connect the dots activities in it that the children really enjoy, too.  I did buy the in app purchases to get the complete app, and it was worth it.  My kids play with it all the time, and I really like the visual perception practice.

I could go on and on with this, but I am getting tired!  I'll post more another day.  Happy teaching!
Heidi

HeidiSongs Video Contest - 2012 Winners Revealed!

The videos and pictures submitted for our contest this year have been so good, I just can't tell you how much I've enjoyed viewing them all over and over again. I love seeing all the little one's having such a good time singing and learning at the hands of so many talented and encouraging teachers out there! My hat is off to all of you and your wonderful kids! Believe me it was hard to choose an overall winner, but the grand prize goes to Susan Haas and her Alpha Primary School kids from Morristown, TN!

HeidiSongs 2012 Video Contest Grand Prize Winner!



The Very Song
This song has always been one of my class’ favorites, and this group seems to love it just as much!  I LOVE the monster hats that they made, the excitement that they all seem to feel, and the sign that they made at the end!  Adorable! Susan will receive $100 credit from our website and we'll feature her video on our YouTube page and on our website! Congratulations Susan!!!

But with so many great videos this year, we've decided that ALL of our Runners-Up and Honorable Mentions will also receive $20 credit from our website, so congratulations to everyone listed below and previously featured here on my Blog! Thank you so much for being a part of the fun!

First Runner-Up -Phonics Song:



The Or Dinosaur Song
You can hardly beat this song for pure enthusiasm and fun!  Kids love dinosaurs, and these kids are no exception, that’s for sure!  I love the way all of the children are so “into it,” and really put a lot of heart and soul into that big ROAR at the end!!!! Thanks to Jennifer Statler's Columbia Elementary class!

Honorable Mentions for a Phonics Song:
The Ing Song
These kids know how to swing it like the king, and I bet they know how to read those “ing” word family words now, too!  They sure seem to know all of the words and all be singing along!  Great job, kids! Thanks to Donna Barrett's Tricon Elementary class!

The Ar Pirate Song
I love how this family all gets into the act and they are ALL singing along, including the little three year old!  It is just SO adorable!  And watching their kindergarten boy read all of the words on the screen as they go by is just amazing!!! Thanks to the Dowdle family!

The Ou and Ow Song
I love watching those kids howl like doggies!  (The howling in this song actually makes my own doggies howl, LOL!)  I think that these kids did a great job with this song, and they are super cute! Thanks to our previous HeidiSongs Video Contest winner Kerri Rea's her current Columbia Elementary class!


First Runner-Up - Number Song:



The She Song and the 1-100 Counting Song
Oh my goodness!  This group of kids is so energetic they make me tired just THINKING about teaching them, LOL!  The little girl in the middle is so bouncy and excited that I couldn’t stop giggling the whole time I was watching!  What fun! Thanks to Beth Meier's Boyne Falls Elementary class!

Honorable Mentions for a Numbers Song:
The 26 Song
The movements to this song can really make you dizzy, but these kids pulled it off!  I love the enthusiasm of the kids that seemed to be leading the group at the front.  So cute! Thanks to Katrina Glick's Goodview Elementary Class!

The Seven Song
What would the Seven Song BE without that “Hua!!!” at the end of it???  It’s kind of funny how universally appealing it is!  Every class I have ever had has enjoyed yelling out that karate chop “hua!” many times over at the end of this song, just as these kids do.  How funny!  They are adorable. Thanks to Angela Hefel's St. Mary's Primary School class!


First Runner-Up - Alphabet Song:



The A and C Songs
I love how the teachers are singing along with the kids on these songs!  And their little preschool students look so happy while they are singing!  I love it! Thanks to  Lori Riley & Stacie Massey's Emmaus Early Childhood Education class!

Honorable Mentions for an Alphabet Song:
The L Song
Those kids from Cute as a Bug Preschool really are cute as a bug!  Nice job, cuties!!! Thanks to Cheri Dagupan's Cute As A Bug Preschool class!


First Runner-Up - Sight Word Song:



The And Song
I love how I can really hear them all singing, and they all look so happy!  I especially like the eye contact that so many of them give the camera.  The “nicky-nicky-noo” part is super cute, too! Thanks to  Barbara Muha's Minnie Gant Elementary class!

 Honorable Mentions for a Sight Word Song:
The She Song
I really like the enthusiasm they show as they are slapping their legs and pretending to ride their little horses!  How cute is that???? Thanks again to Cheri Dagupan's Cute As A Bug Preschool class!

The Me Song
I love how these kids all know every word of the song and sing out confidently.  They are definitely a bunch of cuties!!!! Thanks to Dana Shadwick's West Central Elementary class!

The Out Song
Ah, yes!!!  We love the Out Song, and I love the way these kids do their “Bollywood” moves!!!  This video is super cute!!! Thanks to Mrs. Ward's LISA Academy class!


First Runner-Up - Sight Word Color Song:



The Yellow Song
These kids have really got the yellow song down pat!  And I love the happy dancer in pink on the right who is just dancing her little heart out.  So cute!!!! Thanks to Jeremy Wells' Friendship Elementary class!

 Honorable Mentions for a Sight Word Color Songs:
The Green Song
This song was rewritten (or at least the ending was rewritten!) by a girls’ soccer team that included a couple of children that were in my Kindergarten class together about five years ago!  Their team is the Four Leaf Clovers, and they turned my Green Song into their team cheer!  Three cheers for the Four Leaf Clovers!!!! Thanks to Brian Dowdle's Four Leaf Clover team!

