Speech-Language Update January 2015
What’s Happening in the Classroom:
During the month of December, language lessons in
the general education classroom focused on
compound words and prepositions/positional words.
Compound Words- The students were shown some
examples of compound words, both with pictures and
text. Next, a kinesthetic strategy was taught to help
with identification of compound words. Then, the story,
“Strawberry Bullfrog” was read to the students. Each
student was then given a picture. There were specific
pictures that could be combined to create a compound
word. In example, one student had a picture of butter
and another student had a picture of a fly, which
together would create the compound word “butterfly.”
The students were instructed to non-verbally (without
talking) find their partner to develop a compound
word. Next, a song to the tune “Who Stole the Cookie
from the Cookie Jar” was utilized to review compound
words. Last, the students were instructed as a class to
identify examples of words that were compound and
words that were not, and then create a snowball with
mittens or snowman utilizing a compound word.
Prepositions/Positional Words- The story, “Over,
Under, By the Clover” was read to the students. Next, a
short video clip on prepositions/positional words was
shown. Then, the students brainstormed several
prepositions/positional words with the speech clinician.
Each student was instructed to choose a
preposition/positional word to utilize for the writing
activity with a snowflake and bare tree. The students
were asked to write a detailed sentence utilizing their
chosen preposition to describe where the snowflake
was in correspondence to the tree. In example,”The
big, white, fluffy snowflake was hovering over the bare,
brown, tree.”
Upcoming lessons-Language lessons for the month of
January will focus on synonyms and antonyms.
Brrrr…..It’s Cold Outside
There is “snow” better time to build a
snowman!!!
Build a Snowman: You can help your child work on
language concepts while out building a snowman this
winter. Talk about the size concepts big, medium and
small when making the 3 snowballs. If your child
already knows these concepts see if he/she can use
comparatives and superlatives (i.e. “big, bigger,
biggest” or “tall, taller, tallest”) when talking about
the snowballs. Talk about the location concepts top,
middle and bottom when putting them
together. While dressing the snowman see if your
child can follow 1, 2 or even 3 step directions using
those concepts (i.e. put the hat on the top and then
put the buttons in the middle). You can also talk
about the concepts “tall” and “short” and see if the
snowman is taller or shorter then you and your
child. If you are really into this activity you can build
more than one snowman and work on using
attributes to have your child compare and contrast
how the two snowmen are the same or different.
Tip: If it is too cold or there is not enough snow you
can do this activity indoors with paper as an art
project. Cut out different size circles and make the
snowman with paper and glue and talk about all of
the same concepts. OR, add a tasty twist by making
the snowman out of marshmallows. Use candy for
the eyes, nose, mouth and buttons, a cracker or gum
drop for the top hat and pretzels for the arms. A
toothpick will help to hold the snowman’s body
together. Have fun!!
Contact me:
You can always write to me in your child’s speech
folder, or I can be reached at
717-657-5122 ext. 12216
[email protected]