#Nashteacherbash: A Blogger Meet Up

Last weekend I attended the #Nashteacherbash in Nashville! Did you see all of the pictures on IG?! It was a wonderful meet up, mostly attended by amazing teacher bloggers...there were a few librarians...and there was me, the SLP. I was so worried that I would feel out of place...I did not know a single person going into the weekend. But guess what, this introvert was welcomed with open arms!!! I absolutely loved talking to and learning from these top notch educators, and I met some great new friends too! 
The first night, Friday, we met up for a fun filled night of baseball and fireworks! Emily, from A Neighborhood Kindergarten, was looking for a ride so I picked her up and off we went. (Turns out Emily knows some of my cousins.) We spent the evening hanging out without everyone, watching the Sounds pull off a win, and then watching a fantastic fireworks show. 

The beginning of the game was sunny, thankfully, Go Noodle sent us some sweet sunglasses! 
Check out these fantastic educators! Group shot at the game!
Emily (A Neighborhood Kindergarten) and I at the game. 
I absolutely LOVE fireworks! 


Saturday, we met at Atmalogy for some more conversation, lunch (from Jim N’ Nicks...thanks for paying Go Noodle), and giveaways! There were $14,000 worth of stuff donated (WOW!)
I won a $50 gift card from Educents! Thanks a bunch!
We even got Go Noodle swag bags full of treats!
I got to hang out with the 2/3 of the AMAZING women from All Y’all Need! I absolutely adore Amy and Lisa (we missed you Laura)! 
Look how many people were there! I met a ton of other women, I just don’t have pictures. 

When lunch was finished, we all went our separate ways before meeting back up for dinner and shopping. I may be biased but, I think we had the best dinner table! I spent the evening getting to chat with and getting to know some more people you should probably checkout: Jodi and Jamie from Kindergarten Glitter Girls, Megan from Mrs. Wheelers First Grade, Stacy from Simpson’s Superstars and of course Amy and Lisa from All Y’all Need. 

Sunday Morning, we all met up for one finally meal and hang out at Monell’s. There was soooooooo much food! After breakfast we all headed to the stairs for a group picture, before everyone started their treks home. Luckily, I live in Nashville so I didn’t have to go far but, we had bloggers from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, North Carolina, Texas, Mississippi and Florida. I can’t wait to see everyone again soon! 

Thanks for hosting Greg (Kindergarten Smorgasbord), Latoya (Flying Into First), Dana (Common to the Core), Cindy (Exploring is Elementary), Alexandria (Classroom Action With Ms. Jackson) and Lawren (Teaching is A Royal Adventure)! I truly appreciate all of the time and effort you spent making this a fabulous weekend! 

See you soon, 



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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
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Speech Trading Post (The Speech Owl and Speech2u)

Sounds Like Fun SLP had the brilliant idea to set up a speech trading post among some of the SLPs who create products for TPT. She randomly paired each of us up with another great seller and we had the chance to search through their store for a product that was perfect for our caseload. Once we decided what product we wanted (that was the hard part) we swapped and prepared to use it in our therapy sessions. Now, is the fun part...we get to tell you all about it!
I was lucky and got paired up with Kelly from Speech2u! After searching her store for the perfect product, I finally decided on “Articulation Pies” for early developing phonemes. I always love new ideas for articulation! 
I love how creative she as with this! Look at all of her ideas for ways to use these pies in therapy! 
The initial /k/ pie was the most used pie in our speech room this week! We practiced serious sentences (I eat a carrot.) and we practiced silly sentences (I eat a car.). Of course, the kids thought it was hilarious! 
Look, she even provided us with a chart to keep track of data! I laminated it and used dry erase markers to mark all of our productions. Then, all I had to do was quickly transfer the percentages over to my data sheets! 
Trust me when I tell you that you want to bake some of these phoneme pies with your kiddos! You can head over to Speech2u’s TPT store and grab it by clicking HERE!

Don’t forget to head over to her blog (click HERE) and find out what she had to say about the product she choose from me! 

Oh yeah....and were having a giveaway! One lucky reader will have the chance to win Speech2u’s “Articulation Pies” and my (The Speech Owl’s) “How Do Dinosaurs Say I’m Mad” book companion! Make sure you enter to win!!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway
See you soon!

The Speech Owl
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Win a TPT card and a little March Madness!!!

I am traditionally an SEC girl when it comes to football! Growing up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama sort of does that to a girl! But when it comes to basketball....that's a different story! I am a shocker through and through! I am a proud supporter and graduate of Wichita State University!

