Ideas as Fresh as Springtime {The Frenzied SLPs}

Spring has sprung! Thank the Lord!!! Even if it's still below freezing or you have snow on the ground, it's time to brighten things up inside. The Frenzied SLPs have your back and we're sharing fresh ideas for spring therapy. Here are my top five 🌼

1) Bring animals into the therapy room (if you're that ambitious!)

#chicksman

A few years ago I shared a classroom with the special ed teacher. Our school was in a small rural community, but not many kids actually lived on farms or had exposure to animals other than dog/cat/fish/gerbil pets. The SpEd teacher decided to bring a few baby chicks into our room for a few weeks in the spring and the kids were able to interact with them and watch them grow. They were so, so excited and it provided so many language and vocabulary opportunities! We were able to talk about what makes a good pet, make observations about how they grew (chicks change very rapidly!), compared and contrasted animals that give birth to live babies vs. eggs, and what makes a good pet. There's even research backing up the benefit of pets boosting social skills in kids with autism. I've also heard of therapists bringing in therapy dogs (swoon!). Are any of you doing this?

2) Sensory bins or water play

There are so many fun ideas for sensory bins out there! I started using them with my students a couple months ago and they have always been a hit. The participation and expressive language explode out of my students when these are on the table. Here are some ideas for spring bins that are inspiring me:

Garden bin from Mama Miss

Bird sensory bin from Anchored by Love

Easter egg water play from Momma's Fun World

Duck pond water play from Mama Papa Bubba

I highly suggest you try out a sensory bin this spring!

3) DIY matching foam eggs

A few years ago I found these foam eggs in the Target Dollar Aisle (♥) and made a pocket out of packing tape so I could switch out the pictures on the egg halves for different students. It was fun and I'll be busting this out again this year.

4) Spring-themed picture books

There are too many good picture books out to possibly get to them all, but if you're looking for some new ideas, I really suggest When Spring Comes by Kevin Henkes and Hatch by Katie Cox. When Spring Comes was just released in 2016, so I don't think many people have heard of it, but it's an informative book about waiting for spring to come and it has beautiful illustrations. Hatch is all about animals that hatch from eggs. It gives clues to the animals on one side, and then kids can guess and open the egg to see if they're correct.


5) New activity packets

Finally, if you're looking to update your material supply, might I suggest some of the spring activities in my Teachers Pay Teachers shop:

Umbrella Categories

Capture the Whole Picture {spring inferences}

Two Scoops of Speech and Language

Set of 3 Free Spring Game Boards

Happy Spring everyone! Be sure to check out the rest of the fresh ideas from The Frenzied SLPs below. If you'd like to share your own ideas, feel free to add a link below or comment on this post!

An InLinkz Link-up

DIY Window Cling Craftivity

you can make your own window clings with two simple supplies

This week we have been having fun with a Valentine craft during our speech therapy sessions - DIY window clings! All you need for this easy craft are puffy paint and ziplock bags or plastic sheet protectors.

Step 1: This is not necessary, but to keep things under control I printed off heart patterns on a sheet of paper and inserted them into sheet protectors to act as a template for my students.

Step 2: Use the puffy paint to trace around the heart template.

Step 3: You can use multiple colors to make designs and patterns. Make sure the paint isn't too thin, or it will be difficult to peel off the plastic. Also, if the paint is too thick then it takes forever to dry.

Step 4: Let the paint dry overnight. Then you can peel the hearts off the plastic and decorate your windows!

This craft was easy peasy, and many of my students told me they really were excited to use the paint. Try it today!

**Thanks to my friend and colleague Kayla for the idea for this craftivity!

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Abby's husband will be out of town on Sunday. She will spend Valentine's Day with her kittens instead :)

Snowflake Snowman Craft

snowflake snowmen make a perfect craftivity for winter months

The snowman with the green background is "on a football field" :)

Last week we made snowflake snowmen in my therapy room, and I LOVE how they turned out!

I was inspired by this post I saw on Pinterest. You probably already have everything you need to make these: construction paper, scissors, a pencil, glue sticks, a white crayon, and some markers.

