Organization Week Day 1: Classroom!

Welcome to Organization Week!  I have a little confession to make.  I love office supplies.  And school supplies.  And pretty baskets and bins.  Hi, my name is Lauren, and I have a post-it note addiction.  lol.  I'm excited about this week because I can share with you my love for all things paper and baskets and labels.

Day 1.  Classroom Organization!

I use the term "classroom" loosely.  I know that some therapists do not have their own classrooms all to themselves.  I actually share mine with another therapist.  Some of you may even work out of a storage closet, basement, or a random place in the school sectioned off by partitions.  Heck, your office may only consist of a giant super duper bag and a rolling cart.

No matter where you find yourself next school year, I hope a few of these organizational tips might help you.
This post may contain amazon affiliate links.

#1 Utilize your wall and door space.

If your space is small, you need every inch you can get.  Make good use of your wall and door space with over the door organizers, hanging files, or cork boards.

How pretty is this one?

Over the Door Storage Pockets  

Or use one of these to store arts and craft supplies, card decks, tongue depressors, and more!

42-Pocket Over-the-Door Organizer

Love this for important reminders, plus you can use the dry erase part for therapy!

Magnetic Dry Erase/Cork Combo Board

#2 Plastic drawers and cutesie bins are your friends.

"A place for everything and everything in it's place."  As annoying as that mantra has always sounded to me, it is unfortunately true if you ever want to find anything.  Drawers, pockets, and bins are a big help when you have lots of little supplies, like I do.

I got this tall plastic drawer storage from Walmart to hold my arts and crafts.

I put lots of the supplies I use frequently in this Thirty-one pocket bucket and keep it on my table. :)

I love this rolling cart (excuse the messy top drawer from being sloshed around on top of my cubbies).  I keep all of my working materials in this cart next to my kidney table. The supplies and themed materials for the week are kept in the drawer and files for me to just grab and go.  This way I don't have to hunt for them or get them out each day.

I got this one a few years ago, but here is one that is similar: Safco Onyx Mesh File Cart .  Or make your own teacher toolbox, like this one.  Just revamp it for an SLP.

#3 Label it...but make it pretty.

If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times.  Labels are essential to staying organized.  Drawers and pockets may hold your supplies, but labels will help you keep putting it back there and keep stray objects from finding their way inside.

Find these free labels HERE!

Going the extra mile to make the labels pretty and uniform will give your speech room that "put together" look.

These cute chalkboard labels are included in my new Back to School Classroom Starter Kit.

You can even use labels to help "conceal" some of your clutter, kind of like Charity from The Organized Classroom Blog does HERE.

#4 Sort materials into ziplock bags and crates.

How do you store your TPT materials?  I know some that use binders or boxes (great ideas!).  I like to use ziplock bags and file crates.  I put all of the materials for a packet inside the ziplock then arrange them by theme or disorder.

I like this system because I can quickly glance and grab what I need without digging too much.  TPT materials aren't the only thing you could do this with.  You could also sort card decks, worksheets, or other therapy materials in crates and baggies.  :)

#5 Get creative.

Sometimes you have to use a little imagination and get creative with your organizing, especially if you're on a tight budget.  For example, you might place command hooks on the side of your shelf or the inside of your cabinet to hang scissors or supplies.  OR use the back of your teacher desk like a board.  Hang things you need on it or make it functional for you in some way.

Stand back and assess your space.  What can you make functional?  How can you make it work for you?

You can also get some great ideas from Pinterest.  You can follow my speech room organization board for some ideas.  This buzzfeed article has lots of cute ideas for teachers that you may be able to make work for you.
 

Image from BuzzFeed 

The important thing is to find what works for you and stick with it.  Make it pretty.  You have to be there for most of your day most of your week, so you want to be able to enjoy your space.  :)

Check out my blog post from last year for a few other essential items you might need for your room.

Be sure to check back tomorrow to find out how I handle paperwork!

How do you keep your speech room organized?  I'd love to hear your ideas!!

Happy to Be an SLP Blog Hop

Welcome to the Better Hearing & Speech Month Blog Hop!  To celebrate BHSM, my bloggy friends and I created some informative and fun posts to increase awareness and chat about some of the topics in our fabulous field.  :)

So grab a cup of coffee (or tea, if that's your thing) and settle down to hop through the blogs and find out some good information to share with your friends, teachers, and parents.  At the end of the hop you'll be able to enter to win some A-Mazing prizes!  To participate just follow the picture links and grab a code letter.  The letters on each blog will spell out a secret code, which you'll need to use for the giveaway at the end.  

