Talking on a Tuesday: Gingerbread Edition

There's something about this tasty little guy that the kids love!  Besides the obvious answer (he is yummy), I am not sure how he does it.  If you read yesterday's blog, you know I chose to read "The Gingerbread Man" as the main book of the week.  A couple of my older kids heard "The Jalapeno Man" and our book buddy was able to still work.

Today's post is all about ARTICULATION!!!    Monday morning I was feeling pretty good!  I made a giant check list on Sunday and completed every task on it!  Several of those tasks were making sure I was prepped for Monday.  Pulled up to my first kid to realize I left the paint dauber AND the di at home...on my desk.  Time to improvise!!  We read our book.  Then I pulled out my phone and found a dice roller app (who knew they even had that??).  Instead of dot paints, we just colored the pictures.  Our first activity of the week was the newly loved "Roll and Say."  This one included characters from the story-gingerbread man, fox, old man and old woman. 

Our second session of the week included a take home game and an open ended game.  Both go well with the story.   First, we make the fox puppet while working on our words.  After we've made the puppet, we play the game a time or 2 in order for the kids to be able to play it at home.  I really like these kinds of games for my kiddos that are 1 session a week.  The concept is they "feed" the gingerbread cookies to the fox as they say their words.  When we are done, we place all the gingerbread cookies in the bag for storage.

The open ended game can be found in the book buddy along with the first articulation activity above.  Print a set of cards (1 page) for each child in your group.  If you see kids individually, like I do, print 2 sets.  Laminate all for durability and cut apart.  I store all my game pieces in manila envelopes.  The child produces his target word correctly 5x and then chooses a card from the envelope.  The one with the most gingerbread cookies is the winner!!  But watch out for the broken cookie and the fox!!!

Until next time, keep 'em talking!
Melissa

Monday Preview of Gingerbread Week!!

With Christmas right around the corner, it is a perfect time for a cute gingerbread theme.  I love the smell of gingerbread cookies in the oven around this time of the year!!  This week I have put together some fun activities for the kids to do  that celebrate all things gingerbread!

When I worked in the school system, I liked to read 3 different versions of the Gingerbread Man.  Then we could do the compare/contrast chart, talk about which the kids preferred (and chart the responses) and what we would do if we were the Gingerbread Man.  This would be the reason that I have several Gingerbread Man books.  I have to say I have 2 favorites.  I love "The Jalapeno Man" and "The Gingerbread Girl."  "The Jalapeno Man" is a must have for any SLP living in or from Texas!!  The figurative language in it is like no other!!!  Since I am now in the home setting,  I read it to my older kids (like around 2nd-3rd grade, depending on language skills).  "The Gingerbread Girl" is a great read for the girls.  Usually the boys don't want to hear it because it's about a girl.  But I love that it has a different ending.  It's not necessarily making the girl smarter.  I think it's more about learning from experiences (your own or someone else's) and making a different choice. 

"The 10 Gingerbread Men" is a brand new addition this year.  I found it before Thanksgiving and knew I had to have it for my little guys.

"The Gingerbread Man" Book Buddy can be found on the TpT store.  It has two drill type articulation sheets that will make the week fun.  Kids love those dot paints so feel free to use them with the "Roll and Say" drill.  There's also a couple of language activities; one of which is a new form.  It is called "Color by Skill" and addresses several skills at once as well as following directions.  I can't wait to try it out this week.  If you try it, let me know what you think about it!

I also added some cool playdough smush boards.  The little ones love them!!!  So grab a can of playdough and work on some expressive vocabulary skills.  The kiddos can name the objects and smush playdough on  them.  Or use it for receptive language; name a picture and have the child find it and smush playdough on it.  Either way, they'll have a great time!!

Have a great week!!
Until next time, keep 'em talking!
Melissa

It's Only Thursday...

Ever have one of those weeks when you have been super busy but then realize it's not Friday yet?  That's me today.  I've had a busy week.  Basketball Monday night...Online book party Tuesday night...Endless planning, website designing, "social media butterflying" (that's a word-not really but it could be) Wednesday night and(probably) tonight too... Then I realized I hadn't blogged about this week's activities!!!  What??!!  That's one of my favorite things to do!  So I will be giving you the condensed version of "Cookie Week."

Since I have mostly boys on my caseload, we only read "If You Give A Mouse  A Cookie."  No boys were going to ask for "Clara the Cookie Fairy." (boo, I like that book!)

We started out the week with the book and a drill reinforcement activity.  I needed to get the kiddos back in the swing of therapy after the holidays. You can find all of the activities in the blog here.  The second articulation activity we completed was a "Roll and Say" sheet.  The child rolled the die, found the matching one on the worksheet, and produced the word correctly that number of times.  Then the child colored/dot painted a picture in the row.  The kids really loved doing that!  I think we might be adding this one to our usual routine.  

