10 Step Guide to Living With Your Monster (Plus Freebie!)

Welcome to Wild About Books Wednesday! Every Wednesday, I talk about a book and discuss ways that it can be used in speech/language therapy. Books are my favorite things ever! They're perfect for targeting nearly every goal! If you're a blogger, please consider linking up with your own ideas. Just use the picture below to link back to me. Lately, I've learned about so many new books. Thanks to everyone who has been linking up! New books and ideas make planning a little bit easier. :)  I feel ahead of the game for next October.

I'm a huge Laura Numeroff fan! She's most widely know as the author of the If You Give A.... series, but she has also wrote some other gems! Today I'm going to talk about 10 Step Guide to Living With Your Monster.

 

This book is so silly and cute! It's simply a list of 10 tips for living with a monster. Did you know that monsters like country music? And they like to buy bubble gum? haha.. This short book is perfect for a 30 minute session. Back in my teaching days, I used this with a third grade classroom. I had students create their own monsters and pen their own guide. It was so much fun! Here are a few ideas:

1) Describing - students can describe the monster in the text or draw monsters and describe them!

2) Topic Maintenance - students talk about monsters. This little 10 step guide provides a lot to talk about!

3) Following Directions - create a barrier game! First, have students draw their own monsters then students provide each other with directions for drawing their monsters. They'll have fun comparing their work and determining if their directions were clear or unclear. 

4) Writing - students can write their own guide. Students who have difficulty writing can record themselves making their list or can even draw it!

I created a little template that students can use! This can also be used in a regular classroom! There's a template with lines and one without (for those who need to draw).

If you're interested in this freebie, you can download it HERE. Thanks for stopping by my blog! Have a wonderful Wednesday! It's parent-teacher conference night at my school - I'm in for a loooong day!

An InLinkz Link-up

Where's My Mummy? (Plus Freebie!)

Happy Wild About Books Wednesday! Each Wednesday, I highlight a new book and talk about different ways that it can be used in speech/language therapy. Books are so versatile! They are amazing tools to boost language skills and they also make lesson planning a breeze! If you're a blogger, please consider linking up to share your own ideas! Just link back to me using the image below:

There have been many amazing SLPs linking up lately! Thank you all for linking up! I've learned about so many new books!

This week, I'm talking about another Halloween favorite - Where's My Mummy by Carolyn Crimi. I recently blogged about it in my Halloween BOO-ks list! This book is so cute - it really deserves its own post!

This is a tale of a brave little mummy who gets lost during a game of hide and shriek! As he tries to find his Mummy, he runs across a wide range of scary creatures! He runs into a skeleton, a glob, and Dracula! He informs each of them that he's not scared.... until he runs into an innocent little mouse! Mama Mummy scoops baby Mummy up just in time and saves the day.

There are so many ways to use this book in therapy! Here are just a few ideas:

1) Where Questions - Students can practice asking and answering where questions (and other WH ?s)
2) Describing - Practice describing all the creatures that baby Mummy meets
3) Sequencing - This book is perfect for targeting sequencing! It has a clear-cut set of events. I created a cute little story map to provide my students with visual cues and I'm sharing it with you!

You can snag this story map by clicking HERE. Please, enjoy! I hope this print n' go activity can save you some time during this busy time of year! I don't know about anyone else, but I am swimming in paperwork.

Have a wonderful day! Thanks for visiting my blog! :)

EDIT: Friday, October 24th. I'm linking up with Friday FreeBEES over at Speechie Freebies to share this cute story map! Check out that linky for more great freebies! :)

An InLinkz Link-up

A Slice of Speech (October 20th, 2014)

Welcome to another addition of A Slice of Speech! Each Sunday, I share my visual lesson plans for the upcoming week. Just download and click on the pictures to find the resource! Last week, I kicked off Halloween themed therapy with my book companion for Room on the Broom and my students loved it! It's such a wonderful story of adventure and friendship!

This week, Halloween is marching on! We will tackle expressive and receptive language using some Halloween themed packets that I created.

My expressive language groups will be focusing on comparing/contrasting and describing. We will be comparing monsters and other creepily cute things! We will also be describing monsters, ghosts, and all things Halloween! Receptively, we will be using a WH ?s card game and some print n' go sheets from my receptive language packet. As usual, we will also be tackling temporal and spatial concepts! My little guys can never get enough practice with basic concepts and following directions.

In articulation, we will be using more Color, Cut, and Glue Activities! I busted my Halloween theme sheets out last week and my students loved the clip art! I have 514 activities to choose from in my bundle, so we will be skating through the rest of October using the bundle. Here are some examples from last week:

Ummm.. can we talk about the fact that these Frankensteins were completed by kindergarteners?! They have mad coloring skills. haha.. Frankenstein actually isn't in my /s/ blends packet, but the student wanted the same picture as his friend. I just cut off the /f/ words and the student used his /s/ blends instead.

You can download the visual lesson plans by clicking HERE.

