Oldies But Goodies: Spring

I'm so glad that spring is finally here!  Even though we are still having some chilly mornings, the sun has been happy and here for the most part.  Here are a few of the blooms from my yard.  It's just so much more cheerful out there!  :)

To start this season off right, here are few oldies but goodies geared for your favorite seasonal springtime holidays!

1.  The Umbrella Book Companion Pack

This one isn't super exclusive to spring, but I just love reading this book around this time of year.  The Umbrella by Jan Brett is one of my favorites full of fun rainforest creatures!  Read more about this product at my blog post here.


2.  Easter Worksheets and HW Pack

This Easter bunny themed homework pack is great for my artic kids.  There are lots of fun cut and glue activities and games included.  Plus, it's all black and white.  Perfect for printing and going!  Check it out here.


3.  Chick Artic Memory

My kids love memory and these cute chicks don't disappoint.  Bright and colorful, these artic cards are great for any type of matching game.  Read more about it here.


4.  Easter Treat Speech Freebie

Jellybeans anyone?  This is another one of my food freebies that's made to be played with real (or pretend) jellybeans!  Open-ended games are always a hit in my speech room.  Check out the blog post here.


5.  Happy Easter Biscuit Freebie

We love Biscuit in our speech room!  Check out this blog post for a free mini book companion pack and a peek at how I use it.


6.  Fluency Pinwheels

Here's a springtime fluency game that's great for this time of year.  Make your own pinwheels or play the card game.  Check it out at this blog post.


7.  Blooming Preschool Language

This pre-K language game is kind of like the spring version of my Penguin Preschool Packet.  It targets goals like prepositions, categories, basic concepts, and more.  Read more about it HERE!


Hope some of these help you!!  :)

Popcorn Speech {FREEBIE}

Hooray for freebie day!  It's popcorn time!  I love popcorn.  So does my family and my students and my dog.  My mom will even make it special on the stove for movie night, which is extra delicious.

Anyway, this cute game comes to you because of several special requests.  It's a "regalito" from me to you, my friends!  Introducing, Popcorn Speech.

It's made to be played with real popcorn, so the kids get some nice reinforcement.  Who says speech can't be yummy?!

You just say your target sound, answer your questions, etc. and draw a number card to collect that many pieces of popcorn.

Keep the popcorn on the cutesie popcorn box mats while you play.  But watch out for the wild cards!  If you pick one you just might have to put some pieces back or give one to a friend.

I got some little plastic popcorn boxes from the Target dollar spot a while back.  You could place all the cards in there for them to draw from or have them collect their popcorn in them.  Makes the game a little more festive.  :)

You can grab this freebie HERE at my TPT store!  Have fun!  Don't forget to leave some lovely feedback if you download.  :)

Tricks of the Trade Blog Hop

Welcome to the Tricks of the Trade Blog Hop!  I'm super excited to be your first stop and share what great things we have in store for you!  :)  I hope you will have fun hopping through all of our blogs, learning some new tips, and entering a big giveaway at the end.

If you've never done a blog hop before, all you have to do is click from blog to blog using the links and images provided.  At each stop, there will be a letter clue.  Write these down because you'll need to know the "magic" phrase they spell in order to enter the giveaway at the end of the hop.

You'll have a chance to win a $50 TPT gift card or one of two $15 TPT gift cards!  Yay!

Now onto my "trick."  Today I'm going to show you how I do a little fluency therapy with popsicle sticks.  ;)  Lol I feel like I've been talking a lot about fluency lately.  But, hey, we all need more tips in this area, right?

This can actually be used for more than just fluency (like apraxia, for example), because we like to use popsicle sticks as pacing charts.  I find that this is a great way to teach the kids to slow down and perfect for practicing slow rate or the pausing strategy.  The great thing about a popsicle stick is it's cheap and portable so the kids can take them home for extra practice.

There are a couple of ways you can use these sticks.  The first is as pacing boards.  All you need to make these are a bunch of jumbo craft sticks and some small stickers.

You can let the kids design their own or make a few yourself.  I like to have a variety of different amounts of stickers on them so I can use them at different levels.  If you aren't familiar with how to use a pacing board, it's great for helping kids track their rate or learn to cluster.

They can point to and say a word or phrase for each sticker, depending on what you want them to practice.  

You can also turn the sticks over and use them as pause marks when teaching them where to put their pauses when they speak.  In the pic below, I used a giant piece of paper on the floor to have them practice.  You could also use a white board or just write on the table with dry erase markers.

