Winter Word Associations

I cannot believe that December 2013 is already here. I still remember celebrating on New Year's Eve and beginning my year quest of writing down experiences that I am grateful for. I have slacked off on recording those lately though and need to write down a few more things!  

Anyhow, back to speech-language therapy updates! By now you should know that I enjoy creating word association activities for each season. Therefore, I made a new vocabulary activity, Winter Word Associations that is available for purchase in my online TPT store: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Winter-Word-Associations-1005333

I always observe in my speech-language therapy sessions that no matter the grade or age of the student, I can gather information about my students' vocabulary knowledge and word finding skills. It amazes me sometimes how much students with language impairments have difficulty thinking of and expressing more than one related word. Of course, once I give them a few examples, some of my students with milder language impairments catch on quickly. 

Today, I had one of my 4th grade language groups also write down the related words for the 1st 12 words included in this activity. For some students, the act of writing down the information positively influences their level of comprehension of the task. I am also able to see how some of my students with language based learning disabilities struggle immensely with spelling which slows down their ability to initiate and complete work without assistance. 

Here is a preview:

The words included in this vocabulary learning resource may be used for a variety of extension activities. For example, students may verbally express sentences with the words, write sentences with the terms, write a fiction/non-fiction paragraph or perhaps even a longer story with as many of the provided words. There are numerous options to use this Winter Word Associations vocabulary activity. 

Today, I also used it with a kindergarten student who has a severe speech fluency disorder. He worked on describing the pictures using his fluency strategies. I modeled for him how to use as much descriptive language in his sentences. He did a great job using his slow and easy speech, cancellations, etc. as needed. 

Today and Tomorrow all items in my online store are discounted 20 %  off for the cyber Monday and Tuesday sale so make sure you check it out and stock up on speech-language resources to add to your therapy collection.  

Have a great week, 

Tamara Anderson

Oral and Written Story Retell: Turkey Trouble

This year, I discovered a new fiction book, Turkey Trouble by Wendi Silvano. It is an excellent book that is perfect for students to practice retelling stories in speech language therapy lessons, special education resource classrooms, or regular education classrooms as well. 

Today, three of my groups did a picture walk with the story by looking at the pictures to gather ideas about what the story would be about. Then, we listened to the audio book and each student had their own book to actively engage in the story as it was read aloud. Next, I asked questions about the story and modeled orally retelling the story. After that, each student had a chance to verbally retell the story by expressing the characters, setting, sequential events, and why the main character did certain actions in the story. 

This is a captivating story about a turkey on Farmer Jake's farm who disguises himself in different animal costumes in an attempt to not be captured, slaughtered, and cooked for Thanksgiving Dinner. There is a delightful end of the story that you will have to read for yourself! 

Here is a picture of my students actively writing their story summaries after practicing their oral summaries. 

I played classical music while they wrote and they were truly working with minimal need for redirection. I was pleasantly surprised that I had 1 group of students with Mild Autism and 2 groups of students with SLI and SLD actively engaged in writing in my speech language classroom! With my ASD morning group, I wrote a written summary while they wrote as well. I believe that it is important to model all expected tasks for students to increase their task initiation and successful completion.

Here's a picture of the summary I wrote this morning. 

This was definitely an awesome lesson! On their next session this week, they will complete a turkey arts and craft activity on the other side of their summaries. I am going to make copies of their completed work to keep as a work sample. They will get to take their original home for further oral language practice at home ...hopefully when they share with their family. 


Thanks for visiting my blog!

Tamara

Fall Snapshots in the Speech Language Therapy Room

This fall season, I created a game board to use with a multiple meanings (homographs) vocabulary lesson and it was an instant hit in my therapy room. My students have asked to play this game repeatedly over the past several weeks. I used the game board included in my multiple meanings unit and cut out the individual pictures to create a larger board. 

I used this with the multiple choice questions in my language unit as well as a variety of other speech-language questions to target the specific skills that my groups needed to practice. My students took turns answering questions and rolling the dice to move along the game board. Here is a snapshot of 18 out of 30 questions included in this part of the unit.  

