Thankfulness [often forgotten but always needed]

I know I'm a bit late on this topic since we celebrated Thanksgiving a mere two months ago, but I feel the need to still express myself. This last Thanksgiving was a memorable one, but also a special one. Thanksgiving is that one day of the year in which we are expected to express thanks and gratitude. However, I realized this last year that thankfulness is something that should be expressed ALL year long, not just on Thanksgiving. This last year has brought upon many happy memories, laughs, sorrows, changes, endings, beginnings and so much more. I have learned that I need to be thankful and have words of gratitude all year long. I feel blessed beyond measure and I thank the Lord for his merciful love and grace. I feel especially blessed for my incredibly loving, caring, self-less, compassionate, beautiful family. My parents and all 5 siblings are all the best and I feel lucky to be a part of my family. So, don't forget your words of thankfulness and everyday is a perfect day to express words of gratitude.

Happy New Year--2014

My oh my, have I been such a terrible blogger. I think the last time I posted on here was over a year ago. Well, let's just say life gets a bit...well...hectic [& crazy]. Honestly though, where does time go?!? As we embark on yet another new year, I have set yet anther set of goals for myself. Did I reach my goals from last year..hmm, well maybe. However, I'm not quite sure I even remember what they were [probably the same ones I wrote again for this year]. Nonetheless, I am determined, re-energized, excited and motivated to wipe the slate clean and re-boot myself to be better at accomplishing some of the goals for this next year. Overall, I'd like to focus on embracing life as it comes, worrying less, enjoying more, laughing often, reading more, moving forward [not backward] and trying to be the best person I can be. Oh, and I forgot...I hope to write more on here than I did last year [which looks like I already beat that]. Cheers to a new year!

"Tis' the Season...

I wanted to take the time to do a little reflection and spread some holiday cheer. It's that time of year once again, for some [or many] it's a busy time, for others [or many] it's a stressful time, for some [or many] it's a joyful time, for others it may be a sad time and then for the rest of us [many and all] it's a time to reflect on the holiday season, all the baking that needs to get done, holiday shopping, decorating, family, friends, love, joy, peace, harmony, the birth of Jesus, and the long to-do list[s] we make to get done before the end of year [or when all of our holiday company] officially arrives. With it being in the midst of hustle and bustle of this holiday season, I wanted to reflect on those simple things in life that make the Christmas season so warming to the soul. It's a good time of year to remind ourselves [and those we love] what we all so dearly yearn for in life, especially this time of year. What is Christmas all about to you? What do you feel blessed for? What about the holidays make it so special and dear to your heart? How do you spread cheer to others?  For me, it's the simple things that make this time of year so blissful. Sending a simple smile to a stranger, opening the door for an elderly person, enjoying a hot chocolate, cuddling with a loved one, giving a co-worker a kind compliment, phoning an old friend,  giving encouraging words to someone in need, or maybe it's something as simple as spending a moment thanking God for all the things you are blessed with [because after all, big or small, we are all blessed]. Enjoy the little moments of the season and take the time to reflect on whatever it is that makes your heart smile & spread your holiday cheer [to many and all]! 

Artic Turkeys

I know I know, Thanksgiving has come and gone and I'm beyond behind, but I thought I would go ahead and post an articulation activity I did with some speech kiddos. I simply cut out different colored turkey feathers and had had the students request what colors they wanted for their turkey (e.g., I want a red feather, I need green). After they had glued on their feathers, they then cut out pictures with their target sound [or target vocabulary] to glue on their turkey feathers. They they went through each feather and drilled on that word to get plenty of practice. Simple and fun!

-ksu.speechie

Happy Thanksgiving [because there is so much to be thankful for]!

Hello all! Hope everyone had a splendid, well-rested, turkey-filled Thanksgiving. I don't know about you all, but a Thanksgiving break was well warranted. Did anyone do Black Friday Shopping? I decided for the first time to give it a try and it wasn't too shabby. Now that we are done with Thanksgiving, I have Christmas music and shopping on my mind. So, let's get the holiday season started. Looking for shopping steals, holiday gift ideas, tasty treats or simply even inspiration to keep your spirits up this holiday, head over to this new blog: heybrotherwherearthou.blogspot.com geared to incorporate all of the above. Enjoy your weekend before we are back to the grind and stay tuned for new speech-language winter/holiday posts to come!
-ksu.speechie

"A Turkey for Thanksgiving"

Since we are about a week away from Thanksgiving, I decided to utilize this great Thanksgiving  book ["A Turkey for Thanksgiving" By: Eve Bunting] to target language skills. There are a lot of great things going on in this book that make it easy to use this time of year to target so many different skills. Here are some skills I targeted using this book:

• WH Questions
• Story Elements (Characters, setting, problem/solution, etc.)
• Story retell (Beginning, Middle, End)
• Vocabulary 
• Character traits (e.g., How does Turkey feel, how does he react, what is he thinking, etc.)
• Main Idea (e.g., "What's the "gist" of the story? What are supporting details?)
• Making predictions, Inferences, comparing/contrasting characters and settings

One thing I did, was use colored turkeys to be a reinforcer for the kiddos as we read the book. After we read or looked at each page there was a plethora of questions, predictions and comments to be made to talk about about was happening in our story. The students had opportunities to earn these colored turkeys to reinforce their responses. At the end of the story, I would have them turn over their turkeys and answer any questions that were written on the back (e.g., Who are the characters? Use 3 words to describe a turkey? How did the characters feel in the story? etc.) of them to review and retell the story and reinforce responses. In addition, I created a few documents to make predictions about the story and answer comprehension questions for those students who needed more visual supports to assist them. Check them out and download for free!! Like I said, there are so many great things you can target using this book and it's a great narrative during this time of year.Enjoy!!

Download WH Questions for free here!

Download "A Turkey for Thanksgiving" organizer for free here!

-ksu.speechie

"Turkey Talking Categories" [free download below]

"Turkey Talk Categories" was inspired completely through pinterest. I created this document to assist speech-language students grades kindergarden through second grade to target their receptive/expressive vocabulary as well as categorization skills. I created categories for: fruit, vegetables, Thanksgiving meal items, weather, fall clothing and animals. You can take the feathers and put them upside down and have kiddos take turn pulling a feather, labeling it and placing it on the correct "Turkey Category," or you can put the feathers in various locations in your speech room and have kiddos go "Turkey Feather Hunting," and once a student finds a feather, have them verbalize "I found a ____." This also would lend itself nicely to target concepts for students who need to work on positional concepts (e.g., "I found a feather under the table) and lastly you could easily target WH questions or Yes/No questions (e.g., What do you do with a scarf? When do we celebrate Thanksgiving? Is a banana a fruit? etc.) Hope this activity will be a hit this week for Thanksgiving. Enjoy! Download "Turkey Talk Categories" -ksu.speechie