Thngs That Go Together- App Review

Things That Go Together

I love this app! This is the app I use to start off my vocabulary goal. It is an easy app for younger children to understand and work on associations. The first thing I love is the 

price- $1.19!! Cheap!!

It starts off with 2 pics and works up from there. It gives audio hints that labels items once you touch them. For me, I always turn this off just to make it a little more difficult and add another step for the children. I get them to label each item and then I get them to explain why the items go together. 

in their words... there is now a "Tile Magnet" option so you can now turn the automatic tile magnet ON or OFF. The tile magnet automatically snaps pieces in their place. This is great for toddlers with little fingers but now you can turn this off if you are ready to take your matching skills to the next level.

The app works up to 6 pictures...

and then 8.

Customize-
You can choose which pictures/tiles you want to use and if a child has targeted certain pictures you can by pass those tiles on their next session.  You can also choose the amount of items you want them to work on. If 8 is overwhelming or too difficult for some children you can customize to only use 2 or 4 tiles. For older students you can start at 8 tiles, because 2 may be too simple.

The only thing I don't like about this app is it doesn't take data.





Cheers, 
Mindy

My Favorite Things!

Speech Time Fun has started a linky party and the first topic is Early Intervention toys that promote language in a natural way.

I love linky parties and I am so excited to show my favorite toys!

1. Mr. Potato Head- great for following directions, attributes and more!

2.Books- easy and accessible! Books are a great way to promote conversation and some books can accompany activities!

3. Vehicles-not just great for boys, little vehicles can be a great toy to promote vocabulary, following directions and attributes.

 

4. Arts and Crafts- kids love arts and crafts! They love to cut. color, glue, and paint. You can use it as an extension of a favorite book or even T.V show. Again, flowing directions and  socials skills, the skies the limit to possibilities!

 

5. Doll House and People- love this one for vocabulary, categorization, verbs, pronouns,  and possessives! Tones of ideas for grammar!!

ABC Cookies!

This is ABC cookies that I got from Learning Resources on Amazon. This is a cool little kindergarten or grade. 1 game to teach letter identification and recognition, letter matching, sequencing and letter sounds.

This game comes with 45 game cards that includes ideas for practicing beginning sounds, sequencing and letter recognition. You can use the spinners to play games and there are many variations, the only limit is your imagination. And It is under $15 - which I totally love!!

Kids love the little cookie pieces but remember to wash them because they love to put them in their mouth. :)

Literacy Games!

You can use the cookie game as literacy/phonological awareness centers  in your classroom. One  idea is putting  a different cookie on 4 or 5 tables and then have the kids go find things that begin with that same sound or that letter in the classroom. Another idea is to use the cookies as a writing center. Choose a cookie and have the  kids write down as many words as they can think of with that start with that letter.

The name game!

For the name game you can put about 4 or 5 cookies each on their own the desk or table  and then have every kid who has a name that begins with that letter stand at that table/desk. Another variation is to have the first child start and standby the table that their name starts with and then they choose somebody else from the class and tell them which table to stand up... and so on.

The only limit is your imagination!

What ideas do you have for this cute game? Comment below!

Cheers,

Mindy

Homework Hotline Linky!

 

Gold Country SLP is hosting a linky party for affordable speech and language homework packages.

I have a bunch of freebies I use for homework and some are specifically great for summer so I thought I would link up!

 

Here they are....

Freebie #1

  

Here is a sheet I send home so parents know what sound their child is working on. You can have them draw or cut pictures from magazines and have them paste them on their sheet for extra practice.  

Freebie #2

Some really good, easy ways for parents to practice speech and language at home and during everyday routines!

Freebie #3

 

Language Homework

Articulation Homework

Freebie #4

Summer Calendars (editable)

Hope you like this and don't forget to like me on Facebook!

Feed The Elephant

Articulation Idea

In speech sometimes you need to be inventive so things don't get boring… So I came up with this idea for articulation. Feed the elephant articulation game is a cute little game that you can use with anyone but is probably more suitable for preschoolers. 

How to play- The child chooses their artic. card, says it and then puts it inside the elephant. Another idea is you can put all the cards inside the elephant and have that use child use a card and say the word, phrase or sentence. In this picture I'm using l blends cards from artic. chipper chat game but you can use any cards that you want. 

Another variation, that is great for preschool aged children, is to put items in elephant that begin with your target sound and have your preschooler choose an item and then practice their goal. 

It's easy to find cute little items from the dollar store that are cute & inexpensive.

Even more ideas!!

Vocabulary- you can also use these items to help kids build vocabulary by having them label the item and its attributes, function and where you find the item...etc.

Phonemic awareness- for older kids you can have the child choose the item and identify the beginning sound or phonemes. 

If you can't find this cute little elephant use any teddy bear and with a little sewing skill you can transform it into having a pouch or opening!

Let me know your ideas, I'd love to hear them!

Cheers,

Mindy

Social skills

I don't work on social skills often but I found this cool game and thought I would share it!

I know that social skills are really important for some of our kids & some who have developmental disabilities.

It targets OT (gross motor skills) and social skills. There are colored bean bags and colored bowls with faces (& emotions). Each face represents a different emotion- scared, happy, sad, angry, surprised, & embarrassed.

The way I've played it is to have the kids toss a bean bag and then whatever color they get it in they tell me a time when they've felt that way. Then we extend it by taking about what we can do when we're feeling that way & what's ok and what's not. For example it's ok to be angry but we can't hit people or call them names.

Another idea to extend this game is what to do if we see a friend acting or feeling a certain way. How can we help? Great little way to build understanding and compassion!

