Book Of The Week: The Busy Beaver

The Busy Beaver by Nicholas Oldland

Summary: What happens when you are too busy and careless to think about others?  Beaver finds himself "falling" victim to his careless ways and vows to make a change.  This book is a great way to introduce Earth Day activities while taking care of others around us.

Vocabulary:

felled - to cut down

hobble - to walk with difficulty

embark - to begin a task or project

rigorous - very strict

rehabilitation - to get back to or restore to a previous state or way

inspect - looking at something very closely and carefully

saplings - young trees

Questions:

1. Why do you think the beaver was so careless?

2. Why didn't anyone visit beaver in the hospital?

3. How did beaver feel when he looked out of the hospital window?

4. How did beaver show his friends that he was sorry?

5. Why was it important for beaver to replace the trees he had felled?

6. What is the lesson in this book?

7. When was a time that you were careless?  What happened and how did it affect others?

8. How does this book relate to Earth Day?

In need of a few last minute Earth Day activities?  Check these out!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Earth-Day-1169347

https://www.thewiseowlfactory.com/earth-day-printable-for-k-1-free-sorting-pdf/

http://www.happyandblessedhome.com/free-30-page-printable-earth-day-activity-pack/

http://www.totschooling.net/2017/04/earth-day-picture-word-tracing.html

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Parts-of-Speech-FREE-A-great-free-Earth-Day-Activity-2473354

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FREE-Earth-Day-Facts-Fun-Task-Cards-229539

Last Minute Mother's Day Activities

We just finished state testing this week, so I was focusing more on end of the year IEPs, ESY, transportation forms for next, blah, blah blah.  You get it, right?  I had a mini panic attack during lunch today when I realized I forgot about Mother's Day this Sunday.  I know that the students in my room would struggle with ideas, resources, and execution of any type of project if they even realized it was Mother's Day this weekend.  I quickly set out to find an activity that focused on character description, describing, writing short sentences given a prompt, and poetry.
Here's what I found:
Headline News from Martha Stewart

This template is absolutely adorable!  When printed, the writing in the top and bottom margins are not present.  My students did this activity today, and they turned out terrific!

Kid-Made Mother's Day book from hello, Wonderful

This free printable allows you to mix and match a variety of frames and prompts. Check out the link (above) to see the priceless finished product.

Mother's Day Writing Prompt from Lita Lita

This simple writing activity says, "I love you, mom" in both English and Spanish.  The rest of the activity is up to your own creativity or you can follow the example that is provided.

Mother's Day Poetry Activities from Jessica Lawler 

This free download that incorporates poetry into the writing, including an acrostic poem, a simile poem, and a mother's day memory.

Mother's Day Coupons from Literacy Teacher

The coupons are open-ended for students to write whatever they feel.  

If you're scrambling like me at this time of year, I hope this post is helpful.  If not, use the ideas for next year!  

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Moms out there!

Book of the Week: Farfallina & Marcel

Farfallina & Marcel by Holly Keller

Summary: Farfallina and Marcel were an odd pair of best friends.  Farfallina, a caterpillar, and Marcel, a gosling, did everything together.  One day, Farfallina didn't feel well and needed to rest.  Marcel waited and waited, and finally decided Farfallina would not return.  Weeks later, Farfallina emerged as a butterfly and realized Marcel wasn't waiting for her.  She waited and waited, only to find that he did not return.  By a chance meeting, the two friends reunited, unaware of who the other was until they discovered each other's true identities.  This is a beautiful story of enduring friendship despite time and change.

Vocabulary:

peer - to look closely at something

huddle - to move into a small spot to keep warm or dry 

drizzle - a light rain

fern - a plant with large green leaves shaped like a feather

lonely - to feel alone

glossy - looking smooth and shiny

confused - to feel like something is difficult or hard to understand

flutter - to quickly move back and forth or up and down

solitary - single

disappointment - feeling sad because of not getting or receiving something

brilliant - very shiny or colorful

to vanish into thin air - to disappear

Questions: 

Who is this story about?

