Sleuth-y S-Blends: Articulation Packet for Speech Therapy

As soon as I saw these cute detective graphics, I knew I had to create something with them.  My students love to explore and use magnifying glasses, so this idea is perfect for them!  This is a fun detective-themed articulation packet focusing on S-blends! Hope your students enjoy this as much as mine do!

***NOTE: I will be making a complete pack with these s-blends as well as r- and l- blends! You can expect that in the next week or so!***

Print, cut, and laminate all cards and detectives. Tape a detective to a Kleenex box, cardboard box, or basket. Either do one box for the entire group or one for each student.  Note:  I have included both Caucasian and African American detectives as well as male and female detectives. This is so you can adapt for your students as needed.

Students will draw “detective tool” cards and say the target word on the card. If the student says the word correctly (and the designated number of times by the SLP), he/she gives the tool to the detective (i.e. he/she places the card in the box/basket).

For each target word said correctly, the student gets a point. Tally up points on the sheet provided. Whoever has the most points wins!

I have also included a word list for you. I will be using this for auditory bombardment!

Includes: 2 points sheets, 4 detectives, 81 s-blend cards, word list

You can find this in my TpT store here. 

Leave a comment here on the blog, and I will randomly select someone to receive this packet!! 

Fab Find Friday

I am so sorry for my absence!  I've had the flu and have a bunch of grad school projects coming up...

That said, I'm starting something new. I'm going to call it "Fab Find Friday."   This will be a (hopefully) weekly post about great findings that I have seen throughout the week. This will include but is not limited to SLP resources, organization tips, recipes, treatment techniques, etc.

So let's get started!  Here are some fab findings from the week!

1. RTI Data and Progress Monitoring Sheets from JD's Rockin Readers.  We've been talking a lot about RTI in school these days, so I'm hoping these will be beneficial to you!!  Besides, this packet is free! :)  

2. Organization tips from Carrie's Speech Corner. She wrote a whole blog post about how she organizers her TpT materials!

3. Sensory Alphabet Game from Playdough to Plato.  I'm planning on trying this with my preschoolers!

4. Cute picture that just makes me smile

Hope you enjoyed those!!  Have a great weekend!

Using Graphic Organizers with Vocab Intervention

Like I've mentioned before, we have to read a lot of articles for grad school.  I'm in Language II (school-age) this semester, and we have been reading some great articles that I cannot wait to tell you about!   One thing that jumped out to me this week was about vocabulary intervention and the use of graphic organizers to supplement it.  Since it is something that I definitely try to incorporate into my materials and speech room, I thought maybe it would be a good idea to share with all of you!  This is a summary of what Steele and Mills (2011) says.

Graves (2006) stated that visual or graphic organizers may be helpful for vocabulary instruction, especially if you're teaching difficult or complex concepts. Jitendra et al. (2004) reported that they were more helpful than "traditional dictionary instruction" when these organizers were used to supplement discussion.  They can be used in pairs, small groups, or with the whole classroom.  It can be extremely helpful with language intervention strategies.  Today, I will focus on four types of graphic organizers highlighted by Steele and Mills (2011): semantic maps, four square, semantic feature analysis, and Venn diagrams.

The first is a semantic map. Semantic maps start with the concept word in the center (in this case the target vocab word). Students will then discuss relationships, features, examples, or categories related to that word.  Nash and Snowling (2006) reported that children who used semantic maps to help with contextual clues scored higher on maintenance tests of expressive language after 3 months of intervention.

From Steele and Mills (2011)

The second type is a "four square" method, initially presented by Stahl and Nahy (2006). This can be done simply by folding a piece of paper into four sections. Discuss the word and examples versus nonexamples together. After the discussion, the student will write a definition of the word.

From Steele and Mills (2011)

Semantic feature analysis are the third type. This can be used in pairs, small groups, or whole class discussions.  Students will create a matrix and use a binary system (+/-) to determine if that feature is true of the word.  Stahl and Nagy (2006) reported that this was helpful in  distinguishing between 2 concepts but not in learning a previously unknown word.  Bos and Anders (1990) found that children who used this and semantic mapping had more gains with vocabulary and recall than those who just received definitions of target words.

