Cause and Effect Arcade

I'm taking a little break from the fun Christmas activities (by "little" I mean tiny!) to do a cause and effect game for my 4th graders.  I needed some type of game that I could bring into the classroom, but that also would give them a variety of practice.

To make it a little more motivating for them, it's arcade-themed!  I'm loving these graphics.  :)

Kids move across a game board of tickets by rolling the dice and answering the questions on the cards.

Their cause and effect skills are targeted by 3 types of question cards:

1.  Ball pit cards - students identify whether the underlined portion of the sentence is the cause or the effect.

2.  Skee-ball cards - students answer a cause or effect question about a paragraph.

3. Toy claw cards - students come up with their own cause or effect for a situation.











The game also has wild cards, blank cards, an answer key, and cause/effect strategy cards with key words.

Grab this at my TPT store HERE!  Enjoy!!  :)

Clipart by: JWIllustrations

A Thank You Freebie!!!

I can't really put into words how thankful I am for all the TPT support over the past couple of days.  It is such a blessing to see your sweet comments on all of my products.  I really appreciate each and every sale.

Ok...enough with the mushy stuff.  HERE is a brand new freebie as a big fat THANK YOU from me!  It's an open-ended reinforcement game that can be used with any card deck.  And it is made to be played with REAL marshmallows!  Yumm!

Give each student a hot cocoa mat.  On their turn, students answer a question (or say their word or use their fluency strategy).  If they respond correctly, they choose a marshmallow card.

The number on the marshmallow tells them how many marshmallows they can put on their cocoa mat.  But watch out for the angry whip cards!  If they draw one, they have to give a marshmallow to a friend.

The person with the most marshmallows on their cup after all the cards run out is the winner.

Grab this freebie at my TPT store HERE!!  Please leave a comment below if you download.  :)

Have fun!  Eat marshmallows!

My kids had so much fun with this today!!

Graphics are by MareeTrueLove.

Apraxia Packet for Later Sounds

This year I have one student with apraxia.  He's in 5th grade.  Although he has significant academic difficulties, his apraxia of speech makes it very difficult for others to understand him.  Many of the apraxia materials I've seen are geared toward younger kids, so this next packet was much needed for me.

After lots of research, here's what I put together.  Check it out!

There are 4 game boards to practice syllables and rate of speech.  You start out slowly then gradually increase speed.  The packet also includes 2 blank boards to use with any syllable combination or with other cards.

There are also sentences with increasing lengths to help with motor planning.  They focus on /r, s, l, k/. Sometimes I have my student highlight the letter of the focus sound in each card before he reads the sentence (wow...that was a lot of prepositional phrases in a row).  

My student is constantly deleting final consonants in words, especially /r/ and /s/.  These next sentences help him to practice articulating those sounds by the following initial sound being the same.  There are sets for /r, s, k, g/.  You can also use these if they delete initial consonants.

Most kids with apraxia have difficulty with vowels and repeating syllable combinations, which affects their diadochokinetic rates.  There is a set of 4 cards for syllable drills.

Multi-syllabic words are also a huge problem.  I've included a set of 4 cards with words of varied stress patterns.

Anyway, these are just some things that I've found effective with my older apraxic student after much digging and research.  :)  Maybe you'll find it useful too.  Check it out at my TPT store HERE!

Stayed tuned for a packet geared toward younger apraxic kiddos soon!

A Peek At My TPT Wishlist

In case you haven't heard yet, tomorrow is Cyber Monday!  For speechies and teachers that means you can get up to 28% off at Teachers Pay Teachers.  Exciting right?!  Who doesn't love a sale?  :)  Plus, I'm all about supporting small businesses.  So needless to say, I have stocked up my wishlist with tons of my favorite goodies made by my fellow SLPs out there.

Of course, everything at my TPT store will be on sale too!  Be sure and grab what you need.  You can click the TPT button on the right side of my blog, and it will bring you straight to my store.

