2013 - The Year That Was

my favorite highlights from 2013

Happy New Year's Eve! I just got back from the grocery store to pick up some bubbly for tonight and I got to thinking about 2013. It's been such a great one for Schoolhouse Talk! I just love seeing end-of-the-year lists: songs, movies, news moments, etc. It's always fun to look back and reminisce about things I haven't thought about for a while. So, I'd like to highlight some of my favorite moments from Schoolhouse Talk's past year:

February 10th: Opened a Schoolhouse Talk store on Teachers Pay Teachers

February 26th: First item was sold on Teachers Pay Teachers!

March 25th: First Giveaway

 April 6th: First experience writing as a guest on another blog: Practically Speeching

June 9th: Joined Instagram

July 23rd - 27th: Schoolhouse Talk celebrated its first bloggy birthday! It was a super fun few days filled with guest posts, giveaways, and freebies.

 July 12th: Started a Facebook Page

 July 17th: Chosen as a "new blogger" feature on Activity Tailor

 Most-Viewed Blog Post of 2013:

August 23rd: Back-to-School Week: SLP Introduction Letter for Parents

Best-Seller on Teachers Pay Teachers:

Christmas Goodies

Personal Favorite Blog Post:

February 15th: Quick-Tip: Protect Your iPad Screen From Messy Hands

Thank to everyone who helped make this year great. I'm so, so, so looking forward to 2014! Have a safe and uber-happy New Year!!

12 Days of Christmas Day 8 + Giveaway!!

 
We've almost made it through this last week of school before winter break! Give yourself a fist pump because it was a rough and exhausting week! I am very much looking forward to 10 days off and spending lots of time with family and friends.

To help make your Friday even more exciting, I'm giving you my Speech Stickers for FREE today!

These stickers are the perfect thing to send home with the kiddos on your caseload as they leave for holiday break. They're an easy and friendly reminder for them to keep using their speech sounds throughout their day, and gets others involved in asking them to practice their target phonemes. These stickers have been a Best Seller in my store and typically sell for $1.50. Click here to download this freebie. Enjoy!

There's also another giveaway to announce! This is the third and final bundle you can win during the 12 Days of Christmas, and it is packed with awesome resources you can use all year round! Just enter in the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win!

2014 Year of Articulation Calendars - from Speech Universe

Fluency Fun - from Lynda SLP 123

Listening Detectives - from Speech with Sharon

2014 Recipe Calendar Keepsake - from Speech Snacks

A Picture's Worth 1000 Words (EET Companion) - from SLP Runner

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks so much to all these amazing SLP Bloggers who generously donated products for each of these giveaways. Go and enter now!

12 Days of Christmas Day 7!

Who's feeling the stress of the week before holiday break? I am! It has been a crazy busy week for me. Trying to fit in as many student minutes as I can, plus meetings, plus preparation for family Christmas, plus Christmas shopping, plus getting ready to travel for the holidays. It's a bit overwhelming! Hopefully these free giveaways are helping make planning and preparation for therapy a little easier for you this week.

The fun continues today y'all! Your FREEBIE for today is:

Itty-Bitty Books - SH, CH, J edition! These Itty-Bitty books are so handy to send home for homework! I know for me, there are a lot of students on my caseload working on these phonemes, so I hope this is something you all can make a lot of use out of. You can download this here. Enjoy!

Also, don't forget to leave feedback if you download this freebie. I really appreciate hearing how you are using these activities because that helps me as I create new ones. Thanks!

Have you entered the winter activity packets bundle giveaway? Hurry! Only 11 more hours left to get your name in the drawing!

12 Days of Christmas Day 6!

We're already halfway through these 12 days of fun! Can you believe it?! I have really enjoyed giving you each of these free materials this week. I hope you are finding them useful! Today you get:

Ahoy Matey! {speech and language packet} This activity packet includes a variety of fun articulation, language, and vocabulary activities as well as open-ended reinforcement games to help make practice mega-fun for any student all year. Normally $3.00, you can download it here for FREE today only! While you're downloading, you should really follow my TpT store if you aren't already. (Hint: There's going to be a special surprise JUST for TpT followers later on in the 12 days!)

Don't forget to enter the giveaway that I posted yesterday! There are FOUR winter-themed activity packets up for grabs :)

12 Days of Christmas Day 5 + Another Giveaway!!

 
Sing with me: "On the fifth day of Christmas Schoolhouse Talk gave to me..."

Green Eggs Vocabulary Match-Up! I made this packet to help celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday back in March. The activity targets synonyms and antonyms - just match each word on a 'yolk' to its synonym or antonym on the 'whites'. Normally $2.50, you can download it here for FREE today only! While you're downloading, you should really follow my TpT store if you aren't already. (Hint: There's going to be a special surprise JUST for TpT followers later on in the 12 days!)

The second bundled giveaway is starting today! A few SLP Blogger friends have generously donated some amazing winter-themed packets just for you! Today you can enter to win:

Snow Princess Language Unit - from Happily SLP

Snowbound Winter Vocabulary - from Speech All the Time

Snowflakes are OVER/UNDER - from Autumn Bryant - Speech Language Investigator

Winter Sign Language Packet - from Hear My Hands

Just enter using the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We're not even halfway through the fun yet! Make sure to follow along here on the blog and on social media so you don't miss anything!

