Tiny Objects

A fresh and fun activity that I have been doing in speech therapy is called Tiny Objects for Articulation. This is an activity that targets articulation development. Basically, each phoneme has a set of miniatures to use for articulation practice.

 

Although I created this activity for articulation therapy, I have also used it to practice fluency/stuttering strategies, syntax, categories, and EET. This game is flexible!

 

I have been putting together this activity for a while. I wanted to ensure that there were enough miniatures to make therapy sessions productive!  I had a storage container with small drawers that I found at a thrift store. But, these containers can be purchased at any hardware store. They are usually used to organize and store screws, nails, etc. Mine was a bit dingy, but some orange spray paint took care of that! 

 

Next, I used sticker letters from my scrapbooking stash on the front of each drawer to designate a space for the phonemes, and some blends. I then collected little things for each phoneme to store in these drawers. The objects are from Lego, Playmobile, bead shops, doll house websites, and our family toy collection. I always keep an eye out when I am shopping for things that will not only fit in the drawers, but also suit my needs for this activity.

These are the most popular items that the students love.

 

In (sort of) order: gumball machine, hippo, soldier, Batman, Ugg, fortune cookie, feather, cheese, swan, blow fish, mustard, plunger, Chinese food, french fries, train, Chinese checkers, chips, gingerbread house, sushi, dragon, flamingo, jar, cup, snail, clock, roller skate, scissors, teapot, bubbles, rose, orange juice, smoothie, Hello Kitty, princess, mermaid

Here is how I use it in therapy. Students are given a drawer with their target sound. During their turn, the student says each word so many times, or in a sentence, or a silly sentence with two words, etc. Then the next student goes. We go around and around until all the miniatures from the drawer are used for practice. This is a favorite in speech class! 

A goal that can be targeted during this activity might look like this:

By DATE, STUDENT will correctly produce PHONEME in the THERAPY/CLASSROOM/ETC setting at the WORD/PHRASE/CONVERSATIONAL/ETC level with 80% accuracy in 4/5 trials as measured by observation and data collection. CCSS ELA SL GRADE.1

or, with real words:

By 12/1/2015, Christy will correctly produce /s/ in the therapy setting at the word level with 80% accuracy in 4/5 trials as measured by observation and data collection. CCSS ELA SL 2.1

I hope you enjoy this idea!

February in the Speech Room

February has come and gone, and I have moved onto new activities and bulletin boards for March. But, I wanted to share what we did in the therapy room last month.

The most popular part of all? Mine Craft! Are your student's into this game? It is kinda weird. Basically, it is a pixel-ated video game that allows you to build a world, and visit your friend's worlds online. Not my thing, but the kids like it. Here is my bulletin board with an essence of Mine Craft.

The other board in my class featured a bunch of cupcakes. Sweet! Actually, Speech is Sweet!

I incorporated a lot of cupcake activities into February therapy. My articulation kids got to decorate the cupcakes with sprinkles. Fake sprinkles. Made with paint dobbers. Here is a picture of a cutie practicing some l-blends and decorating a cupcake. You know the drill: say the target word 10x/in a sentence/etc. and do the reinforcer (paint dot on the cupcake).

The artic. kids also made a Speech Love Bug. A super easy craft-ivity using paper hearts and googly eyes. But, I think they like using a Sharpie the best! I write target words on the heart, and the student says it so-many times and then glues it on the page.  I love these little buggers! 

For the kids with a variety of other goals, we made some sparkly cupcakes. Essentially, each sticker to decorate the cupcake was a token for practicing their target. The cupcakes are cute, but the glitter was a nightmare.

Most kids also made this cupcake I got years ago online from the Frog Spot Blog. It is all about things they love and can target a number of goals. I found it here. 

 

For those students working on vocabulary, I found a few activities on TPT, as well as a few of my own creations. I made a synonyms/antonyms BINGO game that you can get here in my TPT store. Bright, colorful, and CCSS aligned! Plus, just 2-bucks!

 

I also made this game from foam hearts I got at Target. The synonym matches are the same color with a straight cut down the middle of the heart. The antonyms are different colors with a broken heart cut. My speech group that is working in synonyms/antonyms put these together as a team. 

I found a few freebies on TPT for synonyms and antonyms. This game from Speech Time Fun, Valentine's Day Synonyms or Antonyms?!, can be found here.

And, another freebie from Teach Speech 365. "Whooo Loves Synonyms and Antonyms?" can be found here.

One more antonym freebie from Primary Inspiration. Here is a link. 

That's about it! Hope you had a fun and romantic February!

January in the Speech Room

January is almost over. My winter bulletin boards will come down on Friday to get ready for February. But, I wanted to share what we did this month. I went with a snowy theme, even though we were enjoying 75+degree weather. Yes, a heatwave. Not a real surprise here in California. Our best weather is usually in January. Summers can be pretty foggy. 

Anyway, I digress. Let's get back to business!

One of my bulletin boards displayed a hot cocoa survey and mugs. I was inspired by these ideas: link and link. I asked (almost) all of the speech kids if they like hot cocoa, and added their name to either "yes" or "no" column. The two students who said "no" don't like hot cocoa, just warm cocoa.

The kids with articulation goals made hot cocoa. I have to admit, they were all a little disappointed that it wasn't real hot chocolate. 

For the small mugs, I found an image online shaped like a mug, printed it on blue paper, and made marshmallows with typed target words. Next, we did the same thing we always do: they practiced the words on the marshmallows, and glued them onto the hot chocolate.

Yum!

My winter scene bulletin board, Talking in a Winter Wonderland, features mittens and snow globes. Here is before:

And here is now:

The mittens are synonym pairs that the students matched and hung with tiny clothespins on the board. I found the idea here and made my own set with the die-cut machine at our school.

Next up: Snow Globes. These have been the talk of the school. Pretty cute. I found similar ideas here and here and here, and adapted them to work with my supplies. I ordered all of the winter stickers, gems, and snowflakes from Oriental Trading Company. Here are the links: stickers (sold out), gems, snowflakes (sold out).  I had the hardest time finding clear plastic plates. The plates are from Amazon and are 6inches around. An affiliate link is provided for your convenience on my side bar.  The snowy balls are from the Dollar Tree.

  
Here are the steps!

Step 1: Find a cute kid to come to therapy. After each therapeutic turn, the student can add a winter sticker, gem, or snowflake.

Step 2: Pour snowballs in the plate.

Step 3: Put a lot of glue on the edge.

Like this

Step 4: Flip the snow globe over so that it is upside down and the snowy scene will show through the plate.

Step 5: Set the snow globe on the plate.

Step 6: Gently press the snow globe to the plate. Ensure that the glue is on the entire circumference of the globe.

Step 7: Let the snow globe dry overnight.

Step 8: Hang and enjoy!

Do you want to build a snowman? I can't stop singing that song. Luckily for my students, I am singing in my head. I got this freebie from That Fun Reading Teacher on TPT here. I modified the activity a little bit to expand on adjectives and comparatives/superlatives. We talked about all the different ways we could describe the sizes of the snowballs that made the snowman. Then, they chose which words they wanted to use to describe their snowman. Add a little color, and Ta Da! A snowman!

Last month we did some scratch and reveal pages that I found on Oriental Trading Company. You can read about that activity here. It was super popular, so I decided to do it again to go with the winter theme this month. I found these at Oriental Trading Company but they are sold out. Sorry! 

I feel like I am repeating myself, but this is how we roll. Students completed their turn on whatever they are working on, and got to scratch off one portion of the picture. Something great about this activity is that it takes a little bit of time to scratch off a portion of the picture. So, I get a lot of time during each turn to practice with a student in the group while the other student is scratching and revealing their picture. A happy accident!

Happy winter, see you soon for more activity updates and February bulletin boards!

Speech Articulation Mini Books

My students love doing mini-books in speech. I created this activity last year, and have brought it out again for therapy recently. I have mini-books in my TPT store that target syntax, articulation, vocabulary, questions, pragmatics, and fluency. Something for almost everyone on your caseload!  

For this blog post, I will focus on my articulation Mini Books.

After downloading the file, print and cut out each page. They look best in color, but are fun in black/white as well. Arrange the pages in any order and staple the side making a little book. Additionally, each page could be used for stimulus cards. This product is great for therapy or to send home for homework. 

Here are visual instructions using the Sushi for Speech mini-book. This book targets the "SH" phoneme. You can buy it here for $2. These instructions are included with all mini-book purchases.

In addition to the Sushi for Speech book that targets "SH," I have many more sounds in the mini-book style. 

I have created a Super Boy and Super Girl series for /r/ in all of it's forms. You can purchase the entire set of boys and girls, featuring all the /r/ phonemes, for $12. Get it here. The sounds included are: /ar/, /ear/, /ire/, /or/, /air/, /er/, and pre-vocalic /r/.  




Or, you can buy each /r/ phoneme individually for $2. Here are the links for the Super Boy sets: /ar/, /ear/, /ire/, /or/, /air/, /er/, and pre-vocalic /r/. 

Here are the links for the Super Girl sets: /ar/, /ear/, /ire/, /or/, /air/, /er/, and pre-vocalic /r/.



In addition to the /r/ phoneme books, I have created a slew of complex cluster books. Each set is $2 and feature two different themes. They are pretty much unisex, but have a minimum of something that will appeal to either gender. 

The STR complex sound books feature "The Empire Strikes Back" with Star Wars and "Elephants in a Straight Line." Get it here. 
The THR complex sound books feature "I see Three Ninja Turtles" and princesses at the "Royal Throne." Get it here. 
The FL complex sound books feature astronauts "Flying in Space" and little birdies in "Flock of Birds." Get it here. 
The FR complex sound books feature "From Space Robots" and "Fruity Fr Words." Get it here. 
The SHR complex sound books feature "Shrinking Super Heroes" and "Would you like Shrimp in your Sushi." Get it here. 
The SKR complex sound books feature "Scram! Monsters!" and "I Scream for Ice Cream." Get it here. 
The SKW complex sound books feature "Super Hero Girls Squad" and "Super Hero Boys Squad." Get it here. 
The SL complex sound books feature "Sly Foxes" and "Slow Music." Get it here. 
The SPL complex sound books feature "Splits Gymnastics" and "Splash" sea animals. Get it here. 
The SPR complex sound books feature "Spring Bunnies" and "Spring into Action Super Heroes." Get it here. 




Hope you enjoy your books!