Ode to Summer

Oh summer, how do I love thee! I know many schools have already started and I am one of the lucky few in my remaining week of summer. Don't worry, I'll be jealous of you all in June when we are still in school. This summer, I did not have a paying job, however, I will share with you ode to summer.

I'm learning. CEUs yes, but also I'm learning about blogging, instagram, twitter, and teachers pay teachers. There is an amazing digital support system for SLPS, teachers, and other professionals that I'm just starting to learn about.

Lack of social interaction makes me talk to my cat and myself. No lie, I was in target and I started talking to myself OUT LOUD.

Over the summer, I tried to be a wonderful wife for my husband. At first, he was sad that he no longer has summer breaks and I was worried he would begin to resent me. However, once I began cleaning, cooking, and doing laundry on a more regular basis, we both saw the advantage of having me home.

Summers off is a misnomer. As professionals in schools, we may have 3 months where we are not required to go to work, but our work never ends there. First, we cram a full year of work into 9 months. Second, I think about my students, dream about them and come up with ideas to use throughout the  summer.

Most importantly, dear summer, I'm going to miss my naps.

Love,
Caroline

Today I Learned: classroom website creation

Every night at the dinner table my dad would ask each of us kids what we learned that day at school. Well, this weekend I learned how to make a website for my speech-language classroom. Our district has moved to a 1:1 iPad initiative for our 7th and 8th grades, and nearly all communications with parents have become digital. Each class from 5th grade and up at my building has a website where they post assignments and news. Seeing as this summer I am all about learning new things, I decided to create my own website for better communication with parents.

Weebly for education has a great site for teachers to create their own classroom websites. The basic service is free and intuitive. Adding text, titles, and pictures is simple with an easy drag and drop editor. Some extra features include password protecting student pages, a place to upload assignments, and the capabilities to add your own photos and videos.

I started off by picking a basic layout and within 30 minutes I had a home page that linked to 3 additional pages. Here's a peek at the website I created!

Because I work with 9 different grades, I split up my website to include an area for the younger grades and the older grades. I focus very heavily on vocabulary as it's a great way to improve generalization and so I created a K-4 page and a 5-8 page that includes the vocabulary word of the week and other things we'll be working on. If you provide theme-based therapy, this is also a great way to share the vocabulary and skills you are working on with students.

Overall, I would recommend creating a Weebly classroom site and I'll keep you posted on how it goes this year!

What's in Your Cart? BTS 2015 Linky Party

On Monday and Tuesday TPT is having a back to school love SALE! Yesterday we hit August and the countdown began. TPT is counting down with their back to school site-wide sale and my little store is participating. If you use the promo code (BTS15) you can get even more savings. Now is the time to dust off your wishlist and move things into your cart. I've decided to join up with Jenna Rayburn's "What's in Your Cart: Linky Party" over at Speech Room News to highlight a few coveted items.

Take a peek below to snatch some goodies from my TPT store!

Get the ball rolling with your social skills group through the game Guess the Feeling, a taboo-like game all about feelings.

If you are looking for a way to build curricular vocabulary comprehension, check out my Building Vocabulary through Prefixes, Roots, and Suffixes. This a product that I am super excited about!

Another favorite is In a Pickle for L. This articulation game builds language and flexible thinking as well and who doesn't want to target everything at once!

And now, for the main event - what's in my cart! If I had an unlimited budget, this list would go on and on...

1. Prompts on a Stick from the Peachie Speachie. These look fantastic and I am looking forward to resting my voice or using these cues in a push-in session.

2. Social Group Curriculum for Middle and High School Students from Nicole Allison. I have materials for social skills for all my younger students, but almost NOTHING for my middle schoolers. This looks too fantastic to not have.

3. No Print Articulation Trivia: Bundle from Sublime Speech. So many of my students are working on carry-over of their articulation. I can't wait to use this on my new smart board.

Happy dance! The sale starts tomorrow, so fill up your cart!