Birthday Fun!

Any of my friends, coworkers, or family members would tell you that I just love a good birthday! Seeing as how my birthday was last week, I got to thinking about what I could do to help my students celebrate their birthdays when in my room. And then, the idea for a birthday game was born! I wanted to make this game a general reinforcer so that it could be fit for a student with any goal who may be celebrating in speech. Here's what the game looks like:

The cupcake cards guide the game and tell players how many candles they should to their cake. The objective is to try and get the most candles!

I created a "birthday cake" out of a styrofoam circle, ribbon, and puffy paint. I used the tip of a screwdriver to make holes for the candles in the styrofoam and then purchased some candles at Wal-Mart.  I think it turned out pretty cute! Of course, you could make your own variation of a cake on paper or out of a small box. Make it fun!

I hope you use this as a fun way to celebrate your students (and yourself) when the occasion arises!

Birthday Game

Clipart for this activity was purchased from Scrappin' Doodles.

Whoa! Time flies!

So I kept telling myself...you need to do a post this week, you need to do a post this week.....a few weeks later, here I am! I'm sure if you work in a school, you really know how time can get away from you this time of year! Yikes!

So now that I'm back in action, I have two materials I want to share with you this week.

First of all, this is the wonderful time of year where all of these fantastic, eager, tiny people come to school for kindergarten round-up. I love watching how excited they are to see their soon-to-be school! Along with this, I am usually asked to speak to our incoming parents about speech and language skills and kindergarten. This is a great time for me to get some information out about speech/language development and also a time for me to ease any parent worries about "My child does not have their /r/ sound yet...Is that okay?". I attached a handout for you to help with some of these questions. Along with this handout I also include a speech milestone chart. The one I attach is used by our district, so I'm not sure how/if I can distribute that. It looks something like this one I found on the Stavish Clan blog. I also attach an article from the Reading Rockets webpage on dialogic reading (find it here). The last thing I include with the information is a bookmark to remind parents the steps/components of dialogic reading. I print this double-sided so they have all of the information on one paper!

Second of all, I like to give my early-childhood parents a helpful reminder of ways they can encourage and help develop language skills at home with their children. I like to give this handout at conferences or following an initial eval, too. The blog/website www.playingwithwords365.com has some great information on this, if you're interested. The handout I give is short and to the point, but I feel it helps remind parents of how important talking and playing with their children really are.

Both handouts are attached for you to use below. What are some things you do this time of year (or in general) to educate the families of your students?

Speech, Language, and Kindergarten

Dialogic Reading Bookmark

8 Ways to Encourage Language