Favorite Blog Posts: December

Monthly Linky
After I read Playing with Words 365's post Fall and Halloween Speech and Language Roundup, I decided to start writing monthly posts on my favorite blog posts that I read throughout the month. This is mainly so I can remember the posts that I read that had great ideas in therapy. I wasn't sure where I could store them so I'd have them at my fingertips, and then I thought that maybe other SLPs would like to have them as well. 
Sparklle SLP suggested this become a monthly linky, so here's the first Favorite Posts of the Month Linky. Let's keep it simple: Post no more than 5 of your favorite posts that you read over the past month. Feel free to use the graphic that's at the top of this post and on my sidebar: right click, choose "copy", and then "paste" into your post. Don't forget to link back to my post! The hardest part will be limiting it to 5 posts!
Link to me!
Why, oh why didn't I think of this idea? Speech Room News had a wonderful idea for working with little ones on their artic targets (as well as concepts) in Articulation Christmas Trees.
Take Me With You!
Crazy Speech World had some great (and easy) ideas for craftivities in A Little Jingle Jangle. She is the Queen of Craftivities!
The Dabbling Speechie had a wonderful post on self-reflection. I think most of us are hard on ourselves when it comes to self-reflection. As I said in my comment for this post: Even when we’ve done a great job, we tend to downplay our successes. I had a grad professor tell us to pat ourselves on the back every now and then…nobody else is going to do it!


grab button for Speech2u
Speech2U had an amazing share on My New Obsession: Tack It. I'm definitely going to try it and see if it will cut down on my velcro budget!

What were your Favorite Posts of the Month?  Link up below and let's hear about it!


Week in Review: 12/19/2014

I started this linky so that SLP Bloggers could go to 1 place to get ideas for therapy. Write a post about either what you did this week, or what you have planned for next week. All I ask is that you share a link back to my blog in your post.
(This post includes direct links to the products. Free products are indicated.)

Wow.  The last "Week in Review" for 2014! I can't believe how fast this year is going by! We had another busy week.
Preschool:
Winter and Christmas Vocabulary was worked on using Hear It! See It! Say It! Winter Seek and Find (Tech 'N Talk SLPs).  Simple vocabulary was used for one of my students while another student was able to use more difficult, expanded vocabulary.
I was looking forward to using Christmas "who"  Questions Interactive Book Freebie (Expressly Speaking); however, with one of my students, it was just too much. There were too many variables; the sentences were too complex for her. It worked great with my other student, though.
Complete sentences were formulated to tell what the elves need using Structured Sentence Building (Queen's Speech).
Game:
This game was so much fun! The kids absolutely loved it! I picked this game up during the TpT Cyber Sale:
Suit Up Santa! (Mia McDaniel).
Book:
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell  (Lucille Colandro) was a hit this week! 
I also couldn't wait to use Interactive Book Attachments for the Old Lady Book Series (Speechy Musings)! It was great for working on forming complete sentences, sequencing, and retell.
I broke out the Old Lady Craftivity (Jenn Alcorn) for the first time. (Another purchase from the TpT Cyber Sale!) The kids loved this, too! My language kids put the pictures in the correct sequence and told why the old lady swallowed the items.  My artic kids picked out pictures from a box and glued them onto the old lady.
 On the back of the language dress, I added the following page so that the parents can interact with their child while talking about the book:
For my preschool language student. I created a sentence (She swallowed a) using Custom Boards, then cut out the pictures from the craftivity packet:
 I thought the Old Lady Craftivity might be a bit "babyish" for my older kids, so they decorated "Tacky Sweaters", then used words that have their sound in it to describe them. (My Tacky Holiday Sweater: An Adjective Craftivity by First Grade Buddies...free!).

This was such a fun week! What did you do this week?




There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell

 I'm joining up with other SLPs at Speech is Sweet for her weekly linky.  It's super easy to link up: just write a blog post about the book that you're using this week, along with how you're using it in therapy. Then, link up!
The Old Lady had to make an appearance this week!  Isn't she just amazing? Not only are sequencing, vocabulary, predicting, inferencing, and past tense good targets with this book, but there are a lot of /s/-blends and /l/ words included.
I used the Interactive Book Attachments for the Old Lady Book Series  (Speechy Musings) for the first time. It was great for using for sequencing and having the students produce complete sentences.
If you use this book, how do you use it?

Week in Review: 12/12/2014

I started this linky so that SLP Bloggers could go to 1 place to get ideas for therapy. Write a post about either what you did this week, or what you have planned for next week. All I ask is that you share a link back to my blog in your post.
(This post includes direct links to the products. Free products are indicated.)
Book:
After reading Snowmen at Christmas, the students said their targets, rolled the dice, then daubed the number of items indicated. My kids aren't big colorers, so they really enjoyed using the daubers. (Roll and Color sheet is from the book's companion packet by Speech is Sweet.)
My language students answered "wh" questions about the book and worked on inferencing skills through the riddles game included in the packet.

