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

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

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