 

As for language activities, we had a couple of school age coloring sheets.  The early childhood kids loved their stuff!!  Language for school age kids included working on irregular past tense verbs in sentences and categories.  We colored chocolate chips on a cookie as the client made up sentences using the irregular past tense verbs.  We also colored cookies when we could name 3-5 items that belonged in a given category.



The little guys had a field day with our activities.  Since some of my clients cannot follow the book of the week, I made a book that could go along with that is more simple (but could be used with it.)  You can find "Cookie, Cookie What Do You See?" on my TpT store as well as the "Mouse has..." board.  We practiced different language concepts using the Melissa and Doug Christmas cookie set and the Counting Cookie Jar.  The last activity we had was a simple category sort using food, animals and clothing.

 

Well, I started this post on Thursday.  It is now Friday at lunch time.  The blog struggle was real this week!!  Here's to a more organized and productive week next week!!

 

Melissa



TalkBox is Coming!!!



Usually Tuesdays are for the articulation activities we have going on this week.  But today I decided to tell you about a little project I am working on.  Most of us have heard of Birchbox, Ipsy, Barkbox and other monthly subscription boxes that randomly show up in our mailboxes throughout the month.  I receive 2 of the mentioned subscriptions and it is truly like Christmas each time that cute little box or pink envelope show up in my mail!  One night while going through my Birchbox, I said to myself, "Self, wouldn't it be awesome to have a speech therapy box that showed up each month?" You know just a few activities to re-inspire me to do what I love to do.  Cue the ray of sunshine on me or a giant light bulb above my head...however you prefer.

After texting with a few fellow SLP friends (who are used to getting random texts with my goofy ideas), I decided there was enough of a market to at least give it a try.  One of those sweet friends helped me come up with a name  (thanks TB!)  The TalkBox was born!!!  I emailed a few fellow bloggers and TpT shop owners to see if they would be interested.  Of course, I had a few that shot me down right away.  But I also had a few that were interested! 

Here's the basic concept of the TalkBox:
You can choose to receive the articulation box or the language box (or a combined box for a discounted price).  In each box, you will receive 5 sample activities from SLP bloggers and TpT shop owners to use in therapy.  The key is they will be READY TO USE materials.  If it requires lamination, it will be laminated for you!!!  Directions will come with activities so that each SLP knows how to use them (even though most will be pretty simple).  Also in the box will be an information sheet that tells you where each activity is from and how you can find it!!!  Meaning I will give you every contact possible so you find the full set of activities-including Instagram accounts, Facebook pages, Twitter handles, YouTube channels, Snapchats, Periscopes, Website addresses, TpT store address...heck even email addresses if the blogger is ok with it!!  There is NO WAY you won't be able to follow your favorite SLP blogger!!!

Each month, I plan to feature a blogger/TpT shop owner.  There will be a little bio about them (and again all their contact info!) as well as any "swag" they choose to include to advertise.  "Swag" can be pens, pencils, notepads, magnets, buttons and anything else with their advertising info on it!!  I know how we all like to swipe pens and other loot from booths at our state conventions!!

Now here comes the main "WHY" for the TalkBox.  I know we can get into a rut and loose our motivation.  Our heart is still in the job but we get so busy with the mundane things of our job, that we seldom have time for planning.  The TalkBox is designed to reinvigorate you each month!!!  Bring something new to your therapy sessions!!  Inspire you to want to search out the rest of that fabulous articulation bundle you loved so much!!!  Maybe one of the activities really encourages a difficult client and brings out language you've only dreamed of hearing!!

As of right now, I plan on keeping the TalkBox in a rather inexpensive price range.  Each box will be somewhere between $10-15 INCLUDING shipping!!  That includes the activities, lamination, EVERYTHING!!  You will be able to set it up just like you do Birchbox or Ispy; pay by the month or pay for the entire year (cancel at anytime-before the box is billed/paid).  The TalkBox will be scheduled to ship out NEAR the first of every month.  Obviously, if the 1st falls on a holiday or Sunday, it won't ship until the next mailing day.

At the time of this post, a logo and website are being designed.  The website should roll out in mid-December.   I am really excited about this project and hope anyone who subscribes will love the materials in it!!  Each contributor worked hard to make these activities!

Please feel free to leave questions, comments and feedback below!!

Melissa

Aww Man, It's Monday!

Don't we all think that after a long holiday weekend?!  I had tons of things I wanted to get done during my time off...got maybe half of it done!  I got a couple of home projects done but to be honest I didn't pick up my computer once!!  I had big plans to get all of my December activities done and posted to TpT, catch up all my notes and reports, and organize my office.   But then it got cold and the hubs lit a fire in the fireplace and the kids found movies to watch.  Needless to say none of my work stuff got checked off.  Funny how the warmth of a fireplace can zap the motivation right out of you!

