Getting Organized This 2015!

        Happy almost new years! Can you believe it?! It's another year later. As I get ready for the new year I realize that I need a new planner for the 2015 year. I don't know about you, but I love being organized. I feel like I accomplish more if I have a goal and then backwards plan to achieve those goals. With the excitement of getting a new planner I began my search on Pinterest to see what cute ideas I could find. 

Only for a Speechie

      Do you ever think of something really funny about speech therapy and say the joke out loud and people just look at you? Okay maybe that doesn't happen to you, but it does to me. ;) This year is my first year being the only SLP at one school full-time. I'm normally split between at least 2 or more schools. I miss the opportunities of talking with other SLPs. 

Almost Merry Christmas

     It's almost here! An amazing break with with friends, family, music, hot coco, cookies, movies, pajamas, and a warm fireplace. Every year my family and I watch the movie Christmas Vacation. My sister and I can practically quote the entire movie. My parents especially love it when we do that OR so that's what they tell us. :) 

Stuff Your Stockings :)

        It's official December is here! The Christmas tree is up, the decorations are out, and the lights are on! I just LOVE this time of year. :) I'm excited to put on my sweats, curl up next to the fire, sip a warm cup of coffee, and watch the Christmas movie The Holiday. I'm a sucker for a great Christmas chick flick. :) 

Dear Santa Claus

       Okay Thanksgiving is officially over and the Christmas decorations are starting to come out of their boxes!! Christmas is probably my favorite holiday with Thanksgiving coming in second place. I just love this time of year filled with friends and family! 

      The month of December at school always goes by so fast since we only have kiddos for the first 3 weeks and then comes winter break. 

Brrrr! Winter is Here :)

      Who is excited for the winter season? I don't know about you, but I LOVE the holidays! I enjoy the cold weather as long as I can recover from the cold with a hot bath or hot coffee next to a fire! I just love the smell of a wood burning fireplace. 

      Well getting into the holiday spirit and preparing for the cold wintery season I created a winter bundle to use with my students. 

Articulation R Games for Thanksgiving

       This year I have multiple kiddos working on the /r/ sound. I don't know about you, but I sure get tired of using the same articulation cards over and over and over again. I do enjoy playing articulation games, such as Go Fish, Memory, Tic Tac Toe, Bingo. I can usually get multiple repetitions of the sound playing these games, which is nice since I only see them for 30 minutes a week. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

      Are you ready for pumpkin pie? Or apple pie? Oh or ham and turkey? Sorry if I made you hungry :) I think Thanksgiving might just be my second favorite holiday after Christmas! 

      Here are a few fun Thanksgiving activities that I do with my language kiddos. 

Gobble Gobble

      It's officially November so just like all of the department stores I'm going to start getting ready for the next holiday now that Halloween is over. :) Expect if I was a department store I'd probably would have already started to advertise for Thanksgiving well before Halloween was even over! I love doing thematic themes for speech therapy. The kids seem to really enjoy it as well when their speech time is tied into the holiday for that month. 

How to Play Tic Tac Toe

      If you haven't already figured it out I love to play a ton of different articulation games with my students. I find that just drilling my elementary students can be a little much for some of them that age. I also get a little bored if every time an articulation student comes in and I play Go Fish with an articulation deck. Maybe that's just me, but sometimes I have about 40% of my caseload doing articulation therapy. 

Happy Almost Halloween!

      I know I already did another post about Halloween earlier this month, but I just couldn't help myself. My kiddos get SOOO into Halloween and all of the different costumes that I decided to do Halloween activities for 2 weeks this year instead of one. Most of the kiddos on my caseload are working on language or articulation skills. I decided I'd share some of my language ideas with you today. 

3rd Graders and Common Core Ideas

     Do you ever find yourself stuck with what to do with your 3rd graders and their common core standards?! I know I do...and it's not just my 3rd graders it's pretty much all grades. :) Ha! I thought I'd share with you a couple of worksheets I have created to use with my little 3rd graders. 

Trick or Treat :)

      Who doesn't love candy?! Okay I'm sure there are a few people who don't actually care for candy, but sadly I am not one of them. I have a candy jar that I love to open and treat myself! :) I just tell myself that it's okay to have a couple every now and then and it stops me from sitting down with a whole bag. 

How to Play the Game Spot It!

      I can't think of many jobs that allow their employees to play games most of the work day. :D Luckily my profession is one of those few lucky ones!! I learned about this game called, "Spot It" about a year ago when one of my coworkers introduced me to the game. It is a pretty mind blowing game, but so much fun. It's easy to learn, which is always good, because I hate the feeling of spending too much time on teaching my students how to play the game and missing out on therapy. 