Anyway, I thought I'd give you a peek into my wishlist and show you my top 10 favorite items on TPT right now.  Most of these are winter/Christmas related because that's what I'm currently needing.  This list is not in any particular order:

1. Jenna's Christmas Toy Catalog Companion for Speech & Language - I love this one because it's so versatile and can be adapted for any age and group.  My kids will be psyched about digging through toy catalogs this time of year. 
2. Carrie's Gingerbread Speech & Language Unit - How cute are those gingerbread men?  This one targets vocabulary, pronouns, and following directions.  Plus, it includes an open-ended card game.  Perfect for when I read books about gingerbread men.  
3. Jenn's Open-ended Winter Games - I love games that I can use with any card deck.  These are so cute and will be great to use and reuse each winter.
4. Nicole's Curriculum Based Language Assessments for K-5 Aligned with Standards - This will be a great resource to have, especially since common core is now being implemented full force in our younger grades.
5. Whitney's Christmas Inferences for Speech Therapy - My 4th and 5th graders will be working on inferences this month, so these cards will be easy for me to take into the classroom for inclusion!
6. Rachel's Santa Stocking Blends Articulation Activity - This game comes with lots of cards and visuals for each.  I know my kiddos will have fun with this one.
7. Maggie's Winter Snowman Language and Listening - This one will be another goody that I can take into the classroom.  It targets lots of skills we work on and will definitely come in handy.
8. Denise's Hot Cocoa Questions - I just added this one today!  When I saw it, I thought the clipart was so cute.  Several of my students work on wh-questions, so I know I'll use it.
9. Jenna's Winter Articulation: Preschool - I love the idea of playing something different to address articulation.  My little ones will be able to understand the concept of this war style game easily.  Plus, it comes with lots of visuals perfect for non-readers.
10. Kristin's When Life Hands You Pronouns...Make Lemonade - I don't know why so many of my younger ones have trouble with pronouns this year.  Kristin's lemons were so cute that I just had to add it to my pronoun activities.

Of course, I'll be using my own Christmas and winter items as well in the next couple months.  A few of them include:

• Christmas Bingo Artic & Fluency Combo Pack
• Monster Mash Christmas
• Penguin Preschool Language 
• Penguin Phonology 

Maybe I should ask Santa for ink this year.  Haha.  Happy back-to-work Monday tomorrow!

Penguin Phonology!

I've been working really hard to get this next download ready before Cyber Monday.  I'm so excited about it because it's something I have really needed for therapy!  It just took me a long time to make.  In keeping with the preschool/early elementary theme, the penguins are back to help with phonological processes!

Check it out!

Kids draw a snowflake card to move across this fun winter game board.  They then choose a penguin target card or minimal pair snowball card to practice saying the word correctly.  This game board is open-ended, so it can also be used with any card deck or objective.

The phonological processes targeted include:

Final consonant deletion
Fronting
Cluster reduction
Stopping of fricatives
Medial consonant (glottal stopping)

Because this activity is geared to non-readers, there are pictures for each target word.

For each phonological process, there are 18 target cards and 18 minimal pair snowball cards.  Medial consonants only include the 18 target cards.

There are 162 target cards in all, 6 snowflake cards, and 1 game board.

Grab it at my TPT store HERE!


Also, I wanted to remind y'all about the Cyber Monday and Bonus Tuesday sale on TPT!  Everything in my store will be 20% off (max allowed on TPT).  You can get an additional 8% off when you use the code CMT12 at checkout!  So fill your carts early!  I'm already trying to compile my wishlist together.  That way it'll be good to go in case the server is slow from all the teachers buying on TPT!  :)

Fluency Self-Rating Form

I hope everyone had a happy and blessed Thanksgiving yesterday!  I know I did.  It was so nice to spend a day with my wonderful family and eat the deliciousness prepared by my grandma, mom, and aunt.  No telling how many pounds I added to the scale.  Lol.

Today, I want to share with you a form that I use with my fluency students.  It helps students to assess their own speech and better understand what they can do to improve their fluency.  Research has shown how beneficial rating yourself can be for students - in any area, not just stuttering.  Teachers are doing it in the classrooms I'm in all the time.  This is great for us as therapists.  Since the students are already familiar with rating themselves, it makes my job easier when asking them to do it with their fluency.

