Tear Off Ads As Homework Or Carryover

An idea struck me earlier this week, so I played around with it to see if it would indeed work. We want our students to succeed in the therapy room, right? However, the progress that we are really aiming for is for them to succeed OUTSIDE the therapy room...that is, in the classroom, at home, or out in the community.

Homework and carryover are two things that I know I struggle with. The challenge can be getting students to return it...and in some cases, just to do it.

Have you ever seen those tear off ads? The ones with little strips of paper with a phone number or website that you can tear off to call/visit later on? Yep...they're getting "speechified!"

Cut out the whole rectangle, then cut horizontally so the words on the right are in individual strips. Your students leave with it and bring it back when the strips are gone, meaning they practiced saying the sounds (in words, phrases, or sentences) with multiple different people. It's based on the honor system, meaning you won't really know if Johnny just leaves the room and rips them off himself. BUT I'm hoping that because it's likely "new," it might be motivating to them!! 

I included 1 sheet (3 cards) for: initial /r/, er, or, ire, ar, air, and ar, plus a blank one so you can write in whatever targets you want. Click here to get yours!

Hope you enjoy this freebie!

Peek At My Week 10/5

Week #6! Amid testing, report writing, and meetings, I actually get to do therapy too! Here's what's on the menu for this week:

I did a little fire safety last week, but also found these great freebies (click the picture):

Fire Safety Vocabulary from Speech Therapy Games - I plan to use these to have my younger students formulate sentences. 

Color by number firefighter from Maria Manore: 

Preschool: Apple craft from S.A.L.L. and artic drill! Some will be using my Phonology Mini-Books for FCD and CR (now bundled if you're interested). They really liked the ones for FCD, so I have no doubt, they will like the CR ones! It's fire safety week as well. 

Autism: Continuing to focus on fall vocabulary, as well as expanding sentences with color/adjective using the included activities in S.A.L.L. I also frequently work on prepositions with these students, using actual items at first.  We'll also be mixing up the fall vocabulary with the above fire safety vocabulary. 

K-2: I'm still using my apples section of S.A.L.L  - being able to use it for multiple sessions was my overall goal for this. Mixing up some sessions with fire safety too! I plan to use the color by number firefighter for my artic students to color while others are saying their words. 

3-5: We'll be learning about apple types! Also using these apps for synonyms and antonyms:

I started a new monthly organizational system and will be trying it out over the next few weeks. If I like it, I'll definitely share it. I wanted something that would allow me to have most of the materials right at my fingertips, rather than having to shuffle through things or keep everything on the table. 

In case you missed it, I started something fun for the month of October. Read more details here! So far, feedback has been favorable for this! I designed it with the K-3 crowd in mind, but next month I may have 2 different mystery items (one for the younger set, one for the older set). Thoughts? I'm so happy that people are liking this!

Hope you have a great week!

If It's A Noun, Sit Down!

The other day, I was in the middle of a very well planned therapy session with some 3rd graders. We were using Nicole Allison's Nonfiction Fall Texts - the one about spiders, in fact. We had read the passage and were in the process of answering the questions. I happened to ask whether one of the words in the passage was a noun or a verb. I was met with blank stares. Now, that's not to say they don't know what a noun or a verb is. But at that very moment, I got nada. We were at a fork in the "therapy path." I'm being dramatic. 

I decided to forgo my plans and focus instead on nouns and verbs. I told the students to stand up, put their chairs against the wall, and stand in front of them. I said I was going to give them a word. They had to decide if it was a noun or a verb. 

"If it's a verb - an action - raise your hand."

"If it's a noun - a person, place, or thing - sit down."

And a "game" was born. I wrote their names on the whiteboard and said I'd give a point to the students who got it right. I also told them they had to close their eyes when I gave the word to reduce the chances of them simply following the lead of someone else. 

So it went like that! They were engaged and liked earning the points. Plus, anyone that walked by the room probably heard me chanting, "IF IT'S A NOUN, SIT DOWN" several times...

When have YOU been at the fork in the "therapy path" and decided to change courses? 

P.S. Nicole Allison's Nonfiction Texts are awesome in case you're wondering! I plan to return to the regularly scheduled therapy sessions next week. :)

October TpT Mystery!

Graphics: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Ms-Jessica

Hello my faithful readers! September is officially over, meaning that we now are full steam ahead for the rest of the year. I think it's about time we had a little fun. What do you think?

I'm sure you all use TpT. If you don't...please start!!! I'm holding a fun little mystery this month. If it works well, I'll consider doing it in the future too. How do you get in on the fun? 

For the month of October, there will be a mystery product listed in my store. It is $2.00. I know, I know, you're probably thinking, "why would I use some of my hard-earned money and not know what I'm getting?!?!" 

Here's why:

-it's $2.00, which means the equivalent of a cup of coffee or very large candy bar

-it's timely, which means you can use it this month

-it can be used with a range of students, goals, etc. 

-it's kind of fun to not know! :)

If and when you leave feedback, please don't give the surprise away! To get to the surprise, click the picture above!