Here is a snapshot of the multiple meanings mats that my students used to match vocabulary cards with the correct definitions. I modified this game by placing all the matching mats on the table and then my students took turns selecting a word and searched for the correct definition to place the card on. My students enjoyed playing this as a scavenger hunt activity as they had to take their time to skillfully read the definitions on various mats to find the correct match. I assisted them with orally decoding words that were difficult for them. I was pleased to see my students improve their independence with this activity after the initial time implemented in a language therapy session. 

You can find this resource here in my TPT store available for purchase: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fall-Themed-Multiple-Meanings-Vocabulary-Homographs-919412

Thanks for visiting my blog today,

Tamara 

Wrapping Up October!! Fall SLP/Language Arts Lessons

Whoa! I have been extremely BUSY in the month of October so much so that this is my first post! Yikes! Not to worry because that will change after I finish my graduate degree program for my Education Specialist (Ed.S.) in Curriculum and Instruction. I have 3 more weeks of assignments and then graduation on December 14th! I cannot wait!!

In my speech language therapy sessions, several of my 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students have been working on multiple meaning words and attributes activities. Initially, they need visual and verbal cues to help them correctly answer the questions that I ask. It is easiest for them to demonstrate that they understand multiple meaning vocabulary when I ask them multiple choice questions and more difficult when I ask them to use the words in  two different sentences to convey the correct meanings. 

I created 2 additional fall themed products to improve my students vocabulary knowledge and expression. The first targets multiple meanings words. I decided to create three different activities with homographs vocabulary because my speech-language students tend to have the most difficulty with those terms. 

The 3 activities in this learning packet are perfect for differentiated instruction during speech-language therapy groups or language arts lessons. There is a multiple choice activity with 30 homograph questions that require students to identify the correct meaning of the underlined word.This is best used with the included fall themed board game. 

Students may also play a matching game to correctly identify 60 target multiple meaning words with the corresponding definitions. The students should be given "matching mats" that has the written meanings. Then, they take turns selecting words from the table and deciding if the word matches the definition on their mat. The student who finds all the matches for his or her mat wins the game.  

The third activity included are 30 homograph vocabulary cards. First, the SLP or teacher should guide students with verbally stating 2 sentences using the given words to convey the 2 meanings. After that, students may play a memory game to solidify their 
receptive/expressive vocabulary knowledge. 

Students with language disorders, language based learning disabilities, and general education students benefit greatly from direct instruction of multiple meanings vocabulary, especially homographs. Because these words have the same spelling (e.g. light, state, pass), students often have difficulty recalling the correct meaning in the appropriate language context. 

This resource is available in my TPT online store: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fall-Themed-Multiple-Meanings-Vocabulary-Homographs-919412

The other resource is great for students with oral language difficulties because it gives them an opportunity to orally define fall themed vocabulary and curriculum vocabulary. Students are provided an attributes cue card to help them orally define the vocabulary. The SLP or teacher can also read the included definitions and have students receptively identify the terms as well.  This is available in my TPT online store: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fall-Themed-Attributes-Academic-VocabularyIdentification-Oral-Definitions-938440



Thanks for stopping by! ~Tamara 

Fall Word Associations

Last week, the weather here in Atlanta finally began to cool off a little bit. In the mornings, the temperature has been in the 50's or 60's and then warms up to 70's and 80's. I am sure for those of you that live more in the north the weather is much cooler than that. Anyhow, the leaves are already beginning to change around here and the colors are anticipated to be the most beautiful in late October to the beginning of November. 

My students and I look forward to the change of seasons because it also means a new theme in my speech language therapy classroom!! Yeah!! I have already displayed a few of my fall themed books such as:

Amelia Bedelia's First Apple Pie by Herman Parish and Lynne Avril    Grades Pre K - 1

There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves by Lucille Colandro   Grades K-3

A is for Autumn by Robert Maas   Grades K-2

Home-Field Advantage by Justin Tuck (great football/family theme as well) Grades K-3

Bear Says Thanks by Karma Wilson  Grades Pre K- 3

Fancy Nancy: Our Thanksgiving Banquet by Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser       Grades K-3

I often like to start my seasonal themed units with a word associations activity to get my students thinking about related vocabulary words. I love this activity because it allows my students to freely think of words they associate with the season of Fall. I always let them know that it is okay that everyone does not have the same answers. In fact, I encourage them to think of different answers than those shared by their classmates. 

