Merry Christmas From Our Speech Room {& a Freebie!}

We've been decking the halls in speech this month!  From gingerbread men to Christmas trees, we've been busy!

I always like to start off December with a gingerbread unit.  The kids love it, and it never seems to get old.  A few of my favorite gingerbread books are:

• The Gingerbread Man (always a classic)
• Gingerbread Pirates - I found a cute unit to go along with this one on TPT here.  
• The Gingerbread Cowboy
• Gingerbread Baby - There are some great TPT resources for this one too!  Check out this free one from Mindy Stenger and this one from Super Power Speech.

We also decorated gingerbread men, did worksheets and 100-dot sheets, and played Gingerbread Speech!

After we finished our gingerbread unit, we went all out Christmas!  A couple Christmas books I frequently use are:

• Biscuit's Christmas Eve (with a freebie here!)
• There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell - I use Jenn's companion pack with this one
• Little People Christmas flap book - My littles absolutely love it.
•  I Spy Christmas 

Along with these books, we described reindeer with the EET!

We played Bingo and Cariboo and looked through toy catalogs.

We also made Christmas tree sentences and used lots of worksheets.

Whew!  It's been crazy but fun.

Lastly, I decided to give out little treat bags to some of my students.  Aren't they cute?

I made adorable speechy Christmas labels with funny little sayings on them to tie onto the bags.

A few of my students and co-workers usually give me gifts at Christmas time, so I made simple thank you cards to hand out.  There are fancy chalkboard ones for my co-workers and more cutesy-type ones for my students.  I tried to leave enough space for you to sign your name.

You can grab these labels and thank you cards for free HERE!

Enjoy!  Here's to your last few days before break!  Merry Christmas!

Thrifty Finds and a Sale!

Linking up with Speech Room News today to show my thrifty finds!  I have to admit my local thrift store was a little underwhelming this time.  It really took some digging to even be able to come up with the things that I did purchase!  

Here were my fabulous items that I scored!

1.  Operation!  It's even the new version and it was only $2.  Great reinforcement for my kids.  Maybe I'll even stick tiny foam shapes in there with their artic words on them!  :)

2.  A magic hat set.  Also for $2.  I figured this would be fun to use by placing objects in the hat or under the cups for describing, identifying, artic, etc.  Cute!

3.  Lots of cheapo kids books!  Any SLP can always use more books, right?  It's what we do best!  I love them and am always on the lookout for good ones that are short enough for a therapy session yet appropriate for my kids.

These were some of my favorite finds.  I've also found some pretty decent pretend play toys in the past and books of course.  Since I'm not at work these days, I can't post pics of those.  ;)

Be sure and head over to Speech Room News to check out all of the other amazing finds!

Oh, and I'm participating in the SLP 4th of July Sale!  Be sure and visit my TPT store to get a head start on those things you'll need for next year!

Summer = Reading Books on My List

I heart reading...no really.  It's one of my absolute favorite things to do, especially now that we keep getting these summer rain showers almost every other day.  There's something about rain that makes me want to curl up with a good book and cup of coffee and climb into someone else's world for a bit.

I thought I'd share a little peek at what's on my Kindle just in case you're a fellow book-lover.  Be sure and check out last year's book list post as well to get even more ideas!  A couple of disclaimers:  These books are not all speech related - just a good mix of what I'm wanting to read.  Also this post contains Amazon-affiliate links for your convenience.

1.  Bridge to Haven ~ Francine Rivers

I have been waiting for this one!  It's Francine Rivers's new book and I just know it's gonna be amazing like all of her other ones.  It tells the story of a small town girl in the 50s who's trying to be a movie star.  Of course it will have an underlying spiritual element with grace and redemption at the forefront.  Yay!




2. The Selection ~ Kiera Cass

This book is supposed to be something like The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games but much less violent.  It's a futuristic setting where 35 girls compete for the heart of the prince.  Just a fun easy read.






3. The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism ~ Naoki Higashida

This is the first book in the SLP book club hosted by [simply speech.].  It gives a glimpse into the mind of a 13 year old boy with autism and how he struggles and responds in different situations.  Sounds fascinating!





4. Crazy Busy: A (Mercifully) Short Book about a (Really) Big Problem ~ Kevin DeYoung

This one's a Christian book that helps to find a balance in our crazy busy world.  He gives lots of biblical principals to help us find the root of our busy problems.






