The Tricky Word Journal is a FREE reading companion for home or the classroom.
While reading, write down in the journal the letters, numbers, or words that are tricky! This journal is used to build letter recognition, number recognition, word pronunciation, and vocabulary by isolating tricky areas. If a letter: Encourage the learner copy the whole word and circle the tricky letter. If a number: Encourage the reader to copy down the number, or the math problem, and circle the tricky number. If a word: Encourage the reader to copy down the whole sentence and circle the word that is tricky. When you are done reading, go over what you've written down! Each week, review all that you've learned and accomplished together! Directions: Click here to download the Tricky Word Journal templates and cut & paste them into a notebook. Both are free downloads! Note: It's great to use the Tricky Word Journal for homework time as well!
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Why do we call these Learning Disabilities?
Yes, we have come up with a medical term to define and declare that these are real challenges that students face everyday. But challenges with what exactly? These students are not in need of different minds. Yes, we can help kids overcome and to survive in our current educational environment, but the young mind is not at fault. It is our method of education itself that needs to change. It is our materials, standardized testing, the learning environment that needs to change. By conforming education and by forcing our teachers to only educate a small few using one method, we only will every reach a small few. In doing so we prevent kids from learning and achieving their full potential. In addition, we most certainly are not teaching kids to value their strengths and passions in the arts, humanities, and athletics. We teach that success means achievement in math, science, and english. We teach that if you aren’t good at those, you are not smart. The solution to help young minds develop is simple: do not conform them. Let them grow! Let them become inventors, innovators, creative solution finders in whatever the field they are passionate about. We will find that natural curiosity for math, science, and english in a practical sense will develop on its own. Even though we have come up with a medical term, we need to remind our kids constantly, that they are perfect just as they are, they just learn differently. And as they should. Today, approximately 2.4 million school-aged children in the U.S. are identified as having specific learning disabilities (SLD) and receive some kind of special education support. These numbers do not include children in private and religious schools or those who are home-schooled. What are Learning Disabilities? “LDs affect the brains ability to receive, process, store, respond to, and communicate information. LDs are actually a group of disorders not a single disorder.” The challenges with a learning disability challenge ones performance in school, at home, and at work. Four Common Misconceptions: 1. Learning disabilities are not the same as intellectual disabilities (individuals with special needs), sensory impairments (visual of hearing), or autism spectrum disorders. 2. LD's are not something one grows out of, they are something one adapts to and overcomes. 3. ADHD is not an LD and the two are often confused. 1 in 3 people with LDs have ADD or ADHD. 4. People can often have more then one LD. Everyone is different and can have a unique mix of LDs at varying levels of severity. Information Provided by National Center for Learning Disabilities: http://www.ncld.org The NCLD has a great chart to help us start by recognizing the characteristics of learning challenges: When we think of our nation's dilemma regarding education, we must take into consideration a single variable when making our choices: the kids.
We know that learning styles are different for every student regardless of an LD. In Addition, with close to 3 million students with an LD, needing to take different steps to learn, we can be pretty confident that blanket teaching styles and standardized schooling simply cannot be a successful solution. SRP books are made for those who think a bit different. When I create books and materials I am doing so for those 1 in 7. After all, I represent one of those learners myself. Let's take this head on and overcome together! It can be done! Why Reading Steps®? The system needs to accomplish a number of things:
There is one additional challenge that I felt needed to be implemented in the building of a reading system. The terms (reading) levels, or even (reading) ages, promote a sense of competition and pressure for the reader. You see, points 1-4 above are for the adult’s use. However, the reader is very perceptive to the systems. It effects them in the same way that advertisements on TV and online effect their idea of the image of an ideal man and woman. The Ideal Man: a tall incredibly muscular, athletic, brilliant individual with hair like a prince. The Ideal Woman, tall, slender, with the prefect balance of femininity and intellect, and physique like a goddess. Reading levels create a false image to live up to as well. Something I like to call The Ideal Reader. Consider the classroom environment where one student is on a beginning reading level, and in the same classroom, their friend is on an advanced level for older age groups. Those color indications, even at a young age, become an element of superiority, competition, and build insecurities with learning to read. The child on the beginning reading level may conclude:
Levels and age systems may be wonderful for the adult, but they can act as a put down for the reader. Learning is about comfort and confidence. If a kid feels that they are having difficulties learning to read, it will become an even greater learning challenge for them to overcome because lack of self confidence. Levels and ages set unrealistic cookie cutter expectations for our young leaners. Instead, we should be building confidence around the book itself and the positive experiences they can create! Books are like ice cream: everyone likes a different flavor and eats at a different speed. Just like eating ice cream, reading is not a matter of competition or superiority, but of natural likes and dislikes. I may love a good mystery, and you may love non fiction nature magazines. We need to help readers discover the style of reading they like, discover a reading environment or scenario that is right for them...not what is necessarily right for the rest of the class. Why haven’t book companies made this change already? The answer to this is pretty simple: The elements chosen on the cover of the book are for the buyer not the reader. The book itself is not purchased by a child. It is purchased by an adult either through a school, a bookstore, library, or just for home use. Other companies do intend levels and age groups to be hurtful, just a matter of organization. This is why Reading Steps® were developed! For more on Reading Steps® please refer to the Reading Step® page at StudioRADishPress.com. Today is an amazing day and I cannot believe it is finally here! This project began in 2009 with the first concepts for ©Scarlet’s Symphony written and sketched out on a piece of scrap notebook paper. Now, 4+ years later, we are ready to say hello!
In honor of the Studio RADish Press Week of Welcome, I have created a special one week promo to offer the e-version of ©Forsynthia Fits In: Forsynthia’s First Day and ©Scarlet’s Symphony for FREE! Click here to get your copies! The ebooks will work for all Amazon Kindle users as well as Apple iPad users via the Kindle App that is free in the App Store. I hope you enjoy these titles in their print and eBook versions as much as I’ve enjoyed creating them! Looking forward to telling you all about the making of these books, as well keeping you up to date with the making of books to come! |
Note from SRP:Here is to a world of thinking a little bit different. A world of imagination, innovation, encouragement, intelligence, and creativity! Let's get learning! Archives
November 2014
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