The Frenzied SLPs: We're On the Downhill Slide!

3 tips to survive the end of the school year

Hello? Is anyone still here? Many apologies for the extended absence, but I've cleared away the cobwebs and am ready to get back to regular posting. By the way, I have a good excuse for taking some time off: I'm pregnant and expecting my first child at the beginning of August! Yay! Thankfully, everything has been going pretty smoothly so far, so I've just been enjoying this time away from the blog with researching and preparing for how things are going to change in the next year. That, plus everything REALLY amped up at work and we have been BUSY!

Most school-based SLPs will be winding down the year within the next month or so, and The Frenzied SLPs would like to help make the downhill slide to summer break go as smoothly as possible for you.

=====================================

One of the buildings I was assigned to this year has been doing an ongoing social/emotional learning training all year, including discussing Growth Mindset. These tools have not only helped me rethink the way I interact with my students, but have also popped into my heads at times when I'm facing difficulties. During the downhill slide to summer it can be easy to feel overwhelmed, but I just need to remember to replace some of my negative thoughts with more encouraging thoughts:

"I'll never get everything done by June 3rd!"
--> Instead, think "I can cross three items off my to-do list today."

"Are you kidding me, ANOTHER referral with three weeks left of school?!"
--> Instead, think "What can I do to assist this student AND this teacher?"

"I don't want to go to work today!"
--> Instead, think "I get to help my students today, and we're one more day closer to summer!"

=====================================

Music always helps me get through any tough situation - and through the good times too! A couple years ago I shared a playlist for all those end-of-year tasks. Be sure to add these to your playlist immediately:

Overcomer - Mandisa

Survivor - Destiny's Child

Keep Your Head Up - Andy Grammer

Can't Stop the Feeling - Justin Timberlake (I can't get enough of this song!)

=====================================

When all else fails - make a list! The end of the school year comes with a million tasks to do, and using a command center to help keep those lists organized and in view really helps. You can download your own for free here. It is always so rewarding to see those tasks being crossed off!

=====================================

There you go! A few tips to hopefully help you make through the downhill slide to summer break! Thanks so much to GoldCountry SLP, Looks Like Language, and All Y'all Need for coordinating the topic this month. Please click on the links below for more survival ideas. We would also LOVE for you to link up if you have something to share! No blog? No problem - just share your tips in the comments. Thanks for reading! And enjoy that downhill slide to summer :)

An InLinkz Link-up

Friday Funny

This was me yesterday:

Woohoo! Only two Fridays left in the school year! Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend everyone :)

5 Tips to Finish the School Year Strong

you can survive the crazy hectic end to the school year

We've almost made it! I don't need to remind you that the end of the school year brings schedule interruptions, a large number of meetings, tons of paperwork, and general chaos. We all seem to struggle just to keep our heads above water. Here are some tips I've learned through the years to help manage the "summer-break-can't-come-soon-enough" madness.

1) Remain flexible.
There are always interruptions in our schedules this time of the year. Classes go on field trips. Band and choir students have performances and extra practices. The district SLP meeting gets rescheduled for next week. We can't control everything around us, so it's important to remain flexible and calm. For your sake and everyone else's.

2) Create and use to-do lists.
It feels so satisfying to cross off even the tiniest most minuscule of tasks. "Make to-do list." CHECK! "Schedule so-and-so's transition meeting." CHECK! "Create and post summer break countdown calendar." CHECK CHECK!

3) Make a playlist to keep you energized and inspired while you work.
I can't say enough about how music helps put me in a good mood. Get your groove on while you write 55 progress reports. Shake your booty while you take inventory of your materials. Inspire yourself when you wake up to a day with five IEP meetings scheduled. Need help getting started? These are my jams for the last few weeks of school.

4) Complete some spring cleaning.
Last week I organized and sorted through two months of papers that had piled up on my desk. It felt GREAT! Take some time during the last couple weeks of work to organize your files, clean off (and backup!) your flash drives. Organize the materials you've been using this school year, and maybe consider getting rid of ones you haven't been using lately. Tidying up the work spaces and materials we use also helps clean up the clutter in our minds.

5) Reflect on the year you've had.
Think about some of the positives that you've experienced this year. Were you able to dismiss any students from therapy? Great! Did that 2nd grade student finally produce vocalic /r/ after months or years of practice? Celebrate those successes! Also, be sure to identify any ways you'd like to improve next year. Set professional and personal goals that you'd like to accomplish. Strive to grow and build upon your practice.

