Direction Following Fun

If you are like me and run large group language lessons in the classroom, you are always struggling to come up with activities that will keep 15 to 20 preschoolers engaged for a period a time. I am lucky enough to have Smartboards in all of my preschool classrooms. When my school district un-blocked YouTube, a whole new world of free therapy ideas opened up before my eyes. One amazing YouTube video maker that caught my attention was Harry Kindergarten. Harry Kindergarten is a kindergarten teacher who makes wonderful videos and songs. He is nice enough to share them on YouTube for FREE. One of my favorite Harry Kindergarten videos is the Bean Bag Beatbox2. Watch the video and you will understand why! All you need is a set of bean bags and you are ready to go. I asked around my school and found that most teachers have set of alphabet bean bags and were more than willing to let me borrow it for my lesson. This video is a great way to work on following directions, building vocabulary, and having fun.

Here are a few concepts targeted in the video:

Spatial concepts: high, low, around, on, left, right

Action words: shake, orbit, dunk, rock, switch, fly, write

Descriptive: fast, tall

Melissa- Adventures of a preschool SLP

Summer Language Building

It is getting close to that time of year. School is almost out for the summer! Three months of relaxing, sleeping in, and lying out in the sun!!! Many parents ask what they can do over the summer to continue building their child's language development. This year I sat down and made a list of language building ideas for parents to think about over the summer. What do you send home with the parents of your preschool students? Is there anything I should add to my list?

Language-Activities-for-the-Summer

Bookmarks

Melissa- Adventures of a preschool SLP

 

Animal Homes

OK... Here it goes. Let the sharing of ideas begin! As a preschool SLP, I am always coming up with new ideas and hands on materials to keep my students motivated. If you are anything like me, you receive limited funds from your school district. Because of these limited funds, SLPs often need to get creative and make/create new materials instead of always purchasing ready-made items. The first make and take item I am going to share with my blog followers is a language activity is called Animal Homes. You will need the follow items:

· Cups

· Spoons

· Tape or hot glue

· Scissors

· Printed out copy of the document below

Directions:

· Cut out the pictures.

· Tape/glue the home pictures to the cups.

· Tape/glue the animal pictures to the spoons.

Using Animal Homes can help target language in a variety of different way.

· Target basic animal vocabulary by naming or point to the pictures.

· Have the student pick a spoon and ask WHERE the animal lives.

· Point to a cup and ask WHO lives is that home.

· Sabotage and place the wrong animal in the wrong home. Ask the student, does this animal live here? (Your student should say no).  Ask your student, “Why can’t the (animal name) live here?”  

I often use this activity during our animal and habitat themes. My students always have a great time playing this language building game.

Click Here for the Animal Home Worksheet

Melissa- Adventures of a preschool SLP

   

Welcome to my Blog!

Welcome to my blog!  I am a speech/language pathologist who loves working with preschool students.  I am not only a speech/language pathologist, but a person with a communicative disorder.  I am a person who stutters.  If it weren't for the many wonderful speech/language pathologists out there, I would not be who I am and where I am today.  I am passionate about helping others with communication disorders live their lives without limitations.  Now that you know why and how I became a speech/language pathologist, I want to hear for you...  Why did you choose to work in this amazing field?  What first inspired to you to help others communicate?


Sincerely,

Melissa-Adventures of a preschool SLP