 

This week our theme is cookies.  It's always a fun week.  When I worked in the clinic setting, we were able to bake cookies and decorate them.  Since I am a traveling therapist now, I don't get to do that.  We do play a game called "Cookin' Cookies" though.  It's a form of memory that the kids love!  You have to gather all your ingredients from the recipe card to make your cookies (or win the game!) 

Our book is "If You Give  A Mouse A Cookie" but I also like to use "The Best Mouse Cookie" and (for the girls) "Clara, the Cookie Fairy."  Our activities this week are centered around "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie."  I even bring the little mouse from the book with me to finish up the week. 

We have dot sheets, coloring activities and even a little take home game for articulation.  As always there will be a more in-depth post about articulation and language activities later on in the week.

Today's post is short and sweet.  After all, it is the Monday after a break.

Until next time, keep 'em talking!
Melissa

Thursday Thoughts on Language: Food!!

Let's be honest...one week from Thanksgiving, we're not thinking about work or cleaning or even Christmas shopping!  We are all thinking about how much food we are about to consume!!  This week's theme on Thanksgiving food has not helped at all!!  I've spent the entire week talking about turkey, salads, veggies (yuck!), and desserts!!!  Do you know how hard it is to speak when your mouth is watering?!

Our language activities have been just as fun as the articulation ones.  I mean did you see the activity I posted about yesterday?!!?!!  I liked it so much it got it's own post!

I made this little pronoun activity since I have several that needed to work on using "she."  The great thing about this one is you can also turn it into an articulation activity for the short sentence level.  Plus I also used it to address "what" questions asking the question "What did she eat?"  AND I used it to work on increasing MLU with 3 word phrases and vocabulary.

 

Since I did not write the preschool post this week, I am adding the cute little book we read here.  Some of my little guys aren't old enough to follow the main book of the week.  Sometimes, I am wanting to emphasize certain vocabulary.  I made a little book for this week along with a naming/identifying food SMUSH board.  "Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin Pie" is perfect for working on food vocabulary! 

This is my last post about Thanksgiving food.  I know most of my school SLPs friends are out all next week.  Not going to lie...I'm a little jealous!  But I have a short 2 day week next week so I think I will manage!!

Until next time, keep 'em talking!
Melissa

 

Thanksgiving Dinner in Speech!

I have done this craft for the past couple of years.  Each year, I change it up a little but have never been completely happy with it...UNTIL THIS YEAR!!!!  You know how you do a craft with your clients (or your own kids) and you think, "That turned out cute but it would look better if I did..."?  That's how this craft is for me.  I really liked it but always wanted to do more.  I gathered my materials just as I do every year for this craft but it hit me on the way to the first client this morning.  MAKE THEM LIKE THE OLD LADY!!  Hello!!  After the first few kiddos, it has been a HUGE hit!!  The kids laugh and think they will get as big as the old lady in the story.  Here's what we did:

I gathered brown and white construction paper to make the turkey leg and dinner roll.  I used 4 cotton balls as mashed potatoes with a small yellow square as the butter.  I glued yellow pony beads as corn kernels and green pony beads as peas.  Of course, what's a good dinner roll without butter?  So I cut a small yellow square for butter on it too.  We sprinkle just a touch of poultry seasoning (which none of the kids think it smells good!) on the turkey leg.  Everything was glued onto a small paper plate.  The small paper plate was glued a 9x12 piece of orange construction paper.

To address articulation:  I still drilled the kiddos with their target words if they were at word level.  To get a food on their plate, they had to say their target 5x.  Some of my kids are at phrase/sentence level so this is where we used the sentence above the food.  The kids would say their sentence 3x correctly after we glued the food onto the plate.  The sentence was "I know a little boy/girl who swallowed (corn.)"  Only at the very end did we read the entire sentence with all the foods listed.

To address language:  We worked answering "what" questions such as "what do you want?" and using 3-4 word phrases to answer those questions like "I want corn please."  If you are working in a group setting, you could easily work on table manners at this time.  Kids would have to say "Please pass the (potatoes)."  You could even put the different "foods" in plastic serving dishes and prepare the table as if it were a real Thanksgiving dinner!!  (Man, times I wished I worked in a school setting!!)   Spatial concepts are easily addressed.  "Where do you want the corn?"  Answers could be "beside the turkey," or "between the peas and potatoes." 

Sorry I had to take a break from the regular "Wee One Wednesday" post.  This activity deserved it's own post!!!  It is so much fun!!  You can change up the foods too.  One year we used elbow noodles as macaroni.  You could cut strips of green paper to make a salad.  Get creative with it!!  Then come back and tell what you did!!