Here is a preview of my Fall Word Associations activity with photographs that I took. The pictures on the cover page are from my back yard about 2 years ago! I love photographs because they capture so many memories. I hope your students enjoy this activity to jump start the season!

This product is available for purchase in my TPT online store. Check out the link: 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Fall-Word-Associations-888773

Thanks for reading my blog today! 

~Tamara Anderson, M.S., CCC-SLP

Linking Up to Share Vocabulary Resources

Jenna over at Speech Room News blog is hosting a "Love it and List it! Linky Party" for speech-language pathologists to share their frequently used vocabulary resources. 

Direct vocabulary instruction is a major part of my language therapy sessions with my elementary school aged students. I am not a fan of using worksheets to address language skills with my students. It is more effective to use quick learning games that maintain their attention during their 30 minute sessions. When I do use worksheets it is to collect baseline (pre-intervention) data, to monitor progress, or for homework. 

There are so many activities that I use to work on this skill. Here is a picture of some of my frequently used materials to target increasing the vocabulary skills of my students. 

I enjoy using these materials because I am able to readily differentiate the content of my group language therapy lessons by tailoring my students' language practice to their individual learning needs. So basically, each student can work on different skills during a 30 minute group. 

Last year, I started using a series of photocards called Double Dice Deck. Students spread the cards on the table and roll the dice. It is called double dice because the outer dice has shapes and the inner dice has numbers that correspond with the questions on each card. I have my students select a card by the shape only and then verbally define the item.  I love using the Define and Describe Double Dice Deck to provide guided/independent practice opportunities for my students to define vocabulary by attributes. I pair this with a graphic organizer that lists the attributes they can use to explain their word.  

This series has a deck to target naming synonyms and antonyms. Students select what set they will work on based on their IEP objectives. I like these cards because it provides sentences with a highlighted word in red or blue that the student has to read and replace with the correct synonym or antonym. 

Here's the Compare and Contrast Double Dice Deck:
I typically just have them name either 1 or 2 similarities or differences based on their IEP objectives. 

I also provide direct instruction of multiple meanings vocabulary: homophones and homographs on a regular basis. My students love the photos in my Beach Themed Multiple Meanings activity and enjoy verbally describing the definitions of the terms. We also play a memory game to help reinforce identifying the terms. 

In order to facilitate the use of more critical thinking skills, I frequently use Nicole Allison's TPT  Context Clues product. I like this because there are questions targeted for Grades 1-3 and then 4-8. My students enjoy pretending to be word detectives as they look for clues to figure out the meanings of the underlined word. I am quite pleased at the progress that my students with learning disabilities and autism have made using this resource. 

Let's not forget about the Common Core Standards. I use task cards I created for my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade students that address a variety of skills from story elements vocabulary, parts of speech vocabulary, figurative language vocabulary, prefixes, suffixes, etc. 

Click here to check out my TPT store: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Browse/Search:tamara+anderson/Order:Best-Seller

Thanks for reading my blog! I'll see you next time. 

Tamara Anderson, M.S., CCC-SLP

Back to School Activities in Speech Language Therapy

It has been almost one month since school has started in the school district where I work. I have gotten to know my new students, heard summer stories from my returning students, and managed to take baseline data on many of their IEP goals. 

The majority of my caseload are students who have receptive and expressive language disorders. I used a variety of resources and activities to collect beginning of the year or baseline assessment data on specific skills related to their IEP objectives. 

For example,  I used my Back to School-Synonyms & Antonyms, Back to School- Irregular Plural Nouns & Irregular Past Tense Verbs, and my Back to School Word Associations activity packets to gather information on vocabulary and grammar language targets. 