==========
Finally, some lessons learned from movies to help get you through:

Self-explanatory. Applicable to so many situations.

Didn't the school year just start like, um, 20 minutes ago? Think about all you've accomplished this school year. Countless meetings, dozens of IEPs written, too many evaluations, thousands of minutes spent helping our students improve their communication skills, times you helped a parent see what their child can do. It's easy to get caught up in the mundane aspects of our jobs and become weighed down by everything that needs to get done. Take time during your last couple weeks of school to look around at all you've accomplished during the past nine months.

Soon, summer break will be here. You will be able to do whatever your pretty little heart desires. Want to read by the pool all afternoon? "As you wish." Sleep until 10:30? Go for it. Midnight showing of the latest summer blockbuster? I'll meet you there. We've been dedicated to our job for nine months, put in countless hours of work on our own time, and spent our personal money buying materials and supplies for our students. We've earned summer break. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Just make it through these last couple weeks and you will finally have some free time to enjoy as you wish.

==========
Abby has 12 work days left until summer break!

What's In My Cart {TPT Site-Wide Sale}

treat yo'self to a site-wide mega sale!

We've reached that point in the year where we all get swamped with piles of paperwork and progress reports, try to schedule therapy sessions around field trips, hold back to back to back to back transition meetings, and still try to keep therapy fun and exciting for our students. We all can hardly wait for summer break to arrive! You know what? YOU deserve to treat yo'self!

Teachers Pay Teachers is treating Teachers (and SLPs!) with an Appreciation Sale on May 5-6! Get ready to stock up on new materials to keep your students engaged for the rest of the school year, summer, and beyond. These site-wide sales are the BEST time to empty your wish list because most stores are 20% off, AND you can treat yo'self extra 10% with the promo code: ThankYou

I'm going to showcase some of the items I can't wait to pick up during the sale, but first let me highlight a couple items from the Schoolhouse Talk shop:

Triangles of Meaning includes activities which target word relationships through visual sets of antonyms and synonyms to help students make connection between vocabulary words. You and your students will love the color by relationship mystery pictures!

Your students will be masters at making predictions after using the leveled activities in Spoiler Alert!

I adore how these Articulation Puzzle Mats turned out, and your students will adore practicing their sounds as they put them together!

The entire Schoolhouse Talk shop will be 20% off during the sale.

==============================

I'm definitely going to take advantage of 28% off prices by buying these items:

1. Secret Messages for Main Idea - by Teach Speech 365

Each reading passage in this packet includes a secret number, and after students identify the main idea for the passage, it tells them which letter to put in that number box. The holiday elves edition was fun for my students so I know these will also be a hit.

2. Spring Cut & Paste Articulation - by Mia McDaniel

I have never been disappointed by anything I've purchased from Mia's store. I could really use more articulation products to get me through the rest of the school year, and I know my students will have fun with these. Plus, you can't beat print-and-go activities!

3. /S, L, R/ Blend Flip Books - by The Dabbling Speechie

I've seen the CH, SH, J edition of these flip books and they are FANTASTIC! I can't wait to add this one to my materials. The graphics are so eye catching, and it includes multiple levels of complexity as well as writing and picture scenes (great for carryover!).

==============================

If you need additional assistance in figuring out what to stock up on, be sure to check out the Best of SLPs on TPT Summer Catalog.

You can also see what others are stocking up on by clicking through the linky over at Speech Room News.

Happy Shopping!!

Spring Bulletin Board

a bright and eye-catching bulletin board idea for the spring season

I spent the better part of three days in late March designing and assembling the parts for this bulletin board display:

This board is in the hallway right outside my therapy room. I've had the same display on it since the beginning of the school year:

It was fading a lot and I was just ready for an upgrade to get me through the remaining two months of the school year. I was also hoping for something that would remind people that speech-language pathologists work on more than just speech sounds.

The light blue background is a tablecloth from the dollar store, the rainbow is made out of construction paper, and everything else was cut out of bulletin board paper from school.

I love how it turned out!

==========

Abby is still waiting for spring to arrive (and STAY) in North Dakota.

Summer Speech Activity Calendars

use these calendars to help your students with their communication skills over summer break

Summer is almost here! I'm just so tickled to have more time to work on more activities and blog posts soon. I feel like Schoolhouse Talk has been so neglected lately! :( Just 5 more days with students plus 2 paperwork days before I'm done!

