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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...
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Word Collages and Wriggle Writing Make Writing Fun and Engaging

Bringing creative ideas and images into the writing process can make class work and homework assignments fun and memorable for students. I love teaching my students how to create word collages in the shape of an image. In addition, I find that my students love wriggle writing, too, which allows them to write their stories and poems in a nonlinear fashion.
wriggle writing for students
The Process of Creating a Word Collage:
By Erica Warren Copyright 2013

1. Provide your students a theme, such as their favorite animal, a friend, a self-portrait, an event, a concept and so forth.
2. Share with them that they will be creating a word collage using phrases, sentences and/or words that they can type, write or cut out of magazines.
3. Indicate that they can place their words, phrases and sentences randomly, or they can organize them within a traced image on a piece of poster board. Then, show them some examples.
4. As an added option, students can be encouraged to add small objects and designs.

* The image to the right was done about the concept of learning.

The Process of Creating Wriggle Writing:
1. Provide your students a topic, such as a description of    
By Erica Warren Copyright 2013

themselves, their favorite animal, a friend, an event, and so forth. This can be written as prose or as a poem.               
      2. Share with them that they will be taking a short writing piece or poem and rewriting it on the outline of an image, on a squiggle, inside a maze and so forth.
3. Share that they can trace an image or design on a piece of poster board and then write their story or poem on the outside of the image. Then, show them some examples.

* The image to the right illustrates wriggle writing on a squiggle.

Two Websites Make Word Collages and Wriggle Writing a Breeze
If time is an issue, you can let your students use one of these internet sites to help them create their word collage or wriggle writing projects.
word collages for students

Tagxedo:
The online site, Tagxedo, makes wonderful word collages from your own file, a website, a blog and more. It allows you to pick a shape, the color combinations and it will generate the image for you! Your students can also get their creations placed on a T-shirts, mugs, bags and more.

http://www.tagxedo.com/

* The image to the right one that I did about my dog Butter:

Festisite:
The online site, Festisite, allows you to paste your text into a text box and it will create a PDF file of your written work into a spiral, a heart, a wave pattern, or a maze.

If you pull the PDF image into a word document you can then change the page background, and then take a screen shot to add color.

http://www.festisite.com/text-layout/

* The image to the right is one I did from a poem I wrote:

If you decide to use these fun methods, I would love to hear your thoughts!

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.com/
· YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/warrenerica1
· Podcast: https://godyslexia.com/
· Store: http://www.Goodsensorylearning.com/ & www.dyslexiamaterials.com
· Courses: http://www.learningspecialistcourses.com/
· Newsletter Sign-up: https://app.convertkit.com/landing_pages/69400
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  1. Dr. Erica WarrenSeptember 8, 2013 at 9:20 AM

    Here is another really cool idea I found on Pinterest! http://pinterest.com/pin/156500155774187839/

    ReplyDelete

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