12 Days of Christmas Day 4!

I was out of town at a wedding this weekend, and didn't get blog posts for Saturday and Sunday scheduled before I left, so if you missed out on the daily freebies, I apologize. But I'm back, and many wonderful things are still ahead in the coming days!

First of all, the winner of the first big giveaway bundle is:

Congratulations! There are more products that have been donated by other SLP Bloggers to giveaway, so stay tuned!

Today's FREEBIE from me to you is:

 

Itty-Bitty Books for Articulation P, B, M edition! You can download it here for free today only! Remember, more fun is coming, so be sure to follow along on the blog, facebook, instagram, and my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

12 Days of Christmas Are Here!

Woohoo! It's here! Get ready for a rip-roarin', fun-tastic 12 days!

On the first day of Christmas you get:

Pocket Categories!! This packet is a fun category sorting activity, and is a Best Selling item in my store. Sort the picture cards into the appropriate category by placing the picture inside the category pocket. Normally $3.50, you can download it here for FREE today only! While you're downloading, you should really follow my TpT store if you aren't already. (Hint: There's going to be a special surprise JUST for TpT followers later in the 12 days!)

PLUS, there will be a few "bundled" giveaways throughout the next 12 days! Today you can enter to win:

Christmas Phonological Awareness - from Twin Sisters Speech and Language Therapy

Gingerbread Language - from Speech Language Pirates

Having a Ball - from Chatterbox Speech

Pronoun Christmas - from The Queen's Speech

Stuff the Stocking - from Rock Chalk Speech Talk

Just enter using the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


There is so much more fun coming up you guys! Make sure to follow along here on the blog and on social media so you don't miss anything!

Pssst...Coming Soon!

There's a HUGE event coming to Schoolhouse Talk:

Don't miss it! Be sure to follow along here on the blog and on the facebook page! It's going to be completely AWESOME!

There might even be special secret surprises just for people who follow my Teachers Pay Teachers store and for #SLPeeps on twitter ;)

Holiday and Winter FREEBIES!

enjoy these winter and holiday freebies!

Winter has hit Iowa! We are getting our first true snowfall of the season today, and it is beautiful! I always enjoy the first snowfall of the year, and now that it's white outside, it definitely feels like the holiday season :)

Make things festive in your speech room with these winter-themed FREEBIES!

Christmas-themed fortune teller

Winter Color by Number page

Now my special gift to you is a brand new mini book companion pack for the book "Snowmen at Night" by Caralyn Buehner!

Story Sequencing Cards

Story Elements Dice and Game Tokens

Creative Writing Page

/s/ and /s/ blends from the story

Open-Ended Snowball Fight reinforcement game

Open-Ended Snowman Race game board
(comes in two sizes)

You can get this cute packet for FREE right here!

Busy Bee Speech is hosting a holiday and winter freebie linky, so be sure to check out all the festive resources SLPs are sharing his month. And no matter which holiday you're celebrating where you are, I hope it's a blessed and joyful one! It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

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PSSSSSST! Coming Soon...

Be sure to stop by during the next couple weeks! The fun starts December 13th :)

Friday Funny

Hope this helps get you in the festive holiday spirit!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88YuojPzBcs

Christmas Goodies + a BIG Sale!

I know I've been a bit absent from the blog lately, but it's been a super busy couple of months. I'm going to be keeping family a priority during the holiday season, but more regular posting to Schoolhouse Talk will pick up again after the New Year rolls around.

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I'm so very thankful for each and every one of you who reads Schoolhouse Talk! 2013 was a great year for me, and I think 2014 is going to be even more fantastic! To show my appreciation of all of you, I'm participating in the site-wide Teachers Pay Teachers cyber Monday/Tuesday sale! You can save 28% off everything in my store by using promo code CYBER. Hurry! The sale ends tonight at midnight! This is the perfect time to stock up on activities for the entire year.

Yesterday I placed my brand-spankin' new Christmas Goodies packet in the store! I am so, so, so pleased with how this turned out, and it is chock-full of fun!

winter-themed rhyming words

memory game with winter-themed rhymes

Circle the picture that shows the Christmas verb.

Christmas pronouns

Read the clues and match the elf to their gift.

Christmas vocabulary words sorted by phoneme.

Read the clues and guess what's in the present.
Then lift-the-flap to check answers.

Unscramble the Christmas words, then write the
numbered letters below to reveal the phrase.

Christmas lights token game

puzzle

Answer the questions on page 1 to see how
to decorate your own unique gingerbread man.

...and MORE!

You can find this activity packet in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Remember to use promo code CYBER to save even more on top of my already reduced prices! The sale ends at midnight tonight!

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Here are a few of the items I'm excited to buy during the sale:

Roll-and-Say Syllables for early developing sounds (by Chatterbox Speech)

Spinner Games for R, S, L (by Dean Trout's Little Shop of SLP)

Articulation Cans (by Mia McDaniel)

Fun on the Farm language pack (by Jenn Alcorn)

Say What? A Comprehension Activity for PreK (by Simply Speech)

...plus some clip art for all the ideas churning in my head. Happy shopping everyone!