How to develop you student's language skills using toys.

Do you have limited space in your Speech room? Do you still want to engage your students with toys? I love being able to use a kitchen center when I am in the classroom, but I don't have the space in my therapy room. I solved that problem by creating a stove out of a box.  I later use that box to store all my kitchen toys. It is a quick and easy way to develop a kitchen center.

To create this center the first thing I did was gather the toys that I needed. I had a shopping basket full of play food, plates, cups, silverware, pots, a griddle, and a Play-Doh stove. I also add some paper plates, cups, notepads and markers. To make a stove I covered a box with yellow paper and made four burners.  To finish it off I added contact paper, so it would be more durable.

I like to target sentence expansion, vocabulary skills, asking and answering questions and syntax skills when I use my kitchen center.  As I bring out the food we focus on naming the food and cooking equipment. One vocabulary unit I like to focus on is Fruit vocabulary. 

Click here to download the fruit vocabulary cards and progress monitoring sheet.

I have my students label the fruit, sort them by color and match them up to a set of pictures. I like to model how to take and order food in a restaurant. We use notepads to write down the order and then we cook the food. Throughout the play we focus on expanding our sentences.  If a student reponds "I want apples" I might expand it to "I want two red apples".

It is amazing to watch how with repeated use of the same toys my students begin to expand their language.  When I first introduce the kitchen center my students typically use unspecific vocabulary and short, choppy sentences.  The more we use the same toys they begin to learn the vocabulary and expand on their play themes.  By the end they are able to pretend they are waitresses, waitors, bus boys and chefs.  They are labeling the food and the utensils.  I love to watch their language grow the more we use the kitchen center.

Creating a kitchen center can be quick and easy.  When we are done everything goes back in the box until the next time we play with it.  This has turned into one of my students favorite activities.

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Have more FUN when you TEACH WITH PLAY DOH

I love to use Play-Doh and so do my students.  In Speech there are so many skills that can be targeted with a new can of Play-Doh.  This month I have been working on vocabulary skills, basic concepts, articulation, rhyming and letter sounds all with Play-Doh.  I presented my students with cans of white Play-Doh, wiggly eyes, small animals, tongue depressors, beads and alphabet cookies.

As we were using the Play-Doh I suggested making a snowman.  We made snowballs in three sizes, added pairs of eyes and arms, buttons that were the same or different.  We used the cans of Play-Doh and the tongue depressors to make a bridge.  The snowmen and animals went over, under and across the bridge.  We added water so other animals could go in and under the water.  Later we made an igloo and a polar bear.  Our animals went on top of the igloo, next to it, inside and outside.  We all had a great time and I was able to targeted multiple basic concepts (small, medium, large, biggest, smallest, shortest, tallest, pair, same, different, next to, over, under, inside, outside and across) all while having a lot of FUN!

Another group made objects that rhymed with our animal figures.  We made rhymes for cat, bear, dog and pig.  Everyone loved trying to make wigs, frogs, stairs and at the end we made them all go splat (rhyming with cat).

The alphabet cookies were great for both articulation skills and reinforcing letters and sounds.  We found our sound cookie and made items that started or ended with our sounds.  My kids made cars, ladders, sharks, snails and more snowmen. As we made objects we created silly rhymes and tapped out the phonemes in the words.  My kids rhymed ladder with kadder, snadder,  and shadder,

We had so much fun learning and playing at the same time. Open a fresh can of Play-Doh and have some fun.

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How to ENERGIZE Your Therapy with QUICK AMAZING QUIZ GAMES

Do you struggle to find fun and exciting games for your older students?  Does the academic nature of their goals make it harder?  Introducing quiz games can tackle academic goals and still be a lot of fun.

One of my students favorite activity is a Quiz Game  that
uses a pocket chart, index cards and cut up classroom worksheets. I start by collecting worksheets from the classroom teachers that address vocabulary, morphology and syntax.  I cut up the worksheets and store them in a container.  Then I write the point values (100, 200, 300, 400, and 500) on index cards.  I put the questions in the pocket chart and cover them with the index cards.  My students take turns selecting a point value and answering the questions.  At the end, we add up the points to see who our winner is.  This game can also be played in teams.  I have used  commercial articulation and language decks instead of worksheet questions.  For some of my mixed groups I put articulation cards and language questions behind the point values.  The kids love it.  They get to go to the chart, make their selection and they have a lot of fun.

