Book of the Week: Skeleton Meets the Mummy

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I think this book is becoming one of my Halloween Favorites! Skeleton Meets the Mummy is the story of Sammy the Skeleton.  His mother asks him to bring a thermos of soup to his grandmother since it's chilly.  Sammy tries to hurry because he's meeting his friend Derek to go Trick-or-Treating, but he is being followed through the woods by a mummy!  This book is not too scary for the little ones and is great for having kids make predictions (Did you predict how the book will end???).

After reading the story, answering wh- questions, and making predictions, we made mummies:

We used a gingerbread template to make the bodies and added strips of masking tape and googly eyes.  For this particular group, we worked on following directions and body parts. But you can adapt this craft to any speech target...Kids can earn strips by answering questions, by saying an articulation word, by using a target word in a sentence, etc.  You can even write articulation words on the tape strips and have students bring home for carry-over practice!

I did try to create a mummy using the paper doll pattern done on my Cricut (I used the Paper Doll Dress Up Cartridge), but it really wasn't sturdy enough for the younger kids to use without ripping. The tape tends to stick to the table when you do this craft.  When the kids tried to lift it, the pattern ripped.  Fortunately, it could be fixed with more tape!

I would definitely recommend using the gingerbread shape for younger kids though.

What do you think? Would you use this book and/or activity in your speech room?

Book of the Week: We're Going on a Ghost Hunt

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.com for your convenience.

Have I mentioned that I love Halloween?  There are just so many fun things you can do with this theme!  This week, we used the book We're Going on a Ghost Hunt by Kris Hirschmann.

As you may have guessed, this book is similar to We're Going on a Bear Hunt.  However, this story lands you in a haunted house surrounded by ghosts! (But it's not too scary for the little ones).

While reading the story, I focused on the prepositions (over, under, through, etc.) and had the students illustrate using their hands.  After we finished the story, we grabbed my little ghost stuffy and took turns following directions and/or using prepositions:

After the story was OT time!  Our occupational therapist had kids make these chalk rubbing ghosts.  Didn't they come out cute?  As a bonus, we got to work on the preposition "around" while making these!

If you want directions for making the chalk rubbings, let me know!  What's your favorite Halloween or ghost-themed book?

On Amazon:

Book of the Week: Bats

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.com for your convenience.

This week's book of the week is a fun not-quite-Halloween non-fiction book...National Geographic Kids: Bats.

This is a great book to use during the month of October (or anytime really) with older students.  You know, the kids who are "too cool" for some of our fun Halloween stories.

Here's what I like about it...It's loaded with tons of facts and information about bats and real photographs:

You can use pretty much any page in the book for working on WH- questions, summarizing, sentence formulation, etc.

There's a page about Bat Myths and truths:

This past year I was asked to administer state testing for the first time.  I noticed that some of our speech kids have difficulty with True/False questions.  This page would be a great way to practice that skill!

There are fact cards that summarize key vocabulary (Tier 2 and 3 words) from the story.  You can cut these out, but I would recommend making a color copy as there is a page on the other side.

I love the National Geographic Kids series and often find these books in the Scholastic Readers and book fairs.

Here are some of the activities I'm using to accompany this book:

First, we're using this organizer (Bats are...can...have) to summarize the information from the story.  And here's a fun paper bag bat craftivity that can be used for following directions.  You can also cut a mouth and have students feed their articulation words to the bat.  And here's another bat craft that can be adapted...add vocabulary or articulation words (pictures or written words) to the streamers and you have a take-home project that can be used for carryover!

I wanted a faster paced game to get more trials in some of my sessions, so I created this bat themed activity:

Essentially, you place all the cards face down on the table. The child takes a turn completing a task, then draws a card.  If they get a bat, they keep it.  If they get a ghost, they return ALL their cards to the center of the table.  The player with the most points (or bats) at the end of the game is the winner!

You can find this activity in my TPT store.

What are your favorite bat-themed activities?

