Minute To Win It

Hello!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend. Here at my house, I enjoyed the Memorial Day weekend with some good ol' fashioned hamburgers. This was the first time I was in charge of the grill, and I did a pretty good job! I didn't burn them or undercook them. Perfection. 

Anyway, I'm wrapping up my speech groups and preparing to do the end-of-year wrap up. So I thought I'd share the game I chose for this silly, crazy time of year.

Many SLP blog posts have been floating around about Minute To Win It. I saw a post earlier this year and decided it would be the perfect crazy activity to finish the school year with. I actually went online searching for real Minute To Win It games, and settled on this one:

I made two versions of the game, thinking I would give the "easy" version to my younger kiddos and the "hard" version to my older kiddos. Turns out that my "hard" version is actually impossible. The pieces are cut too small to complete in a minute, even for me. Heck, I'd like to know who could complete it in a minute. The easy version is pretty tricky for them to complete in a minute.

The "easy" version has a cereal box cut into 18 pieces:

You can see I have a model of the uncut cereal box, and the cut pieces in view of each other. My kids did make use of looking at the model, especially since I sort of told them that's how to cheat. Lots of my kids did not finish in one minute, which gave a bonus teachable moment that it's ok not to finish something tricky in a short time period.

I have the video loaded on my ipad, to be like on the show. 

I searched on youtube and found a timer I like. There are lots to choose from, with different graphics and music. I like this one the best.

While the kids are assembling the puzzle, I have the timer going, and the squeals of excitement and anxiousness were silly! The kids really got into trying to beat the timer. I had each student try individually, then they got to work as a team. Many groups learned that they could beat the timer when they worked together. 

And of course, we all had to do a little work before playing the game, so here are some ways you could target goals with this activity:

Articulation: This particular cereal has some good r-blends: frosted, fruit, bracelet, trees; and you can pick a variety of other words depending on sounds: earrings, red, purple, cherries, letters, lemon, lime; or multisyllable words: pineapple, banana, cereal. For those carryover kiddos, you can have students re-explain how to play the game.

Language/vocabulary: This particular cereal is good for fruit categories; use copula/auxiliary verbs (she is wearing a bracelet, she is smiling, she is happy); and descriptive vocabulary for colors, flavors.  

Auditory Processing: If you bring some of the actual cereal with (which I didn't), you could do some following directions with the cereal (give a red piece to me, then take a yellow piece for yourself). Tell a story about the woman/character and ask comprehension questions.

Stuttering: Using fluency skills, explain how to play this game. Or, talk about your favorite fruit. Or discuss why she is wearing a fruit hat. 

So, have you played Minute To Win It with your groups? What game did you use? Tell me in the comments! You can choose from lots more of their games on the NBC website here. 

Thanks for checking out my blog. Be sure to follow this blog to keep in touch!

Keep it AFV!

Karen

Recent tragedies

Hello,

I was watching the news yesterday and saw the impact of the tornadoes in Oklahoma. It's one thing to hear about it and not be there, but it's another thing to see it. I grasped the total devastation a little better with the scenes flashed before me on the screen.

I saw a post yesterday on facebook as well. A fellow SLP blogger reached out to Linguisystems to find out how to help SLPs who have lost materials and assessments. A rep from the company replied back that Linguisystems will replace previously purchased materials for these folks as a part of their disaster recovery program, when they call 800-776-4332. 

A-MA-ZING. They really are "The BEST Company on the Planet for SLPs!"
Hey, Linguisystems:

Thank you for caring about your customers. Really. That speaks volumes to us as your customers and colleagues.

But, as you may know, the impact reaches farther and wider than just SLPs who have lost their therapy materials and assessments. People have lost their entire community. Homes, schools, businesses, community services... all gone.

If you are feeling a desire to help, please do. May I suggest donating through UMCOR.

100% of your donation goes directly where it is needed most. This organization does not need to spend one little cent on other expenses, as they receive funding for those purposes through other means. This is in contrast to other relief agencies such as American Red Cross which only sends 91% of your donation to help those in need.

UMCOR provides assistance long after the camera crews have moved on to more interesting or fresh stories. They are there until every last bit of help that is needed is given. You just never hear about it after NBC and ABC leave town. Recovery will take massive efforts, no doubt. It will be hard. It will be unpleasant. It will be scary. But there are folks willing to delve in and help.

You can donate directly through this link here.