I also used my Beach Themed Monster Truck Activity- Synonyms & Antonyms, Beach Themed Multiple Meanings Memory Activity, and Basic Concepts Baseline Data & Progress Check Activity to gather information from other students as well. 

These activities are all available in my online store here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Baseline-Check-Irregular-Plural-Nouns-Past-Tense-Verbs-831665

Other favorite resources that I used were the Quick Take Along Mini-book Series by Super Duper to elicit students' knowledge of vocabulary and grammar concepts. You can get more info on these resources here: http://www.superduperinc.com/products/view.aspx?pid=TA230&s=vocabulary-quick-take-along-#.UiSrQxusiSo

I hope you are having a great start to the school year! Add these resources to your inventory list and use them to foster speech-language success in your students!!

Tamara Anderson, M.S. CCC-SLP

Basic Concepts Baseline Data & Progress Check Activity

Hey there everyone. Several of my students need direct vocabulary instruction and practice to master basic language concepts. This speech-language objective extends beyond the toddler and preschool age as many of my elementary school students with language disorders struggle with concepts. Their classroom teachers report that they are unable to follow basic directions in the classroom. This is often due to the fact that they do not comprehend the vocabulary in the verbal directions. 

This product may be used as an assessment or progress monitoring tool. It has 25 spatial/location vocabulary cards and 25 quality/adjectives vocabulary cards that may be used to elicit their comprehension of these specific concepts.  I have also included 2 forms to record your students' understanding of the terms with ample space for additional progress monitoring administrations and recordings as well. 

Here is a preview:

This is available for purchase in my TPT store at: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Basic-Concepts-Baseline-Data-Progress-Check-Activity-843349


I have 2 additional forms available to assess students' knowledge of quantity, sequential, temporal, and social-emotional/feelings language concepts as well. Check back for product availability for that time saving resource for student baseline data check and progress monitoring. 

****Product Update October 2015. I've added 3 additional levels of vocabulary elicitation cards. The spatial and qualitative concepts now include pictures that illustrate the concepts. When giving this informal assessment, you should give the student 1 step verbal direction paired with objects or pictures. These are the 4 levels of elicitation cards: 

1) receptive ID- school themed illustrations with text
    *pair with classroom object prompts

2) direct instruction- concept picture prompts with text

3) receptive ID- concept picture prompts only

4) expressive naming- concept picture prompts with cloze sentences


Thanks for visiting my blog today! Have a great day!


Tamara Anderson, M.S., CCC-SLP

Common Core Standards Vocabulary Giveaway!!!

I am having a back to school giveaway over the next 7 days of my 4th grade English/Language Arts Common Core Standards Vocabulary Activity. This packet has 60 multiple choice questions that assess several English/Language Arts standards that are relevant to what speech-language pathologists instruct during language therapy. 

It is important that language therapists integrate these national standards in our weekly therapy sessions with our students. The students' IEP goals and objectives should of course relate to their needs, but they should also relate to curriculum standards. 


These questions have been used in my language therapy sessions with my students last school year. I paired it with my basketball challenge game (http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Basketball-Challenge-Speech-Language-and-Academic-Skills-717131) to maintain my students' engagement. However, it may be paired with your students favorite turn taking game during therapy or used as a stand alone activity in a literacy center in a regular or special education classroom.

This school year, I plan to give my 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade English/Language Arts Common Core Standards Vocabulary packet questions to my students in order to collect baseline data at the beginning of the year. I will note my students' areas of mastery and needs so that I may effectively plan and implement future speech-language therapy lessons. These learning packets/task cards may also be used to review skills throughout the year and then as a reassessment prior to end of year state testing. 

In order to enter the contest for a chance to win, you are required to "like" my facebook page, follow my blog on Blog Lovin, or follow my Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) page. Best of luck to you!!

So, head on over to my Facebook Page and sign up if you are not currently following BSL Speech Language there. Once there, click on the blue giveaway box for further details on entering the contest. 

Best of luck to you!!

https://www.facebook.com/BSLSpeechLanguage

Thanks for stopping by! 