I am so proud of our boys for the win yesterday but they aren't finished yet! Tomorrow (Sunday, March 22nd) the SHOX are playing the KU Jayhawks!!! Kari over at Rock Chalk Speech Talk is cheering for the OTHER team. 

We thought it would be fun to get together with a little giveaway! So...we are giving away a $10.00 gift card to TPT!!! All you have to do is enter our giveaway by telling us who you think is going to win the game...(hint, hint the correct answer is Wichita State)! You can gain additional entries by following us on TPT and Facebook. We will announce the winner within 48 hours of the end of the KU/WSU basketball game on 3/22, and will contact the winner via the email registered with GiveawayTool.



Let the MADNESS continue! 

See you soon...and...GO SHOX!!!!
The Speech Owl
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Valentine Monsters Inferencing Pack...A Review

Valentine’s Day is next week! I know you’ve seen a ton of posts about Valentine’s Day and Valentine’s Day materials lately. So...here is my last post about Valentine’s Day...trust me you don’t want to miss this one! 

I am so excited that I was able to swap a Valentine’s Day product with Lindsey from Word Nerd Speech Teach. Lindsey allowed me to browse through her store and pick the “perfect” product for my kids! I decided I NEEDED this one...and so do you!!!!

Valentine Monsters Inferencing Pack
Look at everything that she included in the pack!!!!
* "What will happen next” (24 cards)
* "Read my emotions” inferencing (12 cards)
* "Emotion Charades” (12 cards)
* "What am I?” (24 cards)
* "Who am I?” (24 cards)
* "What am I missing?” (24 cards)
* "How do you know?” (24 cards)

My kids love earning chips and the magnet wand so for every correct answer they received a chip! Whoever had the most chips at the end won!     (Please forgive my picture taking skills!)
Based on my caseload needs, we started out with “Who am I?”.

Like many of your caseloads, I’m sure, my kiddos need to work on answering “wh” questions. As you know, answering general “wh” question and comprehension type “wh” questions are two very different skills based off of the same skill. My kids often struggle understanding that “who” is a person, “what” is a thing.... This was perfect for helping the kids understand “who” means a person. There was a nice variety of levels included. Some of the questions were difficult for some of my kids and some questions were easy for other kids. I am totally ok with that! Prompts were used when needed, and if it was an easier questions... great! It just reinforced their positive self-image and earned them a chip! The kids loved it, which means they worked extra hard!!!! Wahoo!

Next we worked on "What am I?" questions.
Answering “what” questions (like the other types of questions) is difficult for my kids because of the vocabulary needed to answer them. I used these cards with my language kids, but we also used them with some of my fluency kids. They were required to answer with complete sentences. It worked like a charm! 

Guess what we worked on next?!?! Sequencing
..."What will happen next?"
This one was a toughie for many of my language kids. I used this for some of my higher language kids and my fluency kids. (I tend to have a gap in the skill levels of my language kiddos.) This skill set was great because it made the kids think! (Thinking and fun=win, win for the SLP!) Answers ranged from baking cookies to running the ball in for a touchdown. Again...the kids loved it! 

We worked on emotions with some of my other kiddos!

First, we worked on understanding how they would feel in certain scenarios and what the physical signs of different emotions look like. Then, we played some emotion charades! I wish I could have videoed this and shared it with you! We were doubled over laughing for this one!!! Try it in your therapy...I promise you won’t regret it!

There are sooooo many ways to use the skills in this packet! We didn't even get to the last two skills: "What am I missing?" and "How do you know?" (We are using those decks this week!)

 You want to know what else is great?! While this packet is Valentine's themed (it's not overly Valentine's themed), it can be used any time! I guarantee we will be using this year round!

 Make sure you head over to Lindsey's TPT store by clicking HERE and grab this product! While you're there don't forget to follow her store so you know every time she posts new products! (I have several of her products...they are all fantastic!)

 Here are some other ways to keep up with her (Click on the links below to be re-directed):
TPT
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter

Lindsey reviewed “The Night Before Valentine’s Day: A Book Companion for Language”! Click HERE to see what she had to say about it!

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Wild About Books Wednesday...Mooseltoe

Today I am linking up with Scarlett from Speech Is Sweet for your weekly installment of the “Wild About Books Wednesday” linky party! I’ve been absent for the past few weeks but I am so glad to be back today, talking about one of my favorite books to use before Christmas! This book is always a crowd pleaser in my therapy sessions...Do you know what book it is?

