Assessment: Body Parts

One of things I assess with my Kindergarten and emergent English Language Learners is the names of our body parts.  (How can we expect our students to let us know that something "hurts", if they don't have the necessary vocabulary?)

After assessment, we sing songs like "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and "Tooty Ta", play a body parts Memory matching game, read an easy-to-read booklet on body parts and play Body Parts Bingo.

My students like all of the activities, but Body Parts Bingo seems to be the favorite!  And...they especially LOVE picking up the bingo chips with my "magic magnet wand"!!  (If you don't have a set of magnetic bingo chips and wand, I highly suggest that you invest in them.  Children love using them and it makes for easier game clean up!)

My magnetic bingo chips and wand are some leftover ones of my Mom's.  She bought them at a garage sale in Florida.  I think she used them occasionally when she and my Dad wintered near Sarasota in February and March.  I found the box in my parents' basement after she had passed away and my Dad and I were cleaning.  Every time we use the magnetic chips and wand I think of my Mom.  I know she would have gotten as much of a laugh out of watching my students' fascination with the "magic" wand and chips as I do.

I had some body parts assessments with line drawings and clip art, but I just wasn't satisfied with them.  So, I spent some time on Google images and created an assessment using photographs.  It wasn't hard to create a table in Word and insert the photos.  I like the assessment so much more with photos rather than drawings! 

 

After I finished making my assessment, I took the same images and created eight different Body Parts Bingo boards.  Again, I used tables in Word.  It took a little time, but the result was worth it.  My students love the bingo game and we've played it several times.  I also printed out copies of the assessment and the bingo boards for my colleague, Mrs. Sunshine and her paraprofessional, Mrs. Foil.  I laminated the boards and assessment and sent them over last week.  Mrs. Sunshine is great about sharing things with me, so I returned the favor!

Here's a sample of what my body part bingo boards looked like after I finished them.  It wasn't terribly hard to make them and well worth my time.

B-I-N-G-O!!!!!  

Earth Science Vocabulary

Last year, I tried to help my third grade students with Earth science vocabulary.  It was difficult, but I tried to come up with some sort of visual organizer to help my students understand the vocabulary used by the regular classroom teacher.  Of course, I also brought in realia (hands on/touchable examples) of as many of the items as I could.

I'm sharing what I did, in case you have to do the same thing for your students.  They say a picture is worth a thousand words....

Hello, hello??

Yesterday, I had some fun in Home Depot.  While Mr. Gumby and the Gumby boys were finding a new toilet for our bathroom, I was happily amusing myself in the plumbing section.  I rooted through several bins and boxes of PVC pipe parts and found what I needed to make a couple of "phones" for my classroom.  I'm not much of a crafter (or craftsman, for that matter), so I needed to go the easiest route possible.  I didn't want to saw PVC into sections (that's way too much work) so I opted for the "put-together-already-cut-pieces" plan.  With a little twisting, turning and connecting ...voila!  I had a "phone"! 

Of course, I had to try out my new "phone" right there at Home Depot.  Younger Son came walking down the aisle as I was talking to myself on my new "phone".  He grinned, rolled his eyes and then jogged off to tell his older brother that Mom was talking to herself again.  (My family never quite knows what to expect from me.)  In a few moments, Mr. Gumby and both Gumby boys came around the end of the aisle pretending to talk to themselves on make believe phones.  I'm telling you I live with a bunch of jokers!  I proceeded to explain to the three goofballs that I had a very good educational reason for talking to myself with  1 1/2 inch PVC pipe. 

These devices are called whisper phones, phonics phones or toobaloos. They can be homemade (like mine) with PVC pipe or purchased from teacher stores.  The ones I've seen at teacher stores and websites are called Toobaloos.   Toobaloos come in fancy colors and shiny metallic finishes.  According to the Meyer-Johnson website, they are "an interactive learning tool ideal for students to improve reading fluency and comprehension, phonics, articulation and voice. The Toobaloo is a simple, break-resistant device that magnifies voices so students hear themselves loud and clear as they softly practice their reading rate, phrasing and speech."  The phones are used by special education teachers and speech and language pathologists. 

The devices are also wonderful tools to use with English Language Learners!  I made myself two phones and am going to try them out with a couple of my students in the new year.  If they're successful, I plan to make myself a few more.  I don't need fancy colors and my homemade PVC pipe phones are dishwasher safe as well.

I found several articles on whisper phones. I'm including the articles here in case you would like to read them, too.

Open Websites from the University of Texas Department of Education

http://ows.edb.utexas.edu/site/teaching-above-beyond/toobaloo

The CANDL Foundation 

http://candlfoundation.com/pages/p_how_it_works.php

(The CANDL Foundation folks will send you 6 free phonics phones, if you send a request signed by your school's principal.)

Honeybee Listening

http://fastlizard.com/retired/honeybeelistening/pvc_phone.htm

Whisper Phone  (The Solo from this company has a harness that fits over a child's head to hold the phone in place.)

http://www.whisperphone.com/index.php/shop

Make Your Own Whisper Phones

(The author of this blog says it costs her 50 cents per phone when she makes her own.)

http://www.trcabc.com/resources/kellyscorner/make-your-own-whisper-phones/