Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Tuesday's Treasure box: Chateau Meddybemps




I began using Chateau Meddybemps in therapy over 10 years ago. I used my laptop; however, the ready to use activities are perfect for those of you with access to white boards. 


Activities can easily align with numerous therapy objectives. Some printable downloads require a small fee, but the majority of the site is free. 



I really like the pages with movable objects such as the Moveable Animals for spatial concepts with the free Print Animals for hands on learning. 

In Shops, fill pizza orders, help choose pets in a pet shop, decorate cakes, and pick and arrange flowers.  Seasonal movable activities include an Easter egg hunt, Christmas tree and egg decorating, carving a pumpkin, and sorting leaves.   

AND, don’t miss the Miniature Village with 36 structures for you to print and build.  Imagine the endless opportunities to elicit language while putting shops, homes, people, and vehicles in place. 

These are just a few of the activities created by the talented Jerry and Susan Jindrich.  Click to see all 158 links pictured on the Super Menu.



Diana

© 2013


Some clip art from Microsoft.com

Sunday, April 28, 2013

Six Weeks of Interactive Speech and Language Practice Activities (Apps Included!)

Today is my blogaversary! One year ago today, I published my first speech and language blog post - Inspired by Pinterest - Parking Lot Games. Although this blog has required much more time and work than expected, I thoroughly enjoy the experience. Thank you to all who read this blog and to those who inspire me to keep going. 


As the end of the school year will be on us soon, I updated my website Six Weeks of Summer Interactive Speech and Language Practice ActivitiesThis website was designed to pass on to parents as a resource for summer speech and language activities. This list contains daily interactive computer activities, printable resources, links to reading lists, activity calenders, and tips for parents. This year, I included FREE apps on my list. You can access it here or at the tab at the top of my blog. 


I hope that this site saves you some time and makes those last few weeks of school a little less stressful.

Diana

© 2013

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Tuesday's Treasure Box: A site for AAC users, early childhood, language therapy and more!



If you don't subscribe to Richard Byrne's blog, Free Technology for Teachers, you should consider it. He posts technology tips, apps, and great teaching resources, ideas, and links.  He recently posted a link to DuckieDeck.com. Duckie Deck, designed for toddlers, is a wonderful resource for more than just mouse practice.

I think that this is a fabulous site for those using eye tracking or head tracking devices. Students can practice their skills by playing a memory game, playing a toy sharing game, making silly animals or scary ghost noises, controlling a magic wand, growing a garden, blowing up and popping balloons, and so much more. Many of these games can also be adapted as cause and effect switch activities (you may need to control the cursor). 

Some of these games will fit into your thematic units. If your theme is dental health, find a memory game, two teeth cleaning games (hippo and crocodile) and an activity where students can actually drill and fill cavities.

Talk about building a castle or a town, furnish a room or an entire house. Use location words (next to, under, on top of, beside, etc.), expand sentences, and/or practice articulation in more natural contexts. 

Put flowers in a garden and talk about what does and does not belong in the garden and why. Or, design your garden and practice articulation skills, plurals, and location words. There are so many possibilities!

If you are talking about trucks, building, or construction workers, you will find a memory game, a road repair activity, a lego set, and a great construction vehicle activity

These are just a few of the 125 games offered by DuckieDeck.com. Check them out!



Diana

© 2013


Some clip art from Microsoft.com

Saturday, April 13, 2013

A Dozen Ways to Talk About Rain in Speech and Language Therapy

Talking about rain was such an easy way to target speech and language goals  in my early childhood and younger elementary aged speech and language groups. Below are a dozen ideas for using the rain theme in your therapy groups. 


1.  Rain by Robert Kalan is a nice predictable story. Print and laminate the story props from Kizclub and use a spray bottle to make it "Rain on the _____." Great for increasing the sentence length of those younger students!






2. It's raining out and grandma wants to take a nap. Find The Napping House story props at Kizclub.com, a story stick at Make Learning Fun, and the free The Napping House Describing Words at Teachers pay Teachers.








3. Answer Wh questions and teach the concepts wet, dry, and under. For a very fun, 10 minute, activity, I took a spray bottle of water and an umbrella into the early childhood classroom. Misting water over heads, it rained on me and on the teachers as a demonstration. Most students loved getting wet; however, before spraying, I asked each student if they wanted to get wet. Some would only want to have their hand or finger sprayed and others, not at all. Hold an umbrella over a student's head and make it rain. Ask the student questions such as Where are you?, Are you wet or dry? and / or Why didn't you get wet?




4. Download my free PowerPoint book, Under the Umbrella, to reinforce the use of not, wet, dry, and under in repetitive sentences. FYI - Definitely download this activity as it looks much better in PowerPoint than in Google docs.

5. Visit Speech Universe to download the interactive preposition book, Who is Under the Umbrella?


6. Talk about clothing that we wear when it rains.  I had a raincoat that belonged to my daughter and a few pairs of boots. Students labeled the parts of the coat (snaps, pockets, sleeves, hood), matched the boots and talked about when they would wear these clothes. Click on these links to dress Caillou or Speckle for the appropriate weather.  Match pictures of clothing to seasons at Montessori For Everyone.com - download Seasons and Clothing Matching


7. For parents, suggest reading Raindrop Plop by Wendy Cheyette Lewison and look at these developmental activities for students one to five from the Ionia County Intermediate School District. Jean Warren's Preschool Express also has some suggestions for home and school activities relating to the themes of rain, clouds, and umbrellas.
 



8. Recite The Itsy Bitsy Spider and read one of the many Itsy Bitsy Spider books. I like this one by Iza Trapani. Good for spatial concepts, wh-questions, predicting, and verbs. 


Download props and more for this nursery rhyme from Kizclub.com and/or use your own props. My students loved putting plastic spiders up a real downspout purchased at my local hardware store.




9. Find a lesson plan for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, by Judy Barrett, at Bright Hub Education. Use this to make predictions and answer WH questions. This book is also good for eliciting and maintaining conversation. AND, for younger students look at this wonderful sensory bin (also good for vocabulary) at I Can Teach My Child




10. Observe clouds daily to express descriptive words such as fluffy, round, long, skinny, huge, little, white, and gray. Download the Free Rain Preschool Printables, at Two Teaching Mommies, for the opportunity to use more describing words while completing the Cotton Ball Clouds activity.





11. Design an umbrella with the Umbrella Designer app to practice descriptive words.




12. For readers, play Bluster and one of the Rainy Day Boot Match-Up games at Communication Station: Speech Therapy PLLC.


Diana

© 2013

Umbrella clip art from SweetClipart.com