It’s an exciting time of year here in Louisiana!!
We have Valentine’s Day and Louisiana’s biggest holiday, Mardi Gras, coming up in the next 8 days!!
It's hard (but fun) to squeeze it all in!
Oh, and Punxsutawney Phil says there’s 6 more weeks of winter. I’m fine with that because while most of the U.S. has been pounded with snow, I’m still waiting for winter. It’s a nice 73 degrees here which is lovely. The bad part is that I have lots of cozy winter wear waiting to be worn! (#southerngirlproblems).
In any case, I LOVE teaching and talking about LOVE! Love is definitely in the air in my speech room :)
Come on in and see what's going on!
I absolutely LOVE Groundhog Day. This quirky American tradition weirds my students out- which makes for lots of discussion! Here we are using the Groundhog Quick Drill (with the articulation cans)! We have also been reading about Punxsutawney Phil in inclusion (and watching videos of Groundhog Day to build background knowledge.
In any case, I LOVE teaching and talking about LOVE! Love is definitely in the air in my speech room :)
Come on in and see what's going on!
I absolutely LOVE Groundhog Day. This quirky American tradition weirds my students out- which makes for lots of discussion! Here we are using the Groundhog Quick Drill (with the articulation cans)! We have also been reading about Punxsutawney Phil in inclusion (and watching videos of Groundhog Day to build background knowledge.
With these fun holidays coming up, we've been having lots of fun in therapy. Here’s a peek of what we have been doing and what’s going down this week....
We’ve been rocking the EET to describe Valentine’s day and now Mardi Gras
There will be many-a-bead thrown in the speech room this week anytime my students gimme some good communication.
On the Valentine’s Day front, you know, we’ve been doing some quick drill!!
(continuing my life long quest to rid the world of the word "Valentime.")
The kids all get grossed out when they pick the card that says “You got kissed” or “You’re in love!” LOL
I’ve used and abused my Love Letters for articulation and this week we will be mailing love letters again- this time the EET activity for describing that goes along with this one.
It’s amazing how tickled kids can get just by slipping a card into a make-believe mailbox. I hope they never lose that - that thing that lets them get so much happiness from something so simple.
The book, The Valentine Grump, went so well with these activities. It's about how getting a valentine in the mail even makes the grumpiest of grumps happy.
Today I laminated my newest Valentine's Day product, Valentine Basic Concepts Fun! I made this especially for a preschooler and kindergartener that’s struggling with basic concepts .
It’s hot off the press in my TPT store :)
It’s hot off the press in my TPT store :)
This is prepped and ready to go for tomorrow.
Oh my, this was so hard for them :(
I’ve been using a Valentine Sticker scene for artic and language with my little ones. If you haven’t discovered the sticker scenes from Oriental Trading, you must check them out. My artic kids earn stickers to put on their scene with correct productions and my language kids earn stickers by labeling or describing them (they aren’t allowed to point) and by telling me where in the picture they plan to put them. Them we use the scene to make up a story, answer questions and so on. I have them for every holiday and they keep little hands and brains busy.
We started making foldable Valentine cards today for the peeps we love, and we will be doing that all week! These are also from the Valentine Fun Pack. There's plenty of space inside to write sweet messages or draw a picture for mom.
I love the peel-and-stick gems from Lake Shore and the Foam beads from Oriental Trading. They make craft projects easy and mess-free.
I knew my girls would be ecstatic about making these. A couple of crowns ended up being Valentine crowns....
....but I had no idea how much the BOYS would love it, too.
It just goes to show you everyone loves a good crown! {hahaha}
....but I had no idea how much the BOYS would love it, too.
It just goes to show you everyone loves a good crown! {hahaha}
We’ve played some Mardi Gras Old Maid and some “Who’s got the baby.”
We have also been learning from Mardi Gras vocabulary from that same packet.
We have also been learning from Mardi Gras vocabulary from that same packet.
We’ll be doing some dot art, as usual,
During the last 2 weeks of therapy with my older kids (both in the classroom and my room) we have been reading about the history of Mardi Gras and discussing Mardi Gras traditions throughout our state (as well as some fun facts and interesting tidbits).
We are continuing it this week. So many kids celebrate Mardi Gras but don’t know the reasons for the Mardi Gras traditions we practice (the parades, the beads, the feasting, etc)... even though they live here! It's an absolute MUST that they learn about it- it’s their culture!
On Friday- just before we leave for our 4 day Mardi Gras break- I will be sharing my personal photos from Mardi Gras, playing some traditional Mardi Gras music, sharing videos of my family's traditions, and showing them my husband's traditional Cajun Mardi Gras costume, mask and capichon (hat).
You can see my hubby decked out in his costume HERE.
You can see my hubby decked out in his costume HERE.
In case you're interested in our old Cajun Mardi Gras traditions, here is the short version:
The week AFTER Mardi Gras we will be doing some silly Mardi Gras Stamp-A-Stories while the kids tell all about their fun Mardi Gras adventures! You can read about those stamp stories HERE, and download that freebie HERE.
Whew, I need to rest up for another jampacked day of therapy tomorrow.
I hope your speech room is filled with LOVE, too!
Happy Valentine's Day
and
Happy Mardi Gras, y'all!
I love the "We don't hide the crazy" saying in your first picture!!! Mardi Gras sounds like so much fun!
ReplyDeleteI keep having to pull out the sweaters, then try to figure out what else to wear during our warm days. It's winter...it's supposed to be cold! :)
I think we all need to have a field trip to your speech room and witness first hand all of the fun your students are having!
Mia, I think I have all of your Mardi Gras activities. I particularly like the Reading and Responding set. I can only imagine how fun Mardi Gras is in Louisiana!
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