OSMOSIS JONES - He's one cell of a guy!

Osmosis Jones is a popular Hollywood movie shown in many science and health classes. And with the wonderful technology we have, the internet can help our students. Here is a wonderful site called, The Internet Movie Database. This can be used in all content areas. The site has a search engine. You can search by movie tittles, companies, characters, and more! You can find photos, trailers, plot summaries, and even cast overviews.

I think the trailers are wonderful. It provides some background knowledge in pictures to what they've been learning in class. For students who struggle remembering the movie, the trailers can be used as a review.

The photos can be printed by right clicking on the picture and saving it on your computer. Depending on the level of your student, the pictures can be used for sequencing or triggering memories to write a sentence about an isolated event in the movie. They can even be used by mildly impaired students to get them started in the writing process of a summary or report.

Please remember that your school has to purchase copyright permissions to use movies in your classrooms.

Spelling

If a student has access to a resource room or special education classroom during the day, IEP spelling goals can be taught there. Usually children with moderate to severe disorders are working on sight words or phonics.

What to do in the general education setting?

Option 1:

Have a copy of the list. The student simply copies the words.

Option 2:

Choose 5 or more words, depending on the student, that he should learn to read by memory. On test day, put those words in a word box at the top of the page. The student has to identify the word and write it on the appropriate line. For attention reasons, the paper should be numbered according to his words. For example, if the student memorized words 3, 7, 8, 10, and 12, then his paper should be numbered accordingly. If you mix up the words on the test, his paper may look like 2, 5, 6, 8, 11.

Option 3:

This works best for students who also have a physical handicap with the cognitive impairment. Choose 5 or more words, depending on the student, that she should learn to read by memory. On test day, list the words that she memorized. When she hears the word, she identifies it from the list and writes a number by the word. Teacher says, #4 is "language". The student would write the #4 by that word on her list.

These options give the student access to and exposes her to age appropriate instruction.

Communication Tip - Time

Many special education students, especially those who are challenged with autism and cognitive impairments, can learn to tell time literally. However, their language impairments make this skill a huge challenge in the community and in general education classrooms.

The test will start at quarter after one.
For a student with a language impairment, a quarter represents a coin. Rather saying "quarter after one", try saying "one-fifteen".

You have 15 more minutes until you go to lunch.
For a student with a language impairment, elapsed time is an advanced skill. Rather than saying "you have 15 more minutes", try saying the exact time. "At 12:30 you will go to lunch."

Question Words

Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
How?

Many students with disabilities have trouble answering questions because they don't know what kind of answer they are looking for. Although this is commonly worked on in special education classrooms, having a clue sheet will decrease anxiety and increase comprehension. This clue sheet can be placed in a classroom folder, binder or an agenda. It can even be made into a poster on the wall.

Who? (person, animal, cartoon character, etc.)
When? (time: calendar time, clock time, a year, an era, etc.)
Where? ( place: inside or outside - Examples are in the kitchen, at school, in Florida)
Why? ( because.....)

What is a tricky one. You have to look for other clue words.

What happened to... (event)
What time are we going to... (time)
What will he do to help.... (do... an action/verb)

How is another tricky one. You have to look for other clue words.

How do you.... (list the steps you have to do... actions/verbs)
How many.... (a number)