It usually took 20-30 minutes to complete these, depending on the size of the group. I had the paper folded and ready to cut ahead of time, and helped most of my students cut through the thick folded paper. We were also able to target many skills including sequencing, making requests, making descriptions, following directions, fine motor skills, and predicting how their cuts would appear once the paper was unfolded. Articulation students were able to practice their target sounds in between steps.

I was surprised how many of my students were vocally excited about making these. There were a few I thought I'd have to convince to participate, but they were some of the most enthusiastic and most creative! Many of them had never made paper snowflakes, and they thought it was so magical unfolding the paper to reveal their snowflake. Try them today with your students!

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Abby enjoyed 40*F weather this weekend. It felt like spring! What's the weather like where you live?

Frenzied SLPs: Gobble Up Holiday Goodies!

get ready for the holidays with recipes, crafts, and therapy activities

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Here in North Dakota we have a little dusting of snow on the ground, and it's really starting to feel festive around here. The Frenzied SLPs are back to get you in the holiday spirit with a link-up of Holiday Goodies for you :D

I can NOT wait for Thanksgiving next week - extra time with family, a couple days off of work to relax, and don't forget the yum-o food! I'd like to share a recipe with you that my family traditionally only makes for the holidays.

Krumkake is a Scandinavian dessert that my family makes every single Christmas. You do need a special iron to cook these on, similar to a waffle iron. This is the type of iron I use (not an affiliate link). After baking the batter in the iron, you roll the delicate disc into a cone shape and let it cool. Then it becomes a delicious, sweet, crispy treat. In my family, we eat these plain, although I've seen pictures of them dusted with powdered sugar or filled with whipped cream.

What else does the holiday season mean to me? Lots of homemade crafts and gifts! A couple years ago I made all my nieces and nephews (that's 13 total!) homemade bookmarks for Christmas gifts.

 

                                       (source)

I made monster ones for the boys, and scalloped edges for the girls using this pattern. Since then I've made more for myself and have also used them for Secret Santa at work. Quick, easy to personalize, and they go along with my love of reading. They would also be an excellent therapy activity/gift for your students. Win-win-win-win :)

Need a Thanksgiving-themed craft for your students or family celebration? This Thankfulness Wreath was so heartwarming to make last year at school. I simply cut out a basic leaf shape in a variety of fall colors, students wrote the things they are thankful for in metallic markers, then we pinned them to a styrofoam wreath form and hung it outside my therapy room. I can't wait to make another one with my students this week!

Finally, don't forget about holiday-themed fun in your therapy room. The following activities can be found in my shop:

  

  

  

  

And the 2015 edition of the Gifts of Gab Holiday ebook is hot off the presses! It's packed full of FREEBIES and fabulous therapy resources from over 70 #SLPBloggers! Download your copy here and you'll be fully prepared for the upcoming busy holiday season.

Thanks so much to Sparklle SLP, Speech Universe, and SLP Runner for hosting this Holiday Goodies linky! If you'd like to add your own ideas, feel free to join using the link below. Blessings to each and every one of you for reading!

An InLinkz Link-up

Frenzied SLPs: Fall Articulation Ideas

quick and easy activities for articulation practice this autumn season

Hi! Twice each month, The Frenzied SLPs collaborate to bring you oodles of ideas and suggestions related to a specific speech pathology topic. This time, I'm so thrilled to be joining The Frenzied SLPs with ideas for Fall-themed articulation practice!

I share my time between two different buildings, so I prefer to use activities that involve minimal prep. And with articulation students, I want to make the most of our time together and pack in tons of practice. Let me show you some things we've done this season...

- Die Cuts: I love using the school's die cut machine for seasonal activities. This year I cut out leaf shapes in various colors and had students write fall-themed articulation words on the leaves. They could take these home for extra practice.

- Tech Search: Look through a book or do a "fall"/"autumn" Google image search. How many Autumn-related words can you find that contain your target phonemes?

- Leaf Rubbings: Bring the outdoors in with leaf rubbings! You can write artic words on the leaf veins and students can have art and artic practice all in one.

