For all the Fulkers out there: a little help with L and R Sounds

Today on Twitter, Mary (@mtmarySLP) blessed me with this inspiration...

mtmarySLP Hmm. First grade teacher - last name of Fulker... makes it interesting for kids w/ no L and R.

After a big grin, I found myself looking at our SoundFinder tool.  It lets you pick out sounds in words an grab pictures that contain them, regardless of spelling.

So, to help out all the Fulkers out there (along with any other primary teachers trying to work on the late sounds of L and R) I decided to pull sounds out of "Fulker" and make some free samples.

Here's how I did it (a few extra steps since Fulker is not an English word):

1. First, I went to the SoundFinder page and started looking for the sound combination "lk".  I used the word "hulk" and chose the last two sounds and got these results.
2. Next, I looked for things with the "ker" sound (or "kɝ" in IPA) by using the word "walker" which gave me a number of "R" sound matches.
3. Finally, to get a few more, I thought I'd look for that L sound, but only in the middle of the word like in Fulker.  So I tried the word "polite" and just looked for the "əl" sound when it occurred in the middle of the word giving me these choices.
4. Along the way, I dragged the pictures I liked into the Tray.  When I was done, I had some great pictures to make Materials with.

And here they are: four great learning materials to help with L and R sounds:

Ten 4x4 Bingo Cards	Ten 5x5 Bingo Cards
Four Color Playing Cards	2" Picture Cards

Now, the important thing to realize is that it took me FAR LONGER to write this blog post than to make these materials.  If you want to try it yourself, take a look at LessonPix.  We have a quick tutorial on how to search by sound, and you can try it yourself without even registering.


I hope you enjoy these and share them with all the little Fulkers in your life!


Bill

Run, Run As Fast As You Can

I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving. It is Sunday evening, and my mind is turning back to school and the very busy month of December.

This week, we will focusing on the story of The Gingerbread Man. I love this theme! All week we read various version of the famous fairy tale and compare the stories. We role play, create gingerbread artwork, bake gingerbread cookies, and write our own gingerbread stories. The children love the song, The Gingerbread Man by Jack Hartmann. We recite beloved gingerbread poems. On the computers, the children play the gingerbread game at Starfall.com.

My centers are saturated with years of gingerbread-themed activities. LessonPix has an article with some free Gingerbread Sample Materials as well as gingerbread clip art to make your own custom materials. In my centers, I include:

• gingerbread lacing cards, 
• matching games, 
• sorting activities: colors, attributes, 
• gingerbread and chef dress-up clothes, 
• puppets, 
• coloring sheets, 
• magnet activities (math sets- gingerbread man picture cards printed on magnetic paper, 
• homemade gingerbread play dough with cookie cutters (2 cups flour, 1 cup salt, 1 tbsp. ground ginger, 1 tbsp. ground cinnamon, 2 tbsp. vegetable oil, 1 cup water, - Mix together and knead until smooth.)

For our culminating activity at the end of the week, the students discover the class gingerbread man is missing. They use questioning and clues to follow a (well-planned) path around the school, eventually locating the gingerbread man on the playground. And the gingerbread man has with him, a plate of gingerbread cookies for the class. We recall the experience in a class story on chart paper and map the gingerbread man's path. It is such a fun and memorable gingerbread week.

Also, looking for a good gift for a teacher, speech pathologist, child care worker, or parent of a young child? LessonPix will soon offer gift certificates! What a great idea!  (I'll write more about this...soon)

Thanksgiving Family Bingo

While on Thanksgiving vacation from my teaching job, I am madly cleaning and preparing to host Thanksgiving dinner. So of course, I have created a couple of cute Thanksgiving games to play with the family.

This year, I have made Thanksgiving Family Bingo. My thinking is that some of the younger children may not be familiar with the aunts and uncles coming to dinner this year. It would be a nice ice breaker to help them learn their family members names.

If you aren't familiar with how to add your own pictures, follow these simple steps:

1. First I used Picasa to crop the pictures tight. You can use any photo editing software if you would like to crop a close-up of family pictures. If you are like me, deciding which pictures to use takes the most time. (Old fashion way - take close up pictures of family) You can even include pets!
2. Go to www.lessonpix.com and log in
3. Click the top tab, "Your LessonPix"
4. Scroll down and click on "Manage My Photos"
5. Go to "Upload A Photo". Browse to search and select which photos you would like to upload and give it a name. Your photo will appear in the list and be available for you to use. You will see the word "Mine" on the corner - to note that the picture cannot be seen by other lessonpix users. "Mine" does not show on materials you create. 

One you have your pictures in "Your Uploaded Pictures", you can click the + or drag them to the tray to make any materials you desire. This is great for making picture cards, pattern strips, memory games, bingo, ...etc. using your photos. (This is a great idea to make materials to use with children with ASD to help them learn familiar friends and family.)

I hope I didn't scare you too much - I just thought it is a fun game idea for families. I will also be making playing cards and memory games. (In addition to our annual charades game.) Why not? Its too easy! (And my nieces and nephew love it!!)

Moving from the forums to this Blog

Lori has hijacked LessonPix's Blog and will be using it to share ideas on how I use LessonPix. I invite anyone to comment and share their ideas as well. 

We moved the LessonPix Blog to the menu bar, replacing the "forums". We are hoping to use this format to share ideas and build better communication with our users. Please check the Blog as I will try to update with new ideas as well as share additional custom materials.  

And please tell us- your great ideas you use in your classroom, in therapy, or with your children. They may or may not involve LessonPix. You can share by posting comments to the blog, e-mailing me at Lori@lessonpix.com, or commenting on our facebook page.

To begin my sharing (simple stuff first)

Did you know......

1. When you search for an image, if you do not find any results, I receive an e-mail. Your failed search result goes in a list of items to draw. You can search for it again in a few days and may discover we now have what you were looking for!!! (I try to draw missing pictures at least once a week.)

2. If you have a specific request- just click "help" at the top right corner of the screen and describe what you need. For example, "I need a boy in a blue shirt holding a candle". I will be happy to draw your custom pictures as soon as I can - usually within the week. 

3. If you would like a blank template, such as the train picture schedule or number cards, just start with an empty tray and click the yellow button, "Create Materials". It will show no pictures in the wizard and print the blank material you choose. (Does not work with Bingo.) This request has been made by one of our users, who would like to velcro the pictures in the blank spots, or use stickers / stamps with the material. Great idea!!

~ Thank you for using LessonPix and remember WE LOVE YOUR FEEDBACK so we can make LessonPix right for you!


Lori