Skeleton S-Blends {Freebie included}

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.com for your convenience.

I've been working on a skeleton-themed activity to accompany the book Skeleton Hiccups by Margery Cuyler.  

Do you remember me mentioning that I'm running an OT/Speech group this year with our wonderful OT?  Well, we chose this book because she has an awesome skeleton craft (similar to this one on Pinterest) and I came up with this activity since many of my kids are working on /s/ blends:

The design has a fun skeleton/chalkboard theme. Graphics are by Scrappin Doodles.  There are 12 target words for each of the following blends: /sk/, /sl/, /sm/, /sn/, /sp/, /st/, and /sw/ for a total of 84 target words.

Here are some of the /sk/ words:

You can use the words for articulation or for sentence formulation.  I tried to include as many Halloween themed words as I could (scare, slimy, skeleton, etc.).  I also added two dot-reinforcer pages (one girl, one boy) :

and a writing page:

You can find this item in my TPT store.  Download the Preview file and get the /sk/ words for free!

Tell us...If you don't use these for articulation, what would you target?

Jack O'Lantern Fun

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links to Amazon.com for your convenience.

Happy October 1st!  No, it's not a holiday (not that I'm aware of anyway), but I love the fall and all that it entails...cooler weather, leaves falling, apple picking, trips to the pumpkin patch, and Halloween!  The kid in me LOVES decorating for Halloween and even dressing up!  In the spirit of the season, I've created a fun Jack O'Lantern themed freebie for you:

In this packet, you will find:

Jack O'Lantern sequencing cards:

Five Little Pumpkins Song/Story Props:

(There's a fence too.  Print it twice to fit all of the pumpkins, attach together and laminate for a DIY folder)

Jack O'Lantern Barrier Game (or reinforcement activity, whichever you prefer):
There are large pumpkins...

 and face pieces (cut each shape out individually):

You can download this freebie HERE.

In case you missed it, I posted two Halloween freebies last year (Halloween Memory Match and Halloween I Have, Who Has).  You can find out more about those activities HERE.

One more thing...I love cutting Jack O'Lanterns and making pumpkin seeds, but I can't use food in my therapy sessions (district rule), so I like to make these:



I bought some of the craft pumpkins that you can carve from Michael's and added holes using a chopstick to correspond with each set I have (I got one pumpkin per "costume").  Now my kids can make fun Pumpkin heads without the mess!

What are your favorite Pumpkin/Jack O'Lantern activities?

Spreading Some Bloggy Love!

Wow!  I just have to say that last week was busy and eventful in many ways.  Because of that, I haven't had a huge amount of time to plan and create materials.  So, this week I'm planning on using some of the AWESOME ideas I've seen on other speech blogs...

With my articulation groups, we're adapting this activity from Crazy Speech World:

Jenn had her students describe a target word (written on the tree) and add those words to leaves that were then glued to the trees.  I'm having my students glue pictures of target articulation words to the leaves...

final /k/ tree

I have a couple of language kiddos mixed into articulation groups, so they are making fall vocabulary trees using fall vocabulary pictures I found on Pinterest.  I tried to get you the link, but it now says the page does not exist :-(

Fall Vocabulary Tree

I also have a group of articulation students who are working less on specific sounds and more on sound sequencing within multisyllabic words.  For those students I'm  using Grammar Gum Balls by Jenna over at Speech Room News:

In my higher functioning (older) language groups, I'm planning on using Trick of Treat Pronouns created by Brea over at Let's Talk Speech-Language Pathology.

from Let's Talk Speech-Language Pathology

For my younger language groups, I bought Halloween Bugs: A Trick or Treat Pop Up Book, that was recently highlighted by Chit Chat and Small Talk.

Pam included an adorable craft to accompany this book - a DIY lift the flap book using paper bags!

from Chit Chat and Small Talk

I went to drag out my paper bags to make this book, but couldn't find any.  I realized that I had actually donated them to my son's classroom because "What do I need paper bags for?"  I ended up using card stock for my version:

8-1/4 x 5-1/2 inch rectangle, folded to make a 5-1/2 inch square

PS, My son loved the book!