Until next time, keep 'em talking!!
Melissa

Talking on Tuesday-Artic is a Piece of Pie!

Before taking some time off, I always like to pack our sessions with the most reps we can get in.  Holidays get busy and with no sessions, sometimes my clients regress a little.   I made 2 dot sheets for this week.  The first goes with our story "I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie."  We read the story, talk about the food she has eaten, practice any words with our sounds and (if we are lucky) use them in phrases from the story.  Afterwards, I choose target words from either the story or an app (Little Bee Articulation) to complete the dot sheet with a paint dauber.  I though the kids would be tired of these by now.  Guess I was wrong!

For our second session of the week, I made another dot sheet with pies.

  We can drill our sounds and then complete a craft activity or play a game.  I am actually changing up our craft a little.  The last time I did this craft, it looked similar to the picture below.  There was turkey leg (complete with poultry seasoning), macaroni (elbow noodles), mashed potatoes with butter (cotton balls with yellow square) and pumpkin pie (complete with cinnamon and cotton ball whipped cream!).  The kids had a blast!!!  We could also work in some question asking with "May I have...?"  or table manners with "Please pass the..."

 

I will say doing a couple of days of this craft will make you hungry for Thanksgiving dinner!!

If you are interested in the dot sheets above, they are located in the TpT store.  You can click here to find it.

 

Until next time, keep 'em talking!

Melissa

The Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie Preview

This is seriously my most favorite week in November!!  The kids love this book.  I have a ton of fun prepping the materials for the week.  It's just fun!  We have fun talking about all the Thanksgiving food that is we will be eating in the next week.  I love to hear from the kids about what they eat on Thanksgiving.  It's always an interesting conversation.  When I was a kid, I only ate the macaroni and cheese (and it had to be a certain kind!).  So you can say that I tend to relate with the kiddos who have mac and cheese with chicken nuggets!

To go with our book this week, we have a slew of activities such as the kids' favorite, the dot sheets!  I made two for the week but I am not sure if we will use both in therapy or if one will be given for homework.  I have a school age kiddo working on understanding the concepts of "before" and "after" so, I developed a worksheet to help teach "before."  Since I am trying to teach a new concept, I prefer to teach it one at a time.  A few other kiddos are working on using pronouns.  I developed an activity to work on using he/she in sentences.  I made 2 boards-an old woman and an old man.  The kids placed food cards on them and tell who "ate" the food.

For my little ones, I made a book to help teach basic food vocabulary for Thanksgiving.  There is also a matching playdough SMUSH mat to go along with the book.

 

If you are lucky enough for this to be your last week of therapy before the holiday next week, have fun!  If not, you can still have fun!:)

 

Until next time, keep 'em talking!

Melissa



Thursday Thoughts on Language-Stirrin' Up Some Fun with Turkeys

We've had sooo much fun this week with turkeys!!!  The kids have enjoyed the activities.  More importantly, they have worked really hard on their goals and continue to make great progress!  Several of the language activities I used this week were talked about in Wednesday's post since they were basic vocabulary.  But they do focus on language goals so they are worth mentioning in this post too.  If you want to see what they were, go check out the post.

The category SMUSH board was a good activity for several ages.  I used it to introduce simple categories (such as find the things we eat) with the little guys.  But with my older kids, we follow the directions as listed.  It helps because I have some little friends (that's what I call my clients) that struggle to independently come up with items in a category.  This is just a different way of sorting. 

Some of my elementary age clients are working on developing sentences and using past tense verbs correctly.  One of my little friends is having an especially hard time with formulating sentences with a given word.  However, we completed the irregular past tense verb activity in the book buddy in no time!!  His parents were blown away that he had formulated and written all 4 sentences!!  With this activity, the child colors the irregular past tense verbs RED and the other verbs are blue.  Then he takes the "red feathers" and writes a sentence with each verb.  You can find the activity in the book buddy.  

Also in the book buddy is a spatial concept activity.  Very similar to the one in the owl book buddy, you give a child the picture scene.  To work on receptive skills, give clues like "which turkey is in the tree?"  To work on expressive skills, ask the client "Where is the pink turkey?" You should get a response similar to "behind the wagon."  In this picture, we smushed playdough when he found the correct turkey.

 

Until next time, keep 'em talking!

Melissa

 



Wee One Wednesday-Turkeys and Tots

Using turkeys this week has been fun with the little ones.  For starters, I am teaching a new vocabulary word-TURKEY.  Most young kids do not know what a turkey is or looks like.  Plus, it is super cute to hear a 2 year old try to say "Gobble, Gobble."  I wasn't really happy with my book for this week so I made one for the little guys.  It is similar to the "Brown Bear" format.  The kids picked up the rhythm of it immediately.  For some of my little guys with Autism, I saw their faces light up as if to say "Hey I know this one!"  I call it "Red Feather, Red Feather, What Do You See?"  It works on colors as well as answering "what" questions.  I kept it short so that it would keep their attention and not give too many words at once.  I also made a "SMUSH" board that goes with the book to work on colors.

