Brrr!!

We have had storms and cold fronts and chaos!! I'm finally able to post some projects that I've had sitting around for awhile. Gingerbread Girl Irregular Past Tense Flash Cards (Find it here) is a HUGE product with over 75 target words!!

I love these cards and how many words you can target. I'm a fan of not having to trim anything (Time saver!!) and the fold, cut, glue, laminate project doesn't take that long! I also love that they are self-correcting, which means my students can quiz each other, themselves, or me.

I also added a B&W printable that is winter themed for regular past tense verbs. I have students who ask for homework that they can make, so I made these to quickly print and send home with them! Great to practice regular past tense verbs and to make sentences. It has a word list/answer key with room to take data. :)

The cold-snap that has hit recently has been very inspiring!! I'm probably going to have a few more seasonal projects up soon!! I'm cuddled in front of the heater with a cozy blanket and my laptop. Perfect weekend activity for me!!

Sarah Stevens
The Scattered SLP

Days of the .... Whaaa???

Today had its moments of laughter, of loving my job, of laminating.... And of saying ridiculous things.

I pushed into a Life Skills Class to get some data on whether a student was generalizing his speech skills outside of my office (he isn't, more on the "Magic Portal" that is my office door later) when another student *NOT ON MY CASELOAD* (i.e., doesn't have a significant language impairment) wrote the following on his assignment:
Q: What day of the week was yesterday?
A: 5

... My first response when he showed me his paper? "A 5 is not a day of the week!" The teacher heard me and laughed at me.... Then realized what the student wrote and sent him to the calendar to look at the WORDS for the days of the week!!! (And since today is the 21st of October, there is no way it was even the date!!!!!!!!!)

That has come up at least 3 times today. During a building special ed meeting, during text messaging after work, and on Facebook. We (our amazing SpEd team) have now dubbed "The 5 File" for ridiculous statements and funny errors. Of which there are many in our lives!!!

As long as you can laugh, right???

Guess what the entry task for these 7th graders will be for the rest of the month?? Saying and writing the days of the week. :)

Hope you had a laugh today!

Sarah

Color Me Frustrated!

I have a few friends who are debating what color "frustrated" is... The consensus seems to be a yellow/orange with some hints of red. Whatever the actual definition, that was how I was feeling as I left work today. For the record: If a student can't identify if a sentence is syntactically or grammatically correct when he reads it or hears it.... He *can't* find and fix subject-verb agreement errors in his writing. I'm not necessarily an expert on many things. But that one I do know. And even though I had my new "IEP Data Check" form (that I made for this week of IEP insanity), even that amount of data wouldn't have changed this teacher from her path of non-progress... I mean, her goal that she wrote for this student who can't ID that there are errors, much less fix them.... But I rant on. Ok. I had already declared it Hot Mess Monday, so I don't know why I was surprised!!

Because of this frustrating interaction, I've started pulling together more materials and new ways to show the different levels of skill acquisition. So that the next time I run into this, I can pull out the data and (maybe) make more of an impact. So stay tuned for some handy forms and materials to show what level a student is at... I'm not reinventing the wheel here, so if you have something else that's fabulous, then share!! :) But I've a fondness for forms that match my needs. And for fonts that feel fabulous. And for getting my kids the goals that they need. ;) So I'm still a little orangy-yellow. But I'll channel that into making some great (for me) materials that I will share with you!!













I had a major breakthrough with a lateral s/z student. I worked with him 8 years ago and have him again. He is still lateralized. A LOT. But. I used some of the tricks from the Eliciting Sounds book (I'm so glad I bought it years ago!!!) and made a cursive T for transitioning to /s/ (They refer to the "German Affricate ts"... I didn't remember that term, so called it a "Fancy T-S"). Same with transitioning d-z. Only in my only-half-a-cup-of-coffee-in-me state, I wrote a not-cursive Z.... I'm not entirely sure what I wrote, but he took to it like a duck to water! We practiced z+vowels! Although the /z/ was harder for his tongue, the motor-planning trouble of turning the voicing on when saying /s/ was harder, so we went with voiced. He was stunned!!!! And so very aware. "Oh, I need to slow down some when I say my Ds." "My tongue keeps bouncing up and down when I try to say that."

I used the envelope trick that I saw posted not long ago (and didn't purchase, because my middle school kids have later developing errors, but I totally used the idea and LOVE IT) paired with my usual set of vowels that I use in a circle, usually, but the slide worked well today!!! Here is a link to the vowels. A regular envelope that you seal closed works perfectly fine if you cut off the end. I'm sure I'll make labels that I can put on envelopes and laminate and everything. But for the first session of the morning? I was thrilled with the progress!!