As an added incentive, if you purchase AND LEAVE FEEDBACK, you can enter the giveaway below for a chance to pick any product from my store (bundles excluded). You must leave your TpT username, so that I can verify the purchase. Happy October!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Want To Start A Social Skills Group?

Disclaimer: Affiliate links are included for your convenience.

There are several resources on Michelle Garcia Winner's website, so click here to be taken there. I am following bits and pieces of her programs, along with tailoring the group to the needs of these particular students. 

This year, I decided to hold a lunchtime social skills group (sometimes called a "lunch bunch") for a couple of my 5th graders who need some social skill training. While I haven't done this before (for various reasons), I thought I would get my feet wet this year and see how it goes. Benefits are two-fold: the students get to work on social skills and they don't miss academic time because it's during lunch.

First, I touched base with the parents to let them know a little bit about the group and what it would entail. 

Second, I went to let the students know what day they would be joining be for lunch. They were excited, which was great.

Third, I decided to start with Michelle Garcia Winner's You Are A Social Detective. These particular students have pretty good language skills, but sometimes struggle with the social aspect of the classroom. I printed a simple outline of a brain and we wrote down what kinds of "smarts" we have. I didn't spend too much on this concept, as they seemed to catch on quickly.  

We then talked about the "think vs. say" concept. They could provide examples of times when we should think things vs. times when we can say things. We spent a whole session on this concept. I provided the topic, like "birthday party" and we made a list of things you should think and things you should say. 

It depends on your group, but we then moved onto the Superflex book because they picked up on concepts quickly. They LOVE the superhero aspect of Superflex. I'm picking and choosing some lessons from this book based on what I feel they need to work on. The big themes for this group are: think vs. say, understanding body language, and discussing a non-preferred topic. 

These tools are great way to start up a social skills group! Try it out!

Peek At My Week 9/28

Disclaimer: Affiliate links are included for your convenience. 

Week #5! It's almost October. I have a few fun things planned for the month of October. Check the blog on October 1st to see something new I'm trying!

My goal to plan by the month is still going pretty well. I have to really sit down and plan for the rest of October, but this coming week is set. At the end of the month, I always need to go back and make sure I've hit or attempted to hit IEP goal times and such. Lately, I've also had a lot of testing and reports to complete (got three done on Friday night). It's a lot for the brain to wrap itself around!

Preschool: All districts vary, but we see preschool students for artic only. While I try to work in language concepts as I can, it is not the focus of therapy sessions. Sometimes finding engaging activities that will still get lots of trials can be a challenge! Lately, my preschoolers have loved Cariboo and this pirate ship I picked up on clearance at Target. Note - I put batteries in it, because there are sound effects. I might be taking them out though because it can be distracting. There are little cannons that can shoot out. I will drill and then give them the cannons to shoot. Hasn't lost its charm yet!

I also frequently use Super Duper's Giant Book of Phonology cards!

Autism: I'm doing the same things from last week, as I like to do the same thing for at least a couple weeks so they have time to grasp the vocabulary/concepts. They liked the fall vocabulary. I programmed the vocabulary onto one student's iPad, so we could work on matching the label with the picture and do various other things with that. We did a matching game, which was great for expanding utterance length using carrier phrases.

K-5: I'm using the Apples section of S.A.L.L. for ALL: Fall (click picture) for tons of my kids. 

Younger ones are doing the associations, sentences, and following directions. Older ones are using the apple types and apples in the bucket activities. All are using the stories since there are 2 levels of the stories. I'll work in the included craft as I can. I'll probably use pieces of this for next week too!

Other things I'm using this week:

Articulations Menus from Speechy Musings

Fire Safety "What Ifs" (free) from Elementary Matters:

Since I'm doing a lot of testing lately, I'm also using my Informal Language Assessment (click the picture)! It's been really easy to collect some language data on my kids who are a little harder to test!

That's a wrap for this week! See you next week!

Wipe Out Artic & Has/Have: Therapy Ideas

Popping in to share a couple therapy gems that worked well for me this week!

First, I hope you have one of these:

And by "these" - I really just mean the magnetic barrier for the barrier games from Super Duper. I bought it way back when Super Duper was still holding their 50% off weekly sales (really wish they'd bring that back) and it continues to be one of my best purchases to date. I use it for tons of things, not just barrier games. 

Idea #1: Earlier this week, I shared this picture on my Facebook page. It's how I worked on has/have with one student. I had little magnets from something else and it was fun to stick them on and then tell who had what. Obviously, I am a very good artist...just kidding!

Idea #2: Wipe Out Artic: This "game" would be appropriate for kids who have nearly mastered the word level of any sound. It worked with a first grader, I just read the words and had her repeat them as quickly as she could.

I wrote a bunch of words on one side of the board. I had a timer and an eraser on hand. I told the student we were going to see how fast she could get "wipe out" all the words. I set the timer and off we went. In order for me to erase a word, she had to articulate it correctly. If she didn't, I moved on to the next word without erasing it. We went through the list until all the words were gone. I wrote another set of words on the board and we did it again and she tried to beat her time.

That's it for now! Hope you're enjoying your Saturday so far!