The kids saw their favorite activity make a return this week-SMUSH boards.  I call them "SMUSH" boards because the little ones love to say "SMUSH!" as they smush playdough on the pictures.  This week my primary target is food!  I started with fruits last week.  Those appeared way too easy for several of my little friends so I added vegetables this week.  That should stump them!  You can also use these boards to work on goals such as describing qualities.  An example would be "What vegetable is red and grows on a vine?"  I added a simple category board as well to some of the sessions.  It was just recently added to the TpT store.  

Another favorite with the kids is the sensory bin.  I added seasonal vase filler balls (glittery orange and green), small fake apples, acorns and corn and a few feathers.  Then I added the plastic fruits and veggies we have been working on.  If you don't have the plastic ones, you could add laminated pictures of the foods you want to address.

The craft we do at the end of the week is similar to the articulation take home activity.  Except we glue the feathers onto the back of the bag.  Little ones must use words to make requests of the items they need.  Most of my little guys are seen at home.  They aren't in daycare so they don't crafts everyday.  They enjoy the actual process of making something.  The looks on their faces when we are done is enough for me.  They are so proud and SO EXCITED to show mom, grandma, dad or the babysitter!  Which of course ignites more expressive language!!!

Until next time, keep 'em talking!
Melissa

Talking on a Tuesday-It's a turKey; not a turTey.

A good majority of my caseload (right now) is articulation.  I like that it makes it a little easier to plan.  But there's always pressure (usually self-inflicted) to get the most repetitions during a session.  I want to make sure the client is getting the most of the session.  To get a large number of reps, I have found this little dot sheets to be very helpful.  The kids are really enjoying them as well.  I created this turkey one to go with our theme this week.  You can find it in the book buddy. 

We have a couple of different games for this week.  The first one is a matching game.  Pretty simple... just match the two turkeys of the same color.  This little game is good because you can use it with your smallest articulation kiddos.  The other game is a little more appropriate for slightly older kids (around 5 and up).  Say your target word 5x, then choose  a card from the envelope.  The one with the most turkeys on their fence wins.

The last activity is a take home game for the kids.  I love to make these in therapy, show the kids how to play them and then send them home!   I often have parents ask me for things to do at home.  This is a quick activity they can do at home throughout the week.  It takes 5-10 minutes to play and families can play it multiple times during the day if they want to.  "Turkey Feathers" requires very little materials.  I used a paper lunch sack, 2 large googly eyes and construction paper in different colors.  Glue the two eyes, beak and waddle in the middle of the bag.  Cut out several feathers in assorted colors.  Write a target word on each feather.  Each word that is said correctly 5x can be placed behind the sack so that it sticks out over it.  Once all the feathers have been said, store them in the bag.  I like to pair this activity with one of the little games above for our last session of the week.  Both resemble "drill and kill" with a little fun added in!

As always, use your book of the week to help you target articulation as well!  Our book this week is great for blends, /l/ and /s/.

Until next time, keep 'em talking!
Melissa

Monday Preview-Here Turkey Turkey!

I know when I pull out my turkey lesson plans, it's almost Thanksgiving!!  I find my "second wind" to get me through the next 2 busy weeks to a peaceful few days off with family.  Sleeping late and eating way too much are my motivational thoughts.

Since today is Monday, that means I preview the activities and books for the week.  The first book of the week is a good one.  The kids laugh every year at all the funny things the turkeys do.  I like it because of all the "-ing" verbs it uses!  Plus it's a countdown book since I like to reinforce counting and simple subtraction (which is about the only math I am good at!).  You can find it here.

I created a book  buddy to go with this book.  It comes with activities for articulation such as the kids' favorite dot sheet.  You can also use the turkey matching game or "Fat Turkeys Fooling on the Fence" game to drill articulation.  For language, there's a coloring activity to work on irregular past tense verbs and a spatial concept activity.  The games included are open ended so they could be used during language sessions as well.

 

As for my preschool kiddos, I am working on simple book for them that is similar to a "Brown Bear" book (Look for it on Wednesday's blog!!).  We will also use our popular playdough SMUSH boards to work on naming vegetables and fruits.  There's also new activity called "The Turkey Eats..." (Freebie Alert!!!)  that works on vocabulary as well as increasing the child's MLU.   The little ones will get to dig around in the Thanksgiving themed sensory box too.   

