A Camping We Will Go! {Part 1}

I'm prepping my activities for another week of summer literacy camp. I've got SO much good stuff to show you. Some amazing books, apps and crafts. I'm putting those in a post ready for next week! Until them I wanted to show you some little games and activities I came up with for practicing phonological awareness skills. We're targeting a variety of skills including segmenting, blending, rhyme and alliteration.

The document is 33 pages in length. Check out some of these preview shots!

The board game includes BLENDING of syllables and phonemes. 

The alliteration activity asks students to match pictures that have the first beginning sound. 

Syllable segmenting cards can be folded under on the line. Then students can segment the syllables. Check your answers by unfolding and taping each black dot! 

One rhyme matching page in included. 

Phoneme segmenting asks students to identify the individual phonemes in a word. Again the cards can be folded in half to hide answers while students practice. Then check his/her work by unfolding the cards. 

Hop on over to Teachers Pay Teachers to purchase this Camping set! 

Stay tuned next week for the rest of my camping activities! 

ARtIC Lab {product review}

ARtIC Lab is a bilingual Response to Intervention (RtI) program for Articulation. The ARtIC LAB is developed for elementary aged students who are demonstrating mild articulation deficits.  

The program is meant to be used for sound placement instruction, intensive drill work, and sound generalization before referral for speech and language services. That's an ideal situation.. the 'before referral'. In my school program I used it after referral and screening completed by the SLP for student who demonstrated a mild deficit, where I did not suspect a disability requiring a full evaluation.  Over this year I had about 10 different kids in a tier 2, pull out group for RtI instruction. The ARtIC Lab was perfect for this group of kids. It would also work well for SLPs with enough room to run 'stations' in your room. 

The contents:

- 5 Echo Microphones

- 5 Webber Phones

- 10 Homework Folders

- 10 Practice Pages Folders

- Electronic Spinner 

- 5 Tally Counters

- Chart

- CD with form and probes

- Resource guide with forms and probes

- English stimulus easel

- Spanish stimulus easel 

The program targets Errors on R, L, S, SH, CH. In Spanish it targets R, S, CH. The program is developed to be 20 hours long. It was field tested in Texas. During the testing most of the children made enough progress that they did not require referrals to intervention. In years past I have completed RtI intervention with children each year. During my experience usually on a couple of those student go on to require continued services. I used the activities in the ARtIC Lab to support that intervention strategy used in my building. All activities were age appropriate and supported by intervention strategies.

Why on earth do the kids go NUTS for this electronic spinner?!

We sat on the floor and the table to break into two groups during most of our time together. The variety of activities helped. The activities provide up to 5 learning stations depending on the number of students (3 kids, 3 stations). Since my groups were big and my room was small I had two stations each day and the kids worked in pairs. One student completed their work while the other student monitored their productions. The different stations include: listening, gross motor, emotion, building, game, writing, and SLP monitoring station. 

The kit contains test probes for each targeted sound, creating easy to track baseline data. 

Pros: The program is great for those SLPs who are new and don't have closets full of echo mic's, whisper phones and tons of worksheets for each sound. It's great for any SLP who wants to open the box and get going with the RtI! My friend and I always say we will pay for convenience! This program does that!   The bilingual option is helpful for many I'm sure, just not me particularly! 

Cons: The program doesn't have too many 'new' materials that most seasoned SLPs don't already have in their closets! With the price near $200 seasoned SLPs might find it frustrating to open a box to have similar items already found in their rooms. Most of my students still need direct intervention weekly on production and placement. I felt the program assumed that children are able to generalize and acquire sounds on their own. In actuality, I parked myself at one of the stations to work on accuracy EVERY session instead of just at the monitoring station

ARtIC Lab is available for purchase for $199.00 on the Super Duper Website. 

Have you tried this product? DO you use a center approach to therapy?

Summer Professional Development List

This post was originally published on Crazy Speech World to celebrate Jenn's one year bloggiversary! 


I always have really good intentions throughout the school year. I buy books, borrow books and really mean to do some professional reading on my own time.

But real life always happens. I read two chapters and then I'm too busy. A few months later I pick it up and read a few more chapters. This has been happening for years so this summer I'm planning to finish all those almost finished PD books!

I thought I would let you see what's in my pool bag for summer reading!

First up: Bringing Words to Life. 

I'm almost done with with one. Just a few pages to finish up, but it's going to make me feel great to finally finish it! 

From the Author: This book provides a research-based framework and practical strategies for vocabulary development with children from the earliest grades through high school. The authors emphasize instruction that offers rich information about words and their uses and enhances students' language comprehension and production. Teachers are guided in selecting words for instruction; developing student-friendly explanations of new words; creating meaningful learning activities; and getting students involved in thinking about, using, and noticing new words both within and outside the classroom.

Next: Thinking about You, Thinking about Me, Michelle Garcia Winner.

