Sign of the Day! [Stop]

New Lesson Plan Idea!

Color Blocks 
this activity is going to be the second lesson plan I use with the self contained class over at primrose this week. What I want to do, is have a paper bag full of objects of every color. Have each kid in the class pull out an object from the bag at random, then I'm going to sign "who has red" and whoever has the red object has to raise their hand. and continue with all of the colors.

of course, before I start this activity, I'll have to review the colors with the class to make sure the signs are fresh in their heads since it's been a 2 weeks since i've seen them last!

Sign of the Day! [Eat]

Well, I've been living it up in florida all week, I went to Flagler College today and was offered the opportunity to go with the president of the school to get a tour of the Florida school for the Deaf and Blind, but I couldn't go =(

Enjoy the sign of the day!!!!

Sign of the Day! [Careful]

The Sign of "careful" is the sign for "K" which is the index and middle finger extended and having the thumb touching the middle finger. With both hands in the K sign, have both hands crossing at the wrists and you tap several times.

Enjoy the break !

Sign Language is NOT universal...

Despite what many people believe, Sign Language is not a universal language. There are multiple different kinds of sign language including

British Sign language,French Sign Language, Quebec Sign Language, American Sign Language, Irish Sign Language, Russian Sign Language, Dutch Sign Language, Flemish Sign Language, Belgian-French Sign Language, Spanish Sign Language, Mexican Sign Language, Norwegian Sign Language, and MANY more!

Even baby sign language is different then the traditional American Sign Language.

Sign of the Day! [Family]

Sign of the day is family!! Did you know that 90% of Deaf children are born to hearing poeple whereas only 10% are born to Deaf parents.

Got a response from Columbia !!

The professor of the Deaf Education masters program at Columbia University responded to my email requesting information for how I can help my my journey into the profession of Deaf Education as successful as possible.

She gave me the following website to do more research http://www.deafed.net

Did you know, that the history of teachers who have taught the deaf shows ...
89% are hearing
4% hard of hearing
7% are deaf


Here's a video preview of what a deaf classroom may look like.

Sign of the Day! [Vacation]

Can't wait for February break!!
The sign for 'vacation' is putting your thumbs on your chest =)

Sign of the Day! [Play]

How to start teaching a baby Sign Language...

For the last couple of weeks, I've been babysitting for a family with three kids under the age of 4. Which is perfect for me to test out some of my lesson plan ideas on them. The twin girls just turned 2 last week, they can talk, but they are still kind of hard to understand sometimes, so I've been teaching them some signs.

How To Start:
1. naming something & pointing it out (milk, a dog, book)
2. addressing someone (mom, dad, grandpa)
3. finding something (where shoe?, where toy?)
4. something is gone (food all gone)
5. asking for more (more milk, play again)
5. possessing something (my bear, your toy)

**Most important thing to remember, REPEAT as much as possible**

Sign Of the Day! [I love you]

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Sign Language humor !

Two Is better then one in ASL

This girl actually learned sign language by watching so many youtube clips... pretty cool if you ask me.
Enjoy ! =)

Wanna learn more about Deaf Culture?!

I just ordered A Journey into the Deaf World as recommended to me by Erin Breidenbach from NY school of the Deaf... to learn more about Deaf culture check it out !

Flagler College - Education of the Deaf major

As of right now, I'm planning on going to Flagler College in St. Augustine FL.. (as you can see from the course description below, i have a lot of work ahead of me!)

Program Description

This course of study results in eligibility to receive dual certification in the areas of elementary education (K-6) for hearing children and deaf education (K-12). The deaf education program is nationally-certified and results in eligibility to receive both a state certification and a Council on Education of the Deaf certification which is nationally-recognized. In addition to these dual certifications, students also receive the ESOL endorsement. The course of study in this department requires study in professional education courses, elementary content and methodology courses, and education of the deaf and hard of hearing courses. Depending upon the student's sign language skills, the course of study may require 136 hours to complete. All students participate in practicum courses with elementary schools in the public school system of St. Johns County and the Florida School for the Deaf.

NYSD??!!!

I have pretty exciting news... Today I emailed the lovely Erin Breidenbach from NY school of the Deaf, asking if it was possible for me to come in for a day to do observations, and she said she was going to look into it and let me know!

I get excited about these kinda things...

Sign of the day! [Pizza]

In the mood for pizza... The sign for Pizza is the the letter "P" and draw a "Z" in the air. Enjoy!

BRAIN BLAST!!

Originally I've been planning on having the kids from Mrs. Kane's class over at Primrose come over to sign the song "I can sing a rainbow", BUT now I'm thinking of a new idea....

