Here are some more Valentines Day books to use in speech therapy to liven up your sessions:
Love, Splat by Scotton
Splat has made a special valentine for his secret crush, Kitten. A little bashful about giving it to her, he also discovers that his rival, Spike, has eyes for Kitten too. In fact, Spike has a bigger valentine for her than Splat. Losing his nerve, Splat drops his valentine for Kitten in the trash. Turns out that Kitten finds it, and prefers Spat over Spike inspite of his rumbling stomach and bendy tail.
- A cute story to use to re-tell, talk about the beginning, middle and end, as well as the problem and solution.
- Extend the story to talk about how kids treat you at school. What makes a friend? What do they appreciate in you?
- Make some valentines for friends. Talk about what you appreciate in each one and dictate or write a message telling them that.
- Talk about the difference between being good at something like soccer or drawing versus a character trait like generous, kind or helper
- Talk about the comparatives, “I love you higher than the highest bird ever flew,” or taller than the tallest tree.” Encourage the student to make their own comparatives: bigger than…., wider than……happier than….. and illustrate your words.
- Point out the descriptive words, “swirly skies,” “sneaky shadows” or “wavy waters.” Collect pictures or objects around the room and add a descriptive word to the noun. See how many you can brainstorm.
- Talk about places your student has gone, and add a descriptive word to it.
Many of us speech therapists were trained to rehabilitate oral language skills and leave the written skills to the teacher or resource teacher. I still believe that my main value is in building oral language skills, which can feed right into written language. I work with students to brainstorm ideas, organize thoughts. add detail and descriptive words, transitions and endings. Then they get to work writing their piece.
I was recently in a classroom where the teacher referred to “The Writing Menu” by Melissa Forney. She showed the class a full page of “sensory words” in columns according to touch, smell, sound, taste, and sight. It is an excellent resource to have at your side when writing and wanting to include descriptive words. I ordered “The Writing Menu” and found a workbook of ideas for the classroom teacher to make writing fun. The author’s premise is to provide a “menu” of writing ideas for units of study such as The Rain Forest, Native Americans etc.. The menu gives kids choices according to their abilities–Appetizers are easier projects such as listing or labeling that can be done in one session, Main Courses are projects that involve multiple skills and take several days to complete and Desserts are projects that involve kinesthetic expression such as art or music and take several days to complete. The concept of a menu gives the kids ownership as they make choices based on their learning styles and interests. I know I would pick the dessert!
The author includes writing target skills by grade from first through eighth grade as well as many ideas for writing prompts and lists of words.
If you’re looking for ideas for writing and a new approach, check this out.
What materials do you find helpful to get a child ready for a writing assignment?
Since this is national poetry month, many classes are learning about and writing different kinds of poetry. Today, in class, we learned about alliteration, went around the circle using alliteration with our name–”Shy Sherry, not true, Wiggly William, and Nice Nancy. Anyways the kids really got into it and started to giggle over a few of them. Next, the clever teacher assigned a number to each child. They had to write a poem using alliteration with the beginning sound of their number and the theme was dinosauers. Luckily the child I work with and I were assigned “two” because it is relatively easy to think of “t” words compared to “e” words for eleven (although an elephant could open an envelope or use an etch-a-sketch!)
Here’s her wonderful poem with a dinosauer theme:
10 tiny dinosaurs
touching toes
and talking on the telephone, tracing pictures and doodling.
As an added touch, the kids traced one of several dinosauer shapes, cut them out and wrote their poems on the shape. String them together and you have a lively decoration for your room!
Since April is Poetry Month, I will be writing several posts on ideas for language and classroom activities as well as ideas for parents to use at home.
Today I was in a classroom where the kids have been studying different forms of poetry and trying their hand at it! The teacher read several “show but don’t tell” poems where she read the poem and the kids had to guess what the words were describing–marbles, a paper clip or a compass. The teacher read several poems by Valerie Worth, on simple objects described through poetry. The kids loved the mystery, as they soaked in the words and inviting vocabulary.
