Monday, October 26, 2015

A Treat of Halloween-Themed Language Tricks & Activities for SLPs From: The Frenzied SLPs




It's time for the next installment of the Frenzied SLPs! This week the Frenzied SLPs are highlighting Halloween-themed language activities sure to keep your little ghosts and goblins motivated and happy (and some of the larger ones as well) and make your planning a little bit easier.

As I have stated often, "I love to capitalize on a theme!" It makes therapy planning a cinch. Holidays are a fabulous way to design activities around a theme. Here is a sampling of what will be happening in our speech room for the next couple of weeks.

On one of my recent trips to Walmart for ink, card stock, etc. I perused the holiday storybook display. Walmart always has a nice collection of holiday storybooks and I found a really cute book that I thought would make a wonderful addition to my library; Monster Needs a Costume I (like many) find books to be a great resource for language therapy. There is a wealth of book companions on TpT for most any popular book, but I couldn't find one for this particular book, so I made a little something that would meet my needs. You can pick it up here.

Defining and describing is a crucial skill in schools and one that our speech-language impaired students struggle with. Over the years I have used a variety of materials to teach describing, but the procedure has always been the same; talk about attributes, characteristics, functions, parts, location, category, etc. The Expanding Expression Tool has put it all in one place and format. My students love my "describing hop" activities for learning about creating definitions. When playing Halloween Hop, students either use wind-up eyes or Halloween hopping frogs to move on the board. They describe the picture with the corresponding attribute they land on.

Play-doh smashing has been all the rage! Far be it from me to miss a trend, so we started smashing synonyms. Prior to smashing we played memory and go fish to learn the synonym pairs.

In order to help my older students with listening comprehension, inferencing, problem solving, vocabulary, fact vs. fiction, context clues and more we went to the Internet. Snopes.com has some fairly creepy (and not so creepy) urban legends that are appropriate for middle school students.
Here are a few we've been using this Halloween:
Lifesavers were created because the inventors daughter choked on a mint without a hole.
The daddy long legs spider is the most venomous in the world.
Halloween ranks second only to Christmas in retail sales.
Vacationing couple discover a body under their bed in a hotel room.

Another wonderfully creepy source for language therapy is kidzworld.com. The folks at kidzworld have compiled a nice collection of information on the legends of some truly spooky characters including werewolves, witches, mummies, and vampires. I put the information together on some cards so my students could refer to the text more easily and highlight key details and vocabulary.

What are you doing for Halloween with your language students. Please link up and share your therapy expertise.
Thank you for linking up! We want to hear from you so please follow these basic rules:
  • Only link posts, in other words, please don’t link up as a placeholder and post later.
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29 comments:

  1. Thank you for these fantastic ideas!! I love Halloween!

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    1. It is a lot of fun. I used to have a huge Halloween party every year in my younger days!!

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  2. I love everything about this post, Annie!! Thanks so much for the urban legend links! I'm always looking for some good reading material for my middle school clients.

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    1. Thank you so much! It is a challenge to find things that intrigue tweens and teens. A dead body under the bed in a hotel room is often just the ticket!

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  3. I LOVE your ideas for listening comprehension and inferencing! I am totally doing those this week! Gret post!

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    1. I am so glad. I'll send you a little treat (not a trick).

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  4. Wonderful to read all about your great ideas for Halloween-themed therapy sessions! Thank you so much for the inspiration!

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    1. Thank you! I was thinking of you today as I used your apraxia materials with a little one! It is so fun to actually "know" the authors of some of my favorite materials.

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  5. Those KidzWorld links are GOLD! Thanks for sharing!

    Abby
    Schoolhouse Talk

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  6. Those hopping eyeballs are hysterical! What a great idea. And I'm definitely checking out Snopes for the urban legends with my middle school kids this week. Thanks for all your work helping to organize this linky party Great job!

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    1. I love my eyeballs! I hope your students enjoy them!

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  7. Lots of great ideas. Thanks for sharing!

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  8. Love the Kidzworld links--used the witch one immediately!

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    1. Yeah, I was so happy to find that site! Glad you found it helpful!

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  9. Monster Needs a Costume sounds like a book I need to check out. Great ideas!
    All Y’all Need

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    1. It is a really sweet book, Laura. I love the illustrations.

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  10. Great therapy ideas! I have several students who would love using the synonym smash to work on synonyms!

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    1. Thank you! Synonym smash up will be available later today, Natalie!

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  11. Thanks so much Annie for heading the link-up. I'm so glad you were able to get this terrific post out. Happy Halloween.

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    1. Thanks, Jen and thanks for helping me calm down and the offer of post stroke therapy!!!

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  12. Thank you so much for hosting! :) Great ideas for therapy!

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  13. I love putting a voice with a name and face!! I LOVE the video-especially "I'm not good with inches." You've made me want a whole collection of wind up toys! Can you believe I've never even heard of the book "Monster Needs a Costume?" You've really got my wheels spinning, Annie!!

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    1. I agree, I love hearing what my speechie friends sound like! I'm so glad you're thinking because you are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!!!

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  14. That book looks so cute! I love doing themes as well...it makes planning so much easier!
    More great ideas, Annie!!!

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    1. Thanks Mary! Themes do make planning easier! My biggest problem is knowing when to stop.

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