Maybe, I should teach the kids basic conversation words and phrases like "how are you", "good/bad, and you?"... stuff like that. And for my presentation, have the kids have conversations with their friends for the audiance. To show I've taught the kids about how communication does not have to be expressed with words.

Preschool lesson #2 success!! (it's a good day!)

Today was a good day for me! The preschool today was great! The kids were a lot more open to the idea of learning Sign. The girls more then the boys, but this time there were two boys hiding in the back of the room following along.

Today, I brought the movie "goodnight moon" which was a reading of the book with pictures and a translator signing along.

Before the movie even started, I taught the kids how to sign "Goodnight Moon" and once the movie started every time the narrator would say "goodnight moon" I had the kids sign it with the translator.
& the kids loved it !!

The second movie I played was "Gladys Goes out to Lunch" and I did a little experiment and didn't give the kids any introduction to the signs that were going to be used in that story, and the kids were hands down more interested in the first story, my guess is because they knew how to sign along. 

Elementary school day one... success!!!

Just got back from the elementary school, the class I'm working with is a Self-Contained class for students with special needs. The Self-Contained class at the high schools teacher, Mrs. Stoecker who I've been volunteering with for the past four years (and also happens to be my mentor) told the elementary level class about me, and now I'm booked to teach a lesson for a half hour every wednesday.

Today I went over with the kids what it means to be Deaf, and I explained to them why they would need to use sign language, and that anybody can learn sign language and that they use it everyday like when they wave hello or goodbye and when they count on their fingers.

I introduced the colors to them, and they picked up on it really well! However, I'm not sure if they fully understand the purpose of sign language so I'm planning on the next week going over the colors again, and then teaching them how to sign 'How are you' / 'good'/ 'bad' and have an activity where the go around to their peers and have a small conversation with each other so they get the concept that sign language is a tool for communication.

Sign of the Day! [Restroom]

Enjoy the sign of the day!
Today is a crazy day for me, I have my first lesson with the elementary school today at 12:00, then at 3:00 I'm going to the preschool for their second lesson!!
So excited !!!

Party in the USA in ASL

WISE on saturdays

It's official. I'm a WISE geek. My WISE project is pretty much taking up my life, and I love it. Right now I'm looking into the Rhinelander Children's Centers Saturday program for the Deaf. (link for the program seen below!)

Basically the program is for Deaf or hard of hearing students who attend regular schools and/or are the only hard of hearing person in their family. This program gives them the students he opportunity to hang out and talk using sign language with other students just like them =)



http://www.childrensaidsociety.org/rhinelander-childrens-center/saturday-program-deaf-hard-hearing-children-teens

Does baby sign language delay speech development??

NO!
Signing to babies does not delay the child's ability to speak. According to Drs Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn from the University of California babies who used symbolic gestures early learned to speak more readily than those babies who did not.

Sign of the day [Father]

New Lesson Plan Idea!

Good news! I decided to go shopping with some friends today to get my mind off of things (one of them being that I still needed to come up with a lesson plan for wednesday) when on the sale rack I found a movie for kids that gives a reading, shows pictures AND shows the signs for the classic story "Goodnight Moon" I'm sooo excited!! I'm thinking about trying it out on the kids I babysit for tomorrow!

Lesson Plans

So far I've only had one lesson at the preschool.. I'm trying to keep my lesson plans focused on colors. My plan for my presentation at the moment is to have the Self Contained class at primrose come over and sign the song "I can see a rainbow" (lyrics seen below)

Red and yellow and pink and green;
Purple and orange and blue.
I can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too.
Listen with your eyes, listen with your eyes, and sing everything you see.
You can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing along with me.
Red and yellow and pink and green; purple and orange and blue.
Now, we can sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow, sing a rainbow too.

My first lesson plan was I introduced what being Deaf means, and explained to them that we use sign language everyday like when we wave hello or goodbye, and when we count on our fingers. then I introduced the colors and show them the signs when holding up a picture of an object that color
(ie. yellow/a school bus)

For my next lesson I know I want to review what I taught them last time, but I'm wondering if I should start working on the song with them now.

Baby Sign

So one of the 50 million things I'm doing for my WISE project is working at a preschool locally and going in once a week to teach Sign Language lessons to kids between the ages 2-4.

Teaching baby sign to a infant or toddler is more effective for developing language skills then most would think. It is believed that 90% of the information we absorb is through our vision.

Day 1

For my WISE project, I'm going to be taking on several different internships involving Sign Language, to help prepare myself for a career in teaching the Deaf or hard of hearing.

My WISE mentor is Mrs. Stoecker
we meet everyday first period

My internships include translating for hard of hearing students at BlindBrook middle school, teaching baby sign at children's nursery, teaching sign language for a self contained class at primrose, and running Somers High School's Sign Language club.