Using Food to Teach: Edible Learning Activities to Reinforce Content

Since 1982, I've taught every age from 1-104 (seriously) and every subject from astronomy to zoology. I chose education to teach special needs kids. Special education, Montessori and adult education training frames my teaching. Every lesson I plan includes hands-on applications. Students see, touch, taste and smell content. One of the best multi-sensory delivery methods is food. I call it edible learning. Here's how it works in theory and practice.  Using Food to Teach: Edible Learning Activities to Reinforce Content

Free Printable Human Body and Anatomy Color and Label Activities

Coloring and labeling diagrams is one of the best activities to help children learn how things work. When my students and children in homeschool explored the human body, we colored and labeled diagrams of body parts. Here are free printable human body coloring and label diagrams. Explore body parts and how the work together as body systems. Use these free printable coloring pages to color and label parts of the respiratory system, circulatory system, digestive system, skeletal system, muscular system, nervous system, endocrine system and reproductive system. These are the eight major systems of the body.  Free Printable Human Body and Anatomy Color and Label Activities

Teaching Kids to Live Al-Anon Slogans: Practice Self-Care

Anxiety and I go back a long way. Fear has been a constant companion, if not a friend. Panic attacks have ruled me and fight-or-flight characterized my behavior. Thanks to 12-step recovery groups like Al-Anon, I use past tense. I am learning to take care of myself so negative feelings don't control me. Kids need to be taught young how to do this, so they don't end like me (and so many others) having to relearn self-care as adults.
Here's how.

Cast out false fear. My old modus operandi was others-driven. I lived in constant fear of upsetting, angering, disappointing and failing. Fear consumed, overwhelmed and exhausted me. I got physically ill. Fear will always be my most challenging nemesis. Combating it means stepping way outside my comfort zone. But if I don't, the zone only gets smaller. Self-care means bearding my lions.  Living Al-Anon Slogans: Take Care of Yourself, Do What's Best for You

Free Printable Brown Bear, Brown Bear Games, Crafts, Worksheets

"Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?" Thus begins Bill Martin's charming, eponymous preschool favorite. Via illustrator Eric Carle's pictures, preschoolers learn about colors, animals. patterns, math and also friendship. Here are free printable games, coloring pages, crafts, worksheets and learning activities from the children's literature classic, along with the companion Martin/Carle book "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?" Use these lessons in readers' workshop, with reluctant readers, emergent readers. Interactive, hands-on, multisensory lesson plans for CI, EI and ECSE classrooms. Special education students love these stories!  Read more

Teaching Special Needs Kids Appropriate Online Social Skills

Teaching kids appropriate social skills isn't easy, particularly for special needs kids. Emotional or cognitive impairment, autism, Asperger syndrome pose additional communication problems. Social networks like Facebook and Twitter complicate still further. Here are parenting tips for online social navigation from a 25-year special needs teacher.  read more

Free Printable Preschool Board Games, Learning Activities

As a certified special needs teacher for CI (cognitively impaired) students, I always write interactive lesson plans. Hands-on activities, like games, make content relevant, approachable and understandable for both general and special education students. Preschool kids particularly need multisensory learning activities. Happily, there are many free printable preschool games available online.   Free Printable Preschool Board Games, Learning Activities

Free Printable Preschool Story Starters, Picture Cue Writing Prompts

March 21 is World Poetry Day and April is National Poetry Month in the U.S. Teachers, why not celebrate in school by hosting creative writer workshops with students? Parents, you can do with kids at home or make activities part of a homeschool lessons. Here are free printable preschool story starters and picture cue writing prompts to get the ideas flowing. Free Printable Preschool Story Starters, Picture Cue Writing Prompts

How Fat People Are Bullied, Shamed

 "Fat" is one of the most common words in the English language. It's used mostly-negatively to describe, ridicule, shame, preach and value-judge. Being overweight myself, it seems fat people get more than their share of bullying. At least, I got treated better when I was thinner and now that I am losing weight. Kids are taught not to bully, but that doesn't always apply to overweight kids. They're still teased just as much and sometimes with adult sanctioning. There is a difference between harassing for weight problems and encouraging kids to diet if they're overweight. The first is counter-productive. The second can be helpful if it comes from someone who can and will help. If it's just one person pontificating about how a fat person "should" lose weight, it's also counter-productive. How Fat People Are Bullied, Shamed

Natural Pain Relief, Anti-Inflammatory Supplements, Muscle Relaxers

I've struggled with chronic pain all my life. I was born with congenital hip dysplasia, scoliosis and spina bifida. In adulthood, I developed bursitis, tendinitis and carpal tunnel syndrome. I have sleep apnea and don't rest well. Prescribed steroid treatments make me jittery, irritable and depressed. I've taken high-dose (2400 mgs daily) non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like Ibuprophen, but gotten only temporary relief. NSAIDs make me tired and sluggish. I get less relief with extended use. POHI, EI and CI kids and those with autism or ADD often have trouble sleeping. Parents of special needs students I've taught have used melatonin and sleep medicine to help them rest. If your child doesn't sleep well, he may be in pain. You may be reluctant to use drugs. Here are natural pain relievers, muscle relaxers and anti-inflammatory supplements that work for me and may work for your child. Natural Pain Relief, Anti-Inflammatory Supplements, Muscle Relaxers

5 Repurposed Uses for Valentines--Art Projects, Crafts, Gifts

Little Miss took her neatly-labeled valentines to school and arrived home with reciprocal Valentine cards from friends. So now, what to do with these prized missives? Clean freaks will surrepititiously toss them when she isn't looking. Sentimental (ahem, packrat) parents will encouraging saving. Artsy (aka messy) moms won't know what happens to them as valentines will filter into the child's general room litter. None of these is very satisfying considering cost and work put into valentines. Here are five cheap, homemade recycled ways to repurpose kids valentines.  Special needs teachers, use these crafts for all-age self-contained classrooms or resource room crafts. Teach recycling with these hands-on art projects--perfect for occupational therapy! Repurposed Uses for Valentines--Art Projects, Crafts, Gifts