You can also get situation cards and then talk about the emotion associated with it. I've searched TPT and found some- take a look! ( I haven't tried these so let me know what you find & give me feedback on how it worked!)

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Autism-Autism-Social-Situations-Responses-Flip-Book-Special-Education-664233

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/In-Your-Shoes-Speech-Therapy-for-Social-Skills-291144

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/What-Would-You-Do-Real-Life-Situations-564766

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Christmas-Social-Situations-1606685

Cheers,

Mindy

Vocabulary

Many of kids that I work with have to target the vocabulary goal. I've noticed a lot of variation on how people work on this goal. 

The way I like to start working on vocab is to first start with associations. I show them three pictures and have them choose the two that go together and then explain to me why they go together. 

Most of the time they just tell me because they're the same so I really work on expanding the information and being more specific. 

Next I go on to what doesn't belong. I have many items from the group and then have them choose the item or items that don't belong and then get them to name the category.

After that I lay out a bunch of categories mats and have them place items from each category on the correct category. 

When this starts to get easier  I get them to start talking about the attributes of each item: like where you find them, the function, when you might use them, what they look like and their parts. 

Take a look at the package I use to target the Vocab goal!

 

How do you work on the Vocabulary goal?

Cheers,

Mindy

Beginning sound pizza

                Beginning sounds pizza 

I bought this game- beginning sounds pizza from Really Good Stuff. Really good stuff is an online website that has really good materials and games for teachers and educators. I've found some really cool phonological awareness games that I love using and sharing with my teacher friends!

I've noticed that teachers tend to focus on phonics rather than phonological or phonemic awareness skills. For this reason I  like to pass my phono resources onto them. It helps with the kids who are struggling to read and gives the other kids just a little bit of an extra boost with their skills not to mention giving the teachers more ideas too.

Back to the pizza...

Beginning sounds pizza is a game that kids play to identify beginning sounds. Everybody gets their own pizza and the kids take turns choosing slices of pizza and then they decide whether it belongs on their pizza or not depending on their target sound. 

I like this game because it uses every beginning sound and the alphabet.

Another  variation to play the game are having the pizzas with pizza slices already on them with all one sound and then having the kids identify the beginning sound on each pizza.

This game is great for groups or as a literacy center. (I use it in speech therapy for my kids who need extra phono help).

What games do you like for phonemic awareness?

Cheers,

Mindy

Freebies....Quick!!!

With all of the TPT sale madness I've found some great freebies that I'd love to pass on to you! Check them out!

Better Speech and Hearing month tags to promote vocal hygiene for teachers! Great idea, Thanks Jenna!

 

We all need to show gratitude with these cute Thank you notes made by speech sanity!! Thank you Speech Sanity!!!

 

Digraph Matching Flash Freebie!  from Aidironack Teacher!

 

And the Camp Out Category Exclusion pack! This game looks so cute & useful!

 

Thanks to The TLC Shop !

What's in your cart? Linky Party

 

The  peech Room News is hosting a linky party - What's in your cart for the Teacher Appreciation Sale on TPT on May 5/6! there will be great deals and be sure to use Thank You Coupon code for additional deals!

One item from my shop that you might be interested in is...

The Wheels on the Bus Preschool Pack

 

 A week of The Wheels on the Bus Preschool Package!

It includes detailed information on how to turn this song into a language opportunity for preschoolers!
Included:
coloring pages
"wh" questions
Vocabulary activity
Sequencing Activity targeting first, next, last, and then, etc.
& Beginning Sounds

Here is what's in my cart:

 

Summer Print and Go Articulation by Teaching Talking! Looks awesome!

 

Irregular Verb Memory Game by Nyla's Crafty Teaching!

Temporal Concepts by Play on Words!

 

 

S & Z Flip books by The Dabbling Speechie!

 

 & last but not least Category Puzzles by Mrs. P's Specialties!

Carry Over and Generalization!

 

Articulation Reminders

Do you have that student that doesn't make any articulation errors in speech therapy (even at the conversation level) and then the minute they leave the room they don't carry over their skills...

I have students who don't generalize their sound. Its like the minute they leave speech the switch flips and they make their  error(s) again.  I have a student who has a lateral lisp and can read, and use /s/ correctly in conversation during speech therapy but when I observed him in his class he continued to lisp. Carryover tips- I need you!! 

I had made an /s/ for his desk to help remind him but now I need to try something else. As you can see from this /s/ it has seen better days! It worked for a while but now I am at a point where I need to try something new.

Here are a few ideas I've come up with...

1. Getting parents and teachers to give the students cues. Make sure to have the parent/teacher and student all aware (obviously!) of the cue and to use it consistently. Try to use something that won't draw a lot of attention so the child isn't embarrassed at school or in class.

Here are a few carry over products that look really cool and useful!

 

 

  

 

Free!

 

2. Reading aloud with parents or speech partners to practice their sound in conversational speech. While reading you can use rhymes, riddles and tongue twister to make it more fun and spontaneous.
 Here is a product from Nicole Allison that is useful for reading and conversation practice! 

3.Turn the tables....Have the child incorrect your productions of their target sound.
 This can be really fun and it takes the pressure off of them for a few minutes.

4. Have the child self-monitor during specific times and activities during the day and in therapy. If they are unaware of their errors they will never be able to fix it.

5. Video- take videos of the child and then let them watch to pick out errors and correct productions.

For data at the conversation level I found this great sheet. You use this form to write the words of the sound you are targeting- on the left the words in conversation level that are correctly produced and the right the incorrect production.

 

Let me know what your tricks of the trade are for carry over!!

Comment below!

Cheers,

Mindy