Worth it Wednesday {Connect Four: Vocabulary}

I hope you've enjoyed this weekly feature and you've found some great products to use in therapy! This will be the last week for my "Worth it Wednesday" feature for a while since I have started my new features on Fridays. But stay tuned, they won't be gone forever :)

This week's "Worth it Wednesday" is brought to you by Listening 4 Language- "Connect Four: Vocabulary"

My kiddos love Connect Four. I have those certain students that ask for it every.single.session. So I was so excited to see it in a new format!

It looks just like the regular Connect Four game, but instead of dropping the pieces into the holder and trying to connect four that way, your students can choose to cover up spaces anywhere on the game board. This activity covers categories, object functions, attributes, synonyms, and antonyms.

What I love:

• This targets 5 different aspects of language quickly and easily. Each activity has its own page, so that's 42 different opportunities to practice each target!
• There's a blank page at the end to add your own targets, which is always a plus.
• The targets on each page include ones I haven't seen targeted in other products.

So have I peaked your interest? You can find it here! Be sure to visit Listening 4 Language while you're at it.

The preceding thoughts are solely mine and were written on my own terms. No person asked me to write this review. 

Worth it Wednesday {Word Feast Middle School}

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links for your convenience.

I can't believe it's already Wednesday again! I've got another great product in store for you, but this week's feature is a little bit different. Instead of featuring a TpT product (which I promise I'll get back to doing next week!!) I'm reviewing a product that I know many people were wondering about- Word Feast Middle School!

I've been using this book, along with the Elementary version for my young kiddos, for almost a month now. The layout of the book makes it incredibly easy to teach the vocabulary. Every section starts out with a page like this. 

The page includes the new words that your student will learn, as well as words from the previous lessons (which I think is wonderful!). Prompts are included as to how to start the session, such as what questions to ask your students to get them thinking about what they will be talking about during that lesson. The page also includes the pages of the reading passages and activities in the lesson.

After the initial page, there are your reading excerpts. There's always one longer story that uses all of the vocabulary words in it. The vocab words are bolded in the text to make them easier to find. 

The next page or two include additional reading passages where the vocab is used. I really like these pages- they are usually set up as ads or postcards, something small that our students might see in real life that includes the vocabulary words. 

The page(s) after that include the definitions of the vocabulary words. I like them being here instead of first in the lesson. Why? Because I like seeing if my students know the definition before we start the lesson. I will read the words and ask if they had heard these words before. I write down what they think the definitions are on a white board. As we read each reading passage, I ask my students if their idea for the definition has changed. You'll be surprised how one context suddenly makes the definition clear to a student over another context!

What I love about these definition pages are that it includes its part of speech, the definition, a usage tip, and then correct vs. incorrect usage of the word. After we review the word's definition and talk about its usage tip, I say both sentences, in random order so the correct sentence isn't always first, and ask which sentence had the vocabulary word being used the right way.

After we go over the definitions, I usually have them put some (if not all) of their words in a vocabulary graphic organizer. You can find the one I use here.

The next pages are the activities where you can apply the vocabulary words that your students have learned. Here are a few examples....

 

 

Other examples of activities include Association Activities, Synonyms and Antonyms, and Create your own Sentences. There are many activities to do that apply your students' knowledge of the vocabulary words. I'm not saying that this should replace your work with curriculum vocab, it most definitely should not. But it is a wonderful supplement that introduces your students to more Tier 2 words that they might not get in school. 

So what do I love? In addition to everything above, let me tell you a few more things....

• The lessons are age appropriate. Aside from getting things from your students' textbooks, it is often hard to find passages that expand and build upon each other like you can find here. 
• The lessons increase in difficulty, challenging your students more and more as you go. Also, the lessons are mostly curricular based.
• The vocabulary are Tier 2 words, which is oh so important for our middle school population. 
• The vocabulary words are repeated throughout the entire book. A word you use in one lesson may reappear in following lessons. 

I purchased these books on my own. Linguisystems did not provide me with these books in exchange for my review. 

Have you used the Word Feast books in therapy? What do you think??

Worth it Wednesday {Where do we Belong? A Problem Solving and Inferencing Activity}

It's one of my favorite days of the week, a time for me to show you awesome products that other bloggers are making! This week I'm bringing you a product from Shannon over at Speechy Musings. (You might remember I did another "Worth it Wednesday" post on another one of her products, Articulation Menus. You can find that here!)

Her product, "Where do We Belong?" has just recently made its appearance in my speech room, and I have to say, I'm sad I didn't find this sooner!! I have some kiddos on my caseload who were in need of a little higher level problem solving/inferencing skills, and this fits the bill perfectly.

What I love:

• This is real life application! These are things that our students are actually going to have to consider later on in life. What kind of house do I need? What car do I buy? Which pet should I get? Most, if not all, of these things will be crossing their minds at some point in their life.
• There are many opportunities for practice. Six families, houses, pets, and cars are included. Each family has a detailed description of what they are looking for in each of the three areas. Shannon does a great job really describing each different house, car, and pet to better help the student pick the correct one for each family.
• Picture answer keys- enough said! Students can check their answers by matching it to the provided picture. Perfect for when you are doing this activity in a group.
• There are blank family, house, car, and pet pages. Can I just say that I absolutely love that? Your students have the chance to think up their own situations- perfect for reasoning and higher level thinking skills! 

