Acorn Craftivity

This week, we're sticking with the theme of squirrels and acorns.  On Tuesday, I posted about the book "Acorns Everywhere" and included a free Roll & Cover activity. (You can find that post HERE.)  I had mentioned that I run a group with an Occupational Therapist.  We came up with this activity to promote fine motor objectives after reading "Acorns Everywhere."  Well, some of my groups absolutely LOVE doing crafts so I adapted the activity to meet the needs of my students!

I printed the acorn top and bottom on cardstock and had kids color them in and cut them out. Then I punched holes along the adjoining edges and had them lace together with yarn:

You could modify this activity for pretty much any target:

• Articulation: Write sound on the top portion and have students brainstorm words to write on the bottom.
• Categorization: Write a category on the top and have students brainstorm members of that category to write on the bottom.
• Describing:  Write a word at the top. Have students write describing words on the bottom.  OR...
• EET:  Write a target vocabulary word on the top. Use your EET stickers along the bottom and have students follow the strand to describe the word.

You can find the acorn pattern HERE.

Let me know what you think! What other ideas do you have for using the acorns?

Book of the Week: Acorns Everywhere!

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

One of the books I'm using this week is "Acorns Everywhere!" by Kevin Sherry.  This is a VERY simple book that I picked up from one of the Scholastic flyers for $1.00 last year. There really aren't a lot of words, so this is a great book for having students "read" the pictures!

We discussed why the squirrel is burying acorns, whether or not students have seen squirrels gathering food in their yards, as well as the emotions of the different animals we see on the pages.  After we were finished, we worked on following directions using acorns (put them in the the cup, give three acorns to Mrs. Smith, put one one your toes, etc.).

In my next sessions with the kids, we used this Roll & Cover Game to target their individual language and articulation goals:

If you'd like a copy of this game, you can download it HERE.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Round Up!

I can't believe Thanksgiving is only three weeks away!  I had every intention to finish all of my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving this year, but I'm not sure that's going to happen!  I digress...I know many of  you may be prepping for your therapy sessions and want to include some fun Thanksgiving themed items, so I figured I'd share a round-up of my Thanksgiving posts from last year:

• I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie:  This is one of my favorite books for Thanksgiving! This post has links to some fun free activities from other blogs that you can use to accompany the book.

• Articulation Turkeys:  This is a FREE printable to target single word articulation skills. I included blank pages as well so that you can use the turkeys to address other sounds as well as language targets.

• Thanksgiving Bingo:  This is another FREEBIE designed to target Thanksgiving vocabulary in a fun way!

I will be adding some new posts about Thanksgiving this year, but I wanted to make sure you didn't miss the old ones!

Happy November!

Book of the Week: Leaf Man

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

This week's book of the week is one of my fall favorites, "Leaf Man" by Lois Ehlert.

As you can see from the cover image, the author arranged leaves so that they look like a person.  Throughout the story, the leaves change into different shapes (turtles, chickens, a cow, etc.).  The illustrations really help you see which children have difficulty seeing the "whole" versus the individual "parts."

This year, I'm running a group with our fabulous occupational therapist.  We worked on naming the pictures created by the leaves and imitating the repeated phrase while reading the story.  Then we went outside on a nature walk to find leaves, acorns, and pinecones.  We headed back inside and used the materials we collected to make Leaf Man collages.  Here are a few examples:

There are a TON of language opportunities with this activity and you can adapt it to meet the needs of just about any language group!

What would you use this activity to target?

Theme-based Therapy...Fun in the Fall

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

***This post was originally written for Twin Sisters Speech & Language Therapy as part of their First Bloggiversary celbration! I enjoy following Manda & Shanda and wish them continued success in years to come! :)

When Manda & Shanda told me that their "theme" for their celebration this week was "themes," I was excited!  I ALWAYS plan my therapy around themes, especially in my preschool classes.  I find it gives me a focus and direction when I'm planning my activities.  If you're new to themes, you can find a theme calendar at Crazy Speech World.  Our school year starts/ends at different times than Jenn's, so my themes tend to be different.  I typically use the same themes that our teachers use in their English Language Arts curriculum.  This supports what is going on in the classroom and provides the students with additional opportunities to learn and practice thematic vocabulary.  

Today I'm going to share with you some of my favorite books and activities for my Fun Fall Themes!

September:

1.  School:

My first week of therapy, I usually do a "school" theme while collecting baseline data.  I wrote a blog post on the activities I use, which you can read HERE.  I've also searched Teachers Pay Teachers for you and found some school-themed freebies for you!  Here they are:

• School Items Cut and Paste Activity by Jennifer Hanson
• School Supply Match-Up by Whitneyslp
• Back to School WH Question Bingo by your truly
• Back to School Possessives by Rachel Jones

And here are some of my favorite school-themed books:

2.  All About Me:
This is a theme I just started using this year.  It's part of our district's English Language Arts curriculum for PK and K.

• All About Me Freebie (I wrote a Book of the Week post on "I Like Myself" and the freebie is attached)
• All About Me - An Activity for the First Day of School/Speech by Carly Fowler
• All About Me Introduction Activity by Heather P

I had to ask my Facebook friends for some suggestions for books on this theme, but here's what I ended up using:

3.  Apples:
September is a perfect time for apple picking...especially in New England!  Also, apples have become forever associated with school teachers.  So I can't think of  a better September theme!