Have a spooky week! I'll be back Tuesday with a review of my receptive language packet and there will be a freebie on Wild About Books Wednesday! See you soon! :)

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Bat

Welcome to Wild About Books Wednesday! Each Wednesday, I discuss how to use a specific book in therapy. I may share a list of ideas, a book companion, or a freebie! If you're a blogger, please consider joining in on the fun by linking up with your own book ideas! Just use the picture at the bottom of this post to link back to me. Lately, I've been working feverishly preparing for Halloween! I just could not let Halloween escape without some old lady shenanigans! My latest book companion supports Lucille Colandro's There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat.

You can find this book companion in my TPT store by clicking HERE.

I believe that book series are perfect for children with language disorders. As I've mentioned in previous posts, reoccurring characters equip our students with background knowledge. Background knowledge is a critical ingredient for comprehension. Whenever I whip out an Old Lady book, my students immediately recognize her and start discussing previous books! Yes!

This book is a wonderful tool! If you haven't picked up on it, I refer to books as tools a lot! In my opinion, that's exactly what they are.

This book can be used to work on story-retelling and sequencing. This book companion includes a variety of motivating activities to address these skills. Students can feed the old lady cards or use an interactive retelling mat.

 

This companion also includes card games that support comprehension skills and temporal directions. Students simply draw a card and follow the direction. If they are correct they get to keep the card and the student that collects the most cards wins! This book is truly the perfect companion for supporting temporal concepts.. In addition, you can talk about what granny ate before or after different items!

If you're not familiar with this book series, they're filled with fun and silly rhymes! Rhyming can be a tough skill to tackle; however, when laughter is involved it makes things more motivating! I created a bingo game that addresses rhyming. Provide students with a prompt and they have to search for a rhyming word on their bingo board. 

 

I also included an activity that supports prepositions called "Put a Goblin on it!" Provide each student with a ghost and a set of goblins. They have to place the goblin around the ghost according to the provided preposition.

I also included some NO PREP activities for /t, d/, irregular plurals, and irregular past tense! This book is a great compliment to any lesson about past tense, as she "swallowed" a bat. 

What is your favorite book series? Which ones do you use in therapy? Please leave a comment and let me know! Also, please consider linking up!

 P.S. I'm having a Halloween sale in my store until the end of the day! You can snag this companion (and anything else!) for 20% off! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

An InLinkz Link-up

Halloween BOO-ks!

Halloween is creeping into my speech room! As many of you know, books are my favorite therapy tools. They nurture all aspects of language! Of course, I had to do a brain dump and list all of my favorite Halloween books (I'm a lover of lists) and decided to share a few on my blog! I'm also linking up with Deanna Jump over at Mrs. Jump's Class for a little BOO-k talk!

1)  The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda D. Williams

 

This book is perfect for building suspense in little ones! It's about a courageous old lady who ventures off into the forest to collect some herbs. It quickly becomes dark and on her way home she runs into a variety of clothing items that are moving all by themselves! As she passes each item she walks faster and faster, all the while declaring she is not afraid of anything! It's the perfect story to address sequencing and inferencing! 

2) Where's My Mummy by Carolyn Crimi

 

When little baby Mummy sets off on a game of hide-n-go-shriek, he gets lost! This tale follows baby mummy on his quest to find his mummy. He encounters many creatures and monsters along the way and is very brave.... until he sees a mouse! He finds his mummy at just the right time. This book is beyond cute! It's great for addressing WH ?s and for teaching students to generate questions.

3) Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

I could just eat this book up! I love it so! This book isn't blatantly Halloween, but Max dresses up in a costume and encounters some ferocious looking monsters as he daydreams! This book is perfect for dialogic book reading. The pictures alone provide so much to talk about! This book is great for describing, WH ?s, sequencing, and inferencing!

4) SkippyJon Jones in Mummy Trouble by Judy Schachner

If you've been following along with my Wild About Books Wednesday posts then you know I adore SkippyJon! I love bringing familiar characters into my speech room, as it equips students with background knowledge. In this wild romp, Skippy finds himself in ancient Egypt! This book lends itself well to problem solving and vocabulary building! It's also a great book to use for teaching visualization and building world knowledge! 

5) Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson

This is my absolute favorite Halloween tale! I even created a book companion for it, which you can find by clicking HERE. It's ultimately the story of a witch and how she meets new friends. She's flying on a broom, minding her own business, when the wind blows away her hat! She makes a pit-stop and meets a dog who has found her hat. She eventually accumulates so many friends that her broom snaps in two! She finds herself alone with a dragon and her new found friends come and save the day! It's such a marvelous and heart-warming story. I just love it so much! It's perfect for sequencing, inferencing, and so much more! 

What are some of your favorite Halloween books? Please comment and let me know!

Also, don't forget to check out Book Talk Tuesday over at Mrs. Jump's Class for more great ideas!

I'll be back tomorrow with Wild About Books Wednesday! Have a great day!