 

 

Until next time, keep 'em talking,

Melissa

Thursday Thoughts on Language-OWLS

So by now we have covered the books, articulation and preschool speech activities all centered around the owl theme.  Though I use several of yesterday's ideas in therapy for language, some of my older kids don't care for them as much.  So I am bringing you some of my "school age" therapy ideas to use in the owl theme.

"Little Owl's Night" is still age appropriate.  I used it up to about 3rd grade (depending on the child).  For my language kids, I like to ask questions while we read.  These questions will be VERY SIMILIAR (aka almost the same!) to the ones I ask after the story.  But I like to use this time to discuss what is happening in the story and keep the kids engaged.  After we finish the book, we play "Little Owl's Night" Story Comprehension board game.  (You can find it in the book buddy.) Pretty simple-at each turn, have the child answer a question about the story.  You will need a die and pieces to play.  Whoever reaches Raccoon first wins!

Another language activity we have is the Irregular Past Tense Match Worksheet.  (also in the book buddy).  I like to teach irregular nouns and verbs in patterns if I can.  Some don't fit and I categorize them as the "Just Memorize Me" verbs.  The worksheet in the book buddy focuses on the "ew" verbs such as "blew, drew, flew, etc."  The fun thing with this worksheet is you can print 4-5 and laminate them.  The kids can use dry erase markers which they think is more fun anyway.  Then just wipe away and use for the next session.  After they have matched up the verbs, have them write sentences using the past tense verbs.

Big kids still like to play with playdough occasionally.  So I made a scene with owls in different places.  You could actually print two copies, laminate and use as barrier games.  You give the direction and the kids have to find the owl you are talking about.  Or you can flip it...have the child give the description to work on expressive language.  (I even use it with my little guys to help them understand spatial concepts.)  This activity is called "Where is Little Owl?" and it found in the book buddy.

The last activity is "Is That My Tree?" is a category game.  The trees are the category names.  The owls have different object names written on them.  Set out the trees on the table.  As the child pulls an owl from the envelope, have him tell where the owl belongs.  At the end, talk about each category and make sure the owls are in the right trees.  This activity is new to the TpT store!

 

Wishing everyone a great end to the week.  Until next time...Keep 'em talking.

Melissa

Wee One Wednesday- Owls and Little Ones!

I work with a wide age range of kiddos.  With the wide age range, comes an even wider variety of kiddos.  I enjoy it that way.  Yes, it may take me longer to plan or gather activities.  But I like that each session I do is different and keeps me guessing!  Plus, it's nice to not do the same thing over and over all week.

I am dedicating Wednesdays to my younger kiddos.  These are kiddos are younger and benefit from a more play-based, interactive, sensory-seeking type of therapy.  Some of kiddos with Autism participate in these activities as well.  The book we are using this week is "That's Not My Owl.." (It was previewed in Monday's post.  Click here to buy it!)  As I've said before, the textures engage the kiddos.  They can actually feel what "rough" is!  The "touchy feely" textures keep the kiddos engaged and they follow along with the story.

After we read our book, we have a variety of activities that I bring in.  Since most of my littles are working naming/identifying basic objects, I chose foods as my concentration this month...it is the season to over eat right?!  I made "Playdough SMUSH!" boards like the one below.  Oh. My. GOODNESS!!  These are the best!  I cater them to the vocabulary I need to address.  This one is for -ing verbs  but I also made ones for clothing, forest animals, and fruits.  I like them because I can use 1 board but target different things.    I can work with labeling the fruits with one kiddo.  The next session might be identifying the fruits as I name them.  The 3rd session might be "Wh" questions like "what fruit can be red, green or yellow?" or categories (find all the red fruits or find all the fruits that grow on vines).  Possibilities are endless!  Plus the kids LOVE saying "SMUSH" as they smush a ball of playdough on the picture!

Another fun interactive activity is adapting the freebie on the TpT store.  Even though I have used it for articulation, it can be easily adapted as an interactive game for early language kids.  I used it to work on colors (each owl was colored a different color), 3 word phrases using "in/out" such "in the tree."  Turn a paper lunch sack into a tree with some green paper.  Give the child the direction of "Put the (orange)owl in the tree."  Then once they have followed the direction, ask the child "Where is the orange owl?"  They may need cueing to answer with "in the tree."

Hope everyone is enjoying Owl week as much as I am!!
Until next time,
Keep 'em talking,
Melissa

 

Talking on a Tuesday: Articulation is a HOOT!

I have struggled with how often to blog, how I wanted to structure posts, and if I wanted "theme-y" posts or not...  I am playing with a format for the next few weeks to see how it goes and if I like it.  Feel free leave feedback if you find a particular thread that you like!   Either Fridays or Mondays (I have not decided which) will be my preview day.  This will include what books I am using for the week, quick overview of the activities, etc.  Tuesdays will be my articulation activity post!  There might be a quick video on how I am using a book to address articulation, the activities we are doing and anything else articulation related.  So that brings us to this week's activities!!!

