Community Helpers Freebie!

Hello again!

I am super excited to share this week's Freebie Friday! My theme for next week is going to be all about community helpers! I love using this unit with the kiddos to talk about what makes people "helpers" in the classroom, at home, and in the community.

Here are some of the materials I will be using!

I am obsessed with Reading A-Z! The reading specialist at my school gave me her username and password so that I could use some of the books and materials. I have found that it's a great resource! The books are all categorized by level and theme/unit and come along with lesson guides and interactive worksheets! It's perfect for targeting wh-questions, re-telling stories, on-topic conversations, automatic naming/categorization, etc. The list goes on and on!!

We are going to read a book about police officers and talk about what they do in the community. I originally made this for k-2 grade, so I will have to alter it to my preschoolers.

Here I made community helper themed following directions cards. They come in two different levels: 1-step directions and 2-step directions. This will be a perfect addition to the book I will be reading with the kiddos this week!

Here is an example of the 2-step direction cards! You can use these multiple ways and it's all explained in the freebie!

Download this Friday freebie HERE!

If you download, please leave a comment below! Happy Friday everyone :)

Lets Talk About Apps!

Hey All,

Today's Tip Tuesday is going to be all about Apps! Kindergarten.com offers a wide range of vocabulary flash card apps that are great for early elementary aged children! These apps focus on receptive language skills, word recognition, and cognitive development. The one that I am reviewing today is called the “Things You Eat” app. I use this with my students when targeting word retrieval goals, categorizing goals, and increasing vocabulary. This app is set up as a traditional flash card game: a picture is shown and you are expected to name the item.

The graphics are clear and authentic (not in a cartoon form) and distraction-free with a white background. The meal items that are depicted range from breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner, and dessert.  There are also “stand alone” pictures of vegetables, fruits, and dairy products.

I really like that this app includes a built-in reward system! After five attempts, the player is rewarded with a musical break. The break lasts about 10 seconds long.

When you go into settings, you have the ability to shuffle the cards, turn on/off voice audio and the chime sound, or turn on/off the music reinforcement.

I also really appreciate the fact that Kindergarten.com has a diverse selection of flash cards (sports, vehicles, alphabet, music, clothing, toys, and actions).

Improvements: This app is ideal for younger children who are not able to read yet. However, I do have a few children on the spectrum who have started reading at age 4! So, when using this app with them, they are able to read the words instead of identifying the pictures. Having the ability to turn on/off the words would be a great addition to this app! Also, I would love to have the opportunity to monitor and save my students’ progress within this app, so that I can distinguish between incorrect and correct vocabulary items.

Overall, I think this is an easy and quick tool to use when targeting vocabulary with younger elementary school aged kiddos! I also think that this app is very user friendly and would be an excellent carryover activity for parents or teachers in the classroom or home! This app is currently free (another great feature), so check it out!

Caramel Artic Apples!

Hey guys!

Happy Friday! We made it through another crazy week in speech! TGIF! So, for today's Freebie Friday, I made some quick initial and final /k/ caramel apples. I love using these with my preschoolers who are working on their /k/ sounds. This week's theme in my speech therapy room is Fall, so I thought this would be a perfect addition!

 I decided to use monosyllabic /k/ words with my preschoolers, because for some of them, this is still a tricky sound to produce. I made two sets of caramel apples; one set with pictures, and one set without, so that you could use them with older children who are reading.

There are many different ways you can use this packet! You can print out two copies to play memory or, what I personally like to do, use them to "feed" my frog or other animal boxes! Here are some pictures of them from my last Tip Tuesday post!

Grab this freebie HERE!

If you like these materials, please leave a comment below and subscribe! Stay tuned for some more Freebie Fridays and have a great weekend :)

Think Outside the Box!

Hey guys!

Today's Tip Tuesday is going to cover something that is probably a no brainer for any school-based SLP! Tissue and shoeboxes are a must have in my therapy! These are my go-to therapy items when I'm conducting articulation drills. Not only does it provide immediate positive reinforcement, but it's also very cheap! Family and teachers know that I am a huge collector of these so called "trash" items. Here are some examples of how I transform my old shoe and tissue boxes into fun animals for treatment!

Some materials that you may need to purchase in order to complete this project include paint, a hot glue gun, styrofoam, and googley eyes!

There are also tons of tissue printables online. I found this printable Old Lady from the story "There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly" on Making Learning Fun. The kids love feeding the Old Lady!

I have to admit, there are times during the school year when I am just too lazy busy to make another animal box from scratch. So, I found some of these cute pre-made animal tissue boxes at Target for $1.99! There are tons of different animals to choose from. When I tested these out with my pre-schoolers, they really enjoyed "feeding" them their articulation cards. One girl even had her mother go out and buy some to use at home when practicing her sounds (great motivation for generalization)!

I found some other great examples of animals and critters made out of boxes on my beloved Pinterest.

If you want to get creative and really "think outside the box", shoe and tissue boxes can make excellent additions to your play area too. Instruments, stoves, houses, and garages are excellent toys to use during play therapy when working with the little guys!

The possibilities are endless and I can't wait to try some of these out myself! How do you use tissue and shoeboxes in your therapy?

Thanks for reading today's post and please stayed tuned for more tips next Tuesday :)