The Black and Orange Songs
Oh, the Black Song is always a favorite with my students, and these kids seem to be just the same as my own!!!  They are great marchers, too!  Nice job, kids! Thanks to Cheryl Dimas' Kindergarten class!


First Runner-Up - Misc. Songs and Pictures:



HeidiSongs in the Classroom
I LOVE this video!!!!  I love the way it shows several different songs, and how it shows a special needs student singing along and learning with everyone else.  I also really like the explanatory comments that were added by the teacher, who actually prepared this video to use in a presentation for teachers.  LOVE it!!!!  Thanks so much for the extra effort and for sharing it with us!!! Thanks to Sarah Cullen's class in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia!

 Honorable Mentions for Misc. Songs and Pictures:
The Halloween Song
The kids in this video seem to love this song just as much as my class does every year, and the little girl in the plaid skirt at the front seems to have stolen the show!!!  Great job, kids!!! Thanks to Shauna Langham's Hill Elementary class!


How Do You Sound It Out Song
This little boy is learning to read words at home with his SuperMom as the teacher!  What a lucky little boy!  He seems to really catch on to the concept of sounding out the words with the assistance of the music, too.  Great job, Maika! Thanks to Maika's Mom for sharing this with us!


Well, it's a long list of winners, but we are so thankful for all of your participation, energy and enthusiasm! We'll be contacting the winners for your choice of prizes, so look for a note coming in your email. Until next year, keep those camera's rolling!

Heidi

A New Counting Creatures Workbook for Numbers 11-20!

This winter, we have been working on creating a completely new book full of fun worksheets to reinforce the numbers 11-20, and now Counting Creatures 11-20 is finally finished!  My class has had a ball trying them out, and I have been itching to tell you all about them, but there wasn't much point in telling you about a product that wasn't yet available at the time!  But now, the book is completely finished, and I must say that I think that it is a GEM!  I haven't yet seen a workbook full of activities that were focused exclusively on the numbers 11-20, so I think it will be very useful for those of us that need something else to give our students that are still struggling with these tricky numbers.
 

But first, I want to show you some of our GREAT entries for our video contest!  We are absolutely thrilled with the response this year!!!  These videos make my day each time they come in.  I just LOVE them all!!!  It's going to be really tough to choose a winner.

Here's a fun one from Mrs. Demus' class in San Dimas, CA!  My kids just love the Black Song from Sing and Spell Vol. 2 every year, without fail!  This class looks like they are loving it, too! Be sure to check out her class doing the Orange song as well, at our YouTube site HERE.




Here's another great one from the Dowdle Family!  They filmed their three kids singing the Ar Pirate song from the Sounds Fun DVD!  Their kindergarten boy is reading the word family words in the corner of the screen as they are shown on the video, and their little three year old is singing and dancing along, as well as their ten year old!  I love how the whole family is involved and singing together.  That's how a family should be, and what a smartie that little guy is, to be reading all those words while only in Kindergarten!




Here's another really fun entry from Mrs. Meier's Kindergarten in Boyne Falls, MI.  The energy of these children could provide enough electricity to light up a small town!  This is sooooo much fun to watch!!!!  They are singing the She Song from Sing and Spell Vol. 1, and the 1-100 Song from Musical Math and Jumpin' Numbers and Shakin' Shapes. I get exhausted just watching it!




Finally, we have the Me song from Sing and Spell Vol. 2 from Dana Shadwick's Kindergarten class in Joplin, MO!  The kids are adorable, and I love their enthusiasm!  The winner of our video contest last year, Kerri Rea, was also from Joplin, MO.  Must be a great place to learn!!!



We'll announce the winners next week, so keep your eyes peeled for that. For more video entries, check out our YouTube page HERE.

And now back to the number book!  Just like the Counting Creatures book for the numbers 0-10, this book starts out with a count and move-along poem, but this time the children are counting out much larger numbers!  Also, we are not simply clapping this time, we are also jumping, hopping, running in place, stomping, slithering, roller skating, digging, patting our legs, doing crossovers exercises, and squishing imaginary bugs!  It's loads of fun and the children just adore it! Here's a sample video from our dear friend Andrea Gibbs and her wonderful first grade class!



The children in my class also just BEGGED to
 color the pictures that went with the poem, so I printed out a bunch and let them color them as much as they wanted during their playtime.

My favorite way to use the actual worksheets is to use them for homework, but I also put them into dry erase sleeves and then let the children at the table simply and fill them in with dry erase markers.  This type of activity is always very successful for me and my class always enjoys it!  I'm not sure why dry erase markers make any activity so much more fun than doing it with a pencil, but they sure seem to make a difference.  Plus, I love the way children can do as many of the worksheets as they like when we work this way.  And many of them seem really excited to see how many they can complete in the given time.

I think that if I were to run some of these worksheets off on card stock and laminate them, I could cut them up and make some learning centers out of them, too!  Children could sort the creatures into groups of elevens, twelves, thirteens, and so on.  They could probably also sort them other ways, too.  I think I am only just scratching the surface of the different types of games that could be made out of the pages of this book!  If you have any other ideas, I would love to hear them! And be sure to check out this free download of only a sample of the 102 pages in this fun workbook!