Here is what else went on today during therapy!! I have to share some happies and some wonderful products from other TpT sellers!!!

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid Of Anything: Comprehension Book

By The Speech Bubble SLP

I pulled out this classic today when I realized just what a Hot Mess I was... Students screaming in the hallway, beginning orchestra class having kids practice in the hallway... Things were NOT going my way! So I pulled out the book and companion and we worked on sequencing, inferencing (who knew there was info to infer from this story! Why would she go into the woods? Why did she have to walk so far? Why would she need herbs and seeds?), predicting, and basic comprehension. And reading. Oh, man. Some of my students can read well. But most are at a maybe 2nd-3rd grade level. So this was pretty good for the to do!!

By the end of the day, the chaos-meter had hit the high level. I sent this young lady over to make me a sentence. I assumed (incorrectly) that having the wonderful cards stacked on the floor under their respective titles (adjectives, which are almost all 2 words and include a Capital Letter at the beginning, Nouns, Verbs, Adverbs) would be a clue for the order they go in. Oh, no. I printed and laminated all of the Parts of Speech Word Wall By Nicole Allison and added magnets on the back (Best invention? Adhesive Magnets for Business Cards). Voila! Perfect whiteboard activity! Once my student figured out the pattern, she was off to the races! I love the sentences that students on the spectrum come up with!!!! In this picture she is adding punctuation. Because "Mrs. Stevens is the Punctuation Police!" as she told me. :) I adore her!!!

 So those were my shining moments, in among the frustrating ones. :) New materials are coming along and blog ideas are percolating. Only 2 or 3 more IEPs this week.... And 4 evals...

Sarah

This is addicting...

I only went "live" on Teachers Pay Teachers last night... But after making a new (and, in my own opinion, AWESOME and ADORABLE) product last night, I made TWO new ones tonight.


I'm trying them out as paid products, mostly because they are much longer than the first two. You can find them here in my store.

Regular and Irregular Past Tense Verbs. Flash cards are a passion of mine, as they can be super versatile. I've used them in groups (who gets the most or says it first), one on one, to build sentences, to name past/present/future....

I've added task cards where you have to fix the verb that is in parentheses and make it the correct past tense verb.  And I added a little circle on the Halloweeny set to help with hole punching. Because I was making some today and the stupid things didn't line up like I wanted them to and it was annoying.... :) My day was annoying... So I added visuals to help with hole punching mostly for me!!


The Regular Past Tense cards are basic flash cards. I like being able to trim, fold in half,glue well, trim, and laminate. Then my kids can check their work (or each others' work) to make sure they were right. These are also good for making complete sentences.

I included color and black & white in this set to give more variety. Many of my 4th and 5th grade students would ask for their own copies. I'm discovering something similar in middle school.
It also helps for when you run out of ink!!!

:) I haven't had the brain power to really focus on making materials for "Narrative Retell" or "Stating the Main Idea" (although I will get to those... There are too many IEPs with those in them that I didn't write and aren't due anytime soon), but I will. Once I decided that "Tuesdays are the new Mondays" and went with the tired-feeling, my life was better!! So I cuddled up with my laptop and played with clip art and past tense verbs. I really need sleep, now, and to not get sucked into another project. Although it would be really easy to!!!

More to come soon!!! And: I'm taking requests! I can't promise magic, but I will take needed materials into consideration. It might spark a great idea!!

Happy Tuesday!!
Sarah

I did it...

I'm off on a new adventure! I've become a seller on TpT and will be making products with the intent to sell them, not just use them myself. To share the materials that I am driven to make to help my students and myself. To create, not just purchase!!! And to give credit where credit is due!!! (I've worked with artists and designers too long to *not* give credit)

So. Under the tutelage of a more seasoned seller, who works with the same age-range, I'm undertaking a new challenge. Blog more, create more, share materials, make more materials, watch my students bloom, help other middle school SLPs get materials at the levels that they need.

Watch for a makeover of the blog, my logo, my Scattered SLP brand.... You name it!! And for the opening of my TpT store, The Scattered SLP. AHHHHHH!!!!! (While I'm feeling freaked out, my husband said "Why *wouldn't* you do it?" and handed me a notebook! He has confidence in me!)

That's my news. I'm on a purging spree to remove fonts and clip art that aren't for commercial use. If I can't use them in commercial products, out they go.

If you are looking for specific types of materials, let me know. I'll add them to my list of things I want to make!!! I'm so excited. Stay tuned!!!!

Sarah

Wow.