This is actually a form that I used in grad school.  I've searched and searched the web looking for the source but couldn't find anything.  If any of you know more about it, please share!

I revamped it and gave it some color, since the one I had looked so outdated.  It uses a multi-factorial model.  Students can rate not only their fluency, but their breathing, conversation type, and conversation topic as well.

• Conversation type: In this column, students rate the kind of conversational task they are doing.  Red being the easiest (i.e. naming/repeating), green being the most difficult (i.e. talking with any other people).
• Conversation topic: This column helps students to identify how well they understand the topic they are speaking about.  Their speech is red when they are not using any strategies to understand the topic.  It's green when they can understand the topic without any help from the clinician.
• Breathing: Students rate how well they are using their correct breathing while speaking (I get my students to belly breathe!).  
• Fluency: Students rate how well they are using their speech strategies to help their speech to stay smooth.  

You can grab this rating form for free {HERE}.  Let me know if you download!  How do you help your students assess their speech?

Oh, and in light of Thanksgiving and football, you can check out this post for football fluency games!  :)  

Penguin Preschool Language

My sister loves penguins.  She always has...especially cute little ones.  I thought of her when I saw these graphics and figured some of my kiddos would like these penguins too!  Check out how cute they  are.  My favorite is the little guy with the red hat over his eyes.  Presh!

This packet targets preschool and early elementary language skills.  Included are games for prepositions, categories, functions, and basic concepts.

• Preposition penguins: In this game, students choose a penguin card and place it in the appropriate location in relation to the igloo.  It comes with 12 preposition cards.

I pasted the igloo to a small manilla envelope, so the kids can practice putting it "inside."  For "between," you could either print 2 igloos or practice putting it between the igloo and another penguin.

• Penguin Categories: This game lets kids practice sorting snowball picture cards onto 6 different penguin category mats.  It comes with 36 snowball cards.

• Fishing for Functions: Students match the fishing penguin card to the appropriate fish.  The penguin cards have function questions on them (i.e. "What do you do with a spoon?").  The fish cards have the function on them (i.e. "Eat"). 

 There are visuals for all the cards.  I know it's hard for most little ones to go with the auditory prompt only, so I've included a picture clue with all the cards.

Aren't they cute?  My kids love anything to do with fishing. The packet comes with 24 penguin prompt cards and 24 fish function cards.

• Basic Concepts: For this game, students must identify the concept pictured on the penguin card.  If your kids are able to understand, you can use the uh-oh cards with these.  I've also included a key in case you aren't sure which concept the card is targeting.  There are 24 basic concept cards.

There are also wind and angry snowman distractor cards that can be used with any of the 4 games.  Some little ones are able to understand these and some kids that age just aren't ready for them.  But they're cute just the same.  :)

You can grab this game at my TPT store HERE! 

Graphics are by: StudioCinCo, Printcandee, and Graphics Factory.

Hope you can use it!  

Adjetivos Remix App Review

It's been so exciting to see all the fun holiday freebie posts!  Thanks to everyone who has linked up so far!  :)

Today, I'm reviewing a Spanish app!  Smarty ears was awesome and donated a copy of Adjetivos Remix for me to review; however, all of the opinions in this post are my own.  

I used this app all last week with my hispanic kiddos, and they loved it.  Even my non Spanish-speakers wanted to give it a try.  lol

Ok, so Adjetivos Remix is an app that targets the use of a variety of adjectives and concepts in Spanish.  It uses questions and pictures as stimuli.  Students identify the appropriate picture that depicts the adjective in the question.

Here is the menu page.  Note that it's all in Spanish.  There is a quick start option at the lower left-hand corner.  This will take you immediately to the questions. 

In the examples above, the questions ask students "which is heavy?" and "which is hot?" and students must touch the correct picture.  You can also "select students" instead of pressing quick start and save the data to the appropriate child.  There is a place for you to add a pic or avatar of the child as well.  

It keeps track of each students data for you, so that you are able to email yourself the results.

