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