Does this sound like something you could use too? Check it out here! And while you're at it, go show Shannon some love on her Facebook, Blog, and Teachers Pay Teachers store.

What is a product that you've bought that has been worth it?

Worth it Wednesday {Camp Go-Together: Associations and Analogies}

This week's Worth it Wednesday includes a product from The Speech Bubble, "Camp Go-Together: Associations and Analogies"

I have so many students on my caseload this year working on associations. If you're in need of something to help you target those goals, look no further than here!

There are three different games:

Association Cookout

      This is a leveled activity. 16 cards have multiple choice answers and 16 cards have no choice. The student must decide "how _____ and _____ go together". There are also "bug spray" cards that cause the student to lose a turn.

Hike the Association Trail

      There are 24 cards in this section. Your student is asked to pick a word that is associated with another word. "What word is associated with ____?" The student is given 3 choices for each questions, illustrated with a picture in addition to the word. The "poison ivy" cards cause you to lose a turn.

Pack your Bag

      This is another leveled activity. 24 cards have multiple choice answers and 24 cards have no choice. This game focuses on analogies. "______ is to _______ as _______ is to _______". The prompt "How are they related?" appears on all cards. This game includes backpacks to use as game mats. Each mat has 5 small pictures along the side of items to "collect". Cards have the target items on them. The first person to collect all needed items wins!

What I love:

• There is an included reference mat that is extremely helpful! It talks about what an association is and the different ways things can be associated. Group, use, size, etc.... I always have this out on the table to help my students.
• There are leveled games. Sometimes, your kiddos just need a little extra help. I love that two of the games include leveled cards to help those students just learning about analogies. It also helps the student put to use all the different ways items can be associated.
• Synonyms for associated are used in the questions. We often interchange these words when we talk about associations out loud, so why not interchange them during the activity? Questions are phrased with "How do they go together?", "How are they related?", and "How are they associated?"
• "How are they related?" question on all analogy pages. Analogies are hard for my students (even though they are almost exactly like associations, just worded different). This question on the cards reminds my students to think about how those first two items are related so they can determine what item will be related to the given term. 

The preceding thoughts are solely mine and were written on my own terms. No person asked me to write this review. 

Hopefully you'll be able to use this with your students as much as I have! You can find this product here. While you're at it, check out The Speech Bubble's blog, Facebook, and TpT page. 

Worth it Wednesday {Roll the Dice! A Conversation Game}

If you work in the middle school/high school population, you'll love what I have in store for this week's "Worth it Wednesday"! Amanda from Speech in Secondary created this great product, Roll the Dice! A Conversation Game. 

This is wonderful game for your social skills groups to practice topic maintenance, turn taking, and asking questions! Each face of the dice equates to a conversation "rule", such as making a comment, asking a question, or changing the topic. 

There are two levels of cards, a 20 card set with pictures for your elementary school students, and a 20 card set without pictures for your middle school/high school students. Also included is a game board with "Change the Topic" squares for added fun!

What I love:

• The two levels of cards. The pictures on the first set are a wonderful edition for our non-reading kiddos and the topics are age appropriate. I love that the second set of topic cards doesn't have pictures- your middle school students don't need them, and they often think they are childish. The topics on these cards are also age appropriate, as they allow for greater detail of conversation.
• The game board is great! There are plenty of squares, allowing for multiple opportunities for conversation to take place. I also love the random "Change the Topic" squares, it keeps my students and I on our feet throughout the game!
• The rules of the game are so simple-just do what the number you roll tells you! Some games can have such complex rules and directions to play, that you spend the first five minutes of your therapy session just trying to figure out how to play! In this game, if you roll a 6, you definitely know what you need to do.

Does this game look like something you can use with your students? You can find it here! And be sure to check out the rest of her store, there are TONS of activities for you SLPs in the middle school population!

The preceding thoughts are solely mine and were written on my own terms. No person asked me to write this review. 

What is a product you've bought that was "worth it"? I love finding new material!

Worth it Wednesday {Speech and Student Information Packet}

This week's Worth it Wednesday post features a product from Major Speech Pathology Fun by a Minor Girl: Speech and Student Information Packet

I grabbed this packet right before my first day of school on a whim, and I'm so glad that I did! Amy has included great questions used to address a student's speech goals as well as general information about the student. 

The list above indicates what you get with her packet- and trust me it's all great! I loved going through this packet with my kids on their first day. Some of the answers you get are hilarious (one kid said he prefers to be called "Dragon" in class!), some are frustrating (What do you like to do in speech? "Play games." What do you not like to do in speech? "Work." Grrrrr.), and some are pull-your-hair-out-you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me (No, Mrs. Schackmann, I don't know what any of my speech goals are.)

But overall, you truly learn a lot about your students (and they hopefully learn a lot about why/what they are working on in speech at the same time). 

