Weekend Rewind {Highlights From This Week!}

Sunday, October 27, 2013
This post contains Amazon Affiliate links for your convenience. 
Happy Sunday! Normally this post goes up on Friday, but this past Friday I was in Orlando for our FLASHA conference. It just so happened that my husband was working in Orlando doing a broadcast from Halloween Horror Nights the same day, so we made a mini vacation out of the trip! Watch out for zombies below!!
In therapy this week we read my all time favorite Halloween book, Where's My Mummy? by Carolyn Crimi
This is just the most adorable story of Little Baby Mummy playing a game of hide and shriek with his Big Momma Mummy! While looking for his "mummy," he runs into some spooky creatures... but he's not scared! This is the first story I have read in a long time that I had kids asking me more than once to read it again!
After the story, the kiddos each created their own mummy mask! 
Of course we also had some fun playing with some Halloween apps on the iPad. This week I just happened to find a great way to work on pronouns with the Clicky Sticky Halloween app! One of the playing options is dressing up a boy and a girl in costumes. The kiddo that found it also happens to hate working on pronouns. Little did he know we were working on pronouns the entire time he was dressing "him, her, and them" up in costumes!! (enter evil Halloween laugh!!)
Unfortunately, I was super sick at the beginning of the week so I don't have too many activities to share. I am so excited for more Halloween goodies in therapy this week!!
Have a great rest of your weekend!

Friday Rewind {Highlights From This Week!} GIVEAWAY!

Friday, October 18, 2013
This post contains Amazon Affiliate links for your convienience.
Cheers! It's Friday! I hope you all had an awesome week. On Tuesday, my friend and I took our little munchkins to the pumpkin patch down the street for a lithe photo shoot. I just love these little cuties. They are two weeks apart in age and needless to say... best friends. His mother and I have already arranged their marriage :)
Therapy sessions were filled with festive fun, too! This week we read two books. That wasn't the original plan, but things rarely go as planned 100% of the time anyway!
I love this sweet story of Spookley. It opens a great opportunity to discuss how everyone is different and what makes us special. I also love using this story to work on shapes with my little guys. 
Then, one of my students happened upon my Go Away, Big Green Monster!
 app, and Spookley took the back seat! I planned on doing this story next week, but The BGM sure had the kiddos attention so I just went with it!
The kids had fun making masks and completing activities that went along with the story. 
I found some great mask templates on Pinterest. The masks were made from fabulously fancy paper plates. You can find a color template here and a black and white template here.
Last year I created a Big Green Monster glyph! You can check it out and snag a copy here.
We also did a sorting activity that I found here! We sorted words into Color, Size, and Body Part categories.
I have quite a few kids with following directions goals so I used an activity from my Halloween Thematic Unit packet.
I was pretty proud of myself by the end of the week because I got two new products up in my store. So guess what that means? I am giving away a copy of each! One lucky winner will win a copy of both products to make their speech sessions sweeter!
Sweet Syllable Sort contain 1-4 syllable words and sorting mats. 
BOOtiful Speech contains articulation cards for /r, s, l, k, g, f, v/, SH, CH, TH sounds, a game, and homework sheets!
Enter below to win!!



Happy Speech-O-Ween!! Thematic Unit Giveaway!

Thursday, October 17, 2013
Another giveaway? Sure, why not?! It's the holiday season, let's get festive! I created a Halloween Thematic Unit for my students and I decided to share it on TpT with you all. I love celebrating Fall holidays in therapy. Halloween is definitely a favorite for a lot of my kids so I wanted to have therapy materials that went along with their excitement!
Here's what's inside...
Pages 3-6 Spooky Vocabulary 
Use these cards as flash cards or in a game. Print two copies and play a memory game, concentration, or hide them around the room! 


Pages 6-9 Same or Different?
I have included two pictures that are the same and one that is different. Use these to teach and/or assess the concept of same and different.



Pages 10-13 Spooktacular Directions!
Have your students work on their listening comprehension skills by following the directions you read to them. This activity includes a basic, one step directions page and a conditional directions page. 



Pages 14-15 Halloween Comprehension Questions
Have your students practice answering WH questions. Read the story out loud them, then have them answer the questions.



 Pages 16-18 Size Concepts
Have your students practice the concepts of size.



Pages 19-29 Counting
Practice 1:1 correspondence for numbers 1-20 by placing the correct number of items on the mat. 



Pages 30-31 Haunted Pronouns
Have your students point to the picture described or have them describe the picture using the correct pronoun. 



Pages 32-34 Sweet Spatial Concepts
Where is the candy? (Multiple choice options)



Pages 37-38 Sweet or Sticky Social Skills
Read each scenario. Decide if it describes good manners (sweet treat) or bad manners (sticky mess.)



Pages 39-43: “I See” Halloween Book

Students can practice the sight word “see” and follow directions as they color their own Halloween vocabulary book. 

The kiddos and I have had so much fun using this unit, that I want to give 3 copies away to you! You can enter below. 3 winners will be announced Sunday. If you would like to use this activity before then, go ahead and purchase the activity here. If you are one of my 3 winners, you can choose any other item from my store for free. 
Good luck!!


In My APPinion: Articulation Scenes by Smarty Ears {Giveaway!}

Wednesday, October 16, 2013
I am always on the hunt for new articulation materials. Is it just me, or does articulation therapy seem to be the one area that gets tedious and somewhat boring if you don't switch activities up frequently? That is why I am super excited to be reviewing and giving away a copy of Articulation Scenes by Smarty Ears!
With this app, you and your students are going to the movies! This is such a fun theme. How can your kids look at this opening screen and now want to participate? 
To get started, first select your player. This app allows for one student to be chosen to play at a time. Data can be taken on that student as he/she completes activities. 

Then, select your target sound. 
Articulation Scenes is  designed to target 1200 practice words using 72 scenes. 

After the target sound is chosen, you then choose a scene. This is usually where I let the kids take the reigns and let them feel like they are more in control of their session. I have already set the targets, now they get to choose how they practice!
There are 4 activity choices to choose from,
Find the Hidden Items
Tap and Say It
The Movie Theater
The Production Room
If you choose Find the Hidden Items, your student is assigned an "important task" of finding targeted items in the scene. The words are listed at the bottom of the screen. Each item they have to find has their target sound in the word. Once the student finds all the hidden items, they are awarded a trophy! This activity is a major favorite of my kiddos so far!

If you choose, Tap and Say It, your student has to find hidden items in a picture that contains their target sound. After he/she finds one of the targeted words, they are prompted to practice the word. You can score their production on a Missed It, Almost, or Got It basis. I like to have the kids determine their own production success! There is also an option to record here. 
If you choose, The Movie Theater, students watch a short "movie" where they listen to a story about a picture. After that, the student has the option to create their own story about the picture or read the script. 

Last but not least, The Production Room! Here, your students have 2 options for practicing their speech: creating their own story or reading a script off a teleprompter! This is great for kids working at the sentence level and above. What a fun way to practice carryover!

I have really enjoyed using this app in therapy. Like I said earlier, articulation therapy can easily turn boring if you don't keep it fun. This is a very fun app that has kept my students engaged. As a private therapist, this app is ideal since I work one on one with my kids. Since most school based therapists see groups of kids, this app may not be the best considering that you can only use this with one student at a time. It could easily be used with more than one student (great way to practice turn taking!), but data would not be able to be kept on all students using the app. In addition to targeting articulation with this app, it gives you multiple language opportunities! You can practice good grammar and sentence structure while creating your own stories! Another bonus to this app is that there is an option to print and/or email homework sheets that go with this app! 
Thanks to the wonderful Smarty Ears team, I have a copy to give away to one of you! Enter below. Good luck!!



Fun, Fabulous, Festive Apps {Halloween Edition!}

Saturday, October 12, 2013
It's time to get a little spook-tacular in your speech rooms! A few weeks ago I realized that I had 1 lonely Halloween app on my iPad. How can that be? So I went on a hunt to find some fun, fabulous, and festive Halloween apps to use in therapy for the next few weeks. Here is what I found!
(Please note that the prices listed are current for October 2013. The opinions of these apps are my own. I downloaded these apps with no compensation from the developers.)

This is a short, adorable story about a big, green monster. The story talks about the parts of this monster (eyes, hair, nose, teeth, face, etc) and how he's not so scary after all. It's great for emphasizing body parts and colors. I used this story last year in therapy, here is a link to the post! This app includes options to Read Along with Ed Emberley, Read Along With a Friend (child's voice), Read Myself, and my personal favorite... Sing Along! This app could be used year round, but the monster theme is fun during Halloween! You can download this app for $2.99 in the iTunes store.

This is a great interactive story app to use during the Halloween season. This story is about a square pumpkin who was aways teased for being different until one stormy night, when he saved the other pumpkins! This is a great story to discuss how everyone is different and that that's ok! This app also has a Read to Me or Read to Myself options. With the little ones, I like to read it myself... the recorded voice is a little creepy in my opinion! Here is a link to an activity I did with this story last year. Currently, this app sells for .99! (I believe they are having a sale right now)

This is another story app (can you tell I really enjoy stories on the iPad?!) This is a story about the vampires, ghosts, spiders, and other spooky creatures and how they get ready for their Halloween party. This is a cute story that is also interactive if you are not in the Autoplay mode. For a free app, this one is definitely worth the download. However, half way through the story an add pops up, so make sure you are reading along with your kiddos so they don't download anything unwanted. Download this app for free in the iTunes store!

This is a fun freebie that lets your kiddos be creative as they choose, carve and decorate their own pumpkin! Simple app but the kids love it. That's enough for me :) 

So far, this app is in the lead as my students' favorite Halloween app! With this one, kids can choose a costume and go trick or treating! When you get to each house, you can knock or ring the doorbell. After that, that you are delivered a trick or a treat! When they are done, they get to sort through their candy bag, too. This has been a great one to use while talking about safety, manners, and what to expect when trick or treating. This app sells for .99 in the iTunes store.

In this app, you are standing in front of a Haunted House, knock on the door, and see which spooky Halloween character answers. This app did get boring to my kids pretty fast. However, it is good for vocabulary and predicting skills (have your kiddos listen carefully and see if they can guess who is behind the door.) The graphics in this app are very cute, too. You can download this app for $1.99 in the iTunes store.

This app is adorable! You and your students scroll through Millie's book of Tricks and Treats. On each page, ring the doorbell and find out if you get a trick or treat. If you get a trick, Millie (a dog) performs a trick. So far the favorite trick is Millie disco dancing! If you land on treat, Millie gets a treat. Each treat is bacon related! There is also a scratch off card and a hidden sticker on each page. You can download this app for .99 in the iTunes store.

This app allows your kids to create a Halloween scene with stickers! After he/she finishes, hit the play button and it comes to life. This app offers great language opportunities and will keep the kids engaged for a while. You can download this app for .99 in the iTunes store.

These are the apps I currently have on my iPad for the Halloween season! If you know of any other great apps, please share!


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