4th of July Celebration, Freebies, and a Giveaway!

Freedom, liberty, family, friends, cookouts, pool parties, fireworks...

What words come to your mind when you think of the 4th of July? Anyone who knows me well, knows that I LOVE fireworks! Of course I love all those other things too, and I can’t wait to spend time with friends and family; but there is something about FIREWORKS that makes me happy! I have been lucky enough for the past 10 years to live in cities where there are AMAZING firework shows. Here in Nashville, there are fireworks near my house on the 3rd AND a huge firework show on the 4th! I seriously can’t wait! 

The 4th of July opens up the opportunity for some great SLP therapy themes...freedom, fireworks, american symbols, and more! Whether you are still in school (I hope you aren’t!), working summer school, working in private practice, or doing something else you can’t miss out on the chance to teach your students about these things! In order to help you out I’m linking to a FREE product in my store to assist you in teaching about The Statue of Liberty! 

The Speech Attic has a great Freebie for you too! This 4th of July lap book is perfect for learning why we celebrate the 4th of July, as well as, related fun facts and tier 2 vocabulary!

To make your 4th of July even better, The Speech Attic and myself are having a giveaway on Instagram! Make sure you visit us (@thespeechowl and @thespeechattic) on Instagram and enter to win a $10 TeachersPayTeachers gift card! Giveaway ends at 7:00 pm CST on July 4, 2017. Another BONUS...we will both be placing our stores on sale July 3rd and 4th!

What is your favorite part of the 4th of July?

Big Bug Surprise for Wild About Books Wednesday (Freebie)

It’s Wednesday...time for another “Wild About Books Wednesday” with Scarlett from Speech is Sweet! I love this linky party because I get to learn about so many new books! I hope that you enjoy learning about some books you have never heard of before, or at least getting some new therapy ideas for some great, old books. 

Today’s book is a favorite of the kids because it’s all about BUGS! Have you read Big Bug Surprise by Julia Gran? Prunella (the main character) tends to be a bit of a know it all...you know the person...the one who pesters and pesters with all of the knowledge. Well...Prunella drives everyone a little nuts but...she also saves the day! Join Prunella and Ms. Mantis for a day of show and tell. See what bug Prunella takes for show and tell...See how everyone reacts to Prunella...See what happens in the classroom...And, see how Prunella saves the day! 

How do I use this book in therapy?

1. Comprehension: There are tons of questions that can be asked! Answer basic “wh” questions and you can even have the kids research the facts presented in the book. Can a dragonfly really fly 60 mph? Do queen bees really never fly alone?
2. Pragmatic Skills: Talk about peoples reactions when you talk about one topic all the time. Talk about ways to make sure people don’t get annoyed with all your wonderful knowledge on a particular topic. Talk about patience. Talk about doing things to help others. 
3. Prediction: Have the students guess what bug Prunella will take to school. 
4. Articulation: Great /pr/ practice...her name is Prunella after all. 
5. Categories: Use the freebie (click here) to categorize different “buggy categories”.

Hope you enjoy this book as much my little ones do! Head back over to Speech is Sweet to see who else linked up! 

See you soon!

The Three Little Fish and The Big Bad Shark (Plus a Freebie)

Eeeeek....I’m so glad you decided to join me today! It’s Wednesday, which means the always sweet and precious Scarlett over Speech is Sweet is hosting her weekly “Wild About Books Wednesday” linky party! If you are like me and LOVE using books in your therapy sessions you don’t want to miss this party! 

This week I am sharing one of my all time favorite books with you! Here’s a fact you don’t know about me...I LOVE spin off books!!!!!!! You can use them across ages, abilities and goals with simple activity adaptations! With out further ado, I present to you...

The Three Little Fish and The Big Bad Shark

By Ken Geist

In this amazing book, the Big Bad Shark tries to eat those three little fish... Swim little fish, swim! Where can they hide? What can they do? Can they build a house strong enough to keep the shark out? You and your kids are guaranteed to have a HOOT following along as the fish build houses and try to outsmart that mean ol’ shark!

If you don’t know or own this book you can grab it by clicking here. 

Need some therapy ideas?!...

1. Interactive reading...Have the kids help you read   the repetitive lines, “...I’ll munch and I’ll crunch and I’ll smash your house in.” Interactive reading makes books much more fun for little ones!

2. Sequencing...Put the houses in order! So easy! 

3. Retell...Yup, no need to explain! 

4. Vocabulary...Talk about different things you can find in the ocean (seahorse, shark, fish, seaweed, turtle, coral, ships, etc). You could even throw objects in a sand sensory box and let the kids dig through the sand to find and label the ocean animals. 

5. Following Directions and Positional Concepts...Let the kiddos cut, color and glue to make an ocean theme by following positional directions (put a jellyfish over the seaweed...you get the idea).

6. Following Directions...Let the kids follow directions to help make cloud dough (grab the recipe here). When it’s ready, throw some plastic shovels and pails in to make sand castles. 

7. Attributes...Describe sharks, fish, ships, etc using simple graphic organizers. 

8. Compare and Contrast...Talk about similarities and differences between “The Three Little Fish and The Big Bad Shark” and “The Three Little Pigs and The Big Bad Wolf”. 

You can grab an EXCLUSIVE, blog only, FREEBIE to help you and your kiddos out. Click HERE or on the image at the top of this post!

I hope you and your kiddos have a SMASHING time reading this book! Now head over to the linky party (by clicking on the image below) to check out some other fantastic books! 

See you soon! 

The Speech Owl