"Oh the Thinks You Can Think"

Yup... Dr. Seuss.

Revered by all educators and parents everywhere, Dr. Seuss is a legend. Right?

But... have you ever tried to sign a Dr. Seuss story in ASL? Now that's a different story. I would balk at trying to translate any Dr. Seuss story into ASL. Attempting to translate the rhyme and the nonsense words was pointless to me. The books that tell actual stories: Horton Hears a Who, etc. would get my best ASL story telling skills, but the rhyme never translated. Being hearing myself, I always felt like my kids were missing out on something. Something I had no way to give them....

 

Until I found "Hands Land: ASL Rhymes & Rhythms." This project is underway and is creating great resources for deaf children. I love their translation of Dr. Seuss' "Hop On Pop". It inspired me. When I saw our copy of Dr. Seuss' "Oh the Thinks You Can Think," I knew I had to try my hand at reading it to my kids.

It was an instant success! My 20 month old was copying the signs with me from the 2nd page, learning 2 new signs the first time I read it. When my older children arrived home, I had them sit down so I could sign it to them. They, of course, helped me add and revise the translation. It was so fun!

Hope you enjoy the video! And the next time you pick up a Dr. Seuss book... just Think of all the Thinks you Can Think - and start signing away!

*Insert educational strategies note for teachers and parents. This video was signed, filmed, edited and captioned by my son and I. He is 8. He took the pictures, then uploaded and added them. He did about half of the editing, captions, and more than half of the signing.

This is a FABULOUS project idea for deaf children! Video recording their own stories is such a confidence builder. It allows them to see their storytelling as real. They are able to watch their story and analyze the language: what could have been more clear? Do I like the story I told? I love using iPADs for this strategy, allowing the kids to have an ASL journal or Free composing time using the built in webcams.

Then, when my son sat down at the computer to edit and started to caption it, I was blown away! Inside, I was jumping up and down. In reality, I calmly said, "That's a great idea!" Having students watch their ASL and transcribe it into English is a great way to have them really understand how to link ASL to English. He sat there watching himself sign, trying to figure out how to put it in English words. It was great. We worked together on a lot of it. I ended up finishing it because it was getting too long... and we had some other interesting events happen that I'll post about soon! 

Effective Instructional Strategies Explained... These are the Good Ones!

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted the more ineffective strategies... NOW! For the good ones! Again, as I said in my first post, a BALANCE of the different approaches is needed! Here's the link to the strategies to limit (more Ineffective Strategies)

Whole Language approach: Also called, the “Top to bottom approach,” and is contrasted to a phonics or skills based approach to decoding and spelling. The philosophy here is to focus on meaning and strategy instruction, literature-based or integrated instruction. Many of the next strategies are a part of a whole language philosophy. When looking at second language learners, including Deaf children, this philosophy and approach to language is critical! This one will get its own post…for now this link shows a very basic overview.

A Writing Activity

Readers and Writer’s workshop: Writers engage in reading and writing for their own purposes. Led by the teacher through ‘mini lessons’ the students learning reading and writing strategies while choosing their own reading and writing topics. This is a great explanation! 

 You can also see how I did a mini writer's workshop lesson with my son during the writing of our recent vacation blog. In it I note how I picked two grammar principles to teach during that writing session. After we had done the writing together, he felt confident to write on his own.

Cooperative learning: More than just working in groups, cooperative learning gives each student a chance to fulfill a different role in a group: a leader, a secretary, a moderator, etc. while completing the assigned task. More here

Visuals (SMART boards, pictures, tables, graphs): Visuals are so important for deaf children, it is their primary learning style (even if they are using Auditory Listening Devices (ALDs)). Teachers who use visuals will have an easier time of keeping students’ attention while increasing performance.

Bi-lingual/Tri- modal instruction (English/ASL/speech and listening as needed): Using American Sign Language (ASL) to teach English. More than just using sign language as the ‘mode of communication’ in the classroom, these strategies connect and bridge ASL and English while developing both. The goal is for your child to truly become bilingual in ASL and English. This one needs its own post… and you can find basic explanation here for now. This is one article of how a preschool approach might look.

This is our Sensory table - with spelling words!

Balanced Literacy Approach – Children need read in different ways every day. The teacher should be reading aloud to the class daily in ASL following the 15 principles of Read Alouds . Shared reading happens as the same book, or book type, is read repeatedly and the reading shared between student and teacher, with the teacher modeling and supporting the students as they read. Finally, the students read the SAME book on their own, with confidence.

Hands on Activities: Math manipulatives, science projects, field trips, art, constructing reports on research, creating artifacts. As part of integrated units, hands on activities give the students a way to discover new knowledge or to put their learning into action. Our LegoFraction lesson is one example.

Painting a house as part of our Fire unit.

Integrated Thematic Units: Teachers select a theme around which to base all subjects around. In the Fall math, science and language arts can all relate to the Autumn Season. Basic skills instruction is still built into the daily routine, but the main teaching revolves around the theme. Focus is on depth and world knowledge through whole language learning. Check it out more here.