The latter part of the week, my older students played "Decorate the Tree". I don't know if that's really what it is called; I couldn't find where I got it from.
The younger kids made a Christmas tree, taken from an idea from Natalie Snyders. A couple of my students sequenced the activity and told the steps for putting the tree together.
My preschool language student "read" Candy Canes Everywhere (Chapel Hill Snippets). She also completed the Santa/Tree page from Cut, Sort, and  Glue! Activities for the ENTIRE Year! (Miss Speechie).
We finished the week using the snowman from Jenna Rayburn's Interactive Vocabulary Books: Winter.  I purchased it from TpT's Cyber Monday Sale. We used the carrier phrase, "I put on _____" to tell her mom what she did in the activities.

It was the first full week for me in 3 weeks, and it seemed like it took forever to get to Friday!

Snowmen at Christmas

 I'm joining up with other SLPs at Speech is Sweet for her weekly linky.  It's super easy to link up: just write a blog post about the book that you're using this week, along with how you're using it in therapy. Then, link up!
I just love Snowmen at Christmas (Caralyn Buehner).  The pictures are absolutely gorgeous, and the kids had a good time looking at and talking about all of the little things in the pictures. There's so much language to work on!
There's vocabulary (such as "trimming the square" and "sashay"), "wh" questions, sequencing, rhyming. You want it...you've got it with this book. An added bonus is the beautiful pictures:
To check out what other books are being read in therapy, go over the Speech is Sweet to see who is linking up!

App Review: Questions 2 Learn

The following is an app review. The views are my own. I received no compensation for expressing my opinions.  Links (in dark red) are provided for your convenience. Want to see larger pictures? Just click on one and scroll through!
Questions 2 Learn (Speech Pups LLC) is an app that will help your students with "wh" questions.

With each question presented, the student is presented with 3 possible answers:
The answers (and questions) are able to be modified so that you can target each student's needs individually. Some of the options included are: turning the voice on/off, visual for trials, reinforcement schedule and type, questions category/type, as well as number of trials. You can even choose the reinforcement following the response.
There is a drop-down list for you to pick and choose which questions your student should be asked:
You can make up your own questions, add your own pictures, as well as your own voice (or that of a child):

After each response, the child is rewarded with a dog along with the verbalization of either praise or encouragement to try again.
Data is taken for you as the child makes their choice. The data is broken down into each "wh" question, which will help you with your evaluation of specifically what the student needs to work on.
That data can then be printed or emailed.
PROS:
This app is a wonderful way to engage students with learning to answer "wh" questions. The ability to customize the questions gives the SLP the option of using the app after reading a story.
You can also customize the level of difficulty for each individual student.
The website includes several training videos, as well as examples of the app being used in therapy.
Since the app was developed by a Speech Pathologist (Leanne Pool), she thought of everything that we would need! From changing the level of difficulty to changing/adding responses to data collection, it's all there.

CONS:
The only con I could find was a couple of typos, which is a definite turn-off to me. The typos are in the reinforcement options:
This isn't a deal-breaker for me, however. The pros certainly outweigh the cons. There is a lite version (found here) for you to try it out before you spend $9.99 for the full version (found here). In my opinion, it's definitely worth the money.



Week in Review: 12/05/2014

I started this linky so that SLP Bloggers could go to 1 place to get ideas for therapy. Write a post about either what you did this week, or what you have planned for next week. All I ask is that you share a link back to my blog in your post.
(This post includes direct links to the products. Free products are indicated.)
My top 5 activities of the week include a lot of freebies:
Kindergarten:
Gingerbread Pirates (Free by Carrie Manchester)

5-Minute Day/Homework:
Santa Open-Ended Articulation Worksheet (free from Sparklle SLP):  My students 1st grade & up thought of as many words relating to Christmas and Winter that had their sound in it. I gave them a couple of minutes on their own, then used Holiday Artic Word Practice cards  (free from Sublime Speech) to help them out.

 The list in the above picture is from Mia McDaniel's Suit Up Santa (not a freebie, but I'm looking forward to playing this in the next couple weeks!). I used the list to write words on Santa for my Kindergarten students.
Older Students:
My older language students enjoyed playing Home for the Holidays (free from Word to the Wise). In the picture below, I paired the game with the Question It app (see review of this app here). My kids working on inferences used a couple of activities that I downloaded into my iBooks app on my iPad. (What's inside the Gift Box?- Ms. Lilypad & Drawing Holiday Conclusions- Elementary Matters)

Preschool:
Once again, I used Custom Boards (Smarty Ears) to create some quick visuals to aid my student with "reading" a book. This time, she read Reindeer Fiction Book (free from Cahill's Creations as seen on Classroom Freebies Too) to work on verbs.
Not only does she enjoy these books, her parents love them, too!
My walk-in artic student made the Reindeer Craftivity (free from Jenn Alcorn). She absolutely loved how big it was! Jenn had some great ideas for shortcuts when using craftivities in your therapy. You can see it here.

2nd half of the week:
Okay, so I really have more than 5 things, but I have to put this activity in there!
I pulled out a favorite with my kids: Fat Santa & Polar Bears (pictured above). From Wordplay Publications (which apparently is no longer in existence), these Troll in a Bowl games are the bomb! They are non-competitive, so the kids work as a team. 

That will wrap up this Week in Review! I have so many things I want to do in the next 2 weeks, it's going to be hard to fit everything in!

I'd love it if you would link up with what you did this past week, or what you're planning on doing in your room next week!
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