Back to School Lesson Plan Ideas!

My creative juices are flowing right now! I'm so glad I'm not staring at my cursor with no idea what to do with my groups. It's been great to get that part of my brain going again!

I wanted to give you an idea of what I'm doing with my groups this first week back to school.

Here's what my lessons have been covering this week:

5 Minute Artic 1:1 Sessions:
We've been talking about summer (i.e. collected conversational baseline data on their targets) and also reading The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle. I found this freebie on TPT for sequencing so we'll be doing that once we've finished reading it: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Very-Lonely-Firefly-991038  Right now, I'm taking data on productions while reading, answering questions, and conversation. Once we've finished, we'll sequence the events of the story and I'll have the students retell it using their best speech.

Speech & Language Groups:
We've been reviewing rules, procedures, and routines of the classroom. Then, we're having fun getting to know one another! I found these great (FREE) "getting to know you" cards on TPT (http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Quiz-Quiz-Trade-Beginning-of-the-Year-Activity-1273409).  The questions are easy enough for even my language-impaired kindergartners to answer! I'm trying out Kagan Structures in my room this year and these cards were perfect for that! Here's how I did it (completely ignored the directions that came with it):

1. I gave each of the kids a number (1-4) written on an index card.

2. I asked one of the questions from the packet and gave some think time (3-5 seconds).

3. I spun a spinner (numbered 1-4). If it landed on number 3, number 3 went first. If it landed on number 2, number 2 went first (etc.).
4. They were getting a little antsy by this time so when it was their turn to answer the question, I had them stand up. Get the blood flowing!
5. We did a RoundRobin, so every one had a chance to answer the same questions and we all learned a bit about one another! I answered the questions too! They all thought it was funny that I was 31 years old!

We did that until our 30 minutes was up and I heard no complaints!

Autism Classroom:
We've been reviewing school supply vocabulary with this fun freebie on TPT: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Whats-In-My-Backpack-Adapted-Book-for-SPED-FREEBIE-1356100
I brought in a backpack from home and filling the backpack with actual school supplies and pictures as well. We've been answering function questions (What school supply do you use for writing?), following oral and written directions (put the X in the backpack, put the X under the backpack), answering "where" questions with and without PECS visuals (positional PECS), answering objective Y/N questions (Is there a pencil in my backpack?), asking questions (Do you have scissors in your backpack?), and using possessives (What's in John's backpack?). I love bringing in actual objects paired with pictures and drawings to help these students generalize skills across settings. Tomorrow, I'm taking this group on a scavenger hunt around the classroom to find various school supplies. You can grab a copy of my scavenger hunt for school supplies here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Scavenger-Hunt-for-School-Supplies-1402132

I'm excited to be back with my students! I love my job!

Back-to-School Scavenger Hunt!

My newest product is posted on TPT. I'm actually really excited to do this activity with some of my students tomorrow. I work in a room with several students with autism and some of them really struggle with category, function, and vocabulary. Tomorrow, we will be doing a scavenger hunt in the special education room to find various school supplies that they will be using throughout the year! I made two sets of clues, with both using "wh" function questions as hints. Here's a sneak peak at what it looks like:

I included clues without visuals for readers/higher-level kiddos.

I also included visual cues for those that need a helping hand to answer Wh function questions.

Check it out at my store! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Back-to-School-Scavenger-Hunt-for-School-Supplies-1402132 

Tomorrow my store will be on sale (20% off)! Plus, use the code BOOST and get 28% off all your purchases!

For those who have started back, I hope your year is going well!

Grace

Beginning of the Year Slump

I don't know about you, but I always have trouble in the beginning of the year with lesson planning. I start providing services to students on Monday and am drawing a big blank when it comes to lesson ideas. It always takes me sooooo much longer in the beginning of the year!! By October, I'm a pro- knocking down a whole week of lesson plans in one hour on a Sunday night. But right now, I'm staring at the cursor with no ideas!! My first day, I have 4 students I'll see for "Speedy Speech" (5 minute articulation 1:1 sessions), 2 speech groups, 2 language groups with students with autism, 1 semantic language group, 1 snack group for students with autism, and 1 pragmatic language group.

I rather work on decorating my room...

I love my smallish classroom! My first year, I was in a huge classroom and it was too much space for me and my students. I had some trouble with students getting up and wandering, looking around, etc. In this room, students are better at staying seated when I need them to be. Love this room!

Help me with my writer's block!!! What would you do with my groups????

Category Fun! Sorting, Describing, and Making Associations!

I have another product!! I am really excited to use this one when school is back in session!

How many students do you have that are working on categories? I have a TON! Category naming, naming items in categories, making associations, describing with category and function, etc. The list goes on and on!

This product is an easy way to address those types of goals. Here's one page of objects with adorable graphics:





There are 24 different object cards that belong in 6 different categories. For this product, I included zoo animals, insects, tools, ocean animals, fruit, and school supplies. There are sorting mats to work on sorting items into categories and task cards to address various goals. The task cards ask students to name items that belong in a particular category, name something that "goes together" with an object, or describe 1+ element of a particular object. Those cards look like this:

This is my first product that I am actually offering for sale. It's $1.30, BUT you can win a copy by entering my Rafflecopter Contest! Enter today!







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