The end of the school year is always a stressful time for me.  I have not only all of my end of the year IEPs, evaluations, and progress reports to complete, but I also have all of my own kids end of the year activities and sports to contend with too.  Some days it can just be completely overwhelming.  Some days when I get really frazzled, I like to go out for a run and clear my head.  But, taking a run isn't always possible in my world, so I need something else to calm my nerves (besides a nice cold craft beer). Five years ago, my husband had some pretty major health problems and ended up needing numerous surgeries, and finally, a kidney transplant.  While I was in the waiting room the day he received his kidney, I was given a gift from some volunteers.  The volunteers were from the Gifts of Art program at the University of Michigan.  They gave me a brand new box of crayons and a coloring book.  I loved to color when I was little, and truly had not done it in years.  My kids ...

I have so many students working on sequencing and describing pictures in sequence.  I am constantly looking for new ways to target this, as my students sometimes quickly learn my pictures, and it is not longer a challenge for them.  When I found out about Colorcards Apps , I jumped at the chance to check them out and review them! These are five great apps focus on using real-life pictures for sequencing, predicting, and describing. The apps are engaging, and lead to some great descriptions and stories! The main reason that I was really interested in these apps is for the sequencing.  There are actually three different apps for this: Basic Sequences App : This one has three pictures for students to sequence. 4-Step :  This app has four pictures that students sequence. 6 & 8 Step :  This app has six and eight step picture sequences. All of the apps begin with similar opening pages: Each of the apps offer four different activities: Ordering : students move t...