How to Fold a Fortune Teller

      Do you remember in 3rd grade folding paper into little fortune tellers?! "Pick a number, (4) one, two, three, four"! "Pick a color, (green) G.R.E.E.N". Pick a color, (blue)...You are going to grow up to become a teacher"! It's all coming back to me now. :) Ah to be a kid again. :)

      I remember playing, but forgot just how to make and fold the fortune tellers. 

2nd Graders and Common Core

        Oh common core what am I going to do with you? It's time now to talk about my little 2nd graders. Yet again I have to make sure that my goals are being aligned with common core state standards. Keeping with that in mind I needed some help. Digging through the common core standards for my 2nd graders I came across the standards that I as a speech path I am currently already using in my therapy. 

Jumping into Fall

        It's almost that beautiful time of year when the leaves begin to change. I love fall! It is by far my favorite season. :) Plus it's the time of year that you can dress all cute in a pair of blue jeans with a cream sweater top, brown boots, and a colorful scarf...I just hope it doesn't rain so I can actually show off my cute outfit!! Okay enough about my clothes. ;) 

1st Graders + Common Core = Good Times!

       Oh boy! Who is getting excited for the school to start again?! I'm sure my little 1st graders will be so excited! As a kid I can remember getting so excited to go shopping for all of my school supplies. I would get the girly pink folders and barbie backpack to match! Don't worry I'm not going to go get another barbie backpack at my age, but I did make a run to Staples and bought a new green and pink calendar to help keep track of all of my meetings! I may be just as excited though! :) 

Pin to Win August Giveaway!

     It's that time again for another giveaway! Last month I gave away my Back to School Bundle and this month I will be giving away my School Supply Fun Language Bundle. I hope this language bundle will help prepare any speech path for the beginning of the year to work with their language students. This bundle has a variety of language activities. 

Back to School One Day Only Sale!

      I am officially about to go back to school! Crazy how the summer can feel SO long and SO short all at the same time. One week from today I will be back into the full swing of things. I'm excited to get back to work and look at my caseload for the upcoming year. I'm still crossing my fingers that my caseload will be in the 60's. :) 

School Supply Fun

    Well it's official school is back into full swing now. How many of you went shopping to get new school supplies for yourself?! I know that I love just walking up and down the school supply aisles of Office Depot or Staples. I just can't help myself when some of their stuff is so stinking cute and when it comes in pink. :) I have a weakness for pink and green! 

Back to School

         It's almost that time of year! Hard to believe I know! I'm having some mixed feeling about how I feel that it's almost time to go back to work. I'm getting excited to see my kiddos again though and see how their summers went. I'm going to CROSS MY FINGERS that my case load is in the 60's or less. :) I can always hope right?! Well enough about that. 

Who Loves a Sale?!

        Who doesn't love to get something for a great price! I love that feeling of when you go shopping and buy something that is on a great sale. :) It's also my excuse to buy some amazingly cute clothes! Not going to lie. ;)

      It's time for my 2 day Back to School Sale at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. 

Kindergarten and Common Core

       Kindergarteners...aren't they just the cutest! They are constantly saying the funniest things. It's true kids really do say the cutest things. I love my job. :) Who else gets to spend their day laughing and learning?! Even though they are the cutest it can be overwhelming to think that you are teaching them what they need to know today in order to get them to where they need to be when they enter 1st grade. 

Giveaway Time!

      Finally it's here my first giveaway!! I'm excited to see who the lucky winner will be. I have decided to giveaway my Back to School Bundle to help prepare any speech path for the beginning of the year. This bundle has something for everyone on your caseload. 

Oh Common Core How I Love You

        I think it was almost two years ago already when my district decided to adopt the common core state standards. As I'm sure all of you know what that means...MORE work. It left me with a lot of questions. What is common core? How am I as a speech therapist suppose to use common core? At our district meeting we were told to now write our goals aligning them with the common core state standards. 

10 Month Homework Bundles

Happy 1st day of July! 

      You might not even want to start thinking about the next school year yet...or maybe you feel like you've had some time now and are SLOWLY starting to plan for next year like me. ;) 

End of the School Year 2014!

      It's here! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel?! Yes, I have almost survived another amazingly great school year!

      I wanted to end the school year with another fun bundle discussing how everyone is going to spend their summer while still getting a little speech therapy in before the end of the school year! ;) 

Summer Time!!!

      Only 9 more school days left until summer time, but who is counting!! As exciting as it is that it's almost summer time there is still so MUCH to do to! In order to prepare for the summer break and keep my kiddos working on their speech therapy goals I am sending home a summer packet!!