"Little Owl's Night" is really great for blends.  I noticed this as I was analyzing the book.  At first glance, I did not notice it.  But when you start going through a book, writing down different target words, you notice.  I included an articulation word list in my "book buddy" for this book.  You can find it listed in my TpT store. 

Usually I start the first session of the week with reading the book.  As I read each page (or 2), I ask simple questions to engage the client as well as practice our target sound.  I continue this way throughout the book.  I like to use books to target articulation because my little friends have NO IDEA they are practicing their sounds.  After we read our book, I ask a few general questions about the story.  Then we break out our activity.  Lately, the kids have been into paper sack crafts and dot reinforcement sheets using paint daubers.  I like to drill the first session of the week so we will usually use a dot sheet or a cut and glue activity.  This week we have a dot sheet.  Kiddos put a dot on each owl as we practice their words.  I adapt the activity to phrase or sentence level if needed.  The dot sheet for this week is included in the book buddy as well.  This sheet is set up to get 80 reps alone!

The second session of the week includes a game that we make in therapy for the child to take home and play.  We work on the child's target words as we make the activity.  Then we play it so that they know how to play it at home.  I also try to include directions on the back for the parents.  We made the game "Owls Sitting in a Tree."  I took a brown lunch sack and glued a tree to it.  I cut out several owls.  We practice words as I write them on the owls.  Then we begin to play the game!!  For each word, they can produce correctly 5x, they can put the owl on the tree.  They continue this way until all the owls are on the tree.  Once we are done, we can take the owls off and play again OR place them all in the bag for storage.  Then I can just send home the paper bag with all the pieces in it.  As you can see below this one was added as a freebie on my TpT store!!

"Whoooo" is thinking articulation practice is a "hoot?!"

Until next time,
Keep 'em talking!
Melissa

Monday Preview: Whooo is ready for November?

Good morning everyone!!  Anyone else ready for cooler weather and tons of yummy food?!  Me too!!  To start out November, I added a new theme to my calendar-OWLS!  I've kind of been in an "owl mood" for about a year by adding a few to my home décor.  But then I found a cute owl book at one of my daycare centers'  book fairs and thought, "I have to add this to my themes!"  (Actually I found 2 books!!)  Some of my older kids will hear "Little Owl's Night" by Divya Srinivasan.    It's a precious little book about an owl as he flies through the night.  It is great for talking about nocturnal animals.  (I came up with a "book buddy" to use with this book and it has been added to my TpT store.)  You may be wondering what a "book buddy" is.  It is a bundle of speech and language activities that are centered around a particular book.  It comes complete with an articulation list, comprehension questions, open ended games and other activities.

My younger kiddos will hear "That's Not My Owl..."  It's from Usborne books and I love these!!  (So much so that I have become a  distributor for them!)  I love that my young ones can actually "feel" describing words with these books!!  I am currently working on a set of activities that could be used with this age group.  My little ones with Autism benefit from these books as well.  How can you teach what "soft" is without feeling it?!   This book takes away the abstract thinking and gives the kiddos a concrete example of the describing words. 

 

Hope these give you some ideas to help start your November!!  This theme is wonderful because it is really appropriate throughout the fall.  Keep up with the blog posts this week because I will be adding more information about each activity that we do.  Be sure to follow along on Instagram (speechchicktherapy) and on Facebook!

 

Until next time...

Keep 'em talking!

Melissa





Celebrating National Pizza Month with Good Sound Pizzas!

Hard to believe it is already October?!  Usually, this month is all about Halloween-pumpkins, bats, spiders, monsters, etc.  This year I decided to put a theme back on the schedule-PIZZA.  I had done this one several years ago when I worked in the public schools.  Using the same book, I tweaked the plans to make them more age appropriate for my current caseload.  The kids are loving it!!  Not everyone is hearing the book but they all love making the pizza!!  Since it is difficult to carry around pizza dough, cheese and sauce to each and every house/daycare/private school, we make a paper version.  A lot of my caseload is articulation right now so we are making "sound pizzas."  Before we make the "pizza", we read "Pete's a Pizza" by William Steig.  The kids love it and get a huge kick out of it!  Now we start working on our pizza!  I copy a page from my Super Duper Jumbo articulation drill book for each client.  Each kiddo gets 4 pictures so 1 page can last 2 kids.  If you shrink the pictures, then each kid could get all nine pictures.