I pray that all of you dear readers and your families are safe during this time.

Oh, wow!

Hi, dear readers of my blog,

I'm writing today with some cool news. Well, I'm kind of a nerdy girl, so this falls into that category.

I signed up with Pearson to become a field research partner, and have been chosen to help with the standardization phase of the CELF-5. Wow! I entered in my subjects and am awaiting the arrival of the test kit.

What I'm most excited about is getting a sneak peek at the test itself. I found an overview video that highlights the new revision here.

I took a screen shot of the video overview that highlighs the subtests. There are a few new ones in there, as well as ones which will be very familiar sounding if you use the CELF-4 frequently. But, they also explain that they eliminated a few of the "level 3" subtests from the CELF-4 in this new revision.

 

NEW: Pragmatic Activities Checklist, Reading Comprehension, Structured Writing

OUT: Expressive Vocabulary, Word Associations, Number Repetition, Familiar Sequences, and Rapid Automatic Naming

 

Also, they explain that the kit could be ordered with the manuals and stimulus easels on a flash drive. Paper record forms will still be used. Personally, I don't mind the stimulus easels, and actually would prefer them to having to position my laptop to give the test. But, I haven't ever given a test with stimuli on a laptop, so that may not be a concrete preference. Just the one I have for now.

 

And, it looks like they changed the basal and ceiling rules to streamline administration time. I will be glad not to have to wait until the student has 7 incorrect responses to reach ceiling! Sometimes you get that student who gets 6 in a row wrong, and you're thinking, "OK, I can wrap this up and move on." But then he gets the next one right and you're starting your ceiling count over... They don't say what the number of items for basals and ceilings is in the video, just that there are changes.

 

So, what do you think of these highlights to the changes? I'm excited about them. I can't wait to use the test to get a feel for it. I'll let you know what I think later! Stay tuned...

 

Thanks for checking out my blog. Be sure to subscribe to keep in touch.

Keep it AFV!

Karen

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Activity Calendars FREEBIE - English and Spanish

Today was such a beautiful day following the flooding that the area I live in has experienced. The sun was shining, and the temperature was warm. It was so beautiful that I went out for a short run after work.

Then I realized that summer is on the way soon, and I needed to update my activity calendars that I will send home with my students with their fourth quarter IEP updates. I made these during my CFY and have used them a few times over the past few school years. I was inspired by someone for the template design, but now I have no idea where that came from. But I had updated the activities in the squares. Anyway, because of my high percenage of Spanish-speaking ELL students, I have also had them translated into Español! The activities were designed to target a wide variety of goals such as for articulation, receptive and expressive language, fluency, and more!

So if you need activities to send home with your kiddos this summer, grab these for *FREE* at my TPT store.

Summer SLP Activity Calendars 2013

Summer SLP Activity Calendars 2013 - Spanish

Leave some feedback while you're there... I'm still kind of new to this TPT stuff.

Thanks for checking out my blog. Be sure to subscribe to keep in touch.

Keep it AFV!

Karen

Data Sheet for 3 {Review}

I saw a link to this youtube video via Facebook, perhaps you have as well. I'm always looking for new ways to collect data and keep records so that it is not intrusive during therapy.

Here's the video by Autumn Bryant:


She explains how she collects data for three individual students on one page.

Each third of the page is for a student, and the boxes are shaded in groups of 5x5 (25 boxes). She takes data with the +/- system we all know and love and can easily tabulate a percentage at the end of the session.

I like how there is a spot to indicate the goal being addressed at the top. This way, you can see progress over time by scanning down the page. This beats my system for ease of reviewing progress for IEP updates. Check out what I've been using lately here.

However, working in a school setting, my groups are not set in stone. Students have to move into other groups, or they move away, and new students join my caseload. So I have moved to a system where each student has their own sheet. And they don't just have one objective.

The majority of my IEP goals that I write for students have 3 objectives per goal. So, I could still use one sheet per student and indicate the objective at the top. For example, Lisa (one of the names from the video) may have an objective for /s/, 'sh,' and /l/. So I would write those across the top of one page for Lisa. And how easy it becomes to track data for more than one objective in the same session! :-)

There is one concern I have, and that deals with students with multiple goals. Most have 1 goal (x3 objectives). I have a handful of students with 2 goals (x 3 objectives) and just a couple with 3 goals (x 3 objectives). So I'm thinking stapling them together may work... ? Not quite sure how I could make it work much simpler than that.

