Goodbye Google Reader: Other Reader Options

Google Reader is disappearing tomorrow (July 1st).  This has been the way most people scroll through and read all of the blogs they are following.  Let me tell you about some simple solutions that will make your life so much easier!

I'm going to share my TWO favorite options with you, but there are a lot out there.  I like these two because they're both FREE and have easy transitions from Google Reader.

1. Bloglovin'- I love this option.  You can view it on the web OR on your mobile devices (iPad, iPhone, etc).  Once you create an account, look under the little heart button in the upper right corner.  It says, "Import from Google Reader." Just follow those steps and voila!  I use Bloglovin' on my iPad, and there's an option for marking them as read or not. You can also "like" a post.  I love this because I know which ones I've read already and which ones I want to come back to in the future!  You can also organize your posts into categories.  For example, I have "Speechie Blog" and "Fashion Inspiration" as two of mine! You can follow Home Sweet Speech Room here.

2. Feedly- This option also has a simple way to import your blogs from Google Reader.  It is also available on the iPad and iPhone.  Feedly has been the top rated one across the web since the announcement of Google Reader disappearing.  Feedly may be a little more visually appealing, as some posts are small and some are larger.   Honestly, I haven't played around with it much, but so far, it looks great!  You can find more information here.

Other options I would recommend:
- Flipboard- More of a magazine style reader, "flips" between pages.
-News360- Personalizes your reader so that the ones that are most relevant are the ones you see.

Still other options are available on this list here from the LA Times. Some of them are paid apps and services though!

I hope you find that one of those works for you!  What is your favorite reader? 

Fab Find Friday: 6/28/2013

We've reached another Friday!! I am so thankful to have had a restful week.  It was another great week in the blogging world with a lot going on.

Before we get to the goodies I found, please consider following Home Sweet Speech Room.  Google Reader is leaving SOON, so you'll have to find another reader to read all of your favorite blogs!!  You can follow by clicking here  or the button in the sidebar under "Followers."  If you click on the picture below, it'll take you to a blog post with lots of bloggers who have linked up already!

Now for the stuff I found this week!

1.  The American Psychiatric Association came out with the DSM-V this spring.  They also compiled a list of online assessment measures to go along with it.  Check it out here.

2.  Jenn at Crazy Speech World posted about a VERY important topic.  PLEASE read it here if you haven't already.

3.  Letter activities for younger kids from Growing a Jeweled Rose!  It's from April, but it's a GREAT post that I just found this week.  Read it here.

4.  A Patriotic FREEBIE from Speech Time Fun.  Get it here!

5. FREE Retelling Sticks from Keeping it Captivating available here!

6.  I absolutely love this quote from the Kid President video.  Choose to have a good attitude :)

On that positive note, have a GREAT weekend!

Summer Lovin': Language Activities for the Fourth of July and More

Need some language activities for the Fourth of July or Summer? This packet is just for you! It is 33 pages in length and has a fun summer theme! 

-Phonological Awareness Popsicles- Students take turns drawing cards and determining how many syllables the word on the card has. They will place the card on the corresponding spot on the sorting mat. Includes: 1 sorting mat, 51 popsicle cards, 3 blank cards

-Poolside Categories- Students will draw cards and name items in that category. If they answer correctly, they may draw one object that they will need at the pool onto their pool picture. Includes: 1 pool picture, 27 category cards, 3 blank cards

-Firework Pronouns- Students will take turns drawing cards. On each card is a noun related to summer. The students will use the correct pronoun for this word in a sentence. Includes: 30 firework cards, 6 blank cards, 6 cue cards

-Summer Writing Prompts- Print one copy of each prompt for each student. These can be used for intervention or as take-home and carryover activities. Includes 3 prompts

Are you summer lovin'?  If so, you can find this activity in my Teachers Pay Teachers store here!!

How about a giveaway of this packet???  You need to do ALL of these things.
1. Like Home Sweet Speech Room on Facebook.
2. Follow my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
3. Follow Home Sweet Speech Room on Bloglovin'.
4. . Comment below telling me that you've done those things!

Swish Junior {Product Review}

I'm always on the lookout for new games to play in therapy with my students.  They definitely have their favorites, but they need extra motivation sometimes.  Honestly, sometimes it's ME who needs the change.  Either way, new games are good, right?  I recently had the opportunity to play Swish Junior with my students.  It is a brand new game from Think Fun.  This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

Where to Buy It:
Swish Junior is available from Think Fun or on Amazon.

The Basics:
The box comes with a set of see-through cards, instructions for play, and a bag for easy storage of the cards.