Quiz Game

If you like this quiz game click HERE to see other quiz games you could use that target vocabulary and language processing skills.

Another twist on this game is to play Three in a Row.  I start by drawing a grid with 25 squares on my white board.  Then I tack up the questions or commercial cards.  The students are trying to get as many three in a row combinations as possible.  They select a question, answer it, remove it from the board and then write their name in the square.  When they get three in a row they circle it.  At the end the student or group with the most three in a row combinations is the grand winner. They love use the white board and it can be used with almost any articulation or language target.

One final quiz game that my students beg to play is KABOOM!  On tongue depressors I write vocabulary words, idioms, sentence combining questions, categories and articulation words.  Any questions can be written on them.  I have color coded them, so I can use them when students have different goals.  The students know what color they can select.   I like to put the sticks in a container of beans and macaroni (so no one can see what is on the stick) and then I set a timer for 5-7 minutes.  Each student takes a turn selecting a stick.  If it has a question they answer it and keep the stick.  If they pull a KABOOM stick they put all their sticks back in the container and play continues.  When the timer goes off we count the sticks and whoever has the most is the winner.  Then we play again.  The timer lets their be multiple winners and adds a level of excitement to the game.

These quiz games turn academic tasks into a fun and exciting session.  When my older students walk in the room and see them set up I can see the excitement on their faces.  What do you do to engage your older student?

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Create Simple and Easy Construction Paper Crafts

Do you love crafts? They are one of my favorite things to do and it is reflected in the therapy I provide.  Every month I plan a craft activities that can address multiple goals.  This year I have some large groups of 4-5 students with different goals.  Crafts, play, and books are all activities that I have been using. I love using crafts, but prepping crafts can be time consuming.  As I plan for the month of December I wanted to share a craft activity that is very easy to prep.

This Christmas tree activity uses 1 inch squares of green construction paper, and stickers.  For me if it is December I have to add glitter.  I start by using my paper cutter to cut small green squares and a few brown squares. 

Next I gather card decks that I need to target goals.  (I have a collection that I'm almost a little embarrassed about.  Last time I counted I had 38 commercial decks of speech cards. That doesn't count all the decks I have made myself.)  This month I am using my articulation decks, who and what question decks, and my category deck of cards.  That is all that I need to do and this craft is prepped. I like to make a sample so that my students have an example to follow, but you can also make one with your students.

When I use this craft in therapy I will be using the decks of cards to get multiple articulation productions, have the students answer questions or generate items in a category.  Throughout the activity I give my students 1-3 step directions that they need to follow.  After the student practices they glue on 1-5 pieces of paper in the shape of the tree.  I like to give directions about placement of the squares, but if I have a student that needs more help I will put numbers, letters or marks where they have to glue the squares.  After the tree is assembled we add a trunk and stickers.  Then it is time for GLITTER! 

Crafts are such a great way to target multiple speech and language goals.  My directions can be individualized for each student.  It is easy to incorporate basic concepts as well.  The concepts of first, second, last, next to, under, over, and in a row are all easy to use throughout this activity.

This December if you are looking for fun holiday activities think about crafts.  They can be fun and easy to prep.

Other craft activities that I will be using this month that are low prep are Christmas characters and another Christmas Tree decoration.

I hope that you give crafts a try this December in therapy.  Enjoy the holidays and have fun.
Cathy

   

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Take a Look at the November Visual Lesson Plans I Created

As October comes to an end I realized that writing monthly plans has made planning and therapy for the month so much easier.  I actually over planned for Halloween and had activities left over. I love not having to worry about what I am doing throughout the month.  The long term planning is keeping me focused on each groups goals for the month as well.  So, here are my plans for the month:

This month I am so excited to use my new book "The Old Lady Who Swallowed A Turkey" by Lucille Colandro.  I added vocabulary cards and comprehension questions to my Old Lady Book Companion series.  My groups are going to be focusing on answering "wh" questions, retelling the story, identifying the rhyming words, associating items in the story, categorization skills and the basic concepts first and last.