It’s ..... Mooseltoe by Margie Palatini!!!!!! If you haven’t read this book before, you are missing out! I love it and so do ALL of my kids! 

In this story Moose is all about the holiday spirit! He shops, he bakes, he decorates...but...boy, oh boy does he make a mistake! You will have to read this book with your student’s to find out Moose’s mistake and the hilarious solution he comes up with! 

Guess what?!?! Yes...I have a book companion in my TPT store to help you out! It even comes in both color and black and white!!! Click here to check it out! 
Here are a few ways I use this book in my therapy sessions:

*Sequencing- We read the story then we use the story retell mat found in my book companion to correctly sequence and retell this silly story! 
*Comprehension Questions- Some of my kiddos can expressively answer the questions about the story but some of them need visual choices in order to answer comprehension questions. 
*Following Directions with Prepositions- So many of my kiddos need to work on both following directions and prepositions...let’s combine the skills together!
*Same and Different: I have several kids who struggle with finding objects that are the same and finding objects that are different. 
*Synonyms and Antonyms: Vocabulary is always a major focus in our therapy sessions! 
What else can we work on?

*Inferencing (in book companion)
*Categories (in book companion)
*Figurative language (not in book companion)

How would you use this book in therapy?

See you soon!

The Speech Owl
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5-Star Ideas for SLP's: Snowmen All Year book companion by Speech Made Simple

Today is the last day of school before Thanksgiving break here in Tennessee! Some of you are off all this week while others of us work part of the week. What are your Thanksgiving plans? I have some big plans...I’m prepping everything I need for therapy from now until Christmas/Winter Break! This time of year gets so crazy, I’m trying to decrease a little of the stress and anxiety! 

To help you with planning, some of my favorite SLPs decided to do a little product swap. Check out all 10 of our 5 star product reviews (links at the end of the post) to see what you MUST have for your therapy sessions! 

I am so excited that I get to review a great Book Companion (Snowmen All Year) from the super talented Brittany at Speech Made Simple! If you haven’t checked out her TPT store you need to (click here)! Don't forget to click the star next to her picture to follow her while you're there. 

The “Snowmen All Year book companion” was created to be used with the book “Snowmen All Year” by Caralyn Buehner. In this adorable book, a little boy wants his snowman to last all year long so he can play with him, teach him new things and take him new places. Brittany did a great job making the book companion compliment the book!
I love all of the different skills addressed in this book companion! It makes it so much easier when I can address the many different needs of my students with a single product! Look at all the skills we can work on...

*Comprehension Questions 
*Yes/No Questions
*Pronouns
*Antonyms
*Following Directions
*Prepositions
*Categories
*Verb Tense
*Compare/Contrast
*Writing AND
*Articulation

Because I was short on prep time this week I didn’t even cut the cards apart for most of these tasks. (Cut out the cards for each task and throw in her “lose a turn” cards and you have an instant SLP game!)

Three lucky groups participated in giving the companion a try!
Here are some pictures to show you some of the things we did....

We answered the comprehension questions (I wrote initials on each card) and placed a blue smiley face on the card for a correct answer and a green smiley face on the card if a prompt was required. I love the variety of questions she included! The best part...the kids loved it! 
We filled in the appropriate pronouns: Writing practice and pronoun practice in one...WIN for the SLP! 
We followed directions and worked on prepositions! There were 4 worksheets so we could decide what picture we wanted to work on! (We didn’t have time to color but we did cut and paste.)
*We worked on categories with these fun worksheets! (Again...we didn’t have time to color.) There are several category worksheets...we only had time for one. 
*We talked about how a snowman and a snowball are similar and different! The kids were amazing on this one! (I wasn’t sure how we would do since we don’t get a lot of snow here.) Brittany included 2 more graphic organizers for mittens vs. hats and winter vs. summer as well! 
*We even used this fun game board to reinforce our articulation practice!
We seriously had so much fun reading this book and using this book companion in our therapy sessions this week! This one is definitely going into the therapy plans! Make sure you grab a copy by clicking here!!!!! You don’t want to miss this one!

Want to see what my friend Lyndsey had to say about my book companion for Mooseltoe?! Click here! 

And...make sure you stop by the rest of the blogs while you're at it. Just click the links at the bottom of all our blog posts! 

See you soon! 
The Speech Owl
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