I think I see knock-knock articulation books in my future!


Thank you, thank you, to all of you wonderful bloggers for posting these GREAT ideas!!!  Have you tried any of these ideas in your speech rooms?

Book of the Week: The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

I have seen a few other posts about this book lately, (check out these posts by Playing With Words 365 and Chapel Hill Snippets to start) so I wasn't going to write about this one, but it really is the book I'm using this week!  "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything" by Linda D. Williams is one of my favorite Halloween stories.  I love the repetition and predictability of this book and the kids always get a kick out of the surprise ending!  I read this one every year and typically do the same activities I'm going to tell you about.  Reading the other posts, I was surprised how similar we all are in how we incorporate this book into therapy!

If you're not familiar with the story, it's about a little old lady who ventures out into the woods to gather some herbs, nuts, and seeds.  She's gone so long it starts to get dark.  On her way home she meets two shoes that go "Clomp! Clomp!," one pair of pants that go "Wiggle! Wiggle!," one shirt that goes "Shake! Shake!," two gloves that go "Clap! Clap!," one hat that goes "Nod! Nod!," and one scary pumpkin head that goes "Boo! Boo!"  Even though she's not afraid of anything, she runs home and locks the door behind her.  She hears a knock and the pumpkin head tells her that they came to scare her.  She tells them that they cannot scare her...they get together to make a scarecrow.

My take on it:
Again, I know these ideas may not be new and/or innovative.  But, here goes:

I use this book as an in-class lesson.  I start out by telling the students the title of the story.  I ask each student if they have anything that they're afraid of.  Usually the answer to that is "no," until they hear another child say something that scares them.  I then draw their attention to the "L" in "Little" and "Lady."  We talk about the letter and it's sound and brainstorm other words that start with "L" (artic practice for my kiddos working on /l/).

BTW, I tell the kids I'm afraid of snakes and spiders (Hello, /s/ blends!)...

I read the story with story props that I printed from Toddler Approved.  I colored and laminated the props, then attached velcro so I can put them together to form the scarecrow at the end of the story.

I lay the props out on the floor in front of me as they appear in the story.  I have the children repeat each sound with an accompanying movement (e.g., stomping their feet for the "Clomp! Clomp!").  As we're reading the story, I touch each prop as we do the sound/movement.  When we get to the end where the little old lady goes to sleep, I ask the kids to close their eyes and pretend to sleep.  While they're doing this, I put the scarecrow together using the props and hide it behind my back.  When they're "awake," the props are gone and the students no longer have the visuals to sequence the order of the items for the last go-through of all the items.  I usually start them out with "She saw two shoes that go..." then see how much they can remember of the order and accompanying sound/movement.  On the last page, I bring out the completed scarecrow!

Toddler Approved shows the items taped to a wall

After we read the story, we use puppets that I made by printing the felt board pieces from Making Learning Fun onto card stock, laminating, and attaching to popsicle sticks.  I made a couple of sets of these because some classes have more than 6 kids.  I hand out one part to each child.  I pay attention to the child's speech and language goals when I've giving out the puppets.  For example, if I have a child working on /sh/, I give that child the shirt puppet.  I play the Old Lady.  We then act out the story and I ask "WH" questions along the way.  I start out saying something like "One day, I went for a long walk in the woods.  Now, I know I came out here for a reason...Hmm, why am I out in the woods? (to pick nuts and seeds) Oh, right!"  As I "meet" the clothing items along the way, the children follow me around the room until we have a little parade going.  They love this part!

felt board pieces from Making Learning Fun

When we're done with our "play," we review the items and their noises and review any articulation target words.

I have used this book in small group settings with older students as well.  After the story, we typically play the Clothes Match Fun Game from Making Learning Fun.

Clothes Match Fun Game

What's your take on "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything"?