Where do the characters live?

What did Marcel mean when he told Farfallina she was eating his umbrella?  

How do you know Farfallina and Marcel were thinking about teach other when they were playing hide and seek? 

Why do you think Farfallina uncomfortable?  

Do you think Marcel was patient when waiting for Farfallina?  Why or why not?

Why did Marcel beat his wings and swim round and round when Farfallina told him her name at the pond?

How did Marcel and Farfallina feel when they found each other again?

When the leaves turned red and gold, what was the author trying to tell you?  

With spring here, it would be a great time to sequence the life cycle of a butterfly!

thebutterflysite.com

The Life Cycle of a Butterfly Wheel

Butterfly Life Cycle Craft

Book Of The Week: There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Clover

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Clover by Lucille Colander

Yay!  I'm so excited it's finally March.  I'm ready to exit winter and step into spring with a little green!  I decided to try another "Old Lady" book to welcome in the month.

Questions:

Who is the main character in the book?

What time of year is it?

What holiday is being celebrated?

What happened at the beginning of the story?

What happened in the middle of the story?

What happened at the end of the story?

What might happen if you find a four-leaf clover?

What is said to be found at the end of a rainbow?

We have a free sequencing activity/story retell for this book at our TPT store that you can find here.

We Are Lucky!

As we walked around school yesterday during a break in our professional development day, we realized that we are very lucky to do what we do and work where we do.  We don't have any four-leaf clovers, a cute little leprechaun, or a pot-o-gold, but we are very lucky, and here's why!

We have our own room.  Wait a minute…we have a FULL-SIZE CLASSROOM complete with a SMART board.  

We have an onsite barista!  Actually, this amazing lady is one of the gym teachers.  She manages to brew four different kinds for the staff EVERY day.  Now that is lucky!

We have fantastic co-workers.  We would not see student success without them! 

We get to dabble in literacy!  Yay!  We are valued for knowledge of language and language development and get to use that strength as a reading interventionist for part of our day.

Finally, we get to work with each other.  We get to bounce ideas off of each other, vent to each other, and celebrate successes with each other!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Go green!

New Spring Language Activities!

We have posted a new spring language bundle on our TpT store!  The price has been reduced until Tuesday, April 8th at 9:00 pm.  The activities are available for individual purchase as well, and ALL activities are aligned to the Common Core.  Spring Language Learning

Spring Fever!

It is now April 6th, and even though we just had 6" of snow several days ago, it is slowly disappearing.  People are walking.  Dogs are at the park.  It's spring time, and it's contagious!

I find myself getting so antsy this time year, just as state testing is rolling in.  How in the world can students focus when I can't either?  I've tried brainstorming a few ideas to take therapy outside either as a clinician or parent.  After all, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right?  I'm all about conformity when it comes to being outside in spring!

1.  Read Books
Read a book…under a tree…on a blanket!  Get comfy and relax.  Books are an easy and engaging way to work on concepts, comprehension, and even articulation.

2. Sidewalk Chalk
It's cheap and kids love it!  Plus, it's easy to draw concrete pictures (no pun intended) of basic concepts.  It's also easy to write different words to target specific speech sounds.

3.  Memory Game
This game may work best when working with a group of several students.  The first person starts by stating, "It's spring, and I see flowers."  The second person says, "It's spring, and I see flowers and grass."  The third person says, "It's spring, and I see flowers, grass, and birds."  You get the idea.  This game may not drill articulation as much as you could inside, but it also works on memory skills and vocabulary.

4. Wagon Ride
This is obviously for younger children, but none the less, it's fun!  Try an "I spy" game.

5.  Simon Says
This game is great for executive function and following directions.

6.  Red-Light, Green-Light
Another great game for working on executive function.

7.  BounceA Ball
Yep.  That's it.  Pick a category and students name items in the category.  After each turn, they bounce the ball (only one time) to another person.  If they miss an item in the category or miss catching the ball after one bounce, he/she is out!  This game also works well if your students are working on articulation sounds.