Now, I made a little video for my BHSM post!  I'll be talking a little about tips for teachers and parents when dealing with kids who exhibit language learning disorders.  Check it!

Well, I hope that was helpful to you!  Thanks so much for watching and enjoy the hop!  

Here's my letter code!

To go on to the next blog just click the following button. . .

Or if you'd like to start at the beginning click here. . .

Happy hopping!

If you're happy to be an SLP like we are, take a peek at our fabulous video thanks to thedabblingspeechie!!

An InLinkz Link-up

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

Speech Reminder Cards Freebie

Is your schedule as crazy as mine?  For some reason this year seems a lot more nuts-o than usual.  Maybe it's because the teachers' schedules are pretty overwhelming as well.  I'm still trying to work out kinks and it's already the third week of school for me.

I thought I'd help some of the teachers out (and me too) by giving them some reminder cards.  This way they know exactly when the kids in their classrooms have speech.

I also do lots of inclusion/push-in with my students, so I wanted to remind teachers when I'll be coming into their classrooms to work with kiddos too.  These signs are perfect to hang up near their desks or on their bulletin boards.  Hopefully, this will help them remember to stick to their schedule/plan on those days.

You can grab these reminder cards for free HERE!  Hope you can use them!  Let me know what you think and please leave a comment below if you download.  :)

Graphics by The 3am Teacher

I hope you've enjoyed freebie week on the blog!  Be sure and check back tomorrow for some MAJOR fun and surprises!!!  :)

Childhood Fluency: Guest Post at PlayingWithWords365

Today I have the privilege of guest posting over at Playing With Words 365!  We are talking about childhood stuttering, including information, warning signs, and things you can do at home to help!  There may even be a freebie involved!

So head on over to Katie's blog and check it out!  :)  Happy Monday (first day back to school for me)!!

Data, Data, Data!!

We all have to do it.  It's time-consuming, boring, and I'd rather spend my time doing actual therapy.  However, taking solid, accurate data is important for several reasons:

• It helps us know where exactly our students stand in achieving their goals.  
• It helps us better plan our therapy sessions.  If we know exactly what they can do, we aren't guestimating what to work on.
• We need it for other paperwork: progress reports, IEPs, etc.
• It gives us proof/leverage when presenting ideas to other faculty.
• It helps us to make decisions based on hard facts and information, not just how we feel.
• It's required by law.  In my state we have to provide proof of services and show our data/tally sheets if asked (especially if Medicaid eligible).
• It's in our job description.  See this ASHA article.  Data collection and analysis are under our roles and responsibilities as SLPs in the schools.

I'm sure you can think of a million more reasons why data collection is helpful, but these are a good start.

Taking data is a task that I am constantly trying to get a better handle on.  I've redone my system about 596 times.  One of my readers wanted to know about my data sheets, so I'm happy to share a little of what I have used in the past.

Attendance sheet - My attendance sheet was inspired by one of the tally sheets that was sent to us by someone in our district (I'm pretty sure it was Mia!).  I wanted a sheet that would have all of their info on it but would be quick and easy to use.

Tally sheets - 3 different types, depending on the student's goals and needs.

Daily notes - These are for my crazy days.  At times when I'm in and out of meetings and classrooms all day, sometimes I don't have the breaks I need to fill up my data sheets.  With this form, I can quickly grab it and write notes on it throughout the day without having to flip through my binder.  I just transfer then notes onto my student tally sheets at a later time.

Lesson plan - Some districts require therapists to keep lesson plans.  I have a spot for the weekly theme I'm using, materials needed, what's being focused on in the curriculum, and specific plans.

Although let me just throw out there that you can have all the pretty sheets and best intentions in the world...but you HAVE to actually use them.  These are just some of the forms that have helped me.  You can grab a copy of some of my data sheets HERE.  

I would love to eventually go paperless with my taking my data.  Unfortunately, I haven't found the perfect iPad app to do that.  Even a good editing app would help.  If any of you have any recommendations, I'd love to hear!  And if and when I discover the perfect way to take data on the iPad, you will be the first to know!  ;)