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Showing posts with label wh questions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wh questions. Show all posts

Monday, June 22, 2015

Summer Sensory Bin: Kinetic Sand

Is it just me or did summer show up all of a sudden?! Unlike my school SLP friends, I will be working through the summer. That is, until I pop out this baby (see last post)! One of my favorite activities to use with my preschoolers is a good ol' sensory bin (as you can see from my previous post on the Spring Garden Sensory Bin). There are many types of sensory play you can explore (gel, water, ice, shaving cream, etc). I have been having fun with kinetic sand.


For those of you who aren't familiar with kinetic sand, it is material that looks like sand but doesn't have the same grittiness. It's mold-able, easy to clean up (grains tend to clump together), soft, and doesn't dry up (I've had my sand for over a year and it feels the same way it did the day I purchased it).

I love how kinetic sand keeps its shape!
Kinetic sand isn't the cheapest thing in the world (about $13 for 1.5 lbs) but I figured it was worth the splurge. It totally is!

For the sensory bin, I placed a few pounds of sand into a shoe box sized plastic container that I got from Michael's. The sand alone would have been enough to make my preschoolers happy, but I decided to add some extra goodies. Additional accessories included mold's that I also purchased from Target. It included a turtle, fish, seahorse, and sandcastle mold. I also added a shovel I got from the dollar store as well as seashells.



My preschoolers had so much fun digging, building, burying, making, etc. We were also able to work on sentence expansion, following directions, comprehension of 'wh' and yes/no questions, you name it!

I paired the sensory bin with one of my favorite books, "Miranda's Beach Day". It's a simple story about the sights and sounds a little girl and her mom encounter while at the beach. After reading this, my kids were so excited to get to play in the sand like Miranda did!



For those of you who have used kinetic sand, how do you incorporate it into your sessions? What would you add to your sensory bin?

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Spring Garden Sensory Bin

I don't know about you but I have a bit of spring fever and have gotten into the gardening and planting mood. Oh wait, you thought I was referring to my own personal garden?! No way! I'm talking about my educational play garden. Not only are sensory bins a fun tactile way for kids to play and learn, they can be used with any kind of toys/manipulatives you have laying around.

I filled a plastic shoe box sized bin with dried black beans (about 4 bags). I then added plastic fruits and veggies from Target (see below). I felt like I hit the jackpot with this purchase! It came with 2 cutting boards and 2 knives. Win!


My children had a BLAST with this one! We worked on verbs (digging, finding, hiding, cutting, etc), labeling, following directions ("Give me the __"), 'wh' question comprehension ("What is the orange, crunchy vegetables bunnies eat?"), yes/no questions, and categorizing.


I paired this activity with "The Fruits We Eat" to provide additional reinforcement to work on vocabulary. We used one of the last pages as a reference the help identify whether or not a selected item was a fruit.


**Edit: I found a great book that targets vegetables called "Our Community Garden". My kids loved learning about all the different veggies that can be grown in their own garden.




What else can I do with the bin you ask? How does planting flowers sound!? I couldn't really find any cool plastic flowers in the store, so I decided to make my own out of pipe cleaners (thank you YouTube!)

My "bouquet" 
I made the flowers in an assortment of colors (pink, red, blue, and orange). Add a toy shovel and planters and you're all set for some gardening!



Kids have so much fun using the shovel to dig the "dirt" into the planters.

 With this activity, skills such as requesting ("I want the red flower"), sentence expansion, 'wh' question comprehension, following directions, yes/no questions, can all be targeted.


Do you use sensory bins in your sessions? What materials do you use?

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I didn't want to make a separate post, so I'll just let you in on a secret I've been hiding. I'm pregnant! Hubby and I are so excited to be expecting a sweet baby girl this August. If I end up MIA again, you'll know why :) Please find the obligatory bump pic below:




Sunday, December 2, 2012

Multiple Choice Articulation {App Review & Giveaway}

Rarely do my students who transition to middle school have articulation goals on their IEP's, despite having obvious and consistent errors in their speech. Multiple Choice Articulation (below) is a newly developed app by Erik Raj meant to address articulation while targeting receptive and expressive language in a conversational manner. 
Users are able to target 7 phonemes.











For $9.99 users get:
  • Over 500 multiple choice questions targeting 7 phonemes (above image)
  • Option of having questions read aloud to user
  • Option of having answers provided via audio to user
    Users have the option to hear the question and answer
    •  Users are able to select phoneme positions they would like to have targeted (below)

    Things I liked:
    • In addition to articulation, receptive (auditory processing, language memory, 'wh' question comprehension, turn taking, reasoning) and expressive language use (pronoun use, sentence formulation, word order, etc.) are also able to be elicited
    •  Students/users will want to discuss these scenarios as they are a departure from the more "traditional" questions adults would ask them e.g. "What would you rather sleep on - a pillow made of smooth mud or a pillow made of itchy cloth? Why?"
    Things I would change:
    • Visuals of the absurd questions would have been a great addition, as it would add to the discussion as well as provide assistance to those with difficulty visualizing
    • Price: Although Erik Raj has churned out some quality apps,  $9.99 is costly for the average SLP/educator who has little to no budget for materials at their place of employment.
    App Compatibility:

    Multiple Choice Articulation is compatible with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.

    For a chance to win this new app please enter below. Good luck! 




      










    a Rafflecopter giveaway

    Disclosure Statement: I was provided a copy of this app by the developer. No other compensation was provided. This review includes solely my opinions. 


    Sunday, November 25, 2012

    Processing Auditory Messages Exactly and Totally {Review}

    For those of you who are fans of my Facebook page you know that my district recently provided me with therapy materials to use with students. Over the next few weeks, I will be posting reviews of those materials. There is an overwhelming amount of products to choose from out there, hopefully, my posts will provide you with info regarding  items you deem worthy enough to add to your SLP toolkit.

    Processing Auditory Messages Exactly and Totally (PAMET) is a 60 page workbook meant to target auditory memory and processing via black and white reproducible illustrations.

    Cover

    Two instructional levels are provided (I and II). Level I (below) contains simple directives such as, "Circle the bug" or "Underline the chipmunk that is holding the mushrooms."


    Level II (below) contains longer more detailed directives such as, "Find something that can move even though it has no legs or hands. Color its eyes green"


    A variety of language skills can be targeted through the use of this unit.  Additionally, the comprehension and use of: vocabulary words, prepositions, verbs,"wh" questions, as well as strategies to aid with memory can all be addressed with this simple and straightforward workbook.

    Despite being presented as an activity for younger ages (2nd - 5th grade), I find that my students lack many, if not all of the skills targeted by PAMET ($26.55).

    In many cases, the idea of coloring may seem rather juvenile to your middle schoolers. As such, I use highlighters instead of crayons/markers, as they serve to "mature" the activity. Also, to add an element of competition (and curb "cheating") to my therapy group, students set up barriers using their speech folders.

    What activities/materials do you use with your students to target processing/comprehension/memory?

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