A few Apple-themed freebies:

• Open Ended Wormy Apple Game by me 
• Apple Themed Open-Ended Games by Figuratively Speeching
• Antonym Apples by the Speech Bubble
• Auditory Apples by Little Speech Corner

My favorite Apple books:

PS, I love "Apple Trouble" so much that I wrote a blog post on it last year, created a book companion on Teachers Pay Teachers, and plan to write about it again next week!  Also, I can't use food in my sessions any more.  If you can, here's a fun apple tree themed snack I made with my son (read the post HERE).

To view the rest of this post (including October and November themes and activities), please continue on over to Twin Sisters Speech & Language Therapy!

Articulation Turkeys

I was going to wait until tomorrow to post this, but with a hurricane on its way, I'm not going to take power and internet access for granted! 

So I saw this cute clip art on TPT by Stacy Johnson (http://doodledotillustrations.blogspot.com) and decided to put together an activity focusing on articulation.  After I started working on this download, I saw this post and activity targeting on categories from Jenna over at Speech Room News.  I guess great minds think alike!

So here are my Articulation Turkeys...

I created turkeys for the sounds I am currently targeting in my articulation groups - /k/, /l/, and /f/.  I also threw in /s/ and /g/.  They are feather-less turkeys with a target phoneme printed on the belly:

Then there are 6 feathers for each target sound (initial position).

I also added one blank turkey and a page of blank feathers so you can add your own images to target other sounds.  You may want to leave the turkeys blank and use the turkeys and feathers as a simple reinforcement game.

My kids often like to do cutting/gluing activities like those found in the Scissors, Glue series from Super Duper.  Because of this, I added black and white turkeys/feathers so that you can create your own cut & paste worksheets.

You can grab this 15-page document FREE from my TPT store.  Hope you enjoy!

UPDATE 10/30/12:   Brea over at Let's Talk Speech-Language Pathology created a similar activity with MORE phonemes and MORE word positions.  Head on over and check it out!

Thanksgiving FREEBIE!

Today was supposed to be my professional development day, but I'm home with a sick little guy.  While he's been lounging on the couch and watching movies, I've been working on this Thanksgiving Bingo game for you!

There are six different bingo game boards:

Plus a vocabulary list with draw cards:

Download this Freebie from my TPT store.  Hope you enjoy!

Activity updated 7/20/13.  Actual product may differ slightly from images above.

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"?

Go Away Big Green Monster!

For my pull-out language lesson this week, we've been doing "Go Away, Big Green Monster!" by Ed Emberley.  I have the book and the kids love it, but this year I decided to use the app version.  Initially, I was somewhat skeptical about purchasing the app.  Based only on the screenshots in the App store, I assumed it to be essentially the book (without any frills), just presented on the iPad.  It does tell the same story as the book, but there are a few options - you can read it yourself, have it read to you by Ed Emberley himself, have it read to you by a child narrator, or listen to a song version.  Also, at the end, instead of a blank black page with just words, there's a moving light (as if from a flashlight) that highlights the monster and his little monster cat.  The kids LOVED this part!

Here's what we did...First I selected the "Read to Me" option and I read the story to the students just as I would read the book.  With the app version, however, you can touch the parts of the monster and they move with a corresponding silly noise (the favorite so far has been the "sharp white teeth").  Once the monster was completed, I asked students to touch specified parts of the monster (receptive identification).  They were then asked to tell the parts to "Go away!"  Some of my students are at such a level that imitating the "Go away!" alone was sufficient speech practice.  With other students I added the body part (e.g., "Go away eyes!").  The more advanced students were required to use the full descriptor (e.g., "Go away big red mouth!").

After going through the story once with me reading, we listened to the story again.  I gave students the option of listening to the song or to the child narrator.  Most picked the song and, I have to say, it's quite catchy!  I wasn't certain how the kids would respond to a song they weren't familiar with.  However, I was surprised that almost all of them attempted to sing along!

After the second go-around, I gave the students a box of crayons and this monster face template - I traced the opening from the book:

download the face template here

I turned the app back to the "Read to Me" option.  This time around, we drew our own monsters in the sequence that is presented in the story.  Some of the kids impressed me with their ability to anticipate the next item to come!  I did use the app as a visual for them, but they were given complex directions (e.g., "Get your yellow crayon and draw two big eyes").  Some required extra support and/or break-down of directions.  When finished they had to tell me about their monsters (e.g., "My monster has purple hair").  I also required some of the kids to use past tense verb forms (e.g., "I made two yellow eyes" or "I drew a long blue nose").  The monsters came out amazingly well! (Keep in mind that these were 3-5 year olds).

Completed monster face from the app

The directions they were given:

• Get your yellow crayon and draw two big eyes.
• Get the blue crayon and draw a long nose
• Find the red crayon and draw a big mouth (I omitted the sharp white teeth since many of the kids couldn't figure out how to leave the teeth blank to keep them white....or they wanted white crayons, which, on red, produce pink teeth).
• Get your blue crayon and draw two squiggly ears.
• Find the purple crayon and give your monster some hair.
• Find the green crayon and make his face green

Here are some of their monsters:

Side Note:  At the start of the school year, I saw a cute little iPad stand at one of the chain pharmacies.   I picked it up and was about to buy it and then saw the price tag - $9.99!  I couldn't believe it!  I have a case with a built-in stand, but somehow my kids are always managing to knock it over.  The angle it provides is not always fantastic for the kids to see either.  I ended up getting this adjustable plate stand from Michael's (almost identical to the stand I saw in the pharmacy) for less than $2!  It's perfect for holding the iPad and story books as well.  Great for freeing up your hands when you have story props!

plate stand

holding up the iPad

Let me know:  what are your favorite ideas to use with this book?