I've read bits and pieces of this one over the years, borrowing it from colleagues and friends. This spring I became an official member of the Social Thinking Blogging Team. Quite an honor to be asked! So I'm working on finishing this one cover to cover! 

From the Author: Students with social cognitive learning deficits face enormous challenges not only in their day-to-day relations with the world around them, but also in the fact that few professionals, educational or medical, understand the core of these student's deficits. One fundamental deficit relates to perspective taking - the ability of one person to consider the point of view and motives of another. Although this sounds like a simple process, it is in fact a hugely complex task that is crucial to successful interpersonal relations, and is a skill that anyone with a social cognition disability will struggle with. This book addresses the different ways this problem can present itself, the current thinking on how to approach the problem and a wealth of exercises and activities that can immediately be applied to the student. Illustrated with clear diagrams and tables, and with photocopiable handouts, this accessible text will be invaluable for anyone assessing, living with or teaching children and adults with this most abstract of all learning disabilities.

And lastly: The Source for Auditory Processing Disorders, Gail Richard.

I don't own this one, but I'm borrowing it to try to finish reading it! 

From the author: Find out WHY your students have difficulty with language processing and what to do about it. Dr. Gail Richard explains the neurological development of language processing in a way that makes sense. This book will change the way you do language therapy! Dr. Richard synthesizes years of research to explain the underlying neurological development of language processing. You'll understand how auditory processing and language systems operate and how that affects treatment decsions. The book gives tons of practical information, such as: how to differentiate between auditory and language processing disorders how to remediate language processing disorders using a hierarchical model based on neurlogical development specific skill strategies and compensatory strategies for language processing disorders and central auditory processing disorders (for students and classroom teachers) the components of central auditory processing assessment the components of functional auditory processing skills (e.g., auditory attention, auditory closure) case studies, sample diagnostic reports, and behavior checklists.

That's the reading list I'm working on! Are you reading anything great for professional development right now? Make sure you leave a comment and share so I can see what I should read next! 

Color Book: A favorite Resource.

I love it when I find a simple book that works wonders. I got more milage out of this 99 cent color book than I did out of anything else this year. 

It's actually a Reader's Digest book published in 2000. The link is at the bottom of the page to find it used on Amazon. Instead of 'Lift the Flap' it's a 'Match the Flap' book. 

The book has big pages with nouns for each color. The inside of the book has a secondary flaps that are different colors. Students flip over the interior flaps to find the match to the exterior. In the picture below you can see that I matched the orange color to the orange pictures! 

So why is it amazing for my preschool crowd? It's ideal for receptively and expressively identifying nouns. I used it a ton for labeling with two words. For example, 'orange crayon, orange popsicle'. I love it because the kids can touch the orange word and then touch the noun. It's perfect and the kids think they're reading! 

I've also used it for functions and associations with the vocabulary. My fluency preschoolers worked on making sentences (The carrot is orange.) My articulation kiddos working on s-blends said, "I spy" sentences. 

I'm in LOVE with this book!  Have you used anything similar?!

Going on a Lion Hunt {book companion}

Raaaaawwrrrr! We're going on a lion hunt! This is one of my favorite spring units to use in the preschool and early elementary crowd. I've had this unti ready to share with you for a while and I'm happy to finally get it up in TpT in case you want to use it this summer! 

This unit is 22 pages in length. A perfect mini unit to accompany the book, which you can find below on Amazon! 

Story Retell: Laminate pages 3 & 4 (keep them whole). Tape the two pages together so

that students can see all 8 different story settings. Cut out and laminate the groups of kids

on page 5. To retell the story, move the characters across the settings (school, path, mud,

sticks, trees, river, grass, cave) and then back the same way!

• Comprehension Questions: Use the included comprehension questions to target receptive

and expressive language. (pages 6-9).

• Packing for the Future: Cut apart the cards on page 11. Have your students determine what

they would need/want to bring on a safari trip. Develop sentences with the future tense and

pack your suitcase on page 10.

• Not that: Use the included sentences to target receptive language of negation. (page 12).

• Size it up: Sort the included animals into size boxes and then describe them using

comparatives and superlatives. (pages 13-14). 

• Ticket: After you complete the lesson, give each student a ticket to take home for their

• journey (page 15).

• Sign it: Use the included animal signs for jungle animals (page 16).

• Do-a-Dot: Use the included sheet as a reinforcer. Students color dots as they answer stimulus

prompts (pg. 17)

• Hide-A-Paw: Hide the included paw cards (pg 18-19) in your room. Have student say a

sentence describing where they find them (ie: UNDER the chair).

• Safari Match: Give students articulation cards and a game board (pg. 20). Print 6 copies of

page 21 and have students draw cards. Read the number on each card and say that many

articulation words. The first to match each of the 6 animals wins.

My students loved all these activities and I hope yours will too! You can grab it in my TPT store to easily download, print and use! 

Do you use any other safari themed books? If you'd like to win a copy of this unit just enter the rafflecopter widget below! 

