Uncategorized – In Spontaneous Speech

The Time Has Come

27 Jun

June 27, 2024 Cindy 0

All good things must come to an end and so it is with this site. I am writing this last post to let you know that the blog will be discontinued in the coming months when my subscription runs out. There are many reasons why I decided it was time to do this. It is difficult to come up with new material since I no longer work with students. It seems that video platforms have taken over and blogs are no longer that popular. The hosting fees for the site keep going up. I get more spam hits then legitimate users. So, If you want any of the free downloads, you need to down load them for personal storage. My Teachers Pay Teachers store will still be available.

My Teachers Pay Teachers Store

So if any of my viewers are still out there, thankyou for the times you interacted with this site. I enjoyed visiting with you. I hope you found the materials useful.

Valentine Social Group Activity

26 Jan

January 26, 2023 Cindy 0

Will you be observing Valentine’s Day with your classroom students? The Trial and Error Pass Activity is a good way to celebrate and also work on social and problem solving skills at the same time. It is presently on my Teachers Pay Teachers store and I made it a FREE download until the end of February. There is a link at the bottom of the post.

This activity requires students to use a trial and error method of problem solving. This is quite difficult for some students who want success on the first attempt and have difficulty when they fail. This activity reinforces the idea that mistakes are not necessarily bad and can be used for learning. It also teaches students to work together toward a common goal. The solution will be found by observing the mistakes of everyone and it would be very difficult to succeed individually. It also requires students to use their short term memory and make inferences to predict the pattern.

This activity can be used with small groups of students, two competing teams, or with one or two students. The object of the game is to cross the grid in 6 moves stepping on the correct sequence of images.

Valentine TandEgrid — Trial and Error Grid

A judge, who could be a student or teacher, is selected. The judge takes one of the pattern cards that will be the solution to the stepping pattern. A student begins the challenge by stepping on one of the cards in the first row and moves one row ahead for each step. As the move is made the judge indicates if it is the correct one by saying right or wrong move. If a buzzer is available that can be used for the wrong step. There are some buzzer sounds available on apps for electronic devices that students really enjoy using. If it is the right step the student continues to move forward. If it is the wrong step the person returns to the start or the end of the line and waits for another turn. Students can watch the attempts of others until they get to the front of the line again. The students may notice that a pattern is developing as students discover the correct moves. This will speed up the progress until someone finally makes it across. The students should be reinforced for working as a team and not make it an individual competition to make it to the finish.

click here for link to TPT and free download

Word Association Tasks for Teaching Vocabulary

7 Jul

July 7, 2022 Cindy 0

It’s time to talk about strategies for teaching vocabulary again. Vocabulary is the cornerstone for most of what is taught in our schools and is important at every level. Studies have shown that a good vocabulary is a good indicator of success in the classroom.

Students acquire vocabulary best if they are taught through activities that allow them to think about the words rather than just memorize the definitions. Figuring out the similarities and differences in word meanings is a good way to study and retain the information.

My word association task cards are based on this principal. I made this post to tell you about additional features that are now included. If you have purchased the task cards in the past, you now have additional access to EASEL on Teachers Pay Teachers. This gives you two instructional methods. You have the option of two sided task cards that can be printed out and used as flash cards or a digital activity. The digital activity is a multiple choice activity which gives immediate feed back.

The already prepared digital activities are available with individual sets and as part of the bundle. Below are screen shots of the Animal and Household sets to give you an idea. All 3 sets are similar.

If you have purchased these in the past, go check out the new features. If it looks interesting to you, follow the link to see the Preview. You save by purchasing the bundle.

Update on Before and After Picture Cards

23 Apr

April 23, 2022 Cindy 0

This post may look somewhat familiar to you. I am bringing it back up to the top to make you aware of changes occurring to my products on Teachers Pay Teacher (TPT), in particular the Before and After Picture Cards. You may be aware that TPT has a program called EASEL that allows purchasers and authors of Teacher Pay Teachers products to create and use products on digital devices. New features have been added such as movable pieces, color choices, writing, text, and uploading of pictures, clipart, and videos. Teachers can create their own lessons from the products or use ones that teacher authors have created. As a start, I updated my Before and After Picture Cards. If you have purchased these cards you will now have access to a pre-created digital version using features of EASEL from the TPT site.

You may have bought Before and After Picture Cards in the past to be used as flash cards. At that time I suggested using a “Top Secret UV Pen” (often found at book fairs) to write the answers before or after in the blue boxes. Students could light up the answers with a pen light and some found this very motivating.

Now, you will continue to have the ability to print and cut the cards out, but in addition teachers can use the EASEL feature to assign lessons to students through EASEL. I prepared the Before and After cards for you to try out. Students will have the ability to drag the words Before and After to the appropriate spots on the cards. They will not need the fine motor coordination to write the words out. When students have completed the assignment they can turn it in digitally to be reviewed and corrected by the teacher.

I also updated the EASEL version of Sentence Sequences for Complex Sentences. If you purchased this activity in the past, you will also have access to the EASEL version. The digital version gives instant feedback when the students make answer choices. Go try it out.

Click below for a direct link to my store The Spontaneous Speech Spot

Tier II Vocabulary Task Card Challenge 3

23 Nov

November 23, 2021 Cindy 0

Could you use some task cards to help students over the summer break? Take a look at my sets of Vocabulary Task Cards for students to quickly review vocabulary. Challenge 3 is written using words off 7th and 8th grade vocabulary lists. If you have used the Challenge 1 and 2 cards using lower level vocabulary, these are similar. Words are presented in a short paragraphs and students complete word meaning and comprehension tasks after reading them. I have included a free sample in this post for you to try out. Scroll down to find the free download.

The cards are flexible for a variety of teaching situations and student ability levels. I always liked materials that I could tweak for different learning styles and students don’t appear to be getting something completely different from their peers. I think the instruction sheet below, included in the download, best explains the different options available.

The full set of task cards are on Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT). You can assign them to individual students digitally on EASEL platform. This allows for paperless teaching if you wish. You can also download and print them out on cardstock. They can then be used with individual students for home work or in learning centers. 126 words are covered in 20 cards/slides. A variation of the 20 cards using the same words means there are 40 cards/slides total. The free sample provides the word list used.

If these cards work for you and your students, you can purchase the whole set at my store “The Spontaneous Speech Spot”. Click below for a direct link to the full set.