                                          There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Turkey

 It made me think this was the perfect month to address food vocabulary with my functional skills class. This should go along nicely with the "Old Lady Who Swallowed A Turkey" and Thanksgiving.

My articulation and apraxia groups will be using ipad games, dot art, chipper chat and my latest craft, a Thanksgiving Turkey this month.
                                                           Thanksgiving Turkey Craft

I will be targeting categorization skills with my language processing groups this month.  I will be using the functions, associations and category cards from my Language Processing Quiz game.  We will also be completing the Thanksgiving Describe it book. My groups will be describing a turkey, Pilgrims, a log cabin and the Mayflower.

    Language Processing Quiz Game   

                                             

                                                        Describe it for Thanksgiving

I am excited for November to arrive thanks to my new book.  It also feels great to have my month planned.  Once I prep my activities I will be all set.   I hope that you and your students have a productive and fun filled November.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving with your family.
Cathy

 

Save Time When You Start the Year Off Using Easy To Follow Monthly Lesson Plans

Planning is something we all have to do.  I like my therapy sessions to be centered around themes and holidays, so when Scarlette from Speech is Fun created a monthly Visual Lesson Plan Linky it matches the way I plan therapy perfectly.The last week of the month I think about what I need to do next month.  I am excited to share my monthly plans with everyone.    I am so excited to share my therapy room with you all year.

I go back to school 9/6 and the first week is spent developing my schedule and conducting screenings.  My room is still in the process of being cleaned so I decided to get a head start on my September lesson plans.   I work in a small Elementary school that has less than 200 students. I am full time in the building due to the placement of 2 functional skills classrooms.  I see the student in the functional skills classroom 4-5 days a week.  I have organized my plans into 6 different groups:  Articulation, Apraxia, Kindergarten RTI, Functional Language skills, Language skills for 1st-2nd grade and Language skills for 3rd-5th grade. I hope that you find some ideas for your own caseload as I share what I will be doing this year.

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It feels good to have September mapped out.  Now I just have to get my room set up.

Cathy

Engage Your Students in Learning by Using QR Codes That Will Make Therapy Fun

QR Codes?

A year ago I had no idea what a QR Code was and how I could use them in therapy.   I am so glad that I stumbled across them and gave it a try.  My 2nd-5th graders love them.  It is the activity that they always choose when given a choice.

There are a lot of QR Code activities available on tpt.  In order to use them you need to download a QR Code reader on your phone or tablet.  I like to use QR Code scanner on my ipad.  It is free and works great. I place the ipad on the center of the table and the students move so they can use the scanner.  That way we don't have to pass the ipad around and my students get to move.

QR Code Readers

My favorite game to play is QR Articulation Wild Card.  I select the target sounds that the students are working on.  The activity comes with QR cards that contain the following hidden messages:  Try again, Say your sound 5 times, Think of a word with your sound, Make a sentence with an R word, and WILD CARD YOU WIN! I like to use 3-5 of each QR Code message mixed in with their articulation words.

When we play the game I set the ipad up in the center of the table and spread the cards around in front of it.  The students reach behind the ipad to use the QR code reader. The students are only allowed to select a card that has their sound on the back.

QR Code Articulation Game R sounds

If the student selects a picture they practice the word.  When a QR code is selected they put the card behind the ipad and allow the reader to uncover the message. If they found a WILD CARD YOU WIN! they keep it in front of them.  I like to have multiple winners, so game play continues.  When the session is over we count up the number of wild cards each student has found.  That student with the most wild cards is the grand winner.  We all congratulate the winner.

I made the QR Code Articulation Initial F Game free so that therapists could try it out.  I know that my students can't get enough of QR Games and I hope that your students will feel the same.

FREE from Speech Gems

This has been such a surprising hit with my students I made it for multiple sounds, irregular past tense verbs and irregular plurals.  It is a fun and easy way to get a large number of productions during the speech sessions.  This is now one of my favorite activities.

Cathy

QR Code that takes you to Speech Gems QR games.