Friday Rewind {Highlights From This Week!}

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Happy Friday and Happy Fall ya'll!! It sure doesn't feel like Fall here in Florida with 90* temperatures and non stop rain this week. But besides the heat and the rain, it was a pretty good week! I made it to a Rays game, tried out a few new Pinterest recipes, had a blast in therapy, and I am headed to Homosassa River for a weekend of fun in the sun with the family as we speak!

Want to see what we were up to in therapy this week?

This was week 2 of Pirate Week for most of my kiddos. We had such a blast week that we just couldn't bear celebrating pirates for only one week. If you missed my post on Pirate Week #1, you can check it out here. 

This week we read, The Pirates Next Door by Jonny Duddle

This is such an adorable story about a family of pirates that move into an uppity neighborhood. Nobody is happy about the smelly, messy pirates moving in except for a sweet little girl named Tilda. In the end, the pirates leave treasure for everyone to show them that pirates aren't so bad after all! 

After the story, we played some pirate articulation games from my Ahoy Speechies Articulation Unit!

Next week we will be starting a Fall Theme! What are your favorite fall books and activities?

Awesome Articulation App Giveaway x3!

So you may have heard about this guy named Erik X. Raj. He's an awesome SLP and blogger. Not to mention, he has also dabbled in (and mastered!) the art of app creation. Currently, Erik has 3 really great articulation apps that my students love! If you have you ever watched one of Erik's videos, you can tell he is a very enthusiastic and passionate therapist. His energy comes out in his apps making them fun and engaging. 

Check them out...

First up, Multiple Choice Articulation. This app targets the S, Z, R, L, SH, CH, and TH sounds in a "would you rather" game type fashion. This app allows your kids working on these targets to practice using their good speech in more of a conversational context. It really gets the kids thinking and using great language. The screen shot is a sample from the medial L questions. I sure know which animal I would rather clean up after!

You can download this app for $4.99 in the iTunes store here!

Next, I Dare You Articulation! This app targets S, Z, R, L, SH, CH, and TH sounds as well and gets your kiddos up and moving. This is a great app to use with kids that need some movement built into their therapy sessions. Erik has silly dares for each articulation target. The screen shot below is one of the initial TH dares!

You can download this app for $4.99 in the iTunes store here!

Last but not least, Erik's newest edition to the app family, Open Ended Articulation! This app includes over 500 open ended questions that target the S, Z, R, L, SH, CH and TH sounds. This app is amazing for targeting expressive language goals while working on articulation skills. 

You can download this app for $4.99 in the iTunes store here!

 I love using these apps in therapy. They really help break up the "skill and drill" type therapy sessions. I also like using these apps to see if my kids are starting to carryover their speech sounds to conversational speech. Want to know what makes Erik even cooler than you are already thought he was? He is giving one lucky winner a copy of all 3 apps!

In true Erik fashion... YO! YO! Enter below!

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Trivia Night Line Up for October!

Whooo is loving SLP Trivia Night every Tuesday? If you are, then you are in luck because we have a whole new month of trivia with some new hostesses! Check out the lineup below to find out the details.  Make sure you like their Facebook pages to get updates and play along!

10.1.13

Sharon hosts at Speech With Sharon

10.8.13

Jessica hosts at Consonantly Speaking

10.15.13

Carrie hosts at Carrie's Speech Corner

10.22.13

Tracy hosts at Gold Country SLP

10.29.13

Lora hosts at Chatterbox Speech

Love It & List It Linky: Vocabulary Activities!

It's that time again.... Love It & List It linky party! This month we are listing our favorite vocabulary activities.

If you follow my blog, you already know about this little gem. If you don't, you will be very glad you read this post. I have found a super fun and easy way to assess vocabulary with kids....

The Toddler Games Toys app by Photo Touch!

This app is for working on young childrens' receptive language/ vocabulary skills by identifying toys. The reason I like LOVE this app so much is that it allows you to create your own albums! If you go into the settings of this app, you can create an album. I usually create an album for each story or thematic unit.You are able to take a photo (I usually just take a photo straight from the story we are reading) and record the prompt. You can pre-make this in just a few minutes before a lesson or create it with this kids. They usually love recording themselves and it gives them extra exposure to their target words. 

Below is a screen shot from my Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See album.
"Touch the green frog."

This is a screen shot from my There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books album.

"Touch the pencil case."

I also have created albums specifically for certain students. In these albums, I have included familiar items and people in their lives. The screen shot below is of an album I use with a little girl that has Cerebral Palsy and Apraxia of Speech. We went around her house and took pictures of items and family members!

"Touch Mrs. Kristin!"

There are probably 100 more ideas that can be used with this app, but right now I am loving the ability to make my own vocabulary lessons. Plus, it's on the iPad so I hardly ever have kids not wanting to participate!

You can click here to download this app in the iTunes store for .99... yep only .99! 

Friday Rewind {Highlights From This Week!}

This post contains Amazon Affiliate links.
TGIF! We made it through another week. I may or may not be writing this post with a glass of wine in my hand.... Did you all celebrate Pirate Week? I had such a fun time celebrating with "me hearties" that I think I am going to have to continue to use a pirate theme next week too. Plus, I found SO many cute pirate activities that one week is just not long enough. Want to see what we were up to?
Here is a peek into my week...
PS- you wont find any pictures of me getting crafty this week! Although I am hosting a Pinterest party at my house tonight so maybe I'll have some up next week :)

This week we read one of my favorite pirate books, How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long & David Shannon 

After we read the story, we had some fun!