Here's the rest of your supply list:
short strips of yellow paper (cheese)
red dot stickers (pepperonis)
green dot stickers (green peppers is the what the kids call them)
paper plate colored or painted brown

Now here's what you do:
Cut out the 4 target words.  During the first set of trials (3-5 repetitions of each target word), the child gets 2-3 strips of "cheese" to glue on his pizza for each target word said correctly 3-5 times.  During the second set of trials, he earns a pepperoni for each word.  Then we glue the target pictures on the pizza (after he says each one correctly 3-5 times).  Lastly, this is where he can earn more pepperonis or green peppers by saying each word again 3-5 times correctly.  You could get up to 80 reps in this activity alone!!!

We made ours a little differently this week since I had a blank pizza crust for the kids to color.  We just glued their pizza on a sheet of manila paper.  As you can see, I underlined the sounds so that parents knew what we worked on.

Mouse Paint Craft Activity for Articulation

One thing I have figured out with my preschool bunch...They love when we make stuff with lunch bags!!  I have no clue why but if we can turn it into anything, they are so excited!!

This week I decided to make them happy and come up with an activity to use their beloved lunch bags.  They are cheap enough anyways, right?!   I also came up with a language activity using the same craft. 

I have uploaded the mouse template as well as a printable set of directions and supply list.  This craft is pretty simple and can be sent home for the child to practice with a family member.  First, have the child color each mouse a color from the story.  You should end up with 2 white mice and 1 of each color: red, blue, yellow, orange, green and purple.  As they color, feel free to discuss how to make orange, green and purple.  Talk about their favorite color too!  Since I work with little ones, I color their lunch bag to look like a paint can while they are coloring their mice.  If you work with older kids, they can take care of this part too.  Once they are done, I cut the mice out.  A target word is written on each mouse.  You can either use 4 words and write them twice OR use 8 words to practice.  Stand up the "paint can" and get ready to begin!  Have the child say a target word.  Provide a verbal model since they {TYPICALLY} can't read at this age.  (There are no picture cues on these!)  Once the child has produced the word correctly 5x, he can put the mouse in the paint!  With my kiddos working on final consonant deletion, we work on saying "in the paint!" with a focus on the final "t."  For my kiddos that I want to push toward sentence level, I wrote a sentence on the front of the bag.  Some of my kiddos were able to play just once during our session and some could play twice.  Either way, they had a great time and super excited to take a game home to play!

 

Those blobs of color are actually mice!

If you are working in a school setting with a group, allow the students to hold onto their mice and choose one when it is their turn to practice.

TIP:  I like to underline the sound in each of the words we are working on.  It shows the child the sound in the word as well as notifies the parent what we worked on.

Peace, Love and Speech!
Melissa

Colors Week!! Articulation Practice with Mouse Paint!!

I love my color theme unit!  Actually the first 2 units in September, I love!!  Although the concept of "colors" seems a little immature for some of my kiddos, but once you really start thinking, it's not.  It's great for my littles (what I call early childhood-toddlers to late 2's) but my young school age (Kindergarten-1st) get great stuff out of it.  My older ones (2nd and up) tend to find it kind of boring UNTIL I break out CANDYLAND!!!  Then it's on!!  But... that is another blog post for later in week.

Usually the first session of the week involves a book and drill activity to set the theme for the week.  For my kiddos that are one time a week, I adapt their session to what they really need to get in and how they can apply it at home.

For my 3's and 4's, we read "Mouse Paint" by Ellen Stoll Walsh.  I like this book because it is simple and easy to read (that's code for "keeps their attention!")  Plus the kiddos can relate to getting messy with paint.  I like that it broadens their minds with the mixing of the colors.  This is also a great time to talk about the word "camouflage."   Of course, in Texas, most boys know what that word means...especially since it's the beginning of dove hunting season!  With words like "cat, paint, mouse, red, green, orange, purple, paintbrush," "Mouse Paint" is a great book to use with your final consonant deletion clients.  I love to use books in my therapy sessions!  It provides great drill practice without feeling like drill!  I structure my questions so that the child has to answer with a target sound.  For example, I might ask my little friend, "What is the book about?"  The expected answer is mice/mouse.  Either way, I am getting him to produce a final /s/ sound.  If he produces it wrong, then we practice right then.  If he is correct, then I compliment him on a good ending sound or /s/ sound.

After we've read our book and answered questions, we move on to the drill practice of the session.  I made a worksheet a couple of years ago.  However, since it was one that I cut and pieced together, it's not in my computer.  So I've made a new one for you to download if you wish.  I tend to choose between 4 and 5 words to target for the week.  That way the child can become easily successful with them during the first session, making them more inclined to work with family members at home practice time.  During the second session of the week, we may add more and change the easiest ones out.  I shoot for 5 good repetitions before we glue a mouse in the paint.  So with each mouse, I hear 5 good trials.  Depending on the worksheet, that could be 50 trials in one activity!  Those target words are written at the top of the worksheet and send home to practice.

Peace, Love and Speech!
Melissa