Fall Articulation Fun!

I'm loving fall, y'all!  Even if it is still in the 90s here in south Louisiana. 

It doesn't feel like fall but who cares... because I'm on FALL BREAK 

(a glorious 4 day weekend). 

Here's what I've been doing this fall in articulation therapy....

We started out fall with some apple articulation dot art along with many other apple activities! 

We also created some autumn art by adding leaves on the bare tree below - fingerprint style!! After saying X number of artic targets correctly, my students got to squash their little fingertips onto a washable stamp pad and then smush 3 fingerprint leaves on their tree (and in a leaf pile and in the air). We repeated and repeated this until their masterpieces were complete.  

Oh, and moms love this little project :) It's very fridge worthy. 

Even better...you can snag it free here if you haven't already stumbled across it.  

We've squeezed in lots of articulation drill with my Articulation Cans and activities from my Fall Fun Pack. One of them includes my students finding the items hidden in the leaf pile that contain their sound. Who doesn't love a leaf pile!?  Then they bring it home for homework and get a reward if they return it signed. 

We've been using my fall words for drill while playing one of my all-time favoriate games, EDUCATIONAL INSIGHTS THE SNEAKY SNACKY SQUIRREL GAME as well as my Fall Game Boards. I know some people don't feel the need to use games, but I like the positive reinforcement they provide. I always remind my students that the most important thing to focus on is their speech - not the game- and if they start to focus only on the game we can't continue to play it. They know I mean business, and using a game has proven to work for me.  

You can find my fall themed words for drill in my Happy Fall Quick Drill which is always a hit in articulation. We put all of the quick drill cards facedown on the table or in a container.  On this particular day (below), we put them in the tree shaped box from the Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game.  My kids said their target sound, words, phrases or sentences 3-5 times before being able to pick a card.  The object of the game is to collect the most adorable Happy Fall acorn cards, but the wild cards always shake up the game.  It's the simplest little game ever but gets lots of productions along with lots of laughs and interaction from the students. 

Now if you know me you know we have been doing dot art! 

This is how I use it: 

 SAY-AND-DOT ONE AT A TIME: Students are given bingo paint daubers and allowed to “dot” the pictures in each little circle after saying the name of the picture 1, 2, 3, 5, or however many times I assign. Do this with each and every picture on the page. 

 HUNT, DOT and SAY: Have students find every giraffe (for example) on the page, dot each one and then say “giraffe” 1 time for each giraffe they found. 

 ADAPT TO STUDENT LEVELS: If a student is working at the phrase or sentence level, have him/her make a phrase (if the student cannot produce a phrase quickly, assign a carrier phrase like “I like _____” or “ I see a _____” or “I ate a ______”) or sentence with each little picture. You can also have your students make a sentence with feather (for example) and then find and dot every feather on the page while you address the next student.

CHIPPER CHAT STYLE: If you prefer (or if you don’t have paint daubers), you can use chipper chat style tokens to cover the circles instead. 

I SPY: Use it to play I Spy -tell or describe the picture the students needs to find, say and dot. 

Once it dries, send home for homework, and when they return it signed, we hang them up proudly for the world to see. 

For my preschool artic girls, we have been making fall necklaces which they adore. After they say their target sounds, words, etc., to my liking, they get to string  a fall themed foam bead to make a necklace.  

I used these necklace forms shown below (I sadly can't remember where I bought them) but in the past I've also used sturdy,  and it works great. Always a hit! 

For my older students or those who need to practice their sounds in reading or conversation, we always stamp stories.  It's something I try to do for every season and holiday.  We read the story a line at a time, and they use my handy dandy rubber stamps to fill in the story. (Of course, they try to make it as hilarious or weird as possible). After all the blanks are filled in, each student reads it in front of the group. If they make errors, I have them highlight every one of their sounds in the story so that next time they have a visual cue.  Then they bring it home to read it to someone in their family for homework! Mostly we applaud :) 

If you don't have rubber stamps (mine were purchased from Lakeshore Learning but they are not longer available), you can use stickers. I buy the little booklets of seasonal stickers from the Dollar Spot at Target, and last year we stamped this story for articulation carryover the Monday after Halloween...

You can grab this Hallowen Stamp Story freebie here. 

Ohhhh and it would not be fall in my speech room without my two favorite games that work like a charm to facilitate lots of articulation drill.  

ACROBATS AND MONSTER MASH!

Since Halloween is coming, I've packed away the Happy Fall Quick Drill and we have moved on to the Wacky Pumpkins Quick Drill...

and we're now doing Halloween Dot Art! 

For my preschool crowd, we made spooky masks that I found at Target. They earned pieces to put on their mask by saying their sounds correctly. 

On tap for next week ------ Magic Potion Madness ------ Always a crowd pleaser! 

Maybe we'll even do some ghost bowling.  It was a big hit last October! 

If these aren't enough, click on all of my friends' links below to find even more fun artic fall activites, and please come back soon to read about what language activities are going down in my speech room this fall. 

May your fall be lovely.