Triangles of Meaning {vocabulary activities)

a visual tool to make connections between word meanings

The majority of the students on my 3rd-8th grade caseload this year have an IEP goal related to vocabulary. We have spent a lot of time working on synonyms, antonyms, and multiple meaning words in an effort to help their speaking and writing skills become more advanced.

Visuals always seem to assist students to make sense of what we are talking about, and I found myself drawing this over and over again to show students a word might have more than one antonym:

This simple visual has really helped my students throughout this school year, so I decided to make something a little more permanent.

This packet contains 42 pages of hands-on activities to practice word relationships.

The Sorting Mats come in a variety of colors, and students use the Word Tiles to arrange sets of words on the mats so the relationships match the triangle. There are two levels of Word Tiles included.

Next, are the Task Cards! Again, two levels of difficulty are included. Students show understanding of word relationships by filling in the missing words on the triangles.

Finally, there are also Color by Relationship Mystery Patterns! Students read the pair of words in each box, decide how the words are related (synonyms, antonyms, or no relationship), then color the box according to the key to reveal the mystery pattern. There are five different patterns included, and each page provides 100 pairs of words to practice.

Download Triangles of Meaning in my Teachers Pay Teachers shop! Also, I'm giving away a copy to one of you! Enter in the Rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Abby had a fun Cinco de Mayo fiesta last night.

Nonfiction Text Sources for Grades 3-8

resources for SLPs to find high-interest nonfiction reading passages to use with 3rd-8th grade

Have you noticed a push for using nonfiction and informative texts with our students? Standardized assessments and the Common Core both emphasize familiarity and use of informational texts. As a result, I have been attempting to focus more on using news articles and other informative texts with my students this school year.

Nonfiction passages are also great because they provide ample opportunity for progress monitoring. You can have students use context clues to figure out what vocabulary words mean, predict what will happen next, infer feelings and actions, answer comprehension questions, retell what they learned, paraphrase the article in their own words, identify the main idea by coming up with an alternate headline, and practice articulation targets. Whew, talk about a one-stop shop! Here are my go-to FREE resources for finding high-interest nonfiction reading selections for 3rd-8th grade students.

DOGOnews

This website is great. It has tons of articles about a variety of subjects. When you click on an article, there are many options to help students:

Underneath the headline you can click the "CCSS" button to see how this passage can be used to address critical thinking skills, vocabulary, and writing for various grade levels. The "NAS" button matches the article up with National Academy of Science Standards. The blue grade levels button tells you which students the article is appropriate for. Click the green "word search" button to complete a word search of vocabulary words from the article.

DOGOnews also has wonderful vocabulary tools. A floating list of vocabulary words always stays in view even as you scroll up and down the page. Each vocabulary word within the article is hyperlinked - just click the blue word to see its definition. Love that feature!

Other superb features include comprehension questions and critical thinking questions to complete after reading, and hyperlinks to geography locations mentioned in the article.

Newsela

Newsela is another go-to resource that should be bookmarked on all your computers/tablets. You can register for a free account to access this entire site. A neat thing is that you can set up classes of your students if you'd like. If you do that, you can assign articles to students and you can see their answers to the writing questions. I haven't tried this feature yet since we go over articles together in our therapy sessions.

The absolutely best feature of Newsela is that you can adjust the reading level of each article. Just click on the lexile levels in the blue bar on the right hand side of the article. When you adjust the lexile level, the grade level and word count information below the title of the article will change (see the picture above).

Some articles have writing prompts or quizzes, which can be accessed in the blue pane on the right-hand side of the screen. The quizzes are great because they address main idea, summarizing, recalling details, and defining vocabulary from context!

There are many other useful kid-centered news sites out there, but these two are my favorites and most-used. Others include:

Time for Kids

Go Go News

Here There Everywhere News for Kids

Are you using nonfiction texts with your students? Comment below with your favorite resources!

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Abby read the rock-climbing article 5 times today.

WH-Questions Therapy To Go!

introducing a grab-and-go tool for the busy SLP

This year I work with 3rd through 8th graders. My classroom is on one end of the school, and my students are on the very opposite end of the school. Let me tell you, I am logging lots of miles throughout my day just by picking up and dropping off students. In fact, I put the Map My Run app on my phone and was very surprised by how far I walked just in one day!

It can take five minutes for us to walk to and from my therapy room. We all know SLP schedules are tight, and I did not like wasting those precious minutes. So I needed some way to utilize that time in the hallway.

Viola! Grab-and-go therapy materials! This first version targets WH-Questions (who, what, when, where, why, how) and changing statements into questions.

The booklet is sized to be handheld (5 1/2" x 4") and fit easily into your therapy bag or purse.

Perfect for the busy SLP on the go! See it here on Teachers Pay Teachers. Additional booklets in this series are in the works, so stay tuned!

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Abby averages 14 miles walking per week just walking around school with students.

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!

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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!

Love It and List It Linky: Vocabulary Tips and Tricks

 my top 3 ways to teach vocabulary skills for preschool/elementary ages

I am linking up with Speech Room News' Love It and List It party this month. The theme is "Vocabulary". With my caseload, I focus on vocabulary for early childhood/preschool/kindergarten ages. Here are three of my favorite tools for addressing this difficult and sometimes abstract concept.

1) BOOKS!

(source)

*Plain old children's books are a gold mine for addressing vocabulary skills! Especially if you choose books with detailed and interesting pictures or topics that are high-interest and engaging for your students.

*DOT Language (from Speech Corner) - My elementary students adore using daubers, and this book provides fun dauber pages to work on:

• Categories
• Descriptions
• Synonyms/Antonyms
• Definitions
• Similarities/Differences
• Answering Questions

Blank pages for each activity are also included so you can add your own targets. Love it!

