Made by the kiddos - PPT to a movie, so EASY!

So, I learned a new task the other week - how to turn a Power Point presentation into a movie! It is so super easy, and is great because many students (at least div 2 & up) are able to navigate through Power Point already, so they can easily make movies without learning a new type of program. My gr 4 kids each created a slide to help spread the word to the world about how important our water is to us. I then compiled all the slides into one Power Point, and voila, turned it into a movie to be uploaded to YouTube (scroll down to see how!). My kids are SO excited, and keep checking to see how many hits they have, and if they have gained any new comments - so if you have a second, click on the picture to check it out!!

I have PPT 2010, so I only know how to work specifically with this version of Power Point, although I am sure it is similar on other versions. For the Mac users out there - I'm completely incompetent when it comes to Mac computers (maybe you can teach me a thing or 2?!)

Here is how to make your Power Point into a movie (the movie will include all transitions, special effects, and sound clips!):

When you are happy with your Power Point presentation & have saved it normally, click SAVE AS.  

 

Then, where it says "Save as type:" select "WINDOWS MEDIA VIDEO"

It will take a few minutes to save, but before you know it, it will be a windows media file and will play in any media program and can be uploaded to YouTube. It's that easy!!

Let me know if you have any questions, or know of any other fun tips and tricks on the computer for presentations ;)

Have a great weekend!

~Christine

Simply for Your Enjoyment & Inspiration

Here are a couple of funny, fabulous, motivational clips (in my opinion!). If you haven't seen them (or haven't seen them lately), enjoy!

Sir Ken Robinson - Multiple Intelligences

"The Nothing Box" - Men's brains VS Women's brains - funny!

part 1

part 2 (& better picture)

And finally, just something silly - yet funny & true 

(Don't judge me for getting sucked into the fad of these videos! hehe)

Happy Long Weekend!

Social Skills, Class Meetings & Freebies!

.My very favourite part of being a classroom teacher is when we get together as a class, and have a class meeting. It is one thing that I will always do in my classroom, no mater what! We usually have our class meetings and social skills lessons together, at least once a week (plus the impromptu, emergency class meetings when something really big is going on between the kids - teachable moments are so important)! During one of my most successful class meetings, my kids and I came up with some problem solving strategies, and we made the poster above on www.wordle.net (if you haven't checked the Wordle site out, you will love it! Great for mother/father day gifts, projects, displays.. & more!)

I always tell the kids that in our classroom, we don't create problems, we solve problems. The best way to do that is by having a discussion, and agreeing on a solution that adresses everyone involved. Class meetings are perfect for this! It gives a chance for everyone to have a voice, and for kids to learn from each other. Also, I truly believe that academic learning can not take off to its full potential if students are worrying and obsessing over problems that are hanging over their heads. It is astonishing to see how the kids succeed academically after their social and emotional struggles begin to improve!

My class meetings work like this:

We all sit in a circle on the floor, including me. There are very important rules during a class meeting (which is always what our very FIRST class meeting is about) and it is amazing how the kids really take these rules to heart. I choose a stuffy, or another object to be our "talking tool"... and it gets passed around the circle, beginning with me asking a question about the topic that needs to be addressed.  

Here are our class meeting rules:

The Liebster Award?!

Wow, it seems like ages since I last left a post (student-led conference time! BUSY busy..)! The other week, I got a great surprise! I am SO excited that Kara from Spedventures gave me the Liebster Blog Award! Wow! I am fairly new to blogging, so this is super exciting, and I am flattered to be nominated!

All Dogs Have ADHD..!

Oh my goodness... I was shown an AMAZING book yesterday by one of my collegues! Have you heard of this one??

It is a book  by Kathy Hoopmann, and she has some amazing books for kids all about ADHD and Asperger's Syndrome. This book, All Dogs Have ADHD, uses extremely cute photographs of all sorts of dogs to help explain what it is like to have ADHD, and helps kids relate to certain behaviours and understand that it is OK to have ADHD. I think it is a great book not only for kids diagnosed with ADHD, but also for kids who are around kids that struggle with attention (classmates, siblings, etc). Kids can instantly recognize the traits that are exemplified by these canines.  THEN I did some looking into it, and she has another book that looks great:

 All Cats have Asperger Syndrome. Incredible. I haven't had a chance to look at this one, but I bet it is great too - can't you picture some feline tendencies relating to the non-verbal/sensory/literal traits of a child with Asperger Syndrome?