I've thought a lot about ideas for blog posts in the last few months. I didn't realize just how long it had been since I sat down and WROTE one and POSTED it... That's something I want to get better at! I guess you could call it a hiatus, of sorts, when I started working with a non-profit in my "free time" and then combined with a super-early spring that set my allergies at max speed... I spent no time on materials, or really anything work-related, at home (The non-profit work was fascinating, though, and helped me balance other parts of my life). But now I'm back!

I'm still with the non-profit, but we are in a lull after some crazy stuff happened in the crazy parts of the world in which we were operating. I was not anywhere near those locations (for a myriad of reasons!!!), but it was edge-of-your-seat sometimes and completely different from my Speech Life. Now that the school year is in full swing, I am working to discover a good balance between my Work Life, my Home Life, and my need to be of service to others (Combat Vets/ISIS Victims/People in Dire Need). It's a work in progress. Always.

On to the Speechie Stuff!! I'm scattered, as always, but am *LOVING* my new location!!! I was asked to move to the middle school, which was a surprise, but I had no idea how rough things were in my Elementary until I experienced the awesomeness that is my new school!! Personalities, entrenched belief systems about staff and students and procedures, and an office in an old hallways all combined to make for a less-than-ideal setting. While I adored my students and some of my coworkers, I am please with the transition. My new office is full of light and STORAGE!!!! With tons of built-in shelves that are PERFECT for binders! We also have 3 new teachers in SpEd and, so far, we are getting along fabulously! The only things I really miss are the Littles (preschoolers and Kindergarteners) and using a table low enough to use a yoga ball during therapy. Aside from that? Happiest SLP Around!

Moving to 6-8 grade needs has been interesting for many reasons, and the biggest challenge has been MATERIALS. When we put in our material request last year, I didn't know I would be at the middle school AND our supervisor was leaving and didn't quite order everything we asked for... So I got no new materials and the articulation cards are older than I am (and I'm 31, so it's not like I'm brand new)... So. Bless my TpT and IG SLP peeps! I am *so* glad that I got a new HP printer with Instant Ink over the summer. I love back to college sales for technology. I've gone over my 300 page limit for both August and September, but I don't care. It's still way cheaper than buying ink like I used to!!! I've used the money I saved to get more products on TpT. (Later this week I will share some of what I've made and am loving, but it's Sunday night and everything is at work, so no coherent sharing right now...)

Here are a couple pictures of my amazing new office in various stages of transformation. Yes. I have a lot of stuff. No. All of those binders are not full. Nor are all of the drawers full. Every SLP who had used that office over the lat 8 years apparently took over a new drawer, so there were eight (YES, 8) different drawers with hanging files / folders / copied articles / materials / random notes / student work / etc that needed to be cleaned out. And that took awhile. A long while. With many papercuts, shredding, sweating, and some swearing. After being out with a stomach virus for Thursday and Friday last week, I will be cleaning and disinfecting like crazy, so I'll have some updated pictures to share soon!!

Thanks for reading!!! Shorter update next time....
Sarah

Blank Slate

Board with materials on rings hanging below.

Just part of my amazing desk with some of my binders!

Board, CCSS, Quotes. A very big wall to add interest and info to!

Spring!!!

Is it Spring Break yet???? 4 days left with kids, 7 with teachers, 9 if you count weekends... I'm not keeping track, or anything!!!

Life has gotten insanely busy and complicated. My husband and I both got sick March 1. We spent 2 weeks miserable and on antibiotics (we even got pink eye! It was crazy!!) and we both still have coughs and the remnants of head colds. But we're almost back to normal. Then there is my "other" job, editing an online magazine in a decidedly NOT speech genre, and while it doesn't usually take too much of my time, we launched a big edition AND I had an article in it AND I just interviewed an artist for one of the upcoming editions... And through THAT, I was asked to do some pro bono editing work for a non-profit which went from a loose timeline to a OMG WE HAVE TO LAUNCH THE UPDATED WEBSITE TONIGHT in about 4 minutes. And I did their press release. And email blurb. All outside of my speech stuff. Oh, and I've taken on about 13 kids at another school, spending one day a week there and cramming the rest of my students into 4 days, to help out an overloaded SLP. Oh, and our new SLPA started and went from 2 days with me to basically 4 (because no one else has time to train). So a little busy... I've taken to highlighting different things in my planner (I had to go back to my paper planner!!) with color coding, so I know what I'm doing when!!!!