Tamara Anderson, M.S., CCC-SLP

Launch into Literacy

The beginning of the school year is an ideal time for speech language pathologists, teachers, students, and parents to intentionally launch into literacy. We are surrounded by the four essential areas of literacy on a daily basis: listening, speaking, reading, writing. I wonder how many moments a person could be observed engaging in one of these four domains. I'm sure the number would be quite high. Imagine what it would be like to have a literacy pedometer that counts how many "literacy interactions" you have everyday. Hmmm...something to ponder! Ha!

Anyhow, I love assisting my students who have speech language disorders and other special education needs improve their literacy skills. I love using children's literature in my students' speech language therapy sessions as they practice their receptive and oral language skills. Books are a great way to target most if not all speech language areas of need. I also encourage my students to practice their oral story retell abilities with fiction and nonfiction narratives. 

The first week of school, I always ask my students to tell the language group about an exciting or interesting event that they experienced over the summer. I encourage them to describe the event using as much details as possible. A SLP or classroom teacher can gather baseline data of students' oral language abilities during their story retell. You could use a rubric to determine the level of mastery of specific skills.  Here is an example: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Oral-Story-Retelling-Rubric-819201

The SLP or teacher could extend the activity by having them write and record their story using an I Pad, I Phone, or other digital recorder.  Here is a realistic fiction story I wrote and recorded today inspired by my recent vacation to Mexico. I am a firm believer that SLPs and teachers should provide models so that students have a clear example of the desired outcome. 

Coming soon....once I learn how to upload a file to my You Tube channel that I created! :) The title of the story is: Yikes! I saw a Barracuda! A Summer Snorkeling Adventure.

Other oral and written language samples can be taken during the school year and rubrics used by the educator to measure students growth or mastery of skills.


Tamara Anderson, M.S., CCC-SLP
SLP Back to Work

Back to School Word Associations Freebie!!!

Hey everyone! This past week I returned from an awesome vacation in Cancun, Mexico. Here's a picture of Chichen Itza, one of the seven wonders of the world!!

Here's a picture of me in front of one of the Mayan ruins, Tulum. 

Upon checking my mail when I got home, I noticed the usual "back to school" greeting letter from the principal at the elementary school where I work. You know the letter, the one saying how much we are missed at school and how the administrative staff are anxiously awaiting our return because they are eager to start the school year or perhaps it is just too quiet during the summer. Well, that's when it hit me that my summer vacation is pretty much over. 

In my school district, I return to work this Wednesday, July 31st and have 5 preplanning days. Students return to school on Wednesday, August 7th. As my summer vacation is still a very present and pleasant memory, I allowed this information to abruptly sink in. In anticipation of this, I created a Back to School Word Association Freebie prior to leaving for my trip to gently ease myself into the reality of returning to work. Don't get me wrong, I love love love my job as a SLP!!  However, the summer always goes by way too fast. Anyhow, I often enjoy teaching my students about word associations because it is a great way to address vocabulary, memory, and overall receptive/expressive language skills at the same time. 

The Back to School Word Associations learning packet is ideal for students in kindergarten-third grade and targets 20 school related vocabulary words. I suggest doing a brief mini-lesson to introduce the concept of word associations before using the activity materials. Explain to your students that word associations are words that go together or are related by category, function, part/whole, synonyms, antonyms, etc and that today they will practice words that are related because they are in the same category of  "Back to School." The purpose of the activity is to allow each student in a speech-language group or language arts/literacy center to name 2-3 word associations for each target word. Here's a preview of this packet. 

You can get this freebie in my Teachers Pay Teachers (TPT) online store by clicking the link here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Word-Associations-775946

If you want more information about the importance of teaching word associations click the link here to read one of my previous blog entries: http://www.bslspeechlanguage.blogspot.com/2013/03/why-teach-word-associations.html   

As always, thanks for visiting my page today. Check back soon for some language therapy giveaways!! 

Tamara Anderson, M.S., CCC-SLP   

SLP Back to Work This Week!