From Steele and Mills (2011)

The final type of graphic organizer is the Venn diagram. They are used to compare two items with overlapping circles.  I find this part REALLY interesting because we all tend to use them!  There is NO specific research citing the benefits of the use of Venn diagrams. I repeat, there is NO research proving that these work...

From Steele and Mills (2011)

I hope this helps you when planning vocabulary intervention!! 

St. Patrick's Day Receptive Language Packet

As requested....I finally finished the St. Patrick's Day Receptive Language Packet!!  I've had this thing started for a long time and finally got around to finishing it this weekend!  Hope you enjoy it!

-Facts- Facts about St. Patrick's Day traditions and about the Blarney Stone. Download these in the preview file!! (2 pages)

-Game Boards- Open-ended board games to supplement your St. Patrick's Day activities (2 boards, 1 die).

-Leprechaun Hat WH-Questions- Students draw cards and answer the question on the cards. If they answer correctly, they keep their cards.

Watch out for special cards! (32 hat cards, 8 special cards, 8 blank cards)

-Clover Feud (Comprehension)- Play "Family Feud" style. Print a leprechaun for each student.

 SLP will read a fact card to the students.

 The SLP will then ask a question (based on question prompt card).

The students will raise their leprechauns as soon as they know the answer. Whoever raised their leprechaun first gets a point. Whoever has the most points at the end wins! (4 question prompt cards, 2 leprechauns, 24 fact cards, 6 blank cards)

-Leprechaun Categories- Play like Memory. Place all cards face down. Students will flip over 2 cards and determine if they match (category with items in the category). If they match, the students keep the cards. Whoever has the most matches wins! (32 leprechaun cards, 8 blank cards)

-Pot o’ Gold Following Directions-Students will draw a card and complete the direction on the card. If they complete the direction correctly, they place their card on their rainbow mat. Whoever has the most cards wins OR use a game board. (48 pot o' gold cards, 8 blank cards, 2 sorting mats).

You can find this activity in my TpT store!

500 Likes Giveaway

Thank you so much for all of your continued support! I truly do appreciate each and every one of you!   Continuing with celebration week, here's a giveaway for you all!   You can enter either here or on my Facebook page here.  It will be open until Sunday night (February 10).  I will be choosing TWO winners to select something from my TpT store!

Thanks again!

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hollywood Feud {FREEBIE}

This is a fun 9 page FREEBIE with lots of fun facts about actors and actresses with a focus on listening comprehension. It includes an instruction page, 2 stars, 28 fact cards, 4 blank cards, and 4 question prompt cards.

The SLP will draw a fact card and a question prompt card.

Fact Cards

Question Prompt Cards

He/she will read the fact card. He/she will then read a follow up question to the students based on the question prompt card drawn. The students will reach for their stars as soon as the question is read and they think they know the answer. They will raise their stars in the air.

Whoever raises their star in the air first will answer the question. It is suggested that the SLP also ask each student what he/she was going to answer, too, for more participation opportunities.
If the student answers correctly, he/she keeps the card. Whoever has the most cards at the end wins!

Modification for Articulation practice—students find a word with their sound in it. The SLP will drill that word!


You can find this FREEBIE here.  Thanks so much for all of your support!!

Super Sale Purchases

I am so excited about what I found during the big sale yesterday!  I really cannot wait to use all of them! There were so many GREAT items!

Concepts of Spoken Words from Ms. Jocelyn Speech. I have a little preschool girl who is working on auditory comprehension, so this will be perfect!!

Candyland Preschool Language Cards from Speech Room News . I'm working with preschoolers who need motivation and lots of language. This will be GREAT for them!

What's Wacky: Auditory Comprehension and Reasoning from Teach Speech 365. This will be great for my little kiddos working on auditory comprehension!  Can't wait to try it out!

Listening Lieutenants from Crazy Speech World. Again, great way to target auditory comprehension skills!  Lots of activities in this packet that I cannot wait to try out!