5.  I Am in Here: The Journey of a Child with Autism Who Cannot Speak but Finds Her Voice ~ Elizabeth Bonker

This is another book about a child with autism.  This little girl learns to communicate by letter board then by typing and eventually begins to write amazing poetry.  Sounds right up my alley!






6. Defending Jacob: A Novel ~ William Landay

This one was recommended to me last year.  It tells the story of an attorney who ends up having to defend his son in a murder investigation.  Sounds like a thriller for sure!






7. Out of My Mind ~ Sharon Draper

Here's another one that was recommended to my by a fellow speechie.  I think it's geared toward young adults, but it tells the story of a young girl who can't walk, talk, or write.  I'm excited to give it a read.






8. Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World ~ Bob Goff

This book tells Bob's story of impacting the world by a real, faith-based love.  It was recommended by a co-worker, so I was interested in checking it out.








I usually read at least 10 books, so I'll probably read the rest of the trilogy by Kiera Cass as well as whatever other books are in simply speech's reading club.

What books are on your list this summer??  I'd LOVE to hear from you!

Dinosaurs in the Speech Room with a {FREEBIE}

It's dino week in my speech room!  We are reading dinosaur books, doing dino crafts, and having fun with all things dinosaur!  Disclaimer: This post contains Amazon affiliate links.

I got out a few of my favorite dino books.  With my preschoolers and kinders we read Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs.  They LOVE this book, and I love it because I can target so many goals while reading it.  We talk about big/little, old/young, day/night, awake/asleep, etc.  Plus, my big book came with lots of cute dinosaur props that I make them do actions with.

My older ones read The Dinosaur Who Lived in My Backyard.  My first grader group was targeting reading for details, so we asked questions and wrote sentences on a giant dinosaur footprint I made out of bulletin board paper.

We also did a fun dinosaur craftivity that I wanted to share with you today!  Check it!

It's a super cute dino mouth!  Lol  Perfect for my artic and fluency kids especially.  We talk about the way we use our tongues and teeth and where we put them as we say our sounds.  :)  Here's how we make the craft.

1.  Print the templates and trace them onto construction paper (OR you can just print them directly onto colored paper if you have some that will fit the printer).

2.  Glue the red oval onto the center of the green oval.

3.  Print and cut out the teeth with regular white paper.  Write artic words on the teeth, fluency strategies, vocabulary, or just use as reinforcement.  Glue the teeth onto the edges of the mouth.

4.  Fold the mouth in the center and voila!  You've got yourself a big ole dino mouth.  I sent mine home with my kids and had them practice their artic words.

Cute right?!  You can download the mouth templates for free HERE!  Please leave a comment below if you download!  :)

Do you do any dinosaur activities in your speech room?

Love It & List It: Social Language

Time for another Love It & List It with Speech Room News!   This time it's all about Pragmatics and Social Language products.

Here are some of my faves:

1.  Thinking About You Thinking About Me

I'm currently making my way through this book by Michelle Garcia Winner to help me with my current pragmatics cases.  Amazon-affliate link below.

2.  Books by Julia Cook

These books are perfect to talk about social behaviors and appropriate conversations.  Read more about them at this blog post.

3.  All About Social Skills by Speechy Musings

I was privileged enough to proofread this packet for Shannon at Speechy Musings.  It's full of awesome stories, cards, and activities for your social language kiddos.

There are TONS more social activities from all my favorite speechie sellers on TPT.  So be sure and check those out too!

2013 Favorites!

Oooh the last day of my break!  Why do holidays off school always seem so short?  Leading up to it they feel like they'll never get here, but when the holidays finally arrive, they always fly by.  Oh well, maybe a few freebies will help ease the transition!  

Last year was a great year!  I posted several freebies throughout the year, so in case you missed a few of them, here were my top 10 in no particular order!

1.  Love Bug Preschool Articulation

2.  Giant Game Board 

3.  Mardi Gras Mambo Freebie

4.  Lots of Biscuit Freebies!  Click on the pics to take you to each one!

5.  Easter Treat Speech

6.  Fluency Pinwheels

7.  BHSM Bookmarks

8.  Data Sheets

9.  Fluency Enhancing Behaviors Freebie

10.  Preschool Quick Probes 

Well, that's a few of MANY freebies that you can find throughout last year.  Hope you can use some of them!  Which ones were your favorites?  :)