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.  

Fun With Angry Turkeys

4 Nov

I am bringing “Angry Turkeys” to the top once again. It is a game that can be adjusted for the needs of different groups of speech students. For my younger students it was a great way to review prepositions. For my older students it was just a good reinforcement activity with a November theme.

Turkey beanbags

This toss game was originally based on the old app  Angry Birds. I renamed it Angry Turkeys and introduced it in November.  Students may not be as familiar with the app these days but that doesn’t really matter. Basically the app had pigs building stacked structures. The birds became objects to toss at them and break down the buildings when they hit.

 I made turkey bean bags from scrap fabric I had on hand.   The only other things you need are paper rolls and coffee can lids.  I covered the  paper rolls to give them color.   I made the green pigs from paper rolls cut in half.  I printed out clip art of a pig and taped it to the paper roll to represent the pigs.  

The directions for the Turkey Bean bags are here.

I started the game by making towers with the paper rolls and lids. I then gave students the pigs and told them where to place them or they told other students where to place them. This gave them practice following instructions and using prepositions.

photo
Pigs into positions
photo (1)

 I then handed out the turkey bean bags. They all tossed one turkey on the count of 3 and hit the towers down. They always requested to do it again. I love  activities that are self reinforcing and encourage review of vocabulary.

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.

Emotions and Body Parts Theme

21 Feb
Leprechaun

I traditionally use the months of February and March to work on  body parts  and emotions theme.  There are quite a few free materials you can use out there. To help you with your search I have listed a few activities I have used with my early language learners.

I started with following directions and naming body parts. I had students by put band aids on a print out of a boy and girl.   Teachers notebook: Toadally Tots Shop has a free download called Betty and Billy Boo-Boo which you might want to check out here.  This was not only good for naming body parts but was also good for subject, object, and possessive pronouns.

I used musical play to encourage movement and use of body parts.  The Hokey pokey song works well for this.  There is an  United Kingdom version: Hokey Pokey- Kids song on You tube.   I used a hula hoop to designate the middle of the circle which worked out particularly well on this version as it mimicked the video.  I liked the speed on this one because  my students could keep up.  Head Shoulders Knees and Toes is another good one.  I used this version here.

I used bubbles to motivate some of my reluctant participants.  Students drew a body part from a bag.  You can use pictures printed from a symbol system or for those who respond better to objects you can use potato head parts.   I blew bubbles and they tried to pop a bubble using their body parts that corresponded to the one they drew.  They got quite a kick out of getting a bubble with their nose.

To work on facial expressions, I found this Leprechaun that works well for a movable face.  The Leprechaun comes from http://www.how-to-draw-funny-cartoons.com/.   It gives directions on how to draw a Leprechaun which can then be placed on a toilet paper roll.  There are directions for making it on the toilet paper roll here.  you can make a Mad lib leprechaun story here. The students have fun turning the roll to get a different face to match an emotion in the story.

I hope you have fun with these activities and it makes your lesson planning easier.   Let me know if you have any other activities that can be added.

December Bulletin Board and Following Directions Activity

25 Nov

  It is hard to keep students focused at this time of year. I continue to search for materials that have speech therapy value and are not time intensive. Schools have also become more culturally sensitive which makes it even more of a challenge for what I can actually put up on a bulletin board. This activity meets many of the requirements.

I often already have a tree from November’s bulletin board.  I move the limbs so it looks more like a fir tree.  I use the teacher trick of tracing  the student’s hands on green paper and having them cut  them out for leaves.  I can staple these on the tree to provide the fir part of the tree.  I then have students make and  add the paper ornaments.

paper ornament

I found this great paper ornament that meets the requirements.  It is a simple activity  that even the youngest children can complete and it allows practice  following directions and retelling a sequence.  It is found on  http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/2008/12/paper-flower-ornaments.html  I have access to plenty of colored paper and glue sticks so I won’t need to get additional materials.

This is a picture of how it turned out.

Beautiful paper ornaments
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