Then they went to their tables and found a basket of objects to write about–a scallop shell, a compass, an eraser, a cork, a paper clip and so on. Here is a masterpiece written by one of my kids working on language goals:
“Shell”
You find it at the beach
Ridges like a chip
You can scoop the sand
It looks like a Uganda dress!
I loved the last line because the pattern on the shell DID look like a dress from Uganda. I was excited to see some feedback from all of the picture books that I have shared with this girl, working on vocabulary, inference, prediction and re-telling stories. Good children’s literature does build language skills!
Since April is the national poetry month, many classrooms are studying poetry, encouraging children to try their hand at creating different styles of poems.
Today I was in a second grade class who read Haiku Hike, written and illustrated by a fourth grade class of students at St. Mary’s Catholic School in Mansfield, MA. On the premise of curing their boredom, a group of kids go for a hike. As they dump out their backpack at the beginning of the trek, they realize they have forgotten their camera to record “the beautiful things they see.” As a backup, they get out the paper and pencil and decide to record their trip in words, instead of visual images, through the Japanese form of poetry, Haiku. Easily explained in kid’s terms, we learn that their poems need a seasonal word or phrase called “kigo,” three lines, and five, seven and five syllables in the successive three lines. Off the kids go on their hike, recording expressive Haikus describing ”furious rapids,” “a mighty white oak,” and “spring peepers,” to name a few. Today’s teacher read the book, passed out the kids’ journals, and left on a hike through the woods to generate some new Haikus.
Try this with your class, or children, showing them a creative way to express themselves in just a few words!
I was in a second grade class yesterday and as part of their preparation for Martin Luther King Day, they were studying African American authors. They read several books by Angela Johnson including One of Three ,The Leaving Morning and Do Like Kyla. The class discussed the author’s writing techniques–the use of ellipses, and repeated lines like “leaving morning” and why the writer used them. The challenge was to apply these techniques to their own writing.
Reagan began her “small moments” story about hearing a funny book read to her. A teacher brought in her bag of books and she wondered what was inside…
I’ve been working with several elementary aged children to build their language skills. I always find that rich children’s literature holds their attention, stretches their vocabulary, and builds reasoning skills. Recently, I used two books that I would recommend for grades 3-5 (although I also used them with a second grader):
Fiddlin’ Sam by Dengler and The Raft by LaMarche.
Fiddlin’ Sam uses southern dialogue which brings about discussion on different ways to say things. Sam is a roving character who entertains through his music while traveling the back roads of the Ozarks. The tale takes you through the south as he fiddles for a meal or overnight lodging. The story unfolds as Sam searches for his successor as his father left him with, “This ain’t a gift, it’s a loan. You gotta pass the music along.” There is enough abstract language and inference to question and discuss to deepen a child’s language skills.
The Raft deals with a reluctant little boy who is sent to spend the summer with Grandma on a river. Mystery is created around his grandma as he enters her artistic world of sketches and sculptures from the habitat that surrounds her. When a raft floats up, covered with drawings of animals, the boy is drawn into the river life and learns of the special attraction the raft has to river wildlife.
What read alouds have your found to be rich with vocabulary, inference and storylines to launch storytelling? Leave them in the comments and I will share them with everyone.
I love my local library and tend to visit the children’s section about once and week. I check out the new books section to see what is hot off the press and then my other strategy is to peruse the books that are opened up on top of the stacks, presumably selected by the librarians for their interest.
Last week Dr. Seuss’ Hooray for Diffendoofer Day! caught my eye in the display on top of the stacks. I brought it home and read it to a second grade girl who had been studying poetry. I thought it would loosen up her image of a poem! We both laughed our way through this clever, hilarious book.
The kids in Dinkerville go to the Diffendoofer School and have a wonderful assortment of teachers who teach listening, laughing, smelling and yelling. Mr.Lowe, the principal is faced with quite a dilemma–they have to pass a special test to see which school is the best. If they don’t do well, the kids will have to go to the dreaded Flobbertown, where everyone does everything the same. Who knew standardized tests were a problem back in 1998 when this book was published!