I let my kiddos decorate one for home and a few for school.  To store them, I used a wafer can that I'd gotten as a gift.  I just wrapped it in washi tape, made a cutesie label for it, and voila!

The sticks fit perfectly!  I hope you can use this "trick" in your therapy rooms as well!

Aaand now for your first letter clue:

It's "L" for Lauren!  Ok not really.  But be sure to keep track of these letters for the "magic words" you'll need at the end.
Click the image below to hop on over to one of my favorite blogs, The Dabbling Speechie, for your next trick and letter clue.  :)  Have fun!

Allison's Speech Peeps	The Dabbling Speechie	Speech Room News	Busy Bee Speech
Live Love Speech	Sublime Speech	Playing with Words 365	Super Power Speech
Speech Room Style	Lets Talk Speech Therapy	Teach Speech 365	Crazy Speech World
Let's Talk	The Speech Bubble	Speech Time Fun	Home Sweet Speech Room

InLinkz.com

Encouraging Words for Discouraging Days

"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.  You are serving the Lord Christ."  ~Col. 3:23-24

Life can be hard.  Work is hard.  This is time of year that things usually begin to snowball for us SLPs. Progress reports, evals, RtI, Medicaid, IEPs, tally sheets, planning, testing, evals, testing, evals, bleh.  You might start to feel edgy and stressed.  Your coworkers and your students are testing your patience.  Some days you might even go home to more craziness and drama.

Everyone seems to demand something from you: your time, your money, your talents, your signature.  The list. goes. on.

Well guess what, amiga?  You aren't alone.  The Lord sees you and your stress.  And I'm here to offer you a few words of encouragement (from a biblical perspective cuz that's how I roll)...in case you're one of the ones who might be feeling crazy.  Or if you aren't, you will at some point.  So just stick this in your back pocket for that day. ;)

Here are a few thoughts that are often encouraging to me when life gets stressful. . .

1.  Do your work as unto the Lord, not for men.  Meaning, I'm not going to get caught up in comparisons or feelings of inadequacy.  I'm going to do my job the best I can to serve Him...not to impress anyone else.

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2.  Even when you're overwhelmed, there is hope.  Hope in the One who is in control of all your circumstances.  He tells us that for those who Hope in Him their strength will be renewed!

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3.  Remember the big picture.  Sometimes I tend to look at my problems through a magnifying glass.  They always seem huge and I can't focus on anything else but that situation.  I need to remember to put down the magnifying glass and take a step back.  Look at the big picture and remember that God orders all of your steps and circumstances.

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4.  As the old saying goes, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."  Or as the Bible says, "sufferings produce endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope."  We can take heart that even though life seems hard, the Lord is producing in us something far greater than we know.  And we are stronger because of it.

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If you need a few more verses and quotes, check out my Pinterest board.  There are also random funnies and other stuff on there, but don't mind those.  ;)

Thanks for letting me share my thoughts with you.  I hope you don't mind.  It's just been something on my heart lately.  I guess if even one person is encouraged from it, then it served its purpose.  Have a great day!

Fluency Task Cards & a {giveaway}

It's Mardi Gras, y'all!  I'm enjoying my day off work avoiding going outside, since it's full of yucky icy rain.  Blah.  I'm SO ready for spring and flip flops!  Time off work means a little more time to work on materials, sooo I've got a new one for you!

Lots of you grabbed my Task Cards for Articulation during the big TPT sale, so I'm happy to introduce Task Cards for Fluency!

There are 10 fluency decks included in this download.  The topics include:

Each of these topics contain 12 task cards (except Speech Machine, which has 8).  The way you can use these can vary depending on the age and abilities of your student.  Some kids who have been in therapy a while might be able to do most of these independently, making it great as a center activity.  Some kids who are new to therapy or who are younger may need more of your guidance.

Here are a few examples of some of the cards:

Relaxation Exercises

Strategy Definitions

Types of Disfluency

Myth or Facts - based on information from stutteringhelp.org 

Strategy Practice - words, phrases, sentences, and conversation levels 

Feelings and Emotions

Speech Machine

These are perfect to use alongside a game or other reinforcement activity.  I find it to be a great resource in general to have on hand.  Th fluency cards can be organized the same way as the artic cards are organized.  I use a flip flop holder.  

Since there are more decks, I might just put one ring in the corner and do one deck on each side.  I've included a top cover sheet as well as deck covers in the packet.  There are also FEB strategy cards and a definition page, which you happen to also be able to grab for free here.

These Fluency Task Cards are available for purchase at my TPT store!

I'm also ready to giveaway a FREE copy of this entire packet!  Just enter in the Rafflecopter below!!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway