Free Resources from the Net for EVERY Learner » Literacy

Schuyler and the new Big Box of Words

Paul Hamilton — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:54:42 +0000

Free internet resources take many forms. I was prompted to reflect on this today as I read a blog post written by fellow traveler Samuel Sennott. In his post, Sam shared a video that shows the positive difference that digital technology can make in the life of a child. As someone who supports the use of technology to help children learn and extend their abilities, I found the video to be an encouraging inspiration.

The internet provides us with a wonderful vehicle for sharing stories that have potential to encourage and inspire. Encouragement is priceless, and there’s a growing wealth of it available online–completely free of charge. Each of us has the opportunity to contribute our own encouraging stories and to pass along the ones that encourage us. Here’s the delightful story that Sam passed along.

Flypaper (downloadable program)

Paul Hamilton — Sat, 17 May 2008 15:01:15 +0000

CAST rightly says that a universal design for learning (UDL) requires multiple means of representation, multiple means of expression, and multiple means of engagement. Without multiple options, we simply cannot meet the diverse range of learning needs and learning styles that are present in EVERY classroom. The sad news is that options are still severely limited in today’s typical classroom.

The good news is that, with the technology available today, there is a plethora of tools available to provide numerous options for every learner. Because most of the emerging tools are free of monetary cost, because they are readily available to anyone with a computer and an internet connection, and because they are easy to use, there is no excuse for teachers who do not use these tools or make them available to the learners they support.

Flypaper is a versatile presentation tool with an infinite range of potential uses by learners and teachers–to engage, represent, and express. Flypaper is easy to learn and use. It is a downloadable program for the PC, so it can be used off line when an internet connection is unavailable. Still, you can easily share your work online in the Flypaper “community”, or embed it wherever else you want to. Flypaper has made it easy to turn your presentation into a flash file, and you can even upload it directly to Youtube from within the application.

In a Flypaper presentation, you can include virtually anything you choose–text, graphics, audio, video, action buttons, hyperlinks, etc. I particularly like the fact that it is convenient for the presenter to add voice narration. A presentation may be a single page, or it may contain multiple “chapters” with as many pages as you want.

Flypaper encourages you to download “models” created by other users, and to use these models as templates for your own work. Flypaper offers tutorials for new users, as well as user forums. There is also a well organized 114 page user manual in pdf format.

I’ve embedded an example of a Flypaper presentation here that merely hints at the potential of the application.

SEN Teacher (online resource)

Paul Hamilton — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 14:08:26 +0000

SEN Teacher “…provides cost-free teaching & learning resources for students with special needs and learning disabilities.” That’s how this major repository of special ed resources sums itself up. (SEN is the acronym from the UK that stands for Special Education Needs.)

SEN Teacher offers a substantial collection of “printable” downloads. There are links to websites that provide information about a wide range of disabilities. There is also significant list of websites that offer free online resources. Jane especially appreciated finding links to Tinsnips and Ispeek here.

Finally, there are numerous links to freeware download sites. The free software listed here includes programs to help develop basic mouse and other computer skills, programs to practice switch use, programs that support curriculum, and much more. There are even a few programs by SEN Teacher itself (eg. 1-5 Counting, 3D Shape Venn, Buried 3D Shape, Girl Face Matching)

The screenshots below show the free programs listed by SEN Teacher and the helpful way in which these are organized on the site.

MES English (online collection of downloads)

Paul Hamilton — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 00:59:22 +0000

MES English offers free printable resources that can be downloaded “for teachers of young learners” This includes flashcards, worksheets, and games, with the focus on language development. There’s also a forum here for users of the site, as well as the opportunity to subscribe to a newsletter.

The collection of downloadable vocabulary flashcards is probably the most impressive resource here, with over 90 sets organized into 60 themes. Since the emphasis is on spoken language, many of the flash cards are not labeled. Still, these can be used effectively to help learners find and use words on speech generating devices and for a multitude of other learning activities.

MES stands for Mighty Education Systems, and it turns out that it is but one of several related sites owned by a prolific resource creator by the name of Mark. If you are involved in elementary education, it is well worth taking time to check out what Mark has kindly made available free of charge. Here are links to his other sites:

Childtopia (online resource)

Paul Hamilton — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:25:11 +0000

Childtopia is a website from Spain that offers a collection of online early learning and primary activities that can be accessed in English, French, Spanish, Catalan and Basque. Chiltopia accurately claims to be a “safe place to play and learn”, with countless online activities and printable worksheets. The screenshot below shows the range of available activities. Helpfully, the name of each category is spoken as you mouse over its button.

I believe that the “Listen and Reading Comprehension” section is especially impressive. Beautifully illustrated stories are read aloud, with each word highlighted as it is read. Each story is accompanied by a set of comprehension questions that are also read aloud. Independent readers, however, have the option of reading the stories and questions to themselves. The “Tales” section offers 7 traditional fairy tales. These are illustrated and read aloud with the text onscreen, but text is not highlighted as it is read.

Apart from having the opportunity to purchase Childtopia’s activities on CD for use when you cannot be online, there is no advertising on this site. All activities on the CD’s can be used free of charge online.

Speaking Of Speech (online resource)

Paul Hamilton — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 14:57:40 +0000

I mentioned my colleague Jane Rondow yesterday, and the presentation she will be making in Winnipeg next month. Jane is a gifted special ed teacher who works with me as an assistive technology consultant with SET-BC. Like me, Jane is a proponent of the principles of UDL. Jane and I presented together at Closing the Gap last October. Now Jane has helped me write this post. Collaboration and working together is a beautiful thing. We plan to do several more posts together over the next few days. Thanks Jane!

Speaking Of Speech is a major online resource for speech/language pathologists and teachers who are “interested in the speech and language development of children”. It is a place where professionals can share ideas, lesson plans, materials, and even IEP goals.

Among other things, the materials exchange houses printable Boardmaker games, communication boards, and social stories that can be downloaded free of charge in pdf format. Some of the resources are helpfully organized by theme and according to school level. Your contributions to this exchange are encouraged, with clearly stated guidelines.

Pat Mervine, the experienced SLP behind Speaking of Speech, has created an invaluable resource that deserves to be well known.

ReadTheWords.com (online resource)

Paul Hamilton — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 04:44:17 +0000

Effective text-to-speech options have proliferated in recent years. A couple of days ago, Richard Byrne pointed us to yet another one that is worth knowing about. The developers indicate that their initial purpose was, “to assist students with learning disabilities with their studies, by means of auditory learning and auditory processing.” In keeping with the principles of UDL, the developers have discovered that the demand for their text-to-speech service extends way beyond the world of students with learning disabilities.

ReadTheWords.com is a free and extremely versatile online text-to-speech service which allows you to enter text with the keyboard, to copy and paste it, or to upload text files in a variety of formats from your computer or from other websites.

Speech is generated quickly, and you then have a choice of 15 high quality voices whose reading rate can be varied easily. You can listen online, download an mp3 file for use offline, or embed your speech file elsewhere online. It was very straightforward to embed the audio player from ReadTheWords.com on a wiki page. Unfortunately, it isn’t so straightforward on edublogs, and I haven’t been able to embed it here on my own blog.

ReadTheWords.com offers text-to-speech in French and Spanish as well as in English.

do2Learn (online resource)

Paul Hamilton — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:28:40 +0000

The website I’m highlighting today says it offers “games, songs, communication cards, print resources and information for special needs”. This is great. Better still is the fact that resources designed and intended for learners with special needs are often valuable for learners without special needs designations. This reality is at the heart of UDL. In my view, Universal Design for Learning simply equates to good good classroom practice, where teachers make a conscious effort to support all the learners in their classrooms.

do2Learn is a website that offers an extensive set of resources designed specifically to support the learning of fundamental skills by individuals with special needs. This site offers products for sale, but it also provides a significant number of helpful teaching and learning resources that can be downloaded free of charge. There are also some free online activities that support learning.

Resources available for download include symbol sets to help learn and communicate about daily living skills, pictures and symbols for creating social stories, visual maps, practice guides for learning to print and write, a variety of step-by-step art activities, as well as sing-along songs and interactive games to help learn basic skills.

Do2Learn provides resources about disabilities for teachers and families. Of special note is the “FASD Toolbox for Teachers”. This is a collection of effective classroom strategies for supporting learners with fetal alcohol syndrome disorder.

Leading to Reading (online resource)

Paul Hamilton — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:49:52 +0000

Almost a year ago, I wrote a post about Reading Planet by Reading is Fundamental. I’m writing today about another terrific site from the same great organization.

Leading to Reading is, “A free resource to help parents and childcare providers develop the language skills of their infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Available in English and Spanish.”

The site is divided into 3 main sections: Babies and Todders (Ages 0-2); Pre-Schoolers (Ages 3-5); Grownups. The collection of interactive options for both toddlers and pre-schoolers is extensive. These include nursery rhymes, games, lullabys, finger plays, songs, art, and exploratory activities.

What I like best here are the books and stories. There is a wonderful collection of online books available to be read aloud to children. Even for the toddlers, words in the stories are highlighted onscreen as they are read.

It is hard to imagine a more engaging set of early literacy activities than those found here, and the quality is first rate. There is absolutely no commercial advertising on the site.

Kindersay (online resource)

Paul Hamilton — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:40:21 +0000

A rough count tells me I now have over 200 resources bookmarked with a view to writing blog posts. No wonder I’m tempted to feel overwhelmed sometimes. Today I’m going to write about a website that I’ve had bookmarked for quite a while.

I’m sorry to say that it looks like this resource has been removed and is no longer available.

Kindersay describes itself as, “…a free online video website designed to help preschool kids & English as Second Language (ESL) children learn English words. Over 500 online activities are available in a special Word Show format.” The consistent format shown below is helpful because young learners easily learn and then know what to expect.

There are 15 categories of words to choose from, including alphabet, animals, food, parts of the body. The entry for each word consists of a simple photo that is accompanied by the pronunciation of the word in a very clearly spoken voice. For registered (free) users, Kindersay includes the opportunity to upload photos of family members and other individuals who may have special significance to the learner.