2) Activities and Craftivities:
*Make your vocabulary teaching fun and multi-modal: write words, say definitions, color pictures, act out or role play words and their definitions, sing songs about words or categories, etc. Get up and get moving! Remember, early childhood babes learn best through PLAY! Puzzles, toys, games, songs, crafts, etc. are all wonderful resources for helping our little ones sort out the world around them and increase their expressive and receptive vocabulary.

*Crafts: I love making craftivities with kiddos! For one, they are more fun than completing a worksheet. And two, now they have something to take home and complete more practice in other settings! Some great craftivities targeting vocabulary I have seen include:

Synonym Flowers from Hello Literacy.

Synonym Rolls from Life is Better Messy Anyway.

Foldable Vocab from A Teacher's Treasure.

Anchor charts are always being used in the preschool classrooms I work in. They don't need to be this fancy, but First Grade Parade has some amazing examples. (I don't know about you, but my artistic skills are nowhere near this level!)

3) Technology:
Even changing things up and addressing vocabulary lessons on computers or tablets instead of worksheets can be motivating for students.

*Software: Two of my favorites are:

No-Glamour Category/Definition (by LinguiSystems) - great for basic categories, and you can individualize it for each student

Spotlight on Vocabulary Interactive Software Level 1 (by LinguiSystems) - great for categories, synonyms, antonyms, attributes, associations, etc. You can also create student profiles and save their scores. This one is great!

*Websites:
vocabulary.co.il
pbskids.org
spellingcity.com
...and more!

*Apps: 'nuf said

Bluster (free; from McGraw-Hill) - Perfect for addressing rhyming words, prefixes and suffixes, synonyms, homophones, adjectives, and students can compete head-to-head. Great app for older elementary.

Vocabulary Catcher 3 (free; from Innovative Net Learning) - I love using this app with my early intervention and preschool kiddos. It introduces them to basic categories, identifying pictures, and basic picture selection using the iPad. There are versions 1, 2, and 3.

Word Mess (free; from Masala Games) - I recently reviewed this fun, fun app, which you can read about here. So fun!

Kinderarten.com Apps ($1.99) - I especially love Which Does Not Belong and Which Go Together for teaching basic vocabulary skills with my Littles.

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So there you have it! My top three favorite resources for teaching vocabulary are Books, Craftivities, and Technology! What do you like to use?

For more information about tips for teaching vocabulary aligned with the Common Core State Standards check out this article.

The following vocabulary resources are also available in my TpT store:
Pocket Categories
Green Eggs Vocab Match

Now, go check out what other SLPs are using to address vocabulary goals!

Ahoy Matey! Pirate-Themed Speech and Language Activities

speech and language activities for International Talk Like a Pirate Day

Shiver me timbers mateys!! Tomorrow (September 19th) is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Have some fun celebrating with your students with these pirate-themed activities:

There's a Pirate Pronouns activity:

To target receptive skills, cut apart the pictures and put one on the circle. Tell your students where to place other pictures (on the squares) to see how well they understand various pronoun words. Expressively, you can place pictures on the squares and have your students use pronoun words to describe where the picture has been placed.

There's also a Pirate Speak-tionary included! Find a list of must-use words and phrases to help you sound like a real pirate. There are also flash cards to match the words to their definition. And a worksheet to define words and use them in sentences.

Despite their gruff voices, it's important for pirates to speak clearly! So have your pirates-in-training use these articulation drill sheets to practice their target words.

Little Pirates can also use these open-ended point cards alongside any speech or language activity to make things more exciting. Cards range in value from 1 to 3 points, and there are also bonus cards and foil cards included.

Two just-for-fun activities are also included. Three different roll-and-color sheets as well as large and small versions of an open-ended board game. You can pick up the roll-and-color sheets for {FREE} here in my TpT store.

There you have it me hearties!! I hope you have a super wild and fun International Talk Like a Pirate Day tomorrow! You can find the full activity packet here. Enjoy 15% off through September 19th! Yo-ho-ho!

Appy Hour: Word Mess

review of a fun and challenging app to target vocabulary and visual scanning

Word Mess is a fun app I grabbed when it went free a few months back, and it has tons of potential for use with older students working on vocabulary skills!

The main screen will present you with two options: Challenge or Quick Play. If you choose Challenge, you'll experience all different puzzle types, and try to progress through as many levels as you can without losing a challenge. With Quick Play, you get to choose the type of puzzle you want to play.

There are different types of puzzles, and they all present the user with a screen full of a mess of words...get it? :)

Find the Word: To solve this Word Mess you are given a specific word to find, and you need to tap on all of them as fast as you can. You gotta be fast - the clock is ticking and additional words pop up on the screen if you take too long! In the later levels, bombs appear that scramble the words up.

Category: The Category puzzles really vary in their complexity. Some are as simple as "Find T-Words" and some I was guessing at ("Find English Authors"). These puzzles are fantastic for those kiddos who are working on vocabulary skills such as naming items in categories and synonyms.

Rhymes: These puzzles are really great for boosting those phonemic awareness skills! There are always many words that sound the same but are all spelled differently, like flight, white, and height, which can be really challenging!

Odd One Out: In the Bonus Rounds the challenge is Odd One Out - you need to find the one single word on the screen that is different from all the rest (usually a word that means the opposite) and find it as many times as you can in 60 seconds.

Word Mess is a really fun app that would make some vocabulary learnin' pretty fun for your older students. It's great for targeting vocabulary skills, phonemic awareness, visual tracking, and categories. I have fun playing it myself! At this time, Word Mess is available in the app store for $1.99. Check it out!