To play, place a set of cards on the table. Place them in rows (maybe rows of 3).  To create a "swish" or a match, an outline of a shape will match exactly with a filled in shape on another card.  BOTH shapes on the card must create a swish with the shapes on the other cards for it to be a complete swish.  Look at the cards to see if they match.  As soon as they match, call it out!  Whoever has the most swishes wins!

A swish can be with more than 2 cards, too.  As long as the outlined shapes match up with the filled-in shapes, it doesn't matter how many cards it takes to complete the swish!  WHOA!


What You Can Target:
-Spatial skills
-Visual skills
-Matching skills
-Social skills
-Basic concepts (prepositions, colors, etc)
-Attention to task

Why I Love It:
-This game is unlike anything I've every seen before!  See-through cards!
-As always, you can target so much with it.
-It really challenges students to think about it!
-It's a game that can be used with children AND adults.
-It's easy to store-doesn't take up much space.
-You can make it multi-player or just use it with one person.

In My Speech Room:
We used it last week in therapy, and my students loved it!  I thought that they would struggle with it at first, but they picked it up right away!  I guess I underestimated their abilities.  They easily got matching just 2 cards.  I challenged them to try and match 3 or 4 cards, but that's when the breakdown happened.  That's ok, though!  We will keep working on it.

Want to purchase this?  You can buy it from ThinkFun's website or from Amazon.

Swish Junior is sure to be a new favorite in my speech room.  I hope your students love it as much as I do!

Disclaimer: This product was provided for me to review.  No other compensation was received. All opinions expressed are mine.  

ALSO- Google Reader is disappearing soon.  Be sure to follow with Bloglovin' or Feedly. Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Fab Find Friday (on a Monday): 6/24/2013

Well this post is a few days late, so please forgive me.  My mom is downsizing into a beautiful townhouse, so I went home this weekend to help her unpack all of her boxes.  My goal was to have her as settled as possible.  If you want pictures, I will post some! :)  Thanks for being patient with me!

Anyway, let's do this Fab Find Friday thing...on a Monday!  Trust me--you don't want to miss this!

1.  Jenna at Speech Room News posted new Fourth of July activities, and one of them includes a FREEBIE!  Check it out here.

2.  Maria at Communication Station: Speech Therapy PLLC posted a brand new Phonological Awareness FREEBIE here.

3. Carrie from Carrie's Speech Corner posted a new FREEBIE to go along with the book There Was an Old Pirate Who Swallowed a Fish.   Check it out here.

4. Ruth at Chapel Hill Snippets posted a brand new FREEBIE-- it's a Firework book that she wrote for her students!  Check it out here.  

5.  Laura at All Y'all Need wrote about Instagram and a few of us bloggers who are on it.  Check out her post here and follow me on Instagram here!  You can get a taste for my life outside of blogging.

6.  I LOVE princesses and the movie Tangled.  A little while ago, Jess at Figuratively Speeching SLP posted a new packet called Race to the Princess.  This week, Mia at Putting Words In Your Mouth posted a review of it.  Check it out here!

7.  A FREE ice cream file folder game from Mr. Printables.  SO cute. Check it out here.

8.  Kristin from [simply speech] posted about the SLP Book Club and the message board where we're having our discussions!  Check it out here.

Phew that was A LOT!  Hope you enjoy all those freebies and ideas! It was a great week in the blogging world!

Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale {Storybook Companion}

Doing an ocean theme in your speech room or classroom? Reading a Rainbow Fish book? This is the perfect unit for you then! This packet is 41 pages and addresses your students' speech and language needs!

This packet is intended to supplement the book Rainbow Fish and the Big Blue Whale by Marcus Pfister.  You can get that book by clicking on the cover below. It is an affiliate link for your convenience.

-Sign-In Activities: Use these for sign-in at the beginning of the day or for a tracing activity. Trace three words from the book! (3 cards)

-Character and Setting Cards: Use these cards to ask follow-up questions while reading the storybook. Put two cards out and have the students choose the correct card (binary choices). You can also use them to supplement cloze procedures. For example, “The main character is _______ (Rainbow Fish).” (6 cards)

-Sequencing Pictures: Give a set of pictures to a student. He or she will arrange the pictures in the order of events in the book. (9 pictures, 3 blank cards)

-Snail Social Problem Solving: The students will answer the question and state what they should do in the situation. (30 scenario cards, 6 blank cards)

-Animal Sorting {Size Comparison}: Students will sort the cards that they have been given and then pass their set onto the next student when they have finished. (1 sorting mat, 15 sorting cards)