 

Rock climbing:/s/, /s/ blends, /z/, /r/, /r/ blends, and listening comprehension from A Speechie's World.  This packet targets so much at once and has such a cute theme!!

Reinforcers:
Wizard of Oz Uno from The Buckeye Speech Path. If your students are like mine, they need a lot of motivation! I'm planning a Wizard of Oz unit coming up, and this will be a great reinforcer!!

Cupcake Matching from Putting Words in Your Mouth. This will be a great reinforcer, especially for one of the girls on my caseload!

And to help keep me organized:

Let's Get Organized by Simply Speech. She includes a lot of logs for screening, IEPs, parent contact, and more! They all have super cute backgrounds. Makes my life a lot easier!!

I also grabbed a lot of clip art, so be on the look out for more products coming your way sometime soon!

What were your favorite purchases?

Super Bowl Giveaway!

Happy Super Bowl day!! 

Who do you think will be ahead at halftime, and who will ultimately win the game??? Comment below with your picks-I'm interested to hear! 

This is what it will look like:
Halftime: Ravens
Win: 49ers

After the game, I will look and see who guessed correctly and randomly choose winners to select free items from my TpT store!!

Fast Dash Articulation: Early Sounds

A few weeks ago, I posted about a game I found at Goodwill called Wild Planet Hyper Dash. You can click on that link to see the game and watch a video about it.  Check out the original post about Fast Dash Phonology here to see more pictures of the game itself! I said I would be making more activities to go along with it, so here is an early sounds articulation packet for you!!  Again, you DO NOT need the game to do this activity! (I do provide an option for you if you do own it, though).

 Spread out five or six circles (target words) of different colors. 

Students will listen as the SLP calls out different colors. The student will pick up those colors in order as fast as they can. Students collect their dots and repeat the words back the number of times the SLP indicates. 

SLP can time students if they want. It can also be done as a relay or in teams for more participation. 

If you have the Hyper Dash game: Put the cards on top of the disks (or under or next to). Students will listen as the Hyper Dash Unit calls out which color. When the student pushes that color, they collect the card. Once that round is over, the student says his/her words. 

In this packet, there are 288 circle cards (18 of each initial, 18 of each final sound)! That's A LOT of cards! The sounds targeted are all early developing sounds (p, b, m, k, g, t, d, f). 

You can find this in my TpT store here.

Animal Mastermind Towers Therapy Idea

I found another game at Goodwill recently!  I absolutely love the treasures I find there! I may have to make a weekly trip....

Anyway, today I wanted to show you Animal Mastermind Towers. You may be familiar with the game Mastermind. Traditionally, you put colored pegs in a certain order and your opponent has to guess what order they're in.

You can get this game here:

For this game, lay the plastic tiles on the table face up so both players can see them. Do the same for coordinating solution cards.  Player one takes one of the plastic tiles and places it near them; player 2 takes the matching solution card and places it near them. Then player 2 does the same. Go back and forth until each player has the desired number of tiles for the round (4, 5, or 6 tiles). THEN, each player picks up all of his/her animal cards and secretly decides which order they should be put in their tower in. They can put them in any order, from bottom to top, that they want. The only thing is the animals must be facing YOU, and your opponent should not see them!

To play, Player 1 asks Player 2 a yes no question. The question must have 2 animals in it and include the word "above" or "below." An example would be, "Is your giraffe above your fish?"

In order to guess the order,  the player reads aloud the order of the solution cards (or can arrange them on the table). If they get the order correct, they win!  If not, play resumes. Each player may guess the order 3 times!

Why my preschoolers and I love this game:
-It is a GAME that's engaging. They love animals and love guessing the order! 
-It focuses on both asking AND answering yes/no questions
-It focuses on the concepts of above and under (or on top/under could be used)

How you could do this without having the game:
You could laminate pictures of animals. Make two copies of these cards. Place velcro on the backs of the cards and attach the other piece of velcro to a piece of paper. Then, instead of stacking them in towers, they place them in order on their sheets. These could be hidden behind clipboards or played as a barrier game!

Hope you and your students will enjoy this activity as much as mine do!!