Kathy Hoopman also has an adventure series where the characters illustrate what it is like to live with Aspergers; think: A kids version of "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" By Mark Haddon (which is a MUST READ if you haven't checked it out yet!).

And, while we are on the topic of fabulous books, have you read House Rules by Jodi Picoult? She is one of my absolute favourite authors, and in House Rules, she delivers an amazing, can't-put-it-down, brilliant novel demonstrating the struggles, triumphs, and challenges between members of society, families, and individuals with Asperger Syndrome (and all based around a murder mystery, too! Can't get much better than that.) Also a must-read if you have not picked it up yet!

I hope everyone is staying warm out there (us northern-ers anyway.... it is -45 degrees Celsius in Alberta today...brrrrrr. Snow day today!)

I would love for you to leave me a comment to let me know what you think of these books! Also, if you have any other great resources (or just darn good novels) that you have come across that relate to ADHD, Asperger Syndrome, LD, Social Skills, etc.I would love to hear about them too!

:) Christine

Social Media (sort-of) and..... Full Sentences!

Happy New Year! I hope 2012 is treating everyone well so far. Well, we are back into the swing of things, and it barely feels like we had a break - with teaching we seem to just dive right back in, wouldn't you say?!

I wanted to share my super successful writing lesson I had with my Gr. 4 students this week. I teach Gr. 4, but keep in mind that the kiddos are all diagnosed with learning disabilities, and they all seem to have an especially tricky time with written output. I have been trying ALL year to get the kids to successfully write full sentences on their own, but it sure has been a battle - editing their work tends to bring on negative reactions because it means *more* writing....

I tried out a website that I had heard about a while back called TodaysMeet. This is a site that is extremely easy to use, and is similar to twitter because there is a live feed that you can view as people submit a message. I like this site because you can set it up for a certain time frame - and then it is deleted. So, for the purpose of this assignment I set the site up for one day, then it would disappear along with all the written messages from my students at the end of the day.

 The lesson....

Great things came from the '80s...

I am so excited to have gained a few followers, and so many comments and visits to my page! Thank you all!

So, as I am trying to get my motivation up for the *last day* before winter break, I find myself on YouTube, searching my favorite clips. Although my students would make a strong argument that "BBC Talking Animals" or "Funny Cats" are the best videos out on the web, I always end up watching a few tried and true segments that never fail to motivate me. Rick Lavoie is one of my favourite speakers to watch - as a teacher of kids with Learning Diabilities, I can definitely relate to anything this man talks of. My students are all some combination LD and ADHD, social skills challenges, low (or no) working memory, and slow processing. Needless to say, I have taught some V.E.R.Y bright and unique children - all of which  just learn differently. I could talk and talk of this subject, but for now I will leave you with this clip from Rick Lavoie's F.A.T. City Workshop - there are so many clips, but this one is on the topic of reading, decoding, and spatial challenges. Let me know what your take is on what Rick Lavoie has to say. His examples are very interesting, and although he makes some generalizations and over-the-top examples, I find it pretty darn interesting... not to mention all the e x c e l l e n t '80s attire and hair-styles. ;)

If you are like me, and will spend a bunch of time watching 'related videos' when you find something good, you MUST check out Rick Lavoie's clip entitled "When the Chips are Down". Fabulous stuff!

Here are a few favourite websites of mine:

http://www.ldonline.org/

http://www.ldaa.net/

http://www.totallyadd.com/

http://www.ldexperience.ca/ 

http://www.learninglinkslibrary.ca/

Do you find it hard to keep all of your individual kids' needs in mind while you are teaching? Is your schooling system in support of using academic time to work on some time-consuming, but very much needed strategies for learning? I am from up north in Canada, and I would love to hear some of your thoughts from different countries & systems! 

