November
This month, we talk about being "thankful" and the holiday "Thanksgiving." It is a wonderful opportunity for teachers and parents to talk about the speech sound "th" with your child. This is the only sound we are allow to stick our "tongue" out of our mouths when we talk. Children should developmentally be able to say this sound consistently by the end of 1st grade. Help your child practice the "th" sound during reading, writing, and talking! Many of the words we are practicing are also sight words!
Suggested words: the, this, that, they, those, think, thumb, thank, thank you, brother, mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, feather, other, either, neither, mouth, tooth, teeth, bath, math, both, with, and Thanksgiving!
Also, try working on "v" (the other part of Thanksgiving). Give your child a hint by having them put his/her teeth on her lips (teeth sound). Other words could include: give, over, river, oven, five, seven, seventeen, vacuum, van, vacation.
December
This month, we talk about lots of different family celebrations and holidays: Hannukah, Christmas and Kwanza. Focus on "r"- smilie r and "l" - tall "l" for holidays, celebrations, and beliefs. Some students are learning sequence concepts such as: 1st, 2nd, 3rd and some spatial concepts: left and right, top, bottom, middle, and sides.
We have fun in speech through singing holiday songs, poems, and especially no cook "cooking" projects. Speech and language skills can be worked on in so many activities. See your recipes coming home...Try cooking at home too!
January
This month, we discuss New Year's Resolutions and goals for school and during speech therapy sessions. Goals for speech sounds like s, z, th, l, and r; use polite words and manners; be kind and caring to others; and respect the teachers and the rules of the school. We discuss "Being Assertive" versus "Being Aggressive" and what each looks like.
February
This month we discuss friendship, love, and kindness.
We talk about green zone words: happy, calm, like, great, awesome, care, help, friend, love, good, family, nice, and you too can also add to the list…..
Students are work on using the speech sounds "l" - tall tongue behind the teeth and "v" - teeth on lips, target words.
Words of the month: s blends- because of all the snow we have been getting: snow, sled, slide, snow angel, slippery, skate, ski, snowboard, valentine, give, love, etc.
March
This month, we discuss Weather, especially "Spring."
We have been working on "Smilie R" in which the students "smile" to make the "R" sound, reducing frontal lisps (keeping his/her tongue behind their teeth when saying "s" and "z."), and puckering our lips for the "ch" sound.
Words of the month:Spring, rabbit, grow, rain, rainbow, worm, birds, bugs, insects, tornado, umbrella, storm, nest, caterpillar, hungry, eggs, chicken and spring break!
We will make some "no cook" cooking "chick nests" with pretzels, chocolate, candy eggs, and peeps.
In our social skills groups, we focus on "Self Control" and what that really looks like and means.. and how to talk about it using green language and being positive versus "don't do." ..... Stay in your spot in a line, sit down in a lesson, talk it out with others, look at your own work, ask the teacher for help, be quiet in the lesson, ask to borrow materials, focus on your work, work it out and find solutions.
April
This month, we talk about spring, bugs, and fairy tales. The speech students have really enjoyed acting out the stories (while using their sounds correctly) and then writing about the story. We worked a lot on "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" which gave us a chance to work on "r" and "l" for words.
Words of the month: three, bears, porridge, forest, trees, table, Goldilocks, girl, large, hard, smooth, rough, just right, broke, chair, and run!
We discuss math word problems through music for addition, subtraction, hundreds chart, math facts, and greater and lesser than problems.
May/June
We talk about plants, summer, and the beach. We are work on most of the sounds now as a review: "sh"- quiet sound, ch-pucker sound, s and z- behind the teeth, r-smilie r, and l-tall tongue, f and/or v- teeth sound, th-tongue and teeth sound, and k-throat sound.
Words of the month are: Flowers, vegetables, grow, plant, summer, vacation, beach, ocean, fish, starfish, swimming, camping, travel, end of grade, graduation, cocoon, butterflies, and fun.
In our social skills groups, we have been focus on "Respect" and what that really looks like and means.. and how to talk about it using green language and being positive versus "don't do." ..... Keep your hands to yourself....Use kind words with others....ask politely.... respect your body..... wait for your turn.... use the golden rule.... find solutions..... respect animals.... stay in your bubble...respect yours and others feelings....
We hope to invite our pet therapy dog, Cloie, to visit us at school to help us learn. Please see the article below about the pet therapy speech program.
Please see our photo gallery for a glimpse of some activities this month!