Therapy Thursday: Thanks and Giving Tree

In the spirit of Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's "Complaint-Free Day", I present to you not a laundry list of things that have s*cked about this year, but a reminder of all we have.

The children filled up recycled packaging paper with beautiful fall colors, while I cut out a bare tree. I later cut out leaf shapes. Most evenings at dinner, we report one thing that we "gave" that day and one thing we are "thankful for". It's our nightly "thanks and giving" routine. For the last few weeks, we wrote each of those on colorful leaves and stuck them to the tree. It's a visual reminder to be generous and thankful every day.

And now the therapy portion of this activity (yes, I know that I'm a day early....):

1. Have the children use complete sentences when responding to the questions, "What did you give today?" and "What are you thankful for today?"

2. There are many difficult sounds in "thanks" and "giving" and this activity provides daily practice towards perfecting these sounds. A great cue for the "th" sound is to "gently bite your tongue and blow". And a cue for the the "v" sound is to "gently bite your lip and blow".

3. Expand vocabulary by challenging the children to use descriptive and unique words when being thankful. Be sure to think of something new every day (which my kids are notoriously poor at doing).

4. Have fun talking and brainstorming together as a family!





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Teaching Tuesday: The 1st Thanksgiving in 4 parts

In my stash of resources, I found a simple, illustrated "First Thanksgiving" story from Parents Magazine, November 2003. By reading and sketching out this story, my students could (gasp) retell me about the first Thanksgiving.

I began by drawing the Mayflower and labeling it with the word "May" and a picture of a flower. On this ship were tiny stick figures labeled with drawings of "pill"s + grim. The ship was about to hit a rock.

Simple picture cues can be so helpful both for readers and non-readers. Try illustrating an event in history in 3-4 picture sequences and have your children retell the story. See what happens!

Marvelous Monday Children's Books: Plump and Perky Turkey (re-post)

This is a re-post from 11/17/08, but still my favorite Thanksgiving book...


Plump and Perky Turkey

Throughout my childhood I vividly remember Thanksgiving as the annual holiday when I ate potatoes. Lots and LOTS of mashed potatoes. Eventually I grew to love pumpkin pie and that was added to my meal.

And that was it.

Even now I'd prefer a honey-baked ham over a turkey any day.

It is little wonder that I adore this rhyming book about a clever turkey who outsmarts an entire New England town. Shredded wheat for Thanksgiving? No problem (so long as there are mashed potatoes and pumpkin pie!).

Speech Therapy Ideas:
1. Practice articulation words before, during, and after reading this story. Here are some of the words that I picked out of the story.



2. Identify and explain turkey idioms such as:
"go cold turkey"
"talk turkey"
"turkey" (as in "You turkey!")

3. Practice vocabulary within the story. Identify meanings, tell meanings aloud, determine synonyms, match words to pictures. I made a 3 page chart of vocabulary words. Here is a screen shot of a few of them:


4. Answer story comprehension questions:
Who:
Who are the main characters in the story?
Who has the great idea?
Who decides to be the model and makes the towns people happy?

What:
What do the people in Squawk Valley want?
What do the people in Squawk Valley NOT want to eat?
What does Pete take as his payment for modeling?
What kind of activity do the people hold?
What is the plan for tricking a turkey?

Where:
Where does the story take place?
Where are all the turkeys going?
Where do the posters go?

When?
When does the story take place?
When does Pete disappear?

Why?
Why are the turkeys hard to find at Thanksgiving time?
Why does Pete hide?
Why do the people want to trick a turkey into their town?

5. Retell the story including characters, setting, problem, events, resolution.

6. Just for fun, make some turkey origami!

Turned

I am an Ivy League Grad turned Special Educator.
I am a prep school student turned couponer extraordinaire.
I am an athlete turned caregiver.
I am a healthy daughter turned adoptive mother.
I am a scientist turned linguist.
I am a book reader turned book listener.
I am a world traveler turned home maintainer.
I am....turned.

Come join Wordful Wednesday at 7 Clown Circus!

Marvelous Children's Book Monday: Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving

Thanks to certain blogging friends, I was able to check out a few new Thanksgiving books this year. Although I still haven't found a fantastic one about the original Thanksgiving feast, this rhyming picture book has been fun new one to read and explore with my students.

Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving


I never had time to come up with fantastic wh- questions, idioms, or fill-in the rhymes. But I did develop a vocabulary list that includes definitions, synonyms, and (most importantly) picture cues. Many of my students find these pictures crucial to remembering what a word means and can conjure up the memory of the picture much easier than the definition of the word.

It was a dark and spooky morning

Hosted by Cecily and JENNIFER

It was a dark and spooky morning.

Super Woman stumbled into her tiny classroom and made a monumental decision. For the first time all year, she would make a pot of coffee. And not just any coffee. A special peppermint, holiday blend recently acquired from the store.

She sat down at her beloved MacBook and started reading blogs work email to cheer herself up.

Suddenly, it happened.

There was a thump, followed by a deafening howl. The dark liquid trickled through the keys and stained the desk. The sticky texture contaminated the entire region of the classroom. And the odor? The sweet, sweet smell of coffee will forever remind Super Woman of that horrid morning when tragedy struck--when she lost both her caffeine and her computer.

The end.

Therapy Thursday: What Body Language Communicates

Reason for the Season 2009

RAWR!

Hosted by Cecily and Emily

Dragons

Dragons are a strange lot
No two are quite the same.
Some like to scale tall mountains.
Some don't even have a name.

Some have horns and teeth and wings.
Some like just to sit.
Some love to go out flying.
Some love to rage and spit.

So, If you've seen a dragon.
Consider yourself blessed.
Because of all the creatures in the world,
He's picked you out as best.

And if he follows you around.
Decides to take you home.
Know ye' well that he will be
a friend, you truly own.

December 24, 1981
By Linda A. Copp ©


My Chicken's On the Internet

My chicken's on the Internet.
She surfs the web all day.
I've tried to stop her browsing
but, so far, there's just no way.

She jumps up on the mouse
and then she flaps around like mad
to click on every hyperlink
and every pop-up ad.

She plays all sorts of chicken games.
She messages her folks.
She watches chicken videos
and forwards chicken jokes.

She writes a blog for chickens
and she uploads chicken pics.
She visits chicken chat rooms
where she clucks about her chicks.

I wouldn't mind so much
except my keyboard's now a wreck.
She hasn't learned to type yet;
she can only hunt and peck.
--Kenn Nesbitt (2009)

Teaching Tuesday: Thanksgiving lessons

Check out this free printable gem I discovered this morning at Scholastic.com

A simple Thanksgiving story, along with a 4 character Reader's Theater. Perfect both both The Flash and many of my students.

The site also has interactive lessons about the first Thanksgiving, comparative writings and pictures of Native Americans and Pilgrims, and lesson plans for different age levels. It's a great resource for parents and teachers.