A couple of the preschools I work with are finishing up this week, so I've been putting together my activity packets to send home with students. I wanted to repost this post from last year highlighting what is included in these FREE packets:

(Note: This post originally appeared on June 14, 2013)

There are two sets: Articulation Calendars and Language Calendars. Each set comes with a color version and a black-and-white version to make printing easier. The calendars contain free, fun, and quick activities that your students can complete with their parents to work on improving their communication skills during June, July, and August.

Instead of activities for parents to have to do every single day, each month contains 20 activities that parents can complete as their schedule permits. They can choose to do something daily, or do a few activities on the same day. They can even have weekends off if they want! Activities are brief, and can be completed in 20 minutes or less.

Articulation Calendar Activity Examples:
*I Spy! Find 10 foods with your sound and say them 3 times each.
*Arts & Crafts! Cut out letters from magazines to create words that have your sounds. Say them 3 times each.
*Play Time! Say a word with your sound 4 times before you take a turn blowing bubbles.
*Book Worm! Read and book and listen for your sounds, then say the word 4 times.
*All Ears! Listen for your speech sounds while riding in the car.
*Action! Use your good speech sounds while eating a meal with your family.

Language Calendar Activity Examples:
*Answer category/describing wh-questions about pictures.
*I Spy! Find 10 things that go outside and make a sentence about each one.
*Arts & Crafts! Cut out pictures from a magazine and think of a word to describe each one.
*Book Worm! Read a book with a friend and then retell the story in your own words.
*Tell what the word BAT means and use it in a sentence.
...and MORE!

Each calendar also includes:
*Parent Letter
*Online Resources
*List of Favorite iPad/Smartphone Apps

You can download these {FREE} resources here:
Summer Speech Homework Calendars for Articulation
Summer Speech Homework Calendars for Language

Enjoy!!

I've added these activities to Bright Ideas' post today. Click on over to see other summer activity packets that are available. :)

==========
Abby is trying to find part-time work for the summer. Does lounging by the pool count?

Pep Talk for The End of the School Year

the end of the school year is a stressful time. i think you need a pep talk

It's May. May! Speech-language pathologists who work in the school setting are getting frazzled, running around like chickens with their heads cut off, caffeine-fueled, and just trying to catch up on their ever-growing to-do lists, end of the year progress reports, meetings, annual IEP meetings, fitting in evaluations before the school year ends, more meetings. State reports are due. Medicaid billing is due. IEPs are due. It can certainly be an overwhelming time, and we all could use some motivation to get us through the last few weeks of school.

A Pep Talk from Kid President

Music always helps me through any tough situation. Here's my playlist for the end of the year:

When you need some motivation to write all those pending reports:

Keep Your Head Up - Andy Grammar

Roar - Katy Perry

When you're feeling overwhelmed by all the work you have left to do (on top of seeing your students for therapy):

Overcomer - Mandisa

He Said - Group 1 Crew

Don't Worry, Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin

When you have numerous meetings to attend and no time to finish all your paperwork:

Survivor - Destiny's Child

Up - Shania Twain

You're the Best Around - Joe Esposito

As you submit those IEPs and check another item off your to-do list:

The Final Countdown - Europe

On the first day of summer break:

Best Day of My Life - American Authors

Walking on Sunshine - Katrina and The Waves

Everything is Awesome - The Lego Movie

==========

It can be a challenge to focus on the positive this time of year. I get it. It's difficult to think about much else when there are 3 evaluations due, a last-minute IEP meeting gets scheduled without notice, there are 5 annual IEP reports sitting unsubmitted on your desk, and you just received 2 new referrals in May. I get it! That's when I need to stop, remind myself it will all get done, and think about how blessed we are as SLPs working in the school setting.

*We get 2+ months off in the summer to refuel, enjoy the beautiful weather, and take a break from our hectic work schedules.

*We get to have the same school breaks as our children, and can enjoy that extra time with them.

*We get to work closely with children during their formative years and watch them change from dependent little slobber-machines into lovely young adults ready to take on the world.

*We get to help prepare those same children for the future and lead them to the skills they need to function successfully in this world. Pretty amazing.

Top 3 Reasons to Get. Sh*#. Done.
1) You will have more time for pleasurable stuff...whatever that may mean for you ;)
2) You will feel proud and accomplished as items are checked off your to-do list.
3) Your nerves will decrease as you have fewer and fewer tasks to complete.

Now get out there and finish the school year with a smile!!

==========
Abby is going to just keep swimming through 15 more days of work until the end of the school year.