An added feature of this book is the story behind it. The last pages are devoted to the drawings and text notes found after Dr. Seuss’ death that were the beginnings of this story. His editor enlisted author Jack Prelutsky and an illustrator to “finish” Dr. Seuss’ story and they did a magnificent job. Seeing Dr. Seuss’ initial lists of possible names for the school and pictures developing characters, shows children that even a master story teller brainstorms, revises, and edits his work.
I won’t give away the end of the story but check this book out if you want to giggle and have some fun with language. Kids need to know that playing with language can make you laugh.
When I started my blog I wondered if I would always have something fresh to say but thankfully my mind is bursting with ideas from daily encounters with parents and kids.
It occurred to me that I should write about what to do when school isn’t going as planned. The honeymoon is over. This week two moms asked my advice on how to handle school problems and approach the staff. Since I spent over twenty years working as a speech-language pathologist in public and private schools, I know how that world works.
One mother’s son had an Individualized Education Program (IEP) in place so he could receive speech and language services as well as reading help. He started second grade and her typically happy child is overwhelmed and dreading going to school. Kids are starting to correct him in class and his wonderful spirit is sagging. He’s not keeping up and he knows it.
A second mom was called in for a conference because her daughter in third grade is disruptive in class, always moving and lacking focus during group instruction. The social worker brought up the possibility of ADHD and suggested mom talk to her pediatrician and get back to her.
Here are some tips for approaching the school when your child is experiencing some difficulty:
• The school is your partner. It has been my experience that school personnel want the best for your child, just as you do. You are a vital part of the team to develop the best program for your child.
• Don’t approach the school as the enemy. So many times I’ve seen parents anticipate a negative response from the school team when in fact they are there to hear the facts and formulate the best educational plan for your child. Go in with a positive attitude and you will likely get a better result.
• You are your child’s advocate. You know your child better than anyone. Don’t be intimidated by a team of professionals around the table. If you come to a meeting prepared and with some goals in mind, be strong in your commitment to seeing them implemented.
• Be prepared. Write down your observations to share with the team. This is invaluable. It’s one thing to say your child’s attitude has changed about school. It is more helpful to be specific such as, “He cries every morning and doesn’t want to go.” Or “He said James says he talks funny.” Or “He misses directions when he leaves the room for special help.” As a professional on a team, information from home is a crucial piece of the puzzle. Often children can keep it together at school but will let out their feelings at home. Have a list of possible solutions to present to the team such as “increase his reading instruction” or “decrease his pull-out therapy and have it delivered in the classroom.”
• Be Open. Now that I am working in private practice, I have had a number of parents that don’t want me to communicate with the school, partly so their child won’t be labeled and also parents think if they don’t say anything, no one will notice. Honestly, good teachers pick up on problems right away. They would benefit from all the information to best serve your child. You aren’t benefiting your child by holding back information If your child is having attention difficulties and medication is not an option for you, then be honest and tell the team that. Now they will go forward and look for other strategies to help you child.
• Be flexible. A good team will come up with different recommendations. Be open to trying the strategies that they recommend. If something works for your child, such as preferential seating, or having directions written down as a reminder, then that is great. Maybe it will take trying a few strategies before the best results are seen.
• Be patient. It can take some time. Children are dynamic human beings, always changing and surprising us. Each year is a new challenge academically as they go through the grades. It might take some time to accurately assess your child and get the best plan in place. You can be patient as long as you see professionals implementing the plan for your child.
• Follow up. Even with the best of intentions, some pieces of the educational plan might fall through the cracks. Since you are your child’s strongest advocate, you need to follow up and make sure that the recommendations are being implemented. If an occupational therapy consult is recommended, then check and see if that has occurred in a timely fashion.
• Communicate, communicate!