My favorite part of this packet was the "Speech Contract." It's a wonderful list of speech rules for your students to follow. I love that they have to initial after each rule and then sign and date the bottom. It shows that they know what the rules are and that they agreed to follow them (something I think is great for administrators!). 

What I love:

• The Speech Contract- a great comprehensive list of rules.
• The variety of questions- I truly feel like I know my students better (especially about their home life).
• You have the opportunity to go over your students' speech goals and talk about why they are working on those goals.
• The speech time reminder sheet is great for giving to your students AND their teachers (you can never have too many reminders!).
• The motivator sheet is wonderful. You get a good picture of what your student will work for, or won't work for.

The preceding thoughts are solely mine and were written on my own terms. No person asked me to write this review. 

Are you interested in getting this for your first days of speech? You can find it here! And while you're at it, visit Amy's Facebook, Teachers pay Teachers store, and blog. 

What is something that you thought was "worth it"?

Worth it Wednesday {Scrambled Sentences: Speech Therapy, syntax, creating sentences}

Welcome back to another wonderful "Worth it Wednesday" post! This week's product is brought to you from Kelly over at Speech2u. It's her "Scrambled Sentences: Speech Therapy, syntax, creating sentences"

This is such a wonderful product for syntax! I love how it involves a breakfast food theme- every type of word, adjective, adverb, noun, verb, etc., has its own breakfast food. I think this is such a great idea. You can easily sort different parts of speech into their respective categories, and you can easily see how adding a different part of speech (or two) can change the meaning of the sentence.

Kelly provides a scoring rubric for how many points each part of speech and each type of sentence is worth. Each person gets a place-mat with a plate, and you are ready to go! There are such a wide variety of words (240 cards included!), as well as blank cards of each part of speech for you to add your own. Parts of speech included are:

• noun
• verb
• adjective
• article
• pronoun
• preposition
• auxiliary verb
• interrogative
• adverb
• conjunction

Kelly has included sentence building templates for those students who need a little extra help just starting out.

She has also included two carryover activities- Scrambled Sort (unscramble the sentences and put them in the right order), and Scrambled Eggs in a Cup (unscramble the directions). 

What I love:

• The breakfast theme and how each part of speech has its own breakfast food.
• There are literally SO many different cards-the sentence possibilities are endless.
• Not only can you target sentence structure, you have the opportunity to discuss parts of speech, what makes a complete sentence, expanding sentence length, etc. There are endless possibilities with this!
• The carryover/practice activities are GREAT! There are plenty of opportunities for practice.
• My students love making up silly sentences (even though that's technically not part of the rules, it's a fun extra way to play!).
• The sentence templates are so great- I love using them for my kiddos who need to expand on their sentence length. Everything is laid out for you!

You can get this great product here! Check out Kelly's blog, Facebook, and Teachers pay Teachers pages too!

Worth it Wednesday {Making Inferences / Drawing Conclusions with Text Messages!}

It's Wednesday again, and you know what that means, "Worth it Wednesday"! For those that don't know, every Wednesday I review a product that I have purchased on TpT and let you know why I thought it was "worth it" to buy. The author of the product didn't ask me to write anything, so you know my opinions aren't biased.

This week's product is from Mia over at Putting Words in Your Mouth. It's her Making Inferences / Drawing Conclusions with Text Messages!

I don't know about you, but a lot of the students on my caseload have goals for inferences. And if your students are anything like mine, all they can think about is their iPhone!! Thankfully, Mia thought to combine the best of both worlds and come up with a great product that will surely keep your students' attention.

There are 30 different text messages provided, as well as 6 special cards. She's even included blank cards for you to create your own, or have your students create their own!

What I love:

• Mia combined something our students love with something they need to work on, how can you get better than that?
• The text messages are relevant to your students' lives. They will be able to relate to what is being said, which is the best way to learn!
• Mia provided so many different games to play with this product, I love having options!
• I LOVE the blank cards. Mia gave a wonderful suggestion on her cover page to have your students make up their own text messages and draw inferences from those. You learn the most when you have to teach something yourself, so having your students make up their own cards will only help them!
• You can target so many things with these cards- WH questions, categories, synonyms and antonyms, syntax, and more!

So have I convinced you to check it out yet?! You can find it here! And while you're at it, check out her Facebook, Blog, and TpT page.

The preceding thoughts are solely mine and were written on my own terms, no person asked me to write this review.

What product have you bought that you've thought was worth it?

Worth it Wednesday {Common Core State Standards for Speech Pathologist}

I'm back with another great "Worth it Wednesday" post! This week I'm telling you why I think the "Common Core State Standards for Speech Pathologists" by Heather over at Language of Speech is most definitely worth it!

(sorry for blocking it out, I didn't think it was fair to Heather for me to show you all her hard work for free!)

I don't know about your district, but all I can hear about is "common core this" and "common core that"! But do you really have time to look at every standard for every grade just to find the one that you need? Well, Heather put together a GREAT resource for us. She has taken 15 different goal areas and has selected the relevant CCSS for each area for each grade