We made our own pirates!

We practiced some Pirate Pronouns!

We answered comprehension questions from Jenn Alcorn's How I Became a Pirate companion!

We did some Treasure Chest Category Sorting!

I love pirate week... and clearly the kids do too. If you need some "piratey"ideas for your speech room, you can check out my Pirate Week Pinterest board here.

This was my week! I'd love to hear how your week went. 

Ahoy! I Spy A Sale!

Arrghh!

In honor of Pirate Week I am hosting a sale! All pirate themed activities are 15% off today and tomorrow. Grab your pirate loot and have a fun week (I think I may have to extend pirate week into next week, too!)

You can check them out here!

In My APPinion: School of Multistep Directions

How many of you have students on your caseload with a following directions goal? How many of you have students that don't have following directions as a goal but could use some extra practice with this skill? I'm sure everyone can answer YES to one of one questions. Enter... School of Multistep Directions by Virtual Speech Center!

This app is designed for students age 5-12 to address the auditory comprehension skill of following directions. To get started, touch START on the home screen. Add your student(s) then choose what class you would like them to attend. There is also an option on the home screen that allows you to customize the settings of the app (audio, background noise, reward, etc.)

After you choose the settings and students to participate in the activity, you then choose what type of directions you want them to follow. One major pro to this app is that you can play with multiple players and choose different activities for each student to complete during their turn. 

If you chose the English classroom, your activity options include:

2-step, 3-step and 4-step of unrelated directions with multiple levels of difficulty. 

Stimuli include: pictures, letters, and written words with color, size, and temporal concepts. 

For example, “Cross out the ladder and highlight the car.”

If you chose the Math classroom, your activity options include: 

 2-step, 3-step and 4-step of unrelated directions with multiple levels of difficulty. 

Stimuli include: shapes, number, concepts, size, color, odd, even, bigger than, and smaller than. 

For example, “Cross out the square and highlight the triangle.”

If you chose the Cheminstry Lab, your activity options include:

2-step, 3-step and 4-step unrelated directions with multiple levels of difficulty.Students get to experiment in the lab! For example, "Shake the big flask, and add water to the small flask."

After you complete the activity, you are able to go to recess! This includes playing a ping pong game (which is really pretty fun!)

This app is great for keeping, tracking, and sharing data!

I think this is a very creative app with a great school theme! Some of the directions were very challenging so I would not use this app with any students under age 5 (like recommended by the creators.) I also like that this app addresses english, math, and science concepts while targeting the skill of following directions. 

You can learn more about this app and purchase this app in the iTunes store here!

Ahoy Speechies! A Pirate Themed Articulation Unit

Yo ho, ho! Pirate Week is so much fun! I felt like my articulation kiddos weren't having as much piratey (is that a word?) fun as my language kiddos were, so I created an articulation unit, too!

I introduce to you... 

Ahoy Speechies! A Pirate Themed Articulation Unit

Here's what's inside:

Pages 3-61: Articulation Cards

/r, s, l, k, g, f, v/, SH, CH, TH sounds in the initial, medial, and final positions. 

This comes to a grand total of 348 artic cards. Print the sounds you need and use them in the game that is also included!

Pssst... I included a little present with these cards. Each card has a label indicating which target the word addresses (initial /r/, final CH, etc) Dropped your cards and now they are out of order? No problem! You can thank my OCD for this one :)

Page 62: Bonus Game Cards

Page 63: Game Board

My thought this game was to have the kids take a card, practice the word on the card, then move across the game board. However, this is an opened game board, so use it however you would like!

Page 64-65: Homework sheets

Word and sentence level coloring sheets

I hope you love this unit as much as I do! You can download a copy of this activity in my TpT store here or enter below for a chance to win one of three copies! If you cannot wait for the giveaway to end and want to have this activity to use now... go ahead and purchase the packet. If you win, you can choose any product from my store for free!

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Arghh Pirates! A Thematic Unit

Did you know Thursday September 19 is National Talk Like a Pirate Day? I had so much fun last year during pirate week that I have to celebrate with my speechies again this year.

Need some Pirate themed activities? No worries, I've got you covered. Since I have a high number of PreK kids on my caseload, I created a thematic unit packet to address Prek-K goals. Check it out... and make sure you enter to win a copy at the bottom of the post.

 Pages 3-4: Vocabulary Cards

Use these cards to introduce new pirate themed words to your students. You could also print two copies and play a memory game with them, hide them around the room, etc.

Pages 4-9: What Does Not Belong?
Have your students help the pirate decide which item does not belong with the others and why.

Pages 10-13: Pirate Categories

Sort the pictures into the correct category.

Pages 14-16: Pirate Pronouns

This activity includes picture cards that can be used for expressive or receptive pronouns. For example, put 2-3 cards out and prompt the student with a direction: “Show me, she is on the island.” or have the student describe the picture using the correct pronoun. 

Pages 17-20: Phonological Awareness with Polly Parrot

Students decide what to feed Polly based on the initial sound.

“Ahoy! My name is Polly and I am looking for some lunch. Will you help me find something that starts with the /r/ sound to munch?”

Pages 21-22: Writing Prompt (boy & girl)

“If I was a pirate....” 

Enter below to win a copy! If you cannot wait for the giveaway to end and want to have this activity to use now... go ahead and purchase the packet. If you win, you can choose any product from my store for free!

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