Long Vowel Word Wall

One of my goals for this semester (not an official goal, just my own personal goal) is for my kid and I to create a word wall every month. He can keep track of words we are working on plus it is a good transition task from academic to fun. However, when I started thinking about a word wall, I got so bored. Usual word walls are just a poster board with the word written across it. I decided that I'll do themes for each month: October Halloween, November Thanksgiving, and December Christmas. (I'm lucky because my kiddo's family is a-okay with celebrating the holidays in therapy.)

Since I'm focusing on the long vowel a spelling pattern, I'll have a ghost "head" for each pattern. This week at least we are focusing on -ay, -ea-, and -ai-. My kid will write the words onto white slips of paper, sort them by pattern, and attach them to the ghost heads using glue:

Here is an easy ghost head that I found on google images

Our goal is to make each ghost a body. With each white piece of paper, the ghosts will get longer and longer. He can cut each slip so that the ghosts take shape. This also means he'll have to manipulate the words smaller and smaller so that they will fit onto the ghost.

I'll connect all the ghosts together using coat hangers so that we can hang them around the therapy room as visual cues. This will also make comparing them easier.

At the end of the month we can do some comparisons:

• Which spelling pattern ghost is the longest?
• Which ghost is the shortest?
• Predict which long a spelling pattern has the most words (probably the longest ghost)
• Count the # of words that we have found that fit into the spelling pattern

The word wall after the first day, these ghosts are going to be huge!

Hit the Pattern

Pick three different spelling patterns within a broad category (long vowels). For example, choose 5 spelling words for long a silent -e (crate, rate, lane, frame, ate), 5 spelling words for long ai (paint, faint, rain, main, train), and 5 spelling words for ay (day, Monday, pay, fray, clay).

Work on these patterns earlier in the week so that the kid is familiar with them. For the game, print off the three patterns (-aCe, -ai-, and -ay) on large paper and make them big & bold. Lay next to each other on the floor. Give the child time to look over the patterns and think about words that fit. Explain that you will tell him a word and he needs to toss the spike ball onto the right pattern.

Imagine these cut out and even bigger

Call out spelling words one by one. "Crate" and the child should throw the ball onto the correct pattern -aCe-. If he lands on the wrong one (intentionally), ask him to write the word on the whiteboard. If he spells it wrong, tell him to correct it by using a different pattern. If he gets it right, he gets a point. If not, correct the spelling on the board. Repeat activity.

Extra activities:

• add the words onto his long vowel a word wall poster
• write a sentence using each of the words
• draw a picture of the word (if possible) and make up a story about it 
• "The bunny crawled into the crate for a rest but then he got carted across the ocean..."
• have him find the words within curriculum text 

This is an easy activity to use to see if teaching is being generalized to other words. It is also easy to take data on: if he spells it right, you know the pattern is known. If he gets it wrong but then can apply the right pattern when he spells it out, then he needs more scaffolding. If he gets it wrong each time, he needs to be re-taught the pattern.

My spike "ball"

Spelling Slap Jack

Materials:

• Spelling word index cards 

Last night I was trying to figure out my materials and lesson plan instructions. I did the lava experiment to make sure it works, gathered up all the ingredients, and started making a rough "script" for the lesson. Then I started to get stressed out. Even though I have 6 main activities (with activities within activities) I realized that if one thing goes wrong, we would have plenty of extra time at the end of the session. Finally, I just gave up and went to bed. I thought that maybe I'd ask my supervisor for another idea on Monday.

Thankfully, plop, an idea came to me as I was waking up this morning--Slap Jack Spelling! Specifically, long vowel pattern (with silent -e) slap jack. I can't take full credit for it because I remember watching another clinician with a similar idea last year.

Okay so here is the idea of the game:

• I will make 10 index cards with random grade appropriate spelling words
• I'll also make 10 index cards with long vowel pattern spelling words
• Mix them together
• After shuffling the cards, the student gets ten and I get ten
• We will both lay down one card each 
• If someone lays down a long vowel pattern card, we race to slap it first
• The person who slaps it first gets the whole pile of cards (the person also needs to read the word out loud as they slap it) 
• Whoever has all the cards at the end wins

Since I will still be trying to probe for what the child already knows, I will use this game to assess the child's identification of a specific type of long vowel pattern. For instance, I can choose 10 words that have a long u and a silent -e (cute, use, huge, etc.). That way, if the child identifies 8/10 long u words, I know that he/she has a pretty good understanding of the spelling pattern and so I don't need to reteach the concept later. I'm just excited that I figured out a way to test spelling without having to give a written spelling test, so much more fun!

This game can also be used for:

• Recognizing sight words
• A quick way to assess understanding at the end of a brand new spelling instruction (did the lesson actually work?)
• It would also be easy to use this in a large classroom setting: children can pair up and play the game to practice specific word work 
• A way to go over reading comprehension after reading a book 
• If the book was about pirates, mix pirate-themed cards in throughout the deck
• The student needs to recognize the pirate card, slap it, then tell a detail he/she remembers from the book 

Lesson planning fun!

I've caught the lesson planning bug. I'm almost worried that my first few therapy sessions will be super cool and then I'll lose excitement and be the worst SLP ever. But, so far, lesson ideas just keep coming.

I've been bouncing ideas off my friends and pinteresting up a storm. I love the idea of collaborating for lessons... you just get such good ideas that way. So lately, my friend Holly and I had been brainstorming together about using kid bowling sets in our sessions. My only concern was finding a kid bowling set that was cheap and cute. Well, today I was at lunch and Holly sent me a text: "They have bowling at white elephant! $12!"

I turned to my boyfriend and exclaimed, "We gotta go!" So we raced down to the store and met up with Holly. And I got the last bowling set!

Moral of the story: brainstorm with friends, pinterest, and stop everything to get to the best deals.

Here is the adorable bowling set 

                                                                              

There are so many ways to use the bowling in therapy, just add velcro and go! 

Some ideas:

• Add a sight word on each pin. When the child knocks over the pin they have to identify the word. 
• Velcro a spelling word to a pin. For each pin that is knocked over, the child has to spell it aloud and then write it on their bowling worksheet. 
• Use as a fun, non-educational reward for good behavior

I'm planning on using my new set within the next two weeks so I will post more ideas and pictures as I figure out the lesson.