~ Christine

Pearl Trees

I have come across a fabulous little tool - especially if your school has access to a student set of computers or a computer lab. Have you ever had an amazing lesson planned, integrating technology with a super website....only to spend half of your class helping the kids type in the URLs and micromanaging what websites they are really visiting?

Check out Pearl Trees.

Stand Together!

http://www.standtogether.tv/

We all know that the profession of teaching is so much more than just teaching curriculum content - we are problem solvers, care-givers, friendship-coaches, confidence-boosters and so, so much more.

Bullying is one thing that we, as teachers, have a huge responsibility to address. I have been following Jillian Harris (who is absolutely fabulous!) and Extreme Makeover Home Edition on Twitter, and have been *waiting* for this week's episode to air - an episode about the Walker family, whose son took his own life because of the extreme bullying he was experiencing.

What an amazing, inspirational message that this family has given to us all.  

Writing Prompts

It is amazing to see the ideas that kids can come up with from a single picture prompt... reading my students' writing is one of my favourite things to do (when it comes to marking, anyway!). Usually, we spend some time as a class brainstorming ideas about Characters, Setting, Problem, and Solution. Yesterday the kids wrote stories based on the "mystical tree" image - we brainstormed nouns and adjectives (character & setting) and the kids got some great vocaubulary and ideas from our mind map on the board. I haven't read the stories yet, but I think they will be quite interesting!

Here are some fun picture prompts that I have used with students grades 2 - 6, save them to your computer if you'd like to try them out for your next creative writing lesson!

Nouns, Adjectives, Verbs - with a twist!

I have had a reallllllllyyy hard time getting my kiddos to add some adjectives and verbs to their writing, so today I went back to the basics and we discussed all 3. After doing some actions and repetition of nouns, adjectives, and verbs, I used the worksheets below and played some clips for the kids off of youtube. INCREDIBLE NOUNS - a 3 minute clip from the movie The Incredibles. The kids had to write down any nouns that they could see while watching the movie clip. Just to be sure to help those students who were overwhelmed with this idea, we did a web on the board after the clip, where they could copy down the nouns from. Same idea for adjectives and verbs - MONSTROUS ADJECTIVES - we watched a small clip from Monsters Inc. KUNG-FU VERBS - a scene from Kung-Fu Panda. We were calling out and writing down the words as we saw them on the movie clips. The kids were so creative with the words they found, and they loved this lesson! Then, we carried on to do some practice on worksheets from www.superteacherworksheets.com

Quietube - a great little tool!

Have you heard of quietube? If you have ever used You-Tube in the classroom during your lessons, you will love this. It is a SUPER SIMPLE way to get rid of advertisements and "suggested videos" when you are showing a youtube video, because let's face it - they are not always age-appropriate for our kiddos.

Check out the site and instructions by clicking on the button. 

Today you are you, that is truer than true

I find it sweet that some Dr. Seuss quotes can apply throughout your whole life. This year, I had these Dr. Seuss quote posters made, to put up around my classroom. They aren't too flashy & colourful, but have a nice old-school-chalk-board feel. I had them printed on 11x17 paper, and they are a fabulous touch for the classroom!
~CK

CLICK HERE to download original PDF 

  

Have you seen this video?!

Here is a little inspiration for you:

This is a video called Animal School that I absolutley love. It reminds me why I am a teacher and how to keep perspective on why we are here - it is ALL FOR THE KIDDOS. We are their biggest advocates, until they can advocate for themselves. <3

 Enjoy!

On a day like today....

Well, here goes. I have never done a blog before, and in fact I can remember the first time that I heard the word "blog" quite a few years ago... and my friends and I had a long conversation about what the heck a "blog" could be. I am a special education teacher in my 5th year teaching, and have a love and passion for working with kids - especially those "quirky" kids that may struggle academically, but have enough personality and love to fuel a school on their own. I have often thought that I need a place to keep track of the endless stories, ideas, and events that happen throughout the day, and this might just be the answer! On a day like I had today, I am in much need of some inpiration... I have recently discovered many teacher blogging sites, and have been inspired by all that I have visited - so here I go with my own. We'll see if it flies!


;) CK