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Watermelon Phonological Awareness {FREEBIE}

Monday already? Don't worry if you're like me and running summer ESY or programming,  I'm getting back to the grind. Today is the first day of the summer literacy program I'm co-leading.

During our first week we will run pre-assessments and do baseline gathering. In past years, most of our program focused on phonological awareness skills. With that in mind, I'm planning on focusing on segmenting and rhyming during the first week.

To make that work, I'm playing with watermelons! This freebie is a group activity where the group can chant the Watermelon rhyme. Then let the kiddos take turns grabbing watermelons from a bag and determining how many syllable parts are included. Clap it, tap it or heck 'chomp it' to give your students the multisensory experience!

You can grab my Watermlon Syllable Counting Activity for free on TpT. 

We can follow up with Raffi's  Down By The Bay. I have it in my iTunes account, which is only a little bit embarrassing when it comes on over the Bluetooth in my car. After we sing this a few times, we will make our own class book with this TpT freebie I found"Down by the Bay Book Freebie". Witha focus on segmenting and rhyme throughout the first week we should have a better idea where our students are starting from!

Enjoy the freebie and make sure you leave feedback if you take it!

Phono Learning Center (App Review & Giveaway)

Phono Learning Center (PLC) is the newest app produced through Smarty Ears. The app is developed by Mary Huston, MS, CCC-SLP. Based on the Hodson's Cycles Approach, PLC is developed to target phonological disorders in children. The PLC is developed to fit in with your Cycles Approach or traditional therapy with 4 different games and a multi-user format.

Start by clicking on New Session. Add the characters or import them from the Therapy Report Center. 

The front page also links you to a homework page. You can email them to parents directly from your iPad. 

Add a student picture or an avatar. If you select Auditory Bombardment as 'on' there will be a quick auditory bombardment section at the beginning of  the app. At the bottom of the page you can select your phonological targets. 

Select the players you want to play for this round. Adjust the settings to fit the students using the app. Extra tidbits I think are important.You can change the app data collection to the level of prompts (imitate, prompt, independent). The app settings can be set to limit a single phonological target at a time (the Hodson's Cycles Approach) or multiple targets (a traditional therapy approach). 

During the Auditory Bombardment, tap the balloons and listen to the words being said. This is available during single player games.  

From this point the student can select from 4 different activities to practice the phonological process. 

The balloon game features a hot air balloon. The student says the word on the card and then drags that card to the balloon basket. The basket slowly fills with air before taking off!  I have the app set to phrase level for multisyllable words during this example. 

The matching app features a picture card at the bottom of the page. Student then flip over the yellow-backed cards to find the match. It memory with a twist. My poor little kiddo was really sick of saying TOMATO by the end, because he wasn't exactly a 'memory' champ. I on the other hand was super happy to have a tone of data since I had him say the pairs each time! 

The paper toss game was my student's favorite part of the app. First read the word in the given picture. The student then touches the paper with the picture on it.

The paper will crumble and is ready to be tossed into the basket! 

For the puzzle activity, the student says the word on the puzzle piece. I have it set on s-blend phrases here. After you say the word or phrase, tap the puzzle piece. It will float to the puzzle and turn into a picture piece. We had lots of fun with the guessing game portion of this activity, trying to figure out what the picture would be! 

Data collection is available throughout the app in the top right hand corner. Reports are available to share. I like using the 'almost' as a way to give me the idea of the level of cueing. If the kid needed an extra prompt I used the 'almost' scoring. 

To hear the app explained thoroughly check out this video! 

Phono Learning Center by Smarty Ears from Smarty Ears on Vimeo.

Pros: I'd love that the app has researched word targets based on Hodson's cycles. approach.  The app meets the expectations for professionals familiar with the Smarty Ears brand. Phono Learning Center features 4 entertaining activities, paired with the research based methodology for treatment, topped off with effective and efficient data collection. Instead of adapting apps to meet evidence based strategies, PLC is an app developed fully around EBP! I love it!

Cons: Some of the game activities didn't really have an 'ending'. The paper toss game for example. I'd love it if the app had a counter attached. Kids work so much better when you can give them a goal. I had to count aloud the 'shots made' for my little guy to keep him working to 30 points. ((Kinda like when I need a goal set on the treadmill! So I don't blame the kidddo!)) I'd love if it the 4 activities had a better way to 'finish' to keep my students working for a goal.

Future improvements: This isn't an expectation of the app, just my 2 cents! I'd LOVE to see a chart to show a students mastery of goals or schedules of cycles. For example, the SLP could track which weeks/dates had been spent on each phonological process. As it stands you can look back through the reports to monitor progress but I'm envisioning a chart that the SLP could just look across and see that they had spend x amount of session on a certain phonological process.


Ok.  Phono Learning Center is on sale for $14.99. Regular price will be $24.99. You can find it on iTunes.

Smarty Ears has donated one code for a lucky SRN reader! Just use rafflecopter below to enter for your chance to win the app!

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Smarty Ears provided the app for this review. No other compensation was provided.