HELPING ROSA

Article 1 Reading Problems

Article 2 Helping Rosa

Article 3 Working With Tony

Article 4 Inexpensive Teaching Materials

About the Author

(The following article was written by Patsy (Smith) Stevens in 1978 and published in a paper concerning the education of children with learning disabilities.)

Filmstrips, projectors, cassettes, tape recorders, and other such teaching aids are great, and we use them extensively in the resource room. But the time comes when the right filmstrip or taped lesson is just not available to teach a particular child a certain concept. This is the time for the creative teacher to use his or her ingenuity and make what is neded for that child.

One of our most valuable teaching aids has been a box of crayons and a roll of unprinted newsprint paper.

Many newspapers throughout the country make these rolls of unprinted newsprint (rolls eight to ten inches in diameter which are too small for them to use) available at a minimal cost to schools or organizations that perform a public service.

The two case histories which follow give you examples of various ways to use newsprint in the classroom.

Rosa*, one of our first grade children, after a year in kindergarten and 5 1/2 months in first grade, still knew only half the letters of the alphabet, and in some cases could make only either the lower case or the capital letter. She wasn't reading at all and had difficulty with math concepts. Although she was of Mexican-American descent, her language was English dominant. According to the diagnostic report she was a visual learner. We decided to place her in the resource room for 30 minutes a day in a one-to-one arrangement.

Our goal for Rosa was that by the end of the year she would be able to recognize and print all the letters of the alphabet, and know the sounds of the 26 letters and the digraphs sh, th, wh, and ch.

We worked for two or three days on each letter and we did not introduce "b" and "d" together because she was already confusing the two letters. To help her differentiate b's from d's I showed her how you could make a capital B and erase the top circle of the letter to change it into a lower case b. She practiced writing the letters on the newsprint.

On the second and third days of working on a letter, Rosa would match two pictures that began with that letter to a card on which the letter was written. The pictures were pasted on newsprint. (See photo above) She also did some worksheets on which she had to circle pictures and write beginning letters.

In 15 weeks she could match the pictures with the correct beginning letters of all the consonants except "w", and she could also write all the letters of the alphabet, upper and lower case as they were dictated to her. She did not learn the digraphs.

In addition to the alphabet, we also worked on writing numerals to 100 in two-inch squares on newsprint, recognizing these numerals, and working addition and subtraction problems involving combinations up to 10.

Sometimes a math game was made on the back of the work page for her to play with a classmate when she returned to her classroom.

(Rosa was retained in first grade the following year.)

* The name of the student has been changed.

Learning The Alphabet, Teacher's Guide & Audiocassette By Edcon Publishing Group This fun-filled program utilizes songs, poems, colorful picture charts, and reproducible activity sheets to incorporate enjoyment into your phonics instruction. Includes 1 audiocassette, 26 picture charts - one for each letter of the alphabet, 24 blackline reproducible activity sheet and teacher's guide.

General Learning-Uppercase Alphabet, Preschool Get Ready Workbooks By School Zone Publishing The Get Ready! series of preschool workbooks is designed to introduce your child to reading readiness skills. Once these skills are mastered, the formal process of learning to read becomes much easier. The skills covered in this series are most commonly taught at the preschool level and in beginning first grade. In UPPERCASE ALPHABET, each letter is presented with a picture of an item beginning with that letter. Then tracing and writing the letter is practiced. Finally, two pictures are presented for the child to figure out which begins with that letter. Additional exercises fill out the rest of the book after the alphabet is completed.

General Learning-Lowercase Alphabet, Preschool Get Ready Workbooks By School Zone Publishing This series of preschool workbooks is designed to introduce your child to reading readiness skills. Once these skills are learned, learning to read becomes much easier. This book contains a line for tracing the letter and then writing it, as well as adding it to words. Ages 4-6. Softcover, 32 pages.

Acts & John, 4 DVD Set By Randolf Productions Inc Journey back to first-century Palestine and witness the extraordinary events that changed the world! Meet John as he reflects on the events they witnessed as Jesus' disciples. Travel with Luke as he shares the struggles and triumphs of the early church. Shot on location, these vivid portrayals are adapted word-for-word from Scripture. Four DVDs, approx. 8.5 hours total.

NIV Adventure Bible Updated, Hardcover By Zondervan Every time children open The Adventure Bible, they set out on a great adventure of discovering the treasures found in God's Word. Filled with exciting features, each fresh new encounter with Scripture will spark their curiosity about the Bible. Segments within the text, like book introductions that give basic facts about each book of the Bible (who wrote it, where it took place, and why it was written), help children understand what they're reading. Also, full-color pages throughout give more interesting information about the Bible and what it means to be a Christian. With all it has to offer, The Adventure Bible has become one of America's bestselling children's Bibles. Send your children on an exciting lifetime expedition of exploring and discovering the treasures of God's Word! Recommended for ages 8 to 12. Features Include: "Life in Bible Times" helps kids understand what it was like to live in Bible times. For visual appeal, each box includes a color picture. "People in Bible Times" helps readers to sort out Zechariah from Zephaniah, Jehoshaphat from Joash. "Words to Treasure" highlights popular verses for kids to memorize. "Did You Know?" points out many of the interesting facts and figures found in the Bible. "Let's Live It!" suggests activities, such as playing games and drawing pictures to reinforce the Bible lessons. A dictionary/concordance for those tricky words.

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