Back to School Shopping

You've heard about the TpT sale that starts tomorrow, right? Because it does. And I could not be more pleased.  I have been quietly adding to my wishlist (OK, so the last few weeks have been more in the "frantic" realm) as I read over student goals, and start to think about how I am structuring this year.  One of the big things I am thinking about is homework.  Homework that will actually get done, is relevant, and maybe, just maybe, might be a little bit of fun, too.  I am inspired by a homework post I read recently that sends home games and activities with the students to help facilitate speech and language at home. I have many articulation bingo cards that I inherited from the SLP who retired before I was hired, but Bingo will only get me so far.  Here's what I'm thinking right now:

1. Quick Drills from Mia of Putting Words In Your Mouth. How cute are these?  The concept is simple, the price is certainly right, and there's a little something for everyone (everything from sports to flip flops to Star Wars!), along with word lists for multiple sounds.  How easy would it be to practice with a student and then send it home so they can show off to their folks?  Just print, laminate, cut, and go.

2. Silly Stories Articulation - s, th, l, ch, sh, j and /r/ & vocalic-r from Speech2U.  These are mad-libs lists by sound.  Neat for some of my reading-level kids. Easy enough to send home a mad-lib story and have the students practice.

3. Speech and Language Homework for a Year and Social Language Homework for a year by If Only I Had Super Powers. Talk about thorough!  A great supplement, and great examples for parents of opportunities they could take to help their student target their goal areas.  And so easy to organize for sending home, which is much appreciated.

Since not everything can be homework, here are some of the other things I have been coveting lately:

1. Secret Agent Articulation by Jenna of Speech Room News.  My students go crazy for QR codes, and love them to bits.  What a great way to incorporate something fun with articulation AND a little vocabulary building. 

2. Idiom of the Week from Speech with Sharon.  My recent office move has put me smack dab in the middle of a hallway that every student passes at least four times a day.  Since my door is in prime real estate, I would like to do an idiom of the week.  My idea is to preview it on week 1 with my students, have them do the worksheet that comes with the activity, and then hang the idiom of the week up with the student definitions the following week.  My students can take pride in their work being on such prominent display and have the opportunity to tell their friends what an idiom means.

3. Evidence Based Practice Quick Reference Binder by Carissa Ten Hoeve from Home Sweet Speech Room.  This year, we are reevaluating our district-wide RtI programs, which includes speech.  There are also talks of new materials, and I anticipate that this binder will be really helpful in my hope to get some new, relevant materials for my buildings.

Have I missed anything?  What are you looking forward to clearing off your wishlist?

Anatomy of a speech room

Last week, I went in to set up my office.  Luckily, I stopped by the principal's office to check in.

"How do you feel about moving your office?" he asked.
"Well," I said hesitantly, "when we talked about it in the spring, I said I was a bit worried about the location of the other room, and I would miss my window.  Also, it's a smaller space."
"Yea, but it's air conditioned," he responded.  "And it's possible that you will end up with two staff bathrooms in your room, so I think it might be less disruptive if the teachers aren't coming and going while you're there. Plus, the new room has a HUGE closet."
"OK. If you tell me I'm moving, then I will."

At that point he suggested I go look at the new room.  I realized my nameplate was already on the door.  Since the decision was already made, I came back, asked the secretary for the key, and set about to figure out just how to get everything that was in the room out, and everything from my office in.  Because sometimes, you know when it's time to just smile and do what the principal asks.

Now for the "Before" shots:

Here's the room with someone else's stuff in it (except the bag on the chair, laptop, and waterbottle).  After a few hours, a lot of moving, and access to our color printer, here is my speech room for the year.  Let's do a rundown, because almost all of my room is decorated compliments Teachers Pay Teachers, and I am super excited to start the year! 

 1. Speech-Language Therapy Objective Binder by Queen's Speech. Common Core is here, and the principal that will be evaluating me this year is gaga for "I can" statements and objectives clearly stated for every lesson.  After printing out the file, I put each sheet in a sheet protector and used two binder rings so I can easily flip between the objectives.  Hanging it on the whiteboard puts it in a prominent space that my students will easily be able to read.

2. Super Social Skills by If Only I had Super Powers.  I am so excited to incorporate this program in my room this year.  I have a number of students working on social skills, and my new elementary building includes our district's BD/ED program.  This packet has social stories, power cards, games, and those handy reference posters (which you can get free as a preview!).  I just found out today that we have to hire a new social worker in one building, so this will be great for some of the co-treating I was planning on doing while the new person gets their feet under them!

3. This is a combination of efforts, and isn't actually related to TpT, but to my other source of inspiration: Pinterest.  I got the idea for it from The Learning Curve, who posted it a while back.  I used free worksheets from Mommy Speech Therapy, printed at half size, and color coded on cardstock initial, medial, and final for each sound.  I put one for each sound on a binder ring, and ta-da! Instant word lists for those times when I need quick drill, if a teacher stops by to ask a question, or if I need some words for a language activity.  Plus, because the worksheets have pictures for each word, so my younger students can pair the word with a visual.

 3. This awesome bulletin board comes from Danielle Reed at Sublime Speech.  Speech Slides and Language Ladders is my new reinforcer.  Last year, I did stickers, and when a student earned 5, they were rewarded.  It was OK, but got old fast.  This year, I am excited to use this. Students will get 1 roll of the dice if they follow the speech rules for the session and get their work done. If they bring back homework, they get another roll of the die.  Hopefully, they will be motivated to bring back that homework!

 5. Inspirational Subway Art from Middle Grades Maven. A packet of 12 inspirational quotes that I put on construction paper to jazz it up a bit. They are very cute and colorful, and a very quick way to decorate!



That's about it.  My principal wasn't wrong- the closet is HUGE, which means I have plenty of space for materials so the office space can remain uncluttered, which I appreciate. I still have to put up some of my visual cue sheets for vocabulary, which will go on the other side of the whiteboard, secured with velcro for easy referencing.  

In other news, the AC is highly effective.  So much so that I wore a jacket today! 

One speech room down, another left to set up!



*No one asked me to write this, and I have not received anything in exchange for doing this.