On the speech front, I have kids making great progress!!! And kids making no progress.... And new kids who have Reputations. And old kids who have Reputations. As it always goes!!! Standardized Test Season has begun, and I've been working on Complete Sentence Usage with my 3-5th graders. I had great winter sentence mix-ups and questions from TpT (I'll update with the actual source when I'm at work and can check...), but needed spring-themed materials. So I made some today during a "Woo Hoo! THAT student is absent" break. I loved the little mushroom!! I'll make different cards with differently colored mushroom clip art, (I'm LOVING the Educlips Gnome Clip Art), but for now, please enjoy the Blue Edition!!! I've been having my students write them out on a dry-erase board or sleeve so they remember to Capitalize and use punctuation. This has the conventions in the list of words, so it is a scaffolded activity. Most of my students aren't ready for "just" a list of words without some visual cues.

Today we also broke out some Social Thinking Thought Bubbles. With 2 fourth grade boys. It was very interesting to see how THEY interpreted the activity!!!! And how very difficult it was to even get them to participate with the same STICKY NOTES, much less the SAME IDEA!!! We have a long way to go, but they are good sports!!!!

Hope Spring is showing up where you are!!!!

Sarah
The Scattered SLP

Eeeeek!

I'm trying to be productive on this Sunday. Although my cat has tried to thwart me, I managed to make a logo and a copyright image to throw on products. And eventually she gave up on trying to subdue my arm and ran to another room.

And I have my clip art and fonts and borders and papers on the memory stick devoted to that. I'm still working on organizing it. And am blog hopping to figure out how other people do it!!!


But for now, here's the logo image!! :) I wanted something to throw on Instagram and on products that I'll eventually post on here. I'll see if I like it. Not sure yet. But I'll try it out for now!

Amazing Coworkers...

At the Zoo in June 2014 with 90 Kinders...

I am blessed to work with some truly amazing educators. It has been a week (already.... 2 days in....) that NEEDS positives. So I'm actively seeking them. For the first time ever, I get to be at ONE school, in ONE office, and with ONE set of teachers! It's FANTASTIC! And I don't know what to do with myself sometimes. I keep thinking that I should be going somewhere else.... Anyway. I get to actually do some "Push In" with a kindergarten class. They have the most wonderful and fantastical teacher!! And I wanted to spotlight her some. Heather has become a good friend of mine and I take new pictures in her room of ideas and strategies and activities every time I go in!! We're working together to pre-teach and reinforce critical vocab and concepts with our shared students. It's a wonderful relationship. Plus, she is HILARIOUS!!

I'm trying to get her to start a blog. (hint hint, Heather!!! Your stuff is adorable and your methods rock!) Best guided reading I have seen. And her kids are the most prepared for 1st grade. And not because I'm biased. She works her hiney off. It's so good that I don't have enough words to describe it (after an 11 hour day and way too many meetings), so let me show you some fun things from this week!
I love being in her room for writing/ELA. They read a book together at the carpet, then go to their seats to write in their monthly writing packet. First, they write a sentence together. Each word is sounded out or spelled from the Popcorn Word Wall. They use finger spaces or "Space Men" to put spaces between the words. They use capitals and ending marks (periods, questions marks, and exclamation marks). Then they review the letters together. Then the words. Then the sentence. I love her saying "Letters make words, words make sentences, sentences make stories" and the kids always respond! Then they draw a picture to go with the sentence, in pencil first.
Did you notice how flipping organized her room is??? Going on 15 years of teaching and she has this DOWN! And has adorable stuff.
And some great ideas! Such as:

Tape down the table to section it off. Because what 5 year old (especially boy) knows what their personal space should be? Or can stay in their own bubble? But the tape provides a visual cue and it's easy to see who is in their space and who isn't. And a really quick way to redirect back to their side with minimal arguing. She has also divided up a round table with tape and a horseshoe table. I shouldn't be amazed (we do this all the time for kids with ASD and social delays, why WOULDN'T it work for typical kids??), but I am!! And it just seems to make so much sense to the kids.


Same with the Dot Spots. Circles taped to the floor all over the room. When they are doing work that they don't have to be at their tables for, they go to a dot. They have enough room to do their own work, they can't "cheat" and scoot next to a friend, and the dots are far enough apart to be able to do quick assessments of math or spelling using a notebook to write on. I've seen it. It works. "I can see your dot from here, dude, that mean's you're not on your spot." They scoot right back to their spot that is clearly defined. Do they get scuffed up? Sure. Do the kids pick at the tape? When they aren't actively engaged, yup. Do you review the expectations? Takes 20 seconds. And it's super easy to replace if it gets too messed up.

