Blending Boards

I haven't posted in a while because I've been busy getting my classroom set up; it is finished and school started about three weeks ago!  I'm already in love with this class, and I'm excited about this year!

So...what is a blending board?  It's a way for you to quickly have children take their knowledge of individual letter sounds and practice putting them together to read whole words (real and nonsense).

For example - /c/ /a/ /t/ = cat and /t/ /o/ /x/ = tox

NOTE: nonsense words ARE important!  I've had a lot of parents ask questions about why they matter.  Here is my response: learning to read nonsense words HELPS children read multisyllabic words later.  So, tox is a nonsense word, but toxin and toxic are real words.  It is a spring board that helps students read bigger and harder words as they grow and learn!

The board holds three cards: a beginning, vowel, and ending.  When using a blending board, go as quickly as possible and flip through the cards while the children sound out the words.  I usually flip one section at a time.  By going quickly you help the child not only become better at sounding out words, but also at becoming fluent with their reading.  The goal is that they eventually do not need to sound out the word, and can read it as a whole.  You can find the blending board cards here at one of my favorite sites Make, Take, Teach, and can buy a blending board at my Teachers Pay Teachers store!



Next week time (who am I kidding, life can get CrAZy!)  I will talk about a strategy that helps children who seem to struggle with the blending board practice.

Multi-Sensory Name Recognition/ Sight Words

Well, just wanted to throw out an idea that expands on the multi-sensory handwriting.

Recently my niece came to visit me, and we worked on recognizing and writing her name!  As we were driving around she started recognizing the letter D saying, "That's my letter! That's a D!"

Here's the process for multi-sensory name recognition (and/or sight words).  Remember that it is REPETITIVE and PREDICTABLE.  This routine will help the children remember better:

1.  Have the child watch you write it 3 times while saying each letter (OG recommends writing the word in red.)

2.  Sky write the word while saying it 3 times (sometimes we also write it on the carpet).

Step 4

3.  On a piece of paper, have the child's name (or the sight word) written.  Put the BUMPY PAD on top of the paper and trace each letter while saying the letter's name.  This is done 3 times!

4.  Put the PAPER on top of the bumpy pad and trace the name (or sight word) three times WTIH A CRAYON!  (Remember that the crayon adds a different sensory feedback to the student that will help them retain what you are teaching them more and tracing the letter first will help the student write the letters, name, and/or sight word correctly...putting it correctly in their memory.)

5.  On the back of the page traced, the student can write the name or word three times own their own.  For this step, I let the students use a pencil, colored pencil, etc...

Multi-Sensory Handwriting

Thanks for coming back to Multi-Sensory Mama!

Last time I posted this picture...

This is how I teach the Orton-Gillingham method for multi-sensory handwriting! (Side note: I love OG because it is repetitious, explicit, and provides multi-sensory learning.)  Remember that multi-sensory learning is using multiple senses AT THE SAME TIME!  

First, I introduce the letter.  We talk about what sound the letter makes, and then the children watch me write the letter three times.  As I'm writing the letter, I talk about how it's written.  For example, as we're writing the letter "g" I say, "loop left, pull straight down, loop left, stop." (Okay, so full disclosure...I didn't really like this at first because my preschool background is used to rhyming, and these don't rhyme.  They are however, predictable, and after a few weeks, my STUDENTS COULD TELL ME how to write the letter!)  Each time we write, we say how it's written out loud.  After watching me three times, the students write it on their own in the air three times (saying the wording each time).  I usually do this part on the carpet together and then dismiss everyone to their seats for the remaining part of the lesson.

I give the children a large letter as seen in the pictures.  This handwriting page is from the PAF program. 

On top of the handout is a clear plastic cross stitch mat, although they come in SEVERAL different colors, I prefer the clear one.  I have a mat for each student to use because we do handwriting as a whole group.  The students then SAY out loud the way we write the letter three times, "loop left, pull straight down, loop left, stop."  After tracing the letter with our fingers, we put the paper on TOP of the "bumpy mat" and traced the letter three times with CRAYONS.  (Crayons have a different texture to them, and provide a better sensory feedback to the student as they write.)

After this process, they would put bumpy pads in their baskets on the desk, and use a pencil to write the letters on their own on the back.  

Now, I know this sounds like A LOT!  I know it sounds like it would take FOREVER!  BUT...it really doesn't.  The longest part is teaching the routine in the beginning.  Once we had the routine down, it took maybe a total of 15 minutes!  You can use this routine for letters, numbers, or even learning how to write names!

The kids loved it!  They liked the texture of the bumpy mats, and I really did see a HUGE improvement in their handwriting!  It also really helps the kids with letter reversal and letter recognition!

Are you a fan yet?  Do you use multi-sensory instruction?  Do you have questions about it?  Feel free to comment.  I'm still learning so much about this myself!

Welcome To Multi-Sensory Mama

Welcome to Multi-Sensory Mama!

Here's a little about me: I have really learned a lot about multi-sensory learning recently, and I have developed a passion for teaching this way!  I have taught in a few different states and grades, but currently, I'm in Alabama teaching.  I'm not very creative, so there won't be very many original ideas, but I will point you in the direction of many of a lot of other creative people and some of my favorite resources!

Now, let's get to it...What is multi-sensory learning?  You may have heard that we all have different styles of learning (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, etc) and that as teachers, we should cover all of these, so each type of learner will benefit.  Multi-sensory learning, however, is COMBINING all of these AT ONE TIME!  I found this quote on the Orton-Gillingham website about multi-sensory learning: "The uniqueness of this type of instruction that it allows the educator to capitalize on the individual student's dominant learning modality while delivering instruction that will strengthen the remaining learning pathways."

So...if you're like me you may be wondering, "Okay, great...but what does that mean? What does that even look like?  How do I apply that to my classroom?"

Hang in there, and keep coming back.  As I continue to incorporate this style of teaching and learning in my classroom, I will continue to post ideas, pictures, and resources...and I'll explain how I teach multi-sensory handwriting (in the above picture)!