Also, I'm wondering how I would indicate breaking a skill down to build up to reaching the objective. For example, I have an objective that a student will use antonyms in sentences. But I had to first start off with identifying antonym pairs, then giving an antonym for a word, then changing a sentence using an antonym, then giving her one of the words, and she creates two opposite sentences. I'm not sure how I would indicate that on her Data Sheet for 3, since the lesson objective may differ from the IEP objective.

But she has thought of everything! She has a data sheet for one student also. There is a spot that you can write in the lesson plan objective.

 

I may just have to revamp my system for next year...? I might blend in components of this into what I already have been using. Stay tuned to find out!

Be sure you check out her FREE data sheet downloads :-)
Data Sheet for 3
Easy Percentages Data Sheet

So what do you think? What's your system? Will you use these data sheets?
Thanks for checking out my blog! Be sure to follow this blog to keep in touch.

Keep it AFV!
Karen

Light it up blue

Hello, I'm just popping in for a quick "I haven't fallen off the face of the Earth" hello! Things have been super busy for me recently. Well, who of us isn't busy these days? IEP updates, reevaluations, annual reviews, transition meetings, a  new medicaid billing system, homework for my ESL class, and the list goes on.

I just want to highlight that April 2 is Autism Awareness Day. So, my blog is showing support by lighting it up blue today!

 

Recently, the prevalence of Autism has been updated to 1 in 50 individuals. The numbers are staggering to think about, and I just want to shine blue for the individuals and their families who are impacted by Autism.

What are you doing for Autism Awareness Day? Next year, I think I want to do my nails like this:

 

I don't have the right stuff to do it for tomorrow, but I think it's really a neat way to show support.

 

Thanks for checking out my blog! Be sure to follow this blog to keep in touch!

 

Keep it AFV!

Karen

 

Lucky Leprechaun

Hi! Happy Monday after the time switch... I hope this feeling of sleep deprivation in the early morning gets over with quickly. It's always rough to lose an hour. Even my dog was super sleepy the past two days.

Anyway, I'm using one of my homemade, super-simple St. Patrick's Day games this week. Several years ago, some of my students were asking for a game for this holiday, and being a newbie SLP, I had none. So I made one up.

 

 

I also have a leprechaun that I display in my room (he moves each day, the sneaky guy!). I found one online similar to this one. You can do a search to pick a leprechaun that you like the best.

And for the pot of gold, it's clipart taped to a plastic cup. You should be able to right-click and save this.

 

You'll also need some coins to be the "gold." I use magnetic chips because they're easy to clean up in a snap with the magnetic wand. Plus, who doesn't love that magnetic wand??

 

The premise of the game is simple. I tell my students that I caught a leprechaun, and now we can wish for some of his gold. But he's a sneaky fellow. Sometimes he is generous and gives us what we wish for - or more. Other times, he gives us less.

 

I tell my students to wish for an amount of gold. The spinner pictured has 1-2-3, but if you have a 1-6 spinner you can adapt. They'd say something like, "Mr. Leprechaun, I wish for 2 pieces of your gold." Then they press the button and receive the gold (from me). For those kiddos who lack necessary language skills for that, you can simplify the wish for them, have them say the number of their wish, or just have them press the button.

 

So here are some ideas of how I have used this in the past:

 

Articulation: Taking a turn after saying a target word. Some good 3-syllable word targets include leprechaun, Ireland, pot-of-gold, limerick, magical, holiday.

Language/vocabulary: Enchanted Learning has a list of St. Patrick's vocabulary, comparative/superlative descriptions of who has more/most or less/least amount of gold.

Auditory Processing: Following directions for ordinal concepts (first, second, third) (put a green piece in the third pot-of-gold), and temporal concepts (put a blue piece in the pot-of-gold after you put in a yellow piece).

Stuttering: Using fluency skills, talk about the holiday! What do you like about St. Patrick's day? What things do you think are lucky?

 

For some added fun, I have also done card tricks with vocabulary or artic cards. Learn how to do the trick here, then choose the cards as appropriate for your students' goals. My kids LOVED this last year. I told them the leprechaun knew what card they would pick. They were totally amazed!

 

I hope that gives you some ideas. What St. Patrick's Day games do you use?

 

Thanks for checking out my blog! be sure to follow this blog to keep in touch.

 

Keep it AFV!

Karen