Spring is for the Birds

5 May

Spring is for the birds. This was a “following directions activity” as well as introducing idioms for the older students. I posted this quite a few years back. Originally, I put the birds up on a bulletin board I had in the hallway. Students from all grades would pass by and comment on it. I decided to update it since the directions were a digital book and the link no longer worked.  

I converted the directions to a pdf. This allows you to present the directions to your students in different ways. You can get the pdf here.

My older students had a homework component. I made flyers with idioms printed on them and they either wrote or told me the meaning after researching it.  Here is the flyer. Bird phrases.   

Bird Board redo

This was the look of the bulletin board at the end. The birds are suppose to be sitting on wires.  

Winter and Cold Theme

1 Jan

As we come back from holiday breaks , it’s time to bring out the winter theme items. There are a lot of wintery cold places across the United States weather map.  Some places have been buried in deep snow drifts and are having difficulty digging out. Some students are experiencing snow storms for the first time.  You may be exploring what a snowflake looks like.

 I found a snowflake on Pinterest that was easy to make and looked impressive.  It turned out so well that the students didn’t want to leave them for a bulletin board after making them.  Thus I only had 3 of the large ones on my bulletin board at the end. 

Following directions to make an item is a good way to engage students and introduce new vocabulary. I hope you find this activity useful for your students. You will find pictured directions within the free download.

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click here for the free download
corner2

The students were able to make them within  a 20 minute time period.  The directions review vocabulary such as half, triangle, corner, arch, curve, middle, small, medium, large,  and center. Have fun. Don’t count on having any left behind for a bulletin board.

Fall Bulletin Board

1 Oct
Fall bulletin board

I used this cute owl back in 2011 with my speech therapy students.   I had searched for something that I could use for speech therapy and looked appealing for a Fall bulletin board. Here it is Fall 2022 and I decided to bring the post back to the top for those of you looking for therapy ideas.

 I found an owl pattern that was simple to make, and used multiple shape and size vocabulary.  It would give an opportunity  for  sequencing of directions and I could add  preposition symbols to the finished project to reinforce those concepts.  I used a die press to cut out most of the shape pieces for the owls.  I printed out preposition icon symbols to put on the owls belly. 

The Owl pattern is found on this page http://www.dltk-kids.com/animals/mshapesowl.htm

I made a tree as my background on the bulletin board.   By twisting  brown paper to make limbs and then then making them come together for the trunk.   I then added a half moon behind  and a rock below the tree.  This allowed opportunity for my students to place the owls according to the preposition sign they had on their owl.  They could place them in front, behind, beside, below, between, and next to an object or the tree.

I gave it a title  of “Who is Here?”   Here is a picture to give you an idea.

Follow Directions to Create a Leaf Turkey

17 Oct

Take advantage of the Teachers Pay Teachers Sale

Creating turkeys from leaves was one of my all time favorite speech therapy activities. It was my type of project; easy to set up, materials were easily available and it appealed to multiple ages and abilities. I could address following directions and prepositional vocabulary such as below, above, center, before, and after. I could expand it for the older elementary by using science vocabulary and discussing why leaves change color, and drop.

A walk to look at Autumn colors and changes in the trees, is a good way to start this project. Children can’t resist picking up the different colors of leaves and wanting to do something with them. I found the colors and shapes of Maple leaves work the best for this project. Keep in mind that each student needs two leaves. Pick those that still have a long stem attached. It is always helpful to have extras for those that get broken before use.

I originally posted this activity 6 yrs ago, so it may look familiar. Many of you probably haven’t looked back that far to find it in my archives. I found it recently and decided with some updating it was worth reposting. The original was made with an app called Story Kit on my school iPad and was uploaded to the children’s library here. I have updated it to a pdf file to allow access on multiple types of devices. Click on the button for access.

Free Download
Free Download

I originally placed all the turkeys on a bulletin board with signs. This became an introduction to satire. I hope you have as much fun with this as I did.

Groundhogs Day Bulletin Board and Activity

29 Jan
groundhog buleting board

We had  a good time  preparing for Groundhogs Day this week.  It seems to be a popular day this year as we are really ready for Spring weather.

There are a lot of free materials out there to help celebrate. We studied facts about groundhogs and checked our comprehension. We did comparisons between rodents.   We explored shadows with a flashlight against the wall.  Home Sweet Home is  a good source for a short video clip.  There is also a young student book you can download for free from http://growingkinders.blogspot.com.  The Groundhog Book was written by Kathleen Pedersen.   I downloaded it and was able to use my iPad again.  I love being paperless.  I can actually find what I need when I need it.

I found the idea for a bulletin board on Pinterest.  There was a  groundhog pattern for  a free  download here at pattern universe. We used the pattern to make our own groundhogs. I put the directions on Storykit so they would be on my iPad.  You may be able to use them  as well. The Storykit directions are here.   Now we are waiting for February 2nd to see if we can bring out the shadows.