Saturday, January 26, 2013

HearAll Assessment Recorder Giveaway

GIVEAWAY IS NOW OVER. 
Congratulations Regan!
I have been using the Easi-Speak USB Recorder to work on fluency and prosody in my classroom and I love the instant feedback it provides. Another great tool from from Learning Resources is the HearAll Assessment Recorder. This handy little device works great with groups and allows me to go back and listen to the recordings and plan what I will work on the next time I meet with the group. I also like that it can hold up to 4 hours of recordings! Some other features of this product include:

  • There are many different uses for individual or small group activities
  • You can download the recordings to a computer 
  • You can listen to and analyze the recordings after class for a more thorough assessment
  • You can share the files with parents and interventionalists
  • You can save several recordings over time to review or compare later
  • The recordings allow you to plan interventions
  • No batteries required! 

Would you like one of these for your classroom? 
Enter now for giveaway!
Winner will be announced on Sunday February 2nd.  
It's easy, just fill out the Rafflecopter form!

Monday, January 21, 2013

Easi-Speak for improving fluency and prosody - Giveaway

GIVEAWAY IS NOW OVER. 
Congratulations Julie!

I love to do reader's theater with my students because it allows them to not only work on their reading fluency, it also gives them practice on their reading prosody. 


Prosody, the defining feature of expressive reading, comprises all of the variables of timing, phrasing, emphasis, and intonation that speakers use to help convey aspects of meaning and to make their speech lively. One of the challenges of oral reading is adding back the prosodic cues that are largely absent from written language.
Researchers have found strong links between oral reading prosody and general reading achievement. For example, after comparing students’ reading prosody in first and second grades with their reading comprehension at the end of third grade, Miller and Schwanenflugel (2008) concluded that, “early acquisition of an adult-like intonation contour predicted better comprehension.” Another study, which included more than 1,750 fourth graders participating in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), found a strong correlation between prosody and overall reading achievement (Daane, Campbell, Grigg, Goodman, & Oranje, 2005).

Reader's theater takes a lot of work to get it sounding fluent with lots of expression. Let's face it, a bunch of kids reading a script can be very boring. It is my goal to teach them how to make it interesting and expressive so the audience is engaged. 
Learning Resource's Easi-Speak USB Recorder is a perfect tool to use in this situation. A student can record themselves reading and then instantly play it back to hear how they sound.  As they get more comfortable with the script, their phrasing becomes more natural. The students are sometimes uncomfortable listening to themselves the first time, but usually they want to read better and record again. This powerful tool can help students become more fluent readers.


This device is really handy too. I can plug it directly in to a USB port on any computer to access the recorded files! 

Here is a voice recording of a student who is just beginning to use expression in his reading. He was very excited to hear his voice and continued to practice after the first recording.

Learning Resources has generously offered The Frugal Teacher and Easi-Speak USB Recorder to give away to one lucky reader. To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below.




Resources: 

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

#2ndchat Winter Read Aloud: Snowmen at Night


#2ndchat is organizing a winter read-aloud starting on January 14th. We will use this week to read Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner. We will also be doing activities in our classroom and then sharing via Skype and blogging. Please visit the #2ndchat wiki page for more information. If you have a good idea, please add your ideas to the Idea Garden widget at the bottom of the page.

You can also follow the action on Twitter by following the #2ndchat hashtag.
We chat on most Wednesdays at 7:00pm CST. 

Current ideas include: 

Writing a story about what toys do at night while we sleep
Snowman crafts- See our Pinterest Board
Science: The Life Cycle of a Snowman

Snowmen at Night:




Other books in this series: