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!

Speech Activities for the Holidays

I love Christmas! Especially in my speech room. The kids are having a great time with each activity/craft-ivity we are completing daily. The first activity I want to share with you is from Oriental Trading Company, my go-to for cheap/fun crafts. I found these advent calendar scratch-n-reveal Christmas trees and thought they would be so fun for my students. Think of a lottery ticket, same idea. Sadly, they are no longer selling them. Maybe next year. There is a chance I bought out their inventory. Sorry!

 

I used the tree in a variety of ways to target different types of speech goals. For students working on articulation, they said a target word as many times as the number on the ornament, and then could scratch off the green paint to reveal the holiday picture. For example, if they chose to do number 2, they said the target word 2-times. Or, when they chose number 25, they said the word 25-times. They got a lot of practice!

I have a student working on some beginning AAC skills, so he scratched off an ornament, and we talked about the picture that was revealed.

Students with social language, language, and fluency goals used the tree as a reinforcement after a response to a question or target of some sort with a picture card.

Another activity primarily for my students with articulation and vocabulary goals, is to make an ornament for my little tree. I pre-write target words on the ornament. For the students working on antonyms, they give me an opposite for the word on the ornament, and then color that words. For those with articulation goals, the student says the word a few times and once in a sentence, and then can color that word. Here are a few examples.

 Another articulation activity is a quick BINGO game for /r/ and /s/. I got it for free here from Communication Window on TPT. Cut, paste, laminate, and buy red and green M&Ms! So easy!
 

I made mulitple TPT purchases on Cyber Monday for social skills materials with a holiday theme. I got the HOHOHO! Social Pragmatics pack from the Dabbling Speechie. Included in this pack are a variety of activities including Santa & Rudolph Perspective Taking Activity, Stocking Stuffer Perspective Taking, HOHOHO Gift Giving Perspective Taking Activity, Christmas Gift Giving social story,  HOHOHO Tone of Voice Lesson, Candy Cane Madness game, and  real life photos to work on perspective taking. Here are a few images of this great Christmas pack. 

I also got the Big Problem, Little Problem Presents set from Lindsey Carol in her TPT store. This activity includes 60 situations in which students must determine if the problem is a big issue or a little one. Students can also provide a solution to the problem. Many of the scenarios have a holiday theme. Here is a picture of my printed set. 

The other purchase I made on Cyber Monday was the Holiday Social Language Activities set from Splashy Speech Stuff. This set has so many great stimulus cards, each related to the holidays and current best practice in social language instruction. Included in this social language packet are Social Problem Solving task cards, Expected vs. Unexpected task cards, Expected vs. Unexpected signs, Gift Giving Inferential scenarios, Gift Giving Matching board, Gift Giving Rubric, Identifying Emotions scenarios, Conversational Questions, and much more. Here is a picture of my set.

Students with language goals also had a lot of work to do these past few weeks. But, it was fun work! I made this Christmas Tree synonym game. Students find the three words that go together to build the trees. I found the idea here at the Speech Room News blog, and made my own set.

For those working on language memory and sequencing, we read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and answer questions that I found here. I am always surprised at how many students have never heard this story!

This Holiday WH Question Mini Pack was a freebie on TPT from Sasha Hallagan. Students working on basic levels of question answering made these WH question books. Do you like the red snowman? Interesting interpretation...

 
I hope I have given you a few ideas for the rest of this week, or maybe for next year!

P.S. Sorry for the shiny pictures of lamination...

November in Speech

We are hard at work in speech. Here is a look at all that we have done so far for the month of November. 

First, my bulletin boards. Keep Calm and Gobble on! I only had one "B" for "Gobble," so I had to create one out of some other letters. None of the kids have seemed to notice. But, it is all I look at all day.I really need to move on...

Our Grateful and Thankful board is a huge hit. Super simple, but bold. I love seeing what the kids write, especially in their own handwriting.

 

I incorporated my chalkboard yet again with an Autumn tree with leaves. Each student's name is on a leaf.

For students working on articulation goals, they have done two Thanksgiving themed activities the past few weeks. The first is a turkey with a spinning wheel. Targets words are written on the wheel for practice. I have no idea where I got this worksheet. I have had it since the beginning of my career. It is probably a copy from an elementary holiday book. Sorry! We are also doing a paint-dobber page from Mia McDaniel. You can get your own set Thanksgiving Fun Pack here. 

Students with language goals are using my Thanksgiving Has/Have cards, Thanksgiving Concepts cards, and Thanksgiving Concepts and Following Directions page. Check them out here in my TPT shop. We are also doing a Following Directions page from this Thanksgiving Fun Pack. I have been collecting holiday freebies from TPT for quick games when we have a few minutes left in speech. Here are some links. Here. Here. Here. Here.

Still looking for something to do with your students this week? Check out my Thanksgiving Therapy Pack. 

 

And my Turkey Synonyms Freebie. 

 

Have a great Thanksgiving!