The current trend is to convert popular young adult literature into graphic novels. These can be a great resource when you are looking for age-appropriate and motivating literature for older readers. When using these in your virtual classroom or at home, Kindle Cloud and the Kindle App can be a helpful tool. Click the link below to view an Amazon list of our favorite titles.
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3RDRGQ3L7K4B8?ref_=wl_share
We hope everyone is well and hanging in there. Over the next few weeks, we are going to share some activities you can do with your children at home with everyday items.
We are going to start with Flashlight Constellations. PBS has created a wonderful instruction sheet complete with photo instructions and templates.
Earlier this year, I found out that my beloved Baby-Sitters Club books had been turned into graphic novels. I immediately thought of a few pre-teen girls I know that would love to read these books on their eye-gaze devices. In our previous post, we discuss using Office 365 on Accent Devices to display adapted PowerPoint books. This would also be possible using the PowerPoint App on the iPad.
Unfortunately, I didn’t quite realize how daunting it would be to adapt the entire chapter book. I promise that it will be available for anyone who can demonstrate proof of purchase for the book when I it is complete. Until that time, I thought I would provide some instructions for how to I adapt graphic novels (I have listed a few suggestions, provided by a very helpful Barnes & Noble employee, below).
Continue reading for step-by-step instructions for adapting graphic novels in PowerPoint.
PowerPoint can make adapting books a breeze. We recently took the same features we use when making books for the computer or iPad and created a book for an Accent 1400 with NuEye. The Accent 1400 allows the user to download Microsoft with PowerPoint 360. This opens up the endless activity possibilities available through PowerPoint.
AlphaOops! H is for Halloween is the first book we tried this with and it was a hit! Each slide contains 4 icons that the child can click to turn the page, hear audio of the page, go back, or exit the book.
Continue reading for a free template and step-by-step directions.
Put together these 3 sets of instructions and you can make an adapted pourer and CD switch for pennies compared to what the combo would cost through a retailer.
Finding ways to motivate older students can be difficult. You want to be age respectful while also providing instruction that is cognitively appropriate. I created this Facebook activity as a way to increase student motivation during writing activities.
Students can write a status at the beginning or end of the day. The teacher can write the morning message as a status. Students can “Like” the status, they can use an emoji to show how they are feeling, check-in at their current location, or tag a classmate.
Click here to download the activity.
This is the main board for the activity (it is called “Facebook”). The other files are pop-up boards.
In trying to become fluent in Unity 84 sequenced, I have failed to explore some of the other awesome features on the Accent. I share an office with a great SLP, who just showed me the books that are available on the Accent. There are several books to choose from and they allow the student to read the words on each page using Unity while they look at the book! It’s a great way for students to learn a new motor plan (or continue to practice an old one) and build literacy skills. Here is how you can access the books:
Enjoy!
Have you felt like Jessie Spano lately? As educational professionals we never have enough time. Here in DC, we are right in the middle of testing season and it is STRESSFUL. As an instructional coach, I try to provide the teachers at my school time saving templates for activities whenever I can. I recently made a template for creating switch accessible books in Boardmaker and thought I would share it with all of you!
Each of the text boxes is set up to speak, so just change the text rather than deleting the box. The pages are set-up for step scanning (you can scan through the text, turn the page, and go back). The pictures are set-up do that they can’t be selected when scanning. If you wish to keep this feature, just replace the image in the button.
Click here to download the book template.
Click here to read about switch scanning in Boardmaker.
Amanda received a grant earlier this year for adapting toys and games. We made a giant list of games and all of the materials we thought we might need to adapt them. Candy Land was at the top of the list. I had seen an idea for adapting the game with textures on Pinterest a few years ago (you can click here to see the original post) and wanted to add something similar to our game collection. Continue reading to find out how we adapted Candy Land for our school.
Finding age respectful reading material for students with disabilities can be difficult. As teachers and therapists, we often find ourselves making materials from scratch or adapting already existing materials. Illustrating these adapted books can be tricky. Especially when you are adapting works of fiction with characters that need to stay consistent page to page.
Do you pay to use stock photos?
Do you go with whatever google has to offer?
Do you accept that the main character may look different on every page?
I know that we have been very frustrated trying to adapt chapter books for our older students. Our solution has been using Bitstrips for Schools.