Friday Funny

My husband and I are now proud kitty owners!

In celebration, let's see what we're "kitten" ourselves into:

Happy Weekend everyone!

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".

==========
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

Speech/Language Learning Targets

help students understand their speech/language therapy goals and progress

Does your district require you to post student learning goals? Where I work, we follow the Marzano teacher evaluation model, which does require us to post learning goals. With special education, it's a little more tricky to post goals since everything is so individualized. And you know with speech/language students that we have dozens of different therapy goals that we work with.

I have a set of learning targets that I have been using, but needed something portable that I could take with me if I was working in classrooms or hallways, and would also allow me to quickly let students know what they are working on. My district has also talked extensively about using scales with students to give them some insight into how they are doing. Thus, this little flip book was born:

Features:
- 88 different learning targets with "I can..." statements
- student rating scales on each card to discuss progress
- blank cards for you to write your own student goals
- full-page blank targets
- tabs to make it easy to flip to the content area you are working on

You can pick up a copy for your own therapy room here. I hope they are useful for you and your students and help you score points during those teacher observations/evaluations!

Sticky Note Command Center {free download}

use this free download to help keep your to-do lists organized

Hello friends! By now I'm sure you are all getting into the swing of the new school year, but if you're anything like me you have a million things on your list of things to get done, and random sticky notes posted everywhere! I had so many notes and reminders jotted down that I was actually forgetting things, so I decided to do something about it.

I created a sticky note command center for my desk! Now all my notes are in one spot for each building I work in and hopefully I won't be forgetting any more important things.

You can download your own sticky note command center here. The pages are editable so you can label the boxes to suit your own needs. There are two colorful versions, a grayscale version, and a blank version so you can add your own background to match your room decor. Enjoy!

(Please leave feedback if you download - it helps me know what to keep or change about the materials I create. Thanks!)

Using Google Forms to Get Started with Scheduling Therapy

use google forms to get started with the scheduling process

When trying to attack the daunting task of scheduling therapy in the past, I have handed out scheduling forms for teachers to attach their schedule or to write down the times that will absolutely NOT work for me to meet with students from their classroom. This has worked fine, but still resulted in me shuffling through a dozen different teacher responses to figure out how to fit my students into the times available. And you know there are never enough times available.

This year I decided to approach this in a different way at one of my buildings. I created a Google Form for teachers to fill out in which they can select all the times that WILL and WILL NOT work for me to meet with their students. Here's how:

Step 1: Sign into your Google account and go to Google Drive.

Step 2: On the left-hand side of the screen, click "new", then "more", then "Google Forms".

Step 3: Make sure to name your Form at the top, and then you can start adding questions. The "Question Title" is where you type what you want your question to say. This is what will show up on the response spreadsheet (more on that later). I made my first question "Name" so that I would be able to see who each response belonged to.

Step 4: Select the Question Type. Google Forms has a lot of different question types, but for this scheduling form's purpose I chose "Checkboxes" because I wanted teachers to be able to select more than one answer. You can also choose whether or not you want your questions to be required. I used the "Help Text" to provide further instructions ("Please select all times that would work for students to go to therapy.")

Step 5: To add another question, click "Add item". You will go through the same steps as you did to create previous questions. In this case, I created another question that allows teachers to select all times that do NOT work on a specific day of the week.

Step 6: This is optional, but at the bottom of my form I added an additional question using the "Paragraph text" option. This is a space where teachers can type in any other information that might be helpful for me to know.

Step 7: When you've added all the questions you need, you can change the look of the form by clicking "Change theme".

Step 8: When you are ready to send your beautiful form out to all your teachers, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click "Send form". A pop-up box will allow you to copy a link to the form or type in email addresses to send invitations to.

Once people respond to your survey, their answers are automatically compiled into a handy spreadsheet for you to see their responses all in the same place! Now you will be able to have just one form to refer to when attempting to schedule students. (cue heavenly music)

Unfortunately, you're still on your own to put it all into an actual therapy schedule...but at least this is a great starting point! I liked that I wasn't shuffling through a stack of notes and teacher schedules to figure out where to put students on my schedule. So will you try this out? Let me know how it works for you!

If you'd like to watch a more detailed video tutorial, this is a great one on YouTube.

P.S. I also see this being a great tool for creating progress monitoring "quizzes" for students working on vocabulary skills!

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.

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

How will you use Kahoot! in your therapy room?

Friday Funny

It's been awhile since I did a Friday Funny post! As a huge fan of my local library I just had to share this one:

(source)

Enjoy your weekend!

It's Back to School Time!

get ready for the new school year with mega-savings

As hard as I might try to deny it, the back to school season is here. I'll pause while you scream into a nearby pillow...

Some of you are going back to work very soon (or are already there!), and some aren't starting again until September. Personally, I report back August 24th. No matter what your timeline is, there's always time for some shopping! Mark your calendars because there's a site-wide Teachers Pay Teachers sale happening August 3-4 :)

These site-wide sales only happen a few times each year, so now is the best time to stock up on everything you'll need to get the school year started off right. Everything in my Schoolhouse Talk shop will be 20% off, plus you can treat yo'self to an extra 10% off on top of that with promo code:

I'm going to share some of the things I can't wait to pick up during the sale, but first let me highlight some must-haves of my own:

Triangles of Meaning includes activities which target word relationships through visual sets of antonyms and synonyms to help students make connection between vocabulary words. Buyer feedback: "SO wonderful for my older elementary aged students who struggle with vocab and seeing the relationships between words. Engaging and user-friendly."

Articulation Puzzles: Your students will have fun putting these puzzles together as they practice their speech sounds. Bonus: six new puzzles were recently added targeting early developing phonemes (P, B, T, D, N, M)! Buyer feedback: "So cute! I love that it is different, interactive, and provides visuals for support."

Phonological Awareness Wizards: This packet has everything you need to work on phonological awareness skills while playing a fun and colorful board game. Buyer feedback: "I'll be using this with my English Language Learners as a fun alternative to our phonological awareness routines. SO CUTE!!"

Also, don't forget about Speech Therapy Rubrics for all your data keeping and progress monitoring needs! You'll also need {FREE} Speech Therapy Session Notes to help you keep parents updated about the activities in your therapy room. There are many other helpful (and free!) documents available in my store as well to get your school year started right.

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

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

I'm *for sure* taking advantage of big savings by snatching up these items on my wish list:

1. Build-a-Monster: Following Directions - by The Speech Bubble SLP

I am moving back down to preschool and elementary ages this year, so I know interactive and creative activities like this will come in really handy. Besides, I haven't met an activity yet from The Speech Bubble that has not been 150% amazing.

2. Hink Pink Word Riddles - by Speech2U

These word riddles are so creative, and they will be a fun way to practice vocabulary, synonyms, and rhyming. I love that there are differentiated levels of support.

3. Common Core Speaking & Listening Rating Scales {K-5} by Jenn Alcorn

I used and loved the 6th-8th grade edition of these scales last year, so I know the version for younger grades will be just as useful.

4. Multisyllabic Words Fingerprint Prompts - by Cat Says Meow

Eye-catching? Check! Great practice for multiple goals? Check! Hands-on practice? Check! This packet looks great and will be so useful!

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

If you need additional assistance in figuring out what to stock up on, be sure to check out the 2015 Back to School SLP ebook. It's jam-packed with free downloads and must-have items from over 80 SLPs!

Also, be sure to click through the link-up over at Speech Room News to see what others are eager to buy. Happy shopping!

Friday Funny

It's science.

I'm on Summer Break y'all! WHEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

2015 Summer Reading List

working towards my goal of 35 books in 2015

I don't know about you, but one of the things I most like to do in my free time is read. Mysteries, fiction, memoirs, thrillers, love stories, young adult, brain candy...as long as it has interesting characters and a good plot I like it. Here's what I'm hoping to get through this summer.

1. Something Classic: Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)

Jane Austen's witty comedy of manners that features splendidly civilized sparring between the proud Mr. Darcy and the prejudiced Elizabeth Bennet as they play out their spirited courtship in a series of eighteenth-century drawing-room intrigues.

2. Something Mysterious: The Secret Keeper (Kate Morton)

During a summer party at the family farm, sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and sees her mother speak to him. Soon, Laurel will witness a shocking crime. A crime that challenges everything she knows about her family and especially her mother, Dorothy.

3. Something Best-Selling: The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood)

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived with her husband; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now...

4. Something Autobiographical: I Am Malala (Malala Yousafzai)

On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, when she was fifteen, Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head at point-blank range for speaking out for her right to an education. Few expected her to survive. At sixteen, she has become a global symbol of peaceful protest and the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize laureate. I Am Malala will make you believe in the power of one person's voice to inspire change in the world.

5. Something Mindless for the Beach: Club Dead (Sookie Stackhouse #3) (Charlaine Harris)

Things between cocktail waitress Sookie and her vampire boyfriend Bill seem to be going excellently (apart from the small matter of him being undead) until he leaves town for a while. A long while. Bill's sinister boss Eric has an idea of where to find him, whisking her off to Jackson, Mississippi to mingle with the under-underworld at Club Dead. When she finally catches up with the errant vampire, he is in big trouble and caught in an act of serious betrayal. This raises serious doubts as to whether she should save him or start sharpening a few stakes of her own...

6. Something Thrilling: Sphere (Michael Crichton)

A group of American scientists are rushed to a huge vessel that has been discovered resting on the ocean floor in the middle of the South Pacific. What they find defines their imaginations and mocks their attempts at logical explanation. It is a spaceship of phenomenal dimensions, apparently, undamaged by its fall from the sky. And, most startling, it appears to be at least three hundred years old...

7. Something Funny: Dad is Fat (Jim Gaffigan)

In Dad is Fat, stand-up comedian Jim Gaffican expresses all the joys and horrers of life with five young children-- everything from cousins ("celebrities for little kids") to toddlers' communication skills ("they always sound like they have traveled by horseback for hours to deliver important news"), to the eating habits of four year olds ("there is no difference between a four year old eating a taco and throwing a taco on the floor").

8. Something Young Adult: Before I Fall (Lauren Oliver)

For popular high school senior Samantha Kingston, February 12 -- "Cupid Day" -- should be one big party, a day of valentines and roses and the privileges that come with being at the top of the social pyramid. And it is...until she dies in a terrible accident that night. However, she still wakes up the next morning. In fact, Sam lives the last day of her life seven times, until she realizes that by making even the slightest changes, she may hold more power than she ever imagined.

9. Something Nonfiction: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Rebecca Scloot)

Henrietta Lacks is known to present-day scientists for her cells from cervical cancer. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells were taken without her knowledge and still live decades after her death. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the atom bomb's effects; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions. Yet Henrietta Lacks was buried in an unmarked grave. The dark history of experimentation on African Americans helped lead to the birth of bioethics, and legal battles over whether we control the stuff we are made of.

10. Something Work-Related: Out of My Mind (Sharon M. Draper)

Melody is not like most people. She cannot walk or talk, but she has a photographic memory. She is smarter than most of the adults who try to diagnose her and smarter than her classmates in her integrated classroom - the very same classmates who dismiss her as mentally challenged, because she cannot tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by cerebral palsy. And she's determined to let everyone know it - somehow. Readers will come to know a brilliant mind and a brave spirit who will change forever how they look at anyone with a disability.

==========
What's on your summer reading list? Any good book recommendations?