Have you ever heard about DoTerra Essential Oils?

Have you ever heard about doTerra essential oils? I hadn't until I started teaching this year with a lady who swore by them. I was skeptical at first because I mean honestly? There's no way my ailments could be fixed with oils, right?

Well I am here to tell you that I am a firm believer. I've completely stopped taking aspirin and other headache medicine completely. I strictly use doTerra's Past Tense Blend roller to help my headaches (including tension headaches). I have one in my desk drawer and one in my purse at all times!

As I researched doTerra more I learned that doTerra also has a variety of other products including pills, weight loss help…the list goes on.

What are essential oils? 

If you have ever enjoyed the scent of a rose, you’ve experienced the aromatic qualities of essential oils. These naturally occurring, volatile aromatic compounds are found in the seeds, bark, stems, roots, flowers, and other parts of plants. They can be both beautifully and powerfully fragrant. In addition to giving plants their distinctive smells, essential oils protect plants and play a role in plant pollination. In addition to their intrinsic benefits to plants and being beautifully fragrant to people, essential oils have long been used for food preparation, beauty treatment, and health care practices.

I encourage you to take a moment and check out some of the products doTerra has. I am currently working to build my own business selling these amazing oils and products. Check it out at the following website!

http://mydoterra.com/nataliegunderson

Another giveaway!

I have contributed a product to another giveaway! Check this giveaway out everyday for more chances to win!

A 500 TPT Followers Giveaway

I am very VERY excited to team up with Primary Essentials for her 500 TPT followers giveaway. There are tons of items that you could win! Visit at http://primary-essentials.blogspot.com 

Book Study on Neurodiversity and ADHD Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – The Multiple Talents of Students with Learning Disabilities

*Learning disabilities are the most common reason that children in the United States are referred for Special Education Services

*This amounts to about 5 percent of all students in our public education system

*Specific learning disabilities account for a variety of disorders that can affect reading, writing, listening, speaking, reasoning, calculating, sensory processing and memory

-80 percent of students labeled SLD have deficits in reading

Facts about Dyslexia

* new research shows that dyslexia may be in part a phonological disorder

* it is common for students with dyslexia to show an unusual skill in drawing, doing mechanical puzzles and building models at a young age

* artists Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, Leonardo da Vinci all exhibited dyslexia

Positive Role Models

* it is important for students with learning disabilities to understand that others out there have become successful despite having a disability

Career Aspirations

*individuals with dyslexia and other learning disabilities may show expertise in the field of business

* this is because they demonstrate superior intuitive abilities (ability to think “outside of the box”)

* some possible career choices for students with learning disabilities: animator, engineer, physicist, artist, interior designer, pilot, architect

Environmental Modifications

-      - least restrictive is a setting where difficulties with printed words are minimized and strengths (art, archietecutre, etc) are maximized.

-issues with this… - art and other related courses aren’t available due to cut funding etc.

This last thing is something that I can relate to! Our students K-5 do not receive any art class. We do art in our classroom, which ends up being more of a crafting experience. We will soon be expected to teach art standards to our students for our grade level. This fact just boggles my mind as I couldn’t ever apply for an art position without an art degree but now I can teach it?

Celebrating 100 Followers on TpT

I have been a seller on Teachers Pay Teachers since 2012 but only recently became more serious. I finally hit 100 followers on TpT and have decided to celebrate by having my first giveaway! The winner will get to choose an item of their choice from my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Book Study

I am currently taking a class dealing with ADHD in the classroom and Neurodiversity in the classroom. It looks at strength-based strategies to help students with special needs succeed in school and life. We are using the book Neurodiversity in the Classroom by Thomas Armstrong and I thought I would share some of the highlights with you as I go along. I have a lot of students in my classroom who need help and strategies to help them succeed. 

Here are some highlights from chapter 1.

* Neurodiversity: is a shift in how we think about our students in special education or with special needs. It suggests that we focus on the strengths of students and not on their deficits, disease or dysfunction.

* While the term neurodiversity has been around since the 90’s it is growing in the autistic community as well as including groups such as those with learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, ADHD and mood disorders.

* The book reminds us to think of Calvin and his ADHD behavior in the coming strip Calvin & Hobbs or the behaviors of Monk that show his obsessive compulsive disorder.

*Neurodiversity offers educators the opportunity to step outside the box and embrace a new thinking about human diversity. It calls for us to stop putting students into separate disability categories and using old tools and language. Instead of seeking to “fix, cure, or help” a student’s disability we need to seek to discover the student’s unique requirements for growth and then use differentiated instruction and strategies to help them grow.

*The book reminds us that there is no “NORMAL” brain sitting somewhere in a museum or hospital waiting to be seen and to which all other brains are compared to. There are a variety of brains out there and each one is different.

Positive Role Models

Children can be influenced by the adults they see in their lives and we can use behavior modeling to help provide children with guidance and an example of what to be doing. Students with disabilities may also benefit from learning about people who have succeeded in their careers who have had learning disabilities.

Some famous people with ADHD or had ADHD:

Michael Phelps (Olympic athlete)

Jim Carey (actor)

Stephen Spielberg (film director)

Thomas Edison (inventor)