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Showing posts from April, 2013

100 Powerful Learning Specialist and Educational Therapy Materials

This week I wanted to tell you about my online store, Good Sensory Learning. I’m Dr. Erica Warren, and I established this site so I could share all the materials that I have created over the last 20+ years as a learning specialist and educational therapist. When I first began my private practice, Learning to Learn, I had great difficulty finding fun and multisensory materials for my students that were effective and engaging. So back in 2005, I made it my mission to design and distribute high-end, remedial products as well as memorable, motivating lessons that bring delight to learning. If you would like to try a free sampling of my activities , CLICK HERE . How Are the Products Organized at Good Sensory Learning? You can download my Free Printable Catalog or you can browse the site using the grey “search all products” bar in the top right of any page with keywords such as dyslexia, working memory, and executive functioning. What’s more, drop down menus in the red banner allow you t

Using Simple Imagery to Help Students Learn Mathematics

Utilizing imagery and visual memory can be very helpful when learning mathematics. A single picture can help a student define and remember a concept, or it can even help them to recall the steps required to compute a problem. What’s more, it often brings the “fun factor” into the learning environment as students can pull out their crayons, colored pencils or magic markers to complete the activity. I recently learned about the Palm Tree Method from one of my students. I scoured the internet to find its origin, but came up empty handed. So, although I did not come up with this idea, it is still one of my favorites for solving proportions. Here is a sample problem and the steps to follow. Write out the proportion.  Draw a green oval around the numerator of the first fraction and the denominator of the second fraction.  Draw another green oval around the denominator of the first fraction and the numerator of the second fraction.  Notice how the crisscrossing ovals c

Learning Place Value with Pompoms and Pill Boxes

Bringing a tactile, visual and experiential component into math instruction can bring the “fun factor” into your lessons. In addition, incorporating multisensory dynamics into lessons makes them more memorable and concrete. This activity is great for math centers, a classroom activity or individual remediation. When I teach place values, I like to engage my students with colorful pompoms and pill boxes! You can usually find pill boxes and bags of assorted pompoms at a Dollar Store. With a few color coded labels, that cover the days of the week, your pill boxes can be transformed into pompom compartments. I like to put a single color in each compartment and I color code the labels to match. This makes it easy for students to reassemble the activity for the next person. Also, make sure to vary the number of pompoms in each partition. I like to make a variety of difficulty levels for the students and use the seven boxes as follows: Millions, Hundred Thousands

Main Ideas and Supporting Details Instruction, Activities and Games

Many students struggle with main ideas and supporting details. What’s more, they often find the instruction and activities associated with these abstract concepts to be boring.  I have just finished a new, main idea and supporting details product that offers engaging, multisensory, and mindful lessons, handouts, activities and games. A charming, cartoon-like character, Main I-deer, will walk your students through the process in a fun and memorable way. To top it off, I have included two card games (beginners and intermediate) that can be used for group work, learning centers or individual remediation. Come check out this fun publication CLICK HERE . Cheers, Dr. Erica Warren Dr. Erica Warren is the author, illustrator, and publisher of multisensory educational materials at  Good Sensory Learning  and  Dyslexia Materials . She is also the director of  Learning to Learn  and  Learning Specialist Courses . · Blog:  https://learningspecialistmaterials.blogspot.co

108 Online Games that Offer Cognitive or Educational Benefits

Over the years, I have scoured the internet for great, online games. I am a learning specialist, and if I can get my students involved in activities that benefit cognition and learning, then they can expand their potential and also find joy in the process. I have each of the games described and linked on the website for my private practice. In addition, the games are categorized under the following headings, so that it is easy to find the needed resources: cognitive, general education, writing and language, social studies, science, spelling, reading, digital story telling, math, grammar, typing, social skills, and sequencing. So, I wanted to share this link with other teachers and families. CLICK HERE I hope you find it useful. I would love to hear your thoughts! Also, if you have any other sites that you like, let me know and I will be happy to place them on the page. Cheers, Dr. Erica Warren Dr. Erica Warren is the author, illustrator, and publisher of mult