What do they do on their spots, you ask? Here's an example of a VERY squirrely student, who is not known for staying on task. He chose his spot to be right next to my chair. Which either means he is used to the spot because it is the farthest away from the screen and the teacher OR because he likes that I hold him to standard and will erase what he writes if he just scribbles things down... Or both. :) ANyway, here are his arms and his reading notebook with a list of nonsense words and a reading stick. He is purposefully not technically ON his spot, but sort of hovering OVER it. But he was reading and paying attention (for a minute), so we called it good. Every kid has a "Carpet Bag" which is a binder pouch with their name on it. Inside are supplies. Crayons, glue, pencil, eraser, number line. The basics. Scissors stay in the material tub on the tables. The crayons are in their own sandwich bag inside the zippered bag. It's awesome. And they've had the same ones since the start of school. I'm impressed.

Anyway. That's a quick and dirty view of what I got to experience this week. I have about 5 students in her class and it's wonderful to get the chance to bridge from my office to her classroom. It's AMAZING what you discover needs to be worked on!!! Here's my freebie for today: I Like Lemons worksheet!! My soon-to-be-dismissed artic-only student responded with "I wike __" during the book discussion on Tuesday, so I made a carryover homework sheet for him. Lots of Lemons for him to write what he likes in and then practice saying "I like" in sentences. It's a habit thing with him and I have no doubt it will have an impact!!! Enjoy!!!

Sarah

TECHNOLOGY!!!

****UPDATE!!**** I found an error in the snowmen... One had the future and past tenses flip flopped... I have updated the link and the Dropbox file. It is the "do/did" card if you have already downloaded it... Oh, brain. AND then, while using them, I realized the data sheet had a couple of typos on it. So it is updated. Again.


I had such plans for the long weekend. And, like so many plans, they were derailed! First by family emergencies, then by an amazing football game (SEAHAWKS ARE SUPER BOWL BOUND!!!!), then a date night with my husband where we took my dad to see American Sniper. And then by contractors at my grandma's house. I was also foiled by too many memory sticks and not being able to find the right one! Because I left it at work. Fail. On so many levels!!!

So here is my latest creation! Uploaded during lunch as I drink my morning coffee and eat my breakfast. It has been quite the day.... Irregular Past Tense Verbs. Snowman Style!!

You can download them here and use them all winter long! Because that is how long some of my kiddos will take to master them... :) I'm sure I'll make more. Similar words, same process, so much practice!!!

Happy Tuesday that feels like a REALLY long Monday!!!
Sarah

Wow! Mid-January???

I have no idea how it is already the middle of January. A two-month long sinus infection (whoops!!!) plus an ear infection (I should know better) and the beginnings of bronchitis (love my asthma) made most of December into a blur. Then my 94 year old grandma's house had a flood, so that made Christmas and New Year's and the beginning of January incredibly challenging for everyone in our family (most of us live in the same small town, which meant she could "reasonably" request to sleep in her own house, even though the kitchen, front room, basement, and one bathroom were completely torn up from the dishwasher malfunction that caused so much damage... Luckily, she went to stay with my aunt 3 hours away for an extended visit while the construction goes on). Then we were back to school and more chaos reigned (like always) and suddenly it has been a month since I posted! I've made some new stuff, but it isn't quite ready to upload. I had a 2 day migraine this week that I did NOT have time for. Grr. The new stuff will be ready to go soon. Three-day weekends are helpful for that!!! And for laundry. That needs to happen, too... Anyway. Enough scattered ramblings about the many goings-on in my life!!

While sipping my coffee, browsing Facebook, and waiting for updates about my grandma (oh, I failed to mention that she's in the hospital 3 hours away due to a hip problem that she woke up with. Not a fracture, but she can't use it or walk...), I ran across CrazySpeechWorld's post about using Instagram. She shared a blog post from Allison's Speech Peeps that made a lot of sense. So I created a new username that I will use for speechy stuff. I have two currently, but one is from the wedding in July (best idea ever to get pics your friends take!! When they hashtag their pics from your event, you can find them easily!!!!!) and one from a few years ago that I think involved my name and birth year... I can't remember. But it isn't speechy and isn't particularly useful. Since I LOVE Pinterest and can spend more time than I'm willing to admit on it, along with Facebook and TpT, I figured that this would be a great way to quickly see new ideas for therapy. And I could share my activities, speech room, crazy moments with anyone who cares to follow. :)

So there's my current news, in my typical scattered fashion. Follow me on Instagram! @scatteredslp

Time to go be productive! I have two evals and a slew of IEPs to write, plus projects to do for work and around the house. Losing two days to a migraine with vertigo means I lose part of my weekend to work stuff. BUT. I get to do it in yoga pants!!