Halloween Expressive Language (Plus Sale!)

Themes make therapy so much fun! I love using seasonal items in my therapy room, because it's keeps everything very fresh and new. Currently, students cannot get enough zombies, ghosts, and spooky creatures! Honestly, I can't get enough of the spookiness either! This October, I will be supporting expressive language goals with my latest packet.

Halloween Expressive Language

This packet encompasses a wide variety of expressive language skills - from describing to vocabulary. Here's a peek into the packet:

Comparing/Contrasting: Students draw a card and discuss how the two items are alike and different. If they find a crazy bat, they'll get an extra turn. This game also contains two mini posters to provide students with visual aids.

Pronouns: At the primary level, I have lots of students who will benefit from this cute card game! Students draw a card and fill in the blank with the correct pronoun. If they are correct, they keep the card. If they find a haunted house then they lose all their cards! Oooh noo! haha..The pronouns addressed in this game are: he, she, they, and it. This game also includes two mini posters to display during your therapy session!

 

Describing:  Students draw a card and describe the given item. If they describe the item correctly they get to keep the card. Student with the most cards wins (but watch out for special cards!). This game also includes two mini posters to provide students with visual cues.

Irregular Plurals: Student draws a card and then the SLP reads the singular sentence. Student then makes the same sentence plural. If they are correct then they get to keep the card! Two visuals are also included!

NO PREP Activities: This packet also contains a variety of print n' go activities (12 in total). These interactive sheets address synonyms, antonyms, multiple meaning words, comparing/contrasting, topic maintenance, analogies, and more! Here's an example:

This packet is also part of a money saving bundle, if you're interested in more spooky-themed materials:

Halloween-themed therapy is going to be so much fun! Now that fall break is over, I'll be officially kicking it off today! To celebrate Halloween, I am also throwing a three day sale in my store! Everything (including bundles!) is marked down 20% today through Wednesday! Three days of spooky savings!

Have a spooktastic Monday!

A Slice of Speech (October 13, 2014)

My fall break is coming to an end! I spent many glorious hours watching Once Upon a Time and drank some apple cider slushies at the Sauerkraut Festival! It's now time to get back into therapy mode. I'm returning with another edition of A Slice of Speech. Each Sunday, I share my visual lesson plans for the upcoming week! You can download the plans below and just click on any picture to see where to find the resource. Neat, right?! I took this idea from all my favorite teacher bloggers!

Halloween is fast approaching! This week we will be reading one of my favorite Halloween tales, Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson. I created a very cute book companion for my students to enjoy, you can find it HERE.

Expressively, we will be working on retelling and sequencing. They are very complicated skills, but when you work on retelling it encompasses grammar, vocabulary, sentence structure, etc. It's one of my favorite skills to tackle, because it improves everything! I will target receptive language goals by playing games that address temporal directions, riddles, and using some interactive sheets for spatial concepts. I will also be sending home some Color By Pronouns sheets with my students who need to practice pronouns.

I am BEYOND excited to start using my Halloween Color, Cut, and Glue Activities! We will be completing a scary amount of repetitive drills using these resources. I'm also going to be using these same activities with my fluency group this week. Say, WHAT?! Yes, instead of engaging in repetitive drills they will practice easy onsets with the given words. If you ever have to mix articulation kids and fluency kids, using these types of activities can make it easier. This year, I have one student who is stuttering and I try my best to see this student one-on-one, but it's not always possible.

You can download these lesson plans by clicking HERE.

Have a wonderful week! I'm sad break is over, but I'm happy Halloween is finally busting into my speech room!

Color By Pronouns: Halloween Edition

It's no secret. I LOVE crayons! I should really buy stock in crayola. Over the summer, I found a way to join in on the "Color By..." fun by linking it to language and created Color By Pronouns: Summer Edition. I adored that little packet and had to create a version for Halloween!

 

You can find this resource in my TPT store by clicking HERE. 

I work in a primary school (K-2) so I have lots of little bitties who present with pronoun errors. This packet was designed with them in mind; however, it's something that can also be used in a regular classroom. It'll compliment any mini lesson on pronouns! These activities are so versatile, as you can use them in language therapy, send them home for practice, place in a language center in a regular education classroom, or even give them to students who finish their work early as a "dessert."

This packet is a fun way to teach, review, and reinforce pronouns. It addresses: he, she, they, we, and it. Each page contains a color key (ex. she - green) and then students have to look at the nouns on the picture and color them according to the key. It'll spawn a great discussion about nouns and pronouns!

Check out these examples:

Anyone else a huge fan of The Hunger Games? haha.. I doubt my students will recognize these names, but I had a lot of fun using some of my favorite characters!

Too. Cute.

I can barely contain my excitement for Halloween! Therapy is going to be spooktacular!

I hope everyone has a wonderful day! I'm lucky enough to be on Fall Break! I have grand plans for catching up on my DVR and hitting up some festivals this weekend!