What's going on in my speech room this spring….

After a real winter here in South Louisiana (we don't get too many of those), Spring has officially sprung! My husband is an avid gardener and he is in the process of whipping our yard and gardens into shape.  I wish I could brag that I have been knee deep in Spring cleaning, but alas, I have not been.  As any school SLP knows, this time of the school year is CRAZY BUSY and when I get home, all I can muster the strength to do is:

a) a little more school paperwork

b) collapse into a heap

c) take a nap

d) lounge around like a useless lump

e) have an adult beverage

Please make me feel less worthless by telling me you can relate?

Now since I can't do most of those things during school hours, 
things are still hopping in my speech room. 

Here's a peek at the action in case you are interested or need ideas for activities to get you through the next few weeks! 

FOR LANGUAGE THERAPY….

We are using EETchy to write all about Spring. I can't even express how much the EET program helps my 4th grade students organize their thoughts (by prompting them what to focus on).  For this activity I actually wrote the topic sentence for them which was "Today is the first day of Spring." Then they used their small EETchy strands to create the rest of the paragraph.  It always results in a nicely organized paragraph which I love.  For homework, my students have to read their paragraph to adults (teachers, parents, etc.) and get everyone who reads it to sign and comment. 

Since figurative language is something I like to hit on all year long (not just during the 1-2 weeks they address it in the classroom), I have been also using this Spring Idioms product from FigurativelySpeechingSLP. 

I use Speech with Sharon's  awesome Idiom of the Week product year round, but for spring it's fun to address seasonal idioms.  I use both of these for push in/inclusion as well as small group therapy.  The kids love sticking their pencils through the answer they think is correct and then self-checking on the backside.  

My language students are also reading  about Easter around the World. Yep, I have caved and have moved toward non-fiction text (I will never abandon the fiction, though!) 

We will probably be doing this continually all the way until Easter because we have 22 passages (and the questions) to get through.  

These short passages that my students can actually digest are perfect for tackling comprehension skills (compare/contrast, main idea, making inferences, giving opinions, listening for details, etc).  

We painstakingly read and discuss each one and conquer the questions.   

Luckily, my kiddos are super interested in this so they don't protest.  I mean, did YOU know that in Australia there are Easter dilbies instead of Easter bunnies??  Cool stuff.  I also use it for Push in/Inclusion  and loan it to ELA teachers to use with all of their classes. 

I've found it high interest and useful for multiple skills. 

As usual, some of my mixed groups are working on skills using open ended board games. 

With my younger students who aren't quite ready for Easter around the World, we are reading Hopper Hunts for Spring, one of my favorite storybooks for his time of year. 

For my kids who need work on even answering just basic wh-questions, we are using my Easter Questions packet.   I printed all 87 questions in white and then I printed them again on colored card stock according to which type or question they were.  For instance, who questions on green, why questions on blue, etc. for when I need to grab a specific type for a lesson.  Even for my kids who are capable of answering these, I've been using them to work on restating the question in their answers- something they expect from our students on tests. 

Just today I started using my Easter Barrier games with my students who struggle with listening comprehension.  They asked for clarification on directions they didn't understand and we practiced subvocalizing the directions back to themselves before attempting tasks.  It's been a great strategy for one of my students in particular.  

In this instance, we didn't use a barrier. I used it as a listening and following directions game and wanted to be able to see what she was doing so that we could discuss it. 

I absolutely love these kind of games for articulation carryover also. 

AND FOR ARTICULATION THERAPY….

We have been doing a lot of dot art. It's just so easy to whip out, and my students love it.  

For little bitty kiddies, I let them dot paint one circle per word we drill.  For readers, I write words on the circles that they need to practice, and then have them say the word or make a sentences, etc., depending on the level they are on.  

The fun colors of Easter are perfect for dot art! 

           I have one little cutie who can't stand to get paint anywhere on her. In fact, when I get paint on myself she is distraught for the whole session.  For her, we use the magnetic tokens instead of dot paint.  Who doesn't love love love cleaning up those magnetic tokens with the magic wand!?? 

These dot art pages are part of my Easter Fun Pack and Spring Fun Pack. 

I have a list of seasonal target words for all seasons and holidays and love to drill with those words.  

We have also been playing Funny Bunny! Not only is this a great game for Spring and Easter, it's one of my all-time favorite games in general.  Great reinforcement for kids! Nobody wants to fall into the holes in the hill and it's even easy for non-readers to play. 

We have been playing "Hello Spring" Quick Drill.  Man, oh, man, I was so tempted to have the kids dig these cards out of a flower pot of dirt to play the game but I thought that may have been going too far. 

Just today I stuffed our Hippity Hoppity Quick Drill Cards into plastic Easter Eggs.  

Gotta love a fun, engaging twist! 

Just wait to see what else I am going with these plastic eggs (coming soon!!) 

^^^ Or you can just put the cards in an Easter basket! ^^^

Happy Easter! 

We have also been doing some intense drill (taking turns in groups) and I use these scratch art Easter Eggs from Oriental Trading to occupy the students while they wait their turn for drill.  You can see in the picture I also have "speech homework" to send home.  No one escapes my room without homework these days.  I'm on serious homework kick!      

I love Oriental Trading's scratch art! 

If you follow me on Instagram (and you totally should because it's currently my fave place to post) , you'll know that I recently dug out my Easter Craft box.  I have one for each holiday and it's like a little Christmas  each year when I open it.  I always forget what crafty goodies I had leftover from the year before.  It's always a fun surprise….

For example, I forgot that I owned a bunny headband! 

WITH A TIARA!

Must flaunt it again this year. 

Last but not least, we are doing our Stamp-A-Story for Easter. I use this in all kinds of therapy sessions.  It's great for retelling, sequencing, grammar, articulation carryover, fluency carryover, or you name it. 

We make silly stories, read them, present them to the class. We sometimes explain the absurdities. My articulation students highlight "their sounds" if they need a visual reminder when they read theirs to the group or class. The possibilities are really limitless.  You can grab this one HERE for zero bucks.  It's a freebie in my store! Again, students have to bring their silly story home, read it to others, and have them sign & comment (and return it to me).  If you don't have rubber stamps, I don't know how you manage, I use them for so much! 

If any of these activities sound fun or useful to you, guess what…. you can win them! 
Win any 3 of my products mentioned here PLUS Figuratively Speeching SLP's Spring Idioms packet!!  The winner will be announced on Friday! 
Just enter below, and I'd love to hear what's hopping in your speech room! 

Happy Spring, Y'all!