- Hide and Seek: I cut out pumpkin shapes (using that handy die-cut machine again!) and wrote fall-themed articulation words on each side, then hid them around the room. For groups, each student could only collect the pumpkins that had his/her target sound.

- Go for a Walk: Enjoy the last of our beautiful warm weather before winter comes. Look for things around you which contain target speech sounds.

- Don't Spill the Beans: I don't know about you, but in my therapy room this is one of the most requested games of all time. At Easter we used real jelly beans to play the game; try using candy corn or autumn-colored M&Ms this month. Students have to practice their sounds before each turn.

- Craftivity: Paper plate crafts are always a favorite of mine (see here, and here, and here!). This year we made fall wreaths. Sometimes students wrote their target words on the leaves, and others we just left plain and practiced our targets while we crafted.

- Carryover: For students who are moving towards generalization of their speech sounds, try playing the I'm Going on a Picnic game, but change it to "I'm Going on a Hayride" or "I'm Going to the Pumpkin Patch".

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Don't forget to go back to the Frenzied SLPs and read everyone else's fun fall ideas! The link-up this month starts at Doyle Speech Works. Feel free to link up your own ideas!

An InLinkz Link-up

Kahoot!

Hey everyone! This week was my first week back on the job after summer vacation. Two days of meetings, cleaning out new classrooms, and organizing my caseloads, followed by two days of sitting in district-wide professional development (BLERG). Now you know a lot of times those PD topics unfortunately don't really apply to us specialists very much. However, there was something I heard about that really stood out to me as a great resource to use in therapy: Kahoot!

Kahoot! is an interactive and motivating website which serves as a great tool for engaging students via online quizzes, discussions, and surveys. It's free to join and start creating your own Kahoots, and there are also publicly shared Kahoots which you can choose to use or customize for your own needs.

Kahoot! has three different kinds of interactive formats: quizzes, discussions, and surveys. No matter which format you are using, the concept is the same. Teachers start a Kahoot on their computer, and students join by using any device with an internet connection (computers, laptops, tablets, phones). Students don't need an account or to log in, they just need the Kahoot game pin to play.

Once everyone has joined the Kahoot, the first question will display on the teacher's screen, then the answers will show up. The thing is, though, that on the student screens the answers are not displayed. They only see the colors and symbols that correspond with each answer. This forces students to look up from their devices and be more interactive in the classroom.

Quizzes are probably the most popular use. Students get points for choosing the correct answer, and get more points for answering quickly.

Kids (and staff using Kahoot! in professional development sessions!) get really competitive to try and improve their score after each question and move up the rankings!

Surveys work like quizzes, except there are no points involved, and typically there is no right or wrong answer. Surveys would be great for getting feedback from students, or to use if you don't want to have the competitiveness that comes with scoring points, or if comparing scores might be bothersome to a student. I created a Kahoot! to help me get to know my students better during the first week of therapy next week, so hopefully that will be a fun way to learn about some of their favorites and set some good expectations for their year.

The third mode is discussions. A discussion Kahoot! only has one single question. A graph of student answers which display on the instructor's screen could be a great way to get a persuasive discussion or writing assignment started.

No matter which mode you are using, you can download a summary of student answers after each Kahoot! is completed. That's right, your data tracking is incorporated right into the game!

Ideas for Use:

- I am absolutely going to use Kahoot! quizzes for progress monitoring. Have students retake a Kahoot every few weeks and track their progress!

- Quiz mode would be great for reviewing classroom vocabulary with our students. SLPs could give a pretest/posttest Kahoot! to see how students are improving in their vocabulary understanding and acquisition.

- A Kahoot! quiz or survey could be a great way to expose students to stuttering myths and facts.

- Create a Kahoot for staff development to help bring awareness to the role of SLPs in school!

- When you create a Kahoot! you can choose for it to be public or private, and all the Kahoots you create will be saved in your account.

- There is also a Ghost Mode which allows students to play against their previous scores or compete against other classes.

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How will you use Kahoot! in your therapy room?