8.  Go On A Bear Hunt
Not for real, but the kids don't have to know that!  This game works well for following directions and understanding basic concepts.

9. Story Telling
Kim Rowe, a pediatric speech-language pathologist, has some great ideas for working on storytelling and play.  5 Ways To Foster Creative Storytelling + Play

10.  Go On A Scavenger Hunt
A treasure hunt can be anything you want it to be!  It can be by color, size, shape, etc. for categorizing. Sounds for articulation.  The options are limitless.  We have a freebie on our TpT store if you're looking for something already made!  Outdoor Scavenger Hunt for Speech and Language

If you have any other ideas, please feel free to add them in the comment section!  We'd love to hear your ideas!

Earth Day

We just posted our new Earth Day Language Pack!  This pack is designed for students in grades 4-7 and targets Common Core Standards for Language, Listening and Speaking, Reading Literature, and Reading Informational Text, all of which are listed for each given activity.  More specifically, it includes the following:

vocabulary

associations

idioms

categorization

comparing/contrasting

higher order thinking

persuasive writing

Check it out and let us know what you think!

Bloom-ing Spring Questions and Book Ideas

                                                                

Blooming Questions

Throughout the year we encourage our language students to use higher order thinking skills to analyze, infer, and have students justify their answers. As a reference we use Bloom's Taxonomy when planning our questions and lessons with speech students. To recap. Benjamin Bloom developed this system to categorize intellectual skills. Bloom ranked them from basic knowledge (recall) to the highest level called evaluation (used to make decisions or justify answers). Below are some questions to get your students Blooming:

1. What is the best about Spring ? Why?
2. What is the first thing you will do when the snow melts?
3. Is Winter or Spring better? Why?
4. Where do you go to play or hang out in the spring?
5. The best spring holiday is ? Why?
6. On mother’s day I plan to …..
7. What would be a perfect Spring day to you? What would you do?
8. Baseball is the national pastime why do you think so?
9. What baseball team do you watch and why?
10. April shower’s bring May flowers. What does that mean to you?
11. People give baskets on May day. What would you put in yours?
12. Memorial day is a day to ______________________.
13. The best Easter tradition my family has is? Why?
14. What is Better Speech and Hearing Month?
15. Where does the Easter Bunny live?  Why
16. My favorite thing about warmer temps is….Why?
17. Where does the water go when the snow melts? If unsure, How could you find out? 
18. Some birds go away in Winter. Where do they go and why? 
19. Some ducks and geese stay all year round. How are they able to do that ? 
20. Why is Spring the best season? Give 3 reasons.        

Higher Order Thinking with Books 

When reading books at our students comprehension level we also use the same strategies of Higher Order Thinking Skills or HOTS. Below listed are two of our favorite books and questions designed to encourage higher order thinking.

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein:

Questions to encourage HOTS:

1. Is the boy selfish or selfless? Why?
2. Do you think the tree should say no sometime? Why or Why not?
3. What could the boy make out of her branches instead of a boat?
4. What does the boy learn and what does the tree learn?
5. What is the theme of the book?
6. When is a time you were selfish or selfless?

The Lorax by D. Suess:

Questions to encourage HOTS:

1. What should the lesson be to all of us?
2. Do you think Lorax was effective? Why or Why not?
3. What are 3 things you could do to make the environment better?
4. What part of the world does the Lorax happen in? Why do you think that?
5. What is the theme of the book?
6. Who is selfish or selfless?  Explain.

The Monday after spring break blues...

Spring break is finally here! Whether I travel, relax, or play catch up, getting myself back into the Monday-after-spring-break work mode is brutal.  (I am so thankful for the wonderful barista in our building!)  To make the transition a little easier for the students and myself, I created this simple “Spring Break in 5” activity.  I’ve done similar activities in the past, and it seems to help with the  students'  transition back to school and their need to share all about their breaks.   Why not incorporate a little vocabulary and categorical listing related to personal experience?  So, with that being said…good luck to all of you as you transition back to school whether coffee in hand or not.  Please visit our TpT store for this free activity.  Spring Break in 5