One of the awesome things about this app (and most smarty ears apps, for that matter) is the ability to customize!  Check out the settings page below.

You can pick and choose the exact types of "adjetivos" that you want to target.  The categories included are: appearance, colors, feelings, quantity, shape, size, time, and touch/taste.  You can choose to turn an entire category off/on or individual adjectives.  You can also decide whether you want to show the text, randomize the questions, and decide what you want to happen for incorrect answers.

You can grab this app from iTunes for $9.99 but it's on sale right now for $4.99!  Check it out HERE!

*There is also an English version available!  Check that one out HERE on sale for $5.99!

Overall, this is an excellent app.  One thing that might make it even better would be maybe adding an option for more than two choices.  Right now kids have a 50/50 shot of getting it right.  

Having apps like this are great for inclusion to take into the classroom! 

Grinch Freebies & a Linky Party!

It's freebie day! Can't wait to check out all of the holiday fun!  Scroll down to the bottom of this post to find the links.  :)

Growing up, my sisters and I loved to watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas every year!  My dad would always sing us the Grinch song to tease us and make us laugh.  So my holiday freebie today is Grinch themed!

It contains an open-ended Grinch game board that can be used with any card deck.

There is also a fun Grinchy Grammar packet.  It targets subjective and objective pronouns and verb tenses.

The pronoun game is played by drawing a card and filling in the blank with an appropriate subjective or objective pronoun.

But watch out for the Grinch!  He'll steal all your presents and make you put your cards back.

For the verb tense game, students draw a Grinch verb tense card and try to match it with a sentence that uses the corresponding verb.

Be careful of the Grinch cards!  If a student draws one, they lose a turn.

Hope your kiddos enjoy some of these!  You can grab this freebie {HERE}!!

Now, it's Holiday freebie linky party time!  To link up, all you do is click on the blue froggy button and enter your information.  Where it says name, you can put the name of your freebie.  Be sure it links directly to the page of your freebie and not just your blog in general.  Any problems or questions feel free to email me or leave a comment!

TPT Sale

It's time for a TPT sale!  Hooray!  Everything is 10% off from Thursday through Saturday (11/15-11/17).  Get what you need while it's on sale!  Check it out HERE!

Don't forget about the linky party tomorrow!  :)

Christmas Bingo

My kids love Bingo games!  I think it's because it's familiar, and they don't have to think too hard about how to play it.  Haha.  I usually make my kids work pretty hard during therapy, so I like that they have something rewarding and motivating to play.  This next download is a Christmas-style Bingo game!

I'm excited about this because it can target articulation and fluency at the same time.  It makes it so much easier when I have to target multiple goals in a group.  Check it out!

I making this available as an articulation and fluency combo pack as well as individual activities.  

The Christmas light cards allow the kids to say their words in different ways.  For the fluency game, they have six different fluency strategies that the kids can practice. 

Before you start playing, give each student a Bingo game board and the target sound cards that they will work on.  Place the Christmas light cards face down in a pile within reach of all the students.

To play each student draws a target card and an action/strategy card.  They place a Bingo chip (or other token) on the corresponding picture located on the Bingo game board.  The students say their word or answer their question using the action or strategy indicated on the Christmas light cards.  The first person to receive 5 Bingo chips in a row is the winner!

Aren't the graphics so cute?  I love Christmas time.  Makes me so happy!

Here are the links to the different variations of the game if you want to grab them!

• Christmas Bingo Artic & Fluency Combo Pack
• Christmas Bingo Fluency
• Christmas Bingo R, S, L Edition
• Christmas Bingo K, F, V Edition
• Christmas Bingo Sh, Ch, Th Edition

The combo pack consists of 6 Bingo game boards, 2 sets of 6 fluency strategy Christmas light cards, and 24 action Christmas light cards.  It also contains 24 target cards for R, 24 cards for S, 24 cards for L, 24 cards for K, 24 cards for F/V (combined together), 24 cards for Sh/Ch (combined together), 24 cards for Th, and 48 fluency target cards. 

Clipart by Maree TrueLove and Goodness&Fun.

Enjoy!!  :)