-Where is Rainbow Fish hiding?: Pass the cards out randomly, upside down, giving one to each student. One student will be “It” and will try and guess which student received the Rainbow Fish card. One student will receive the Rainbow Fish card. The rest of the students will receive other fish cards. Once students receive their cards, they should memorize what they have and place the card under them. The person who is “it” will have 3 guesses to find Rainbow Fish. (12 cards)

-Coral Reef Parts of Speech: Students take turns drawing word cards. They will determine if the word on the card is a noun, a verb, or an adjective. (3 sorting mats, 36 word cards, 6 blank cards)

-Rainbow Point Roll: Students roll a die to determine how many points they score during for that turn. Record them on the scoring cards. (1 die, 2 scoring cards)

-Game Board: Get Rainbow Fish back to the reef! (1 game board)

-Coloring Page: If you were Rainbow Fish and friends, where would you hide from the whale? Draw it. (1 coloring page)

This storybook companion is available in my Teachers Pay Teachers store here.    Hope you enjoy it!!

I will give a copy of this away to ONE lucky winner.  Enter the rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Living the Courage Vibe Documentary

I want to take the chance to tell you about an AWESOME documentary that will be coming out sometime soon!

Living the Courage Vibe is a documentary from Michael Kobert and Dona Donato from Giggling Gorilla Productions.  The film follows the White family (Jody and John and their son Riley and daughter Allison).  They sold all of their stuff, packed backpacks and began on a trip around the globe!  The documentary follows their every move, showing their joys and sorrows, highs and lows. Their travels carried them to Bali, Morocco, and the UK!

Christmastime in Indonesia. Taken on Mt. Lawu in Java.

So why is this documentary so important for us??  Well, I'm glad you asked!  Alli has a rare childhood case of Neurosarcoidosis.  It is a disease that affects the cranial nerves supplying the head and neck region.  As you might imagine, this affects Alli's communication abilities.  This documentary is therefore also about the unique challenges and experiences one with a communication disorder may experience when traveling and helping others.  It is VERY touching how Alli communicates with her heart and doesn't let anything stop her!

Alli helping to teach English in Tha Thum, Thailand.  This picture just captures her enthusiasm so well!

Here's a beautiful excerpt written by Jody regarding Alli:

From 18 months old, Allison has had to learn how to communicate when those around her could not understand her words.  She would use various ways to communicate from charades, signs or anything that could help translate what she was trying to say.  We, as a family, could feel for her frustration and would do what we could to help.

All of those years of practice for Allison have paid off for her on this trip.  Since none of us speak a second language, we have many times resorted to charades, signs or pictures to get our point across just as she has done so many times.  Allison has been the strongest one in most of these encounters and has taught us new ways to communicate.  Her speech skills have also improved, as she is required to annunciate her words as she talks with people she has just met and who aren’t familiar with her pattern of speech.  Allison has also started working on learning Spanish as a second language.  In her attempts at the new words, it seems to be strengthening her other sounds.   Allison has also been a great sport about trying new foods.

With all the new tastes and spices she finds her tongue is much more active (which is what we want) and she surprises herself and us by showing us how she can now take her tongue tip and touch the roof of her mouth or move it to the side.  These things used to be so difficult now seem to be getting easier, possibly with the help of the spices.  Allison has never let her speech delay hold her back from participating.  Nothing has changed on this trip.  She is still the first to volunteer, ask questions and join in.  To her it doesn’t matter that someone speaks a different language. She has learned how to get around that obstacle, and she does it brilliantly.

The Whites have done a very courageous thing in my eyes.  They sold almost everything and left their comfort zone for the unknown world. They had no idea what they were getting themselves into, yet they still went. It is especially courageous of them to embark on such a journey with a child with special needs and unique communication challenges. Take a moment and think about the amount of speech you use on a daily basis.  Now think about how difficult it is for us to communicate in another country, not knowing the language.  That didn't stop the Whites or Alli, so it shouldn't stop us! 

Are you inspired??  I know I am!

Here's what to take from this:
1.  Encourage your students to follow their dreams.  Encourage them to chase after them wholeheartedly, even though there may be some difficulties.
2.  A brand new perspective on life and what is truly important.
3. Open your heart to what is possible for you and your students.

 If you feel called or led to donate to this documentary, you can do so at the IndieGoGo page here or click on the picture below!  There is also a video on that page that I would strongly encourage you to watch! 

Disclaimer: I was contacted by the producers about sharing this story with you.  All opinions expressed are mine.