Development of child’s Native Language (ASL): ASL should be focused on and developed. When bilinguals strengthen their native language, the second language is also strengthened (reference here). Easily added to thematic units, ASL can enrich the learning of any subject. We’ll have some fun examples of this!

Always Reading!

Differentiated Assessments: Rubrics, portfolios, testing on content only (using ASL and oral exams), presentations, projects, writing samples, etc. While standard testing is still required, grades can be determined based on a variety of assessments that not only allow the students to shine in different ways, but also develop a variety of different skills. Find a great explanation here.

Structured routines with strong classroom management: All students thrive off of structured routines and strong classroom management. Class meetings and rules can engage the students in the governing of their own class, encouraging more cooperation. Positive reinforcement for following routines and being engaged in learning is a must.

While this list is extensive and feels overwhelming, as you learn more about a Whole Language approach, you will see how so many of these strategies fall into place. It is my goal to provide you with examples of these strategies and how they might look both in the classroom, and at  home.I'll update this post with links to those examples as they come!

Language Experience Books... or Blog!

This is an example of a Language Experience Book. This beginning is more complicated as my son who is 8 was doing the 'writing.' Language Experience books can be just pictures, pictures with one or two words or one sentence for the little ones. You will see this later on in our post. The point is to DO an activity that engages your child, Take pictures, and then write about those pictures. The finished product should be something that your child can look at over and over and 'read.' Even if he or she isn't reading the actual words, it is the act of reading that creates confidence, builds print recognition and expressive language. In the beginning, I am translating what my son tells me in ASL into written English, modeling for him what his ASL looks like in English.

Our Trip!

We went to Portland, Oregon. There's my sisters, and my brother. Mom took this picture of us. Dad was making silly faces behind Mom's back. That's why my baby has a puzzled look on her face, and how I remembered Dad making a silly face.

Do you know why 1/6 of the bridge is raised?

If the bridge didn't raise up, a big tall boat would crash into the bridge and could sink! And it could destroy the bridge too. This means if people were trying to get home and had to cross the bridge, they couldn't go and they might get lost going another way.

Mom took a picture of us for our blog.
We didn't know we would make a blog post until later.

The geese are standing on the grass above the dock. That is why there is a brown pole behind them. My sister wanted to pet the geese, but Mom said, "No! They are wild geese!"

*You'll notice in this next passage, the writing changes. This is my 8 year old writing now. When I correct written English of Deaf children, I do so carefully; a little at a time. I pick one or two concepts to focus on and that's what we correct. Today we focused on some conventions: quotations (that we learned a week ago and that he wanted to attempt in written English on his own), and making sentences out of a really long run on. This helps to build confidence while teaching the grammar.

                                                                 NEXT DAY,
                                                             MORNING

At Multnomah Falls, we walk to bridge. We are decide who go high or down. My two sister are want to down because my Baby are cold and my other sister cold too. So my dad are said, "your two sister come down with me you and your brother go with your mom go to the top."

Later I are scare to go high, on the 6 of 11switch backs. Mom said,"Wait to 7 of 11 then will stop." When we arrived at the 7th, Mom ask me, "Do you want more?"

I said ,"yes i want more until end."

Mom said," Let's go!"

There was a small cave in the side of the mountain!

It was 1/4 mile from the bottom to the bridge. We hiked 1 mile up to the top of the mountain and then 1/4 mile more down hill to the top of the waterfall. Then we came back down, fast. Mom said, "Don't run!"  I asked, "Why?"
Mom said, "There's no railing, if you fall, you could fall all the way down the mountain."

I said, "It's ok. We can run and see what happens."


And I jogged with control, but Mom think I really ran, but I didn't.

Here we are at the top of the fall! 

This is the view looking down!

How many miles did we hike altogether?

on the way up 1 2/4 and 1 2/4 on the way back down...

The answer is...3 miles!                                                       

                                                                                                        

I made it!

This is a view of the falls from the Bridge.

                          

  This is the view from the top. 

                                                          AFTERNOON
                          
                                                               FISH EGG GORGE 

At this point, it was my daughter's turn (she's 4). She wanted to do the typing, so we kept things brief. She is learning a lot about names right now and I made that a focus of her writing. The hope is that as the child re-reads the experience book, words are learned, experiences re-told and world knowledge is reinforced and expounded upon. We are working on expressive language, telling stories and practicing reading!             

 A plant in the pond.                                

big Sturgeon fish

baby Trout fish

Mallard ducks

baby Salmon fish

                                                   

                                                         AFTERNOON       

 BONNEVILLE Lock AND DAM

          We also went to the ocean (2 weeks ago) to see what wild life and plants were there too! 

Here is the diorama I made!

                      

           

We compared the Ocean and Lake Environments using a Venn Diagram and prepared a presentation.

Thanks for reading about our trip! For more information and ideas about Experience Books, click here!

I'll try to do another example soon!