In Awe

Tomorrow is the big day!  Andorra (my daughter) is leaving for the Peace Corps in Indonesia.  I've been anticipating this with a whole spectrum emotions depending on the day--joy, excitement, dread, grief,  then back to happiness, then anxiety.

Today we said our good-byes, and curiously, I didn't break down into an emotional mess.  I was happy and at peace with her leaving, and tonight as I'm typing this, the main feeling I have is awe-- of her spirit, her bravery, her energy, and her willingness to try new things and make the world a little better.  I'm in awe of the fact that she's willing to be away for 27 months--away from her boy friend, missing the birth of her niece, away from the comforts of her home.  I'm in awe that she gave away most of her possessions to do this--clothes, car, electronics, books. I'm in awe of her taking on a job of teaching English to a group of kids who don't share her language. 

Tomorrow, she'll fly to San Francisco and meet up with a group of Peace Corps volunteers.  They'll fly the next day as a group to Surabaya, Indonesia.  It'll actually take two days since they cross the date line.

Her stops--Dallas, San Francisco, Tokyo, Singapore, Surabaya

When I get pictures from Andorra, I'll post them here.  I'm looking forward to her adventures!
Life is good.


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Eggs, Bunnies, and Chicks---Prepositions Bingo to download

This is short and sweet.  My kids didn't really master describing the little pictures for the St. Patrick's Prepositions Bingo, so rather than giving them a completely different activity, I revised this same one to fit the Easter theme.  (And now I'm sharing it with all of my speech and blogging friends!)

Hint: print extra game boards and send home as homework!  This comes with three Bingo boards--good for you, but these would be ok printed in black and white for the moms and dads.

Click here to download this game in Boardmaker.

Click here to download this game in pdf.




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Peace Corps update

Here is an update on my daughter and her Peace Corps adventure!     She is 'shipping out' April 7th from San Francisco!  Her destination is Indonesia, where she'll have several months of training before living with a host family and working (teaching English) for two years.  I'm not sure she knows really what she'll be doing or what town/village she'll be living.

Fun Facts About Indonesia:

• There are about 17,508 islands
• It's the world's 4th most populous country
•  Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world
• Badminton and soccer are the two must popular sports
• Average temperatures vary little through the year (26-30 degrees Celsius)
• Indonesia is home to the Komodo dragon, the largest lizard in the world

Andorra will be flying to the city of Surabaya in Indonesia arriving there on April 9th.  I've actually never heard of this city, but it's the second largest in the country.  I learn something new every day!    The pictures are stunning---I just did a quick search on Google.

More about all of this to come!!!!!  My husband and I are very proud parents.

Eggs Everywhere! ---new free printable

If you notice, all of my stuff is free.  Perhaps if I needed the income to supplement my school salary, I'd be selling, too.  For now, though, I'm grateful for my job and the kids I work with, I'm grateful for my husband who supported me for years as I worked, and I want other SLPs and teachers who may be struggling with a lack of instructional funding to use my materials with children.  I hope these downloads help someone.

Here's the latest---based on my earlier books.  I'm a believer in repetition, so if you read 'Bunnies Everywhere' and 'Shamrocks Everywhere', you'll see this is similar.  It's named (not too creatively) 'Eggs Everywhere'. 

This book is 15 pages, including the icons page.  Objectives can include:

• simple prepositions (in, on, under)
• commenting
• describing a picture with a simple patterned sentence
• labeling familiar pictures
• getting ready for your own Easter egg activities!  

Click here for the book in Boardmaker


Click here for the book in pdf

Use the blue area as a sentence strip. Cut up the rest.

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Peace Corps!!!!

A while back, I wrote about my wonderful talented daughter, Andorra, and her application to the Peace Corps.  She has now received a formal invitation, and she'll be going to Indonesia!!!!  I'm so proud of her. 

Feast for 10--- with printable icons!

This is such a great book for Thanksgiving on so many levels---it's happy, there's great food, it features an African American family, the language is simple, there's terrific vocabulary, it's descriptive.  I could go on and on.  This book works for every kid!

I've made some Boardmaker printables to go with it which are very simple and straightforward. This is a counting book---it goes up to 10, and goes up to 10 again!  You can print the icons out in Boardmaker, or in pdf.  If you have Boardmaker, you can edit, change the size, change the pictures.  In pdf, you pretty much have to accept what I made.  

I want to have my Thanksgiving meal with this family!!!!

Download icons in pdf

Download icons in Boardmaker 

book icons

I have since discovered from the Budget SLP that
Florida WIC program has a complete lesson plan
with large visuals to go with this book. Go here
to look at the plan, download the visuals, and get
more ideas!

My favorite page!

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The Little Old Lady who was not Afraid of Anything

This book, The Little Old Lady who was not Afraid of Anything, is one I read with my kids every year!   It works especially well in small groups--generally it's our first play.  Each child has a part---either a hat, shoes, pants, shoes, gloves, or pumpkin head.  Each child has a line (e.g. 'clomp, clomp', 'wiggle wiggle'.....).  I'm amazed at how hard the line is for some of them to remember!
   I even read this with some artic kids---there are a lot of 'L' words in the book!  Every time I point at the child, he needs to say 'little old lady' correctly!      

The video below is one I found on YouTube.  I have no idea who these kids are, but the teacher here did what I did with my kids last week---she brought in real articles of clothing and each child had a part to play along with an piece of clothing to hold.  She paired kids up, while I paired my kids with whatever adults were in the room.  It was all fun! Exactly how you structure this depends on the levels of your children.

I also quickly made some visuals.  I used them during the group activity to assist in comprehension and to cue the kids as to when to say their line.

Click here to get the visuals in Boardmaker

Click here to get the visuals in pdf
    I am in the process of switching all pdf visuals to Smarty Symbols. Since I pay for this subscription, this product is on Teachers Pay Teachers.  If you have Boardmaker, click above and it's free.

Have fun with this book.  I did!     I also want to say that when reading this to the kids, you have the freedom to paraphrase.  Some of the pages are slightly wordy--but I managed to hone in on the action words quickly with an abbreviated reading.

Happy Halloween!






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