Goodnight Gorilla Activity

In Class:
This week we are working on the /g/ sound. We are reading Goodnight Gorilla!

After reading, we re-enacted the story with the children taking turns being different characters. They had to work on sequencing the story events and also re-told the story.

At centers, they got to find the keys that matched each gate and open them. There were animals inside to let out, just like in our story! Receptive and expressive language skills were targeted during this activity through answering questions, requesting and describing.

We also read "My G Book" about Little G who finds things to put into her G sound box. We practiced each target word multiple times using our good /g/ sound. This book was great auditory bombardment, and the activity was excellent articulation drill and practice as we talked about all the things she found in the book.

During centers we found items in our /g/ sensory bin and practiced each target word multiple times. We also used flashcards to target additional speech sounds.

At Home:
We have two activities this week. For the first one, print off either the color or black and white version of the characters from the cards. Cut them out and glue them on popsicle sticks (if you wish). Use them as stick puppets to re-enact the story from Goodnight Gorilla. Make sure to say "Goodnight ______" on each page, using your good /g/ sound!

 For the memory game activity, print off two copies of each of the following two pages. Cut out the target words and gorillas into square cards. Glue the target words onto the back of the Gorillas, so you can see the gorillas on one side, and the target words on the others. You should have a set of cards that you can play a matching game with, or even Go Gorilla (Go Fish)!

Cow Crafts

To go along with The Cow The Went Oink book, the APPLE class made these cute crafts. We talked about Cows since it starts with the /k/ sound.

We made a hand print cow (this is one of my student's):

We also made a "C Cow" or a "/k/ Cow" to remind us to make a good /k/ sound:

 

Here is the template for the C Cow head, tail and body:

The Cow That Went OINK! Activity

*You are encouraged to get the books we read in class and read them at home. The library is a great place to get the books if you don't have them already! Please print off and do any home activities that are posted throughout the year. This is a great way to keep your child progressing on their goals! If you ever need a paper copy of the activities, just let me know and I will send one in your child's backpack. Another great way to use this page is to talk to your child about what we did in class. You can show them the pictures and ask them "tell me about..." to get some good language and descriptions. Give them support where needed so they always feel successful in their speech and language skills!*

In Class:
This week we are still working on the /k/ sound. We are reading The Cow That Went OINK!

During circle time, we are working on minimal pairs. This means that we are practicing sounds that are produced very similarly except for the place in the mouth. For example, the /k/ sound is in the back of the mouth while the /t/ sound is in the front of the mouth. Both are voiceless "stops", and the tongue is going up for each one. For the /k/ the back of the tongue goes up, and the /t/ the front of the tongue goes up. Many children at this age produce the /t/ instead of the /k/ sound. We are working on discriminating and producing the different sounds correctly. We do this by working on words like "car" and "tar" where the only difference is that initial sound. 

We are using the Lakeshore Learning sound bags during centers. Each bag is full of items that children have to find that start with each target sound. We will be focusing on the /k/ sound.

Home Activity:

Print these two pages. Glue a word to the back of each tail, have your child color the cards. To play, hide the tail cards all over the room. When your child finds one, they say the word on the back 5 times, then stick the tail on the cow. To make it more fun, you can blindfold your child so they have to "pin the tail on the cow"! After they find and "pin" all the words on the cow, take them down, and let your child hide the words for you to find. 

Yellow color bags!

Thank you for those of you that helped your child find and bring yellow items in their color bags!!

If you have not sent it with your child yet, it is not too late to do so. We will be talking about YELLOW all month!!! Here is the song we are learning in class and practicing each week:

Help your child find and identify yellow items around your home. Help them with their descriptions and articulation.

From Head to Toe Activity

*You are encouraged to get the books we read and read them at home (the library is a great place!). Please print off and do any home activities that are posted throughout the year. This is a great way to keep your child progressing on their goals! If you ever need a paper copy of the activities sent home to you, just let me know and I can send one in your child's backpack. Another great way to use this page is to talk to your child about what they did in class. You can always show them these pictures and ask them "tell me about..." to get some good language and descriptions! Give them support where needed.*

IN CLASS:
This week we are reading From Head to Toe:

We are focusing on the /k/ sound as well as following one step directions. At circle time after reading our book and practicing the initial /k/ words, we played a game. Children took turns picking cards to see what action they got to do from the book. The whole class acted out each action and said "I can.. (kick my legs)"

During centers, children took turns working with me and discovering what was in our /k/ sensory bin! We practiced each target word at least 3 times.

Home Activity:
Cut out two copies of the dice page, so that you can have two dice. Print out the animals page and color them. Glue one animal on each square of the two dice. Assemble the dice by gluing or taping the tabs.

To play: Choose one of the dice and roll it on your turn. If you roll the penguin, say "I can (turn my head)" and do the action with your child. Make sure the child is saying their good /k/ sound! Take turns continuing play until you are ready to be done. Help your child say all of the words and not leave any out of their sentence.

2014 - 2015 Therapy Schedule

Here is a copy of our schedule for the upcoming school year (this does not apply to my kiddos in the APPLE Program, yours will be different).

We are doing color bags again this year. Please try your best to send an object with your child to the school that matches the color on the bag. This activity is a great language activity in the classroom. Be sure to talk to your child about different colors and items that you find around your house as you are finding an item or two to bring in their bag. It is a great opportunity for you to facilitate language and model for your child!

This schedule may have to be slightly tweaked as the year goes on, because flexibility is key in preschool :) Also, even if the sound of the week is not specifically one of your child's target sounds, they will still benefit from our activities that day. They will receive exposure to many different sounds and letters which is very beneficial. We will also incorporate many language goals into all of our activities. Your child's specific speech and language goals from their IEP will be targeted during individual therapy with me each week.

I would encourage you to get the book we are reading from the library if you don't have it, and read it at home with your child too. Repetition is needed to foster language development! If you are unable to find our weekly books, just be sure to read to your child each day for at least 5 minutes.

You can save and/or print the schedule below, or pin it to Pinterest!

Welcome to the 2014-2015 School Year!

Attached to this post is the parent newsletter I sent home with your children, just for your reference. Also, as I get things up and running for this school year, please look through past activities for things to work on with your children. If you forget what sounds they are working on, I can let you know, just shoot me an email! 

Please look through my summer themes that I did with my son. The reason these are on my speech blog is to give you, as parents, LOTS of ideas of things to do at home. You don't have to choose a weekly theme but if you do they are all laid out for you to use if you wish! Or just pick and choose some fun activities to do and books to read/get from the library. 

Let's have a great school year!