So this weekend I wasn't able to post due to some health-related distractions, but all is well! I'm ready to CF-WHY it up!
Last week was an interesting one, because we were doing testing throughout the school, some within my room. So I spent one of my mornings doing push-in for students I don't usually do push-in for. I kind of loved it! I felt like I was watching some form of reality tv, student-style! I got to see how they functioned in the classroom during different activities - library, science, math. All of the things I miss when I pop in for a few minutes to observe, I got to see during the solid 30 minutes I was there.
We did some "cooking" this week in speech. I had been promising my kiddos that we would be doing cooking, speech-style, this year. After a straight week of being asked where my oven was, what we were going to eat, or my personal fave - "when we tookin' Ms. Gaines?" - I caved!
We have been taking our Fall theme to the max (check the bird's nest below!) and I've been trying to bring in real items for our vocab words. I nabbed an acorn from my lawn last week and it was a hit! I decided to make these edible acorns with the kids using a hershey kiss, nilla wafer, frosting, and a chocolate chip. It's basic but awesome! Find the recipe here. I switched out the PB chip for chocolate, allergies beware! I used this activity for sequencing, describing, inferencing, drawing conclusions, and of course, following directions!
Like I said, we're taking Fall to the max! Our vocabulary words are rocking and rolling! SO since I brought in an acorn, a real acorn, one of my students wanted to bring in the bird's nest he found in his backyard. I'm not going to lie, the first words out of my mouth were "that's awesome! I'm super excited to check it out and talk about it, but let's keep that in the bag!" Nothing like a bird disease for a 3 day weekend! LOL I encourage my students to bring in the things they want to discuss in Speech. One of my students brought in photos of him fishing over the summer - loved it. It makes for awesome peer discussions, great vocabulary, and it's fun!
It's quite apparent that I have an obsession with Target. It's a love affair, and the heart of it lies within the dollar spot. I picked up these puppies, 70ct pumpkin erasers, for $1! I have a ton of individual articulation sessions, so I like to create things that will take us through a whole session to make and use. Even better if we get to continue it to the next session! This is a BINGO board that was made using "Artic Calendar Capers" printables. I borrowed this CD from my mom and I'm in love with their printables! I've used them for many things, even language and pragmatics sessions. Sometimes it's nice to have something themed to send home. Check it out here .
My final CF-WHY tidbit is about folders. I went the entire month of September running around like a chicken without a head trying to organize student work. I'd file it away, but then they hadn't finished it. So I'd go searching to find it again..vicious cycle. During my student teaching, my fantastic supervisor used folders that she kept in the speech room for each student. I wasn't sure if that would work for my kiddos since my student teaching kiddos were middle schoolers. Guess what? Folders, yeah, there's no age minimum. I don't know why I didn't think these gems would work with the little ones! Every session, the folder monitor hands out the folders and collects the speech books (they're distracting during the session). The baskets are on a table right next to my chair, so during the session if I have 2 seconds, I can tape everyones homework in. Tadaaaaaa, folder magic! If I'm feeling extra OCD I can load up the folders with the work we're going to do for the next session, no running frantically to the computer to hit print - for at least 30 minutes!
Last week was an interesting one, because we were doing testing throughout the school, some within my room. So I spent one of my mornings doing push-in for students I don't usually do push-in for. I kind of loved it! I felt like I was watching some form of reality tv, student-style! I got to see how they functioned in the classroom during different activities - library, science, math. All of the things I miss when I pop in for a few minutes to observe, I got to see during the solid 30 minutes I was there.
We did some "cooking" this week in speech. I had been promising my kiddos that we would be doing cooking, speech-style, this year. After a straight week of being asked where my oven was, what we were going to eat, or my personal fave - "when we tookin' Ms. Gaines?" - I caved!We have been taking our Fall theme to the max (check the bird's nest below!) and I've been trying to bring in real items for our vocab words. I nabbed an acorn from my lawn last week and it was a hit! I decided to make these edible acorns with the kids using a hershey kiss, nilla wafer, frosting, and a chocolate chip. It's basic but awesome! Find the recipe here. I switched out the PB chip for chocolate, allergies beware! I used this activity for sequencing, describing, inferencing, drawing conclusions, and of course, following directions!
Like I said, we're taking Fall to the max! Our vocabulary words are rocking and rolling! SO since I brought in an acorn, a real acorn, one of my students wanted to bring in the bird's nest he found in his backyard. I'm not going to lie, the first words out of my mouth were "that's awesome! I'm super excited to check it out and talk about it, but let's keep that in the bag!" Nothing like a bird disease for a 3 day weekend! LOL I encourage my students to bring in the things they want to discuss in Speech. One of my students brought in photos of him fishing over the summer - loved it. It makes for awesome peer discussions, great vocabulary, and it's fun!
My final CF-WHY tidbit is about folders. I went the entire month of September running around like a chicken without a head trying to organize student work. I'd file it away, but then they hadn't finished it. So I'd go searching to find it again..vicious cycle. During my student teaching, my fantastic supervisor used folders that she kept in the speech room for each student. I wasn't sure if that would work for my kiddos since my student teaching kiddos were middle schoolers. Guess what? Folders, yeah, there's no age minimum. I don't know why I didn't think these gems would work with the little ones! Every session, the folder monitor hands out the folders and collects the speech books (they're distracting during the session). The baskets are on a table right next to my chair, so during the session if I have 2 seconds, I can tape everyones homework in. Tadaaaaaa, folder magic! If I'm feeling extra OCD I can load up the folders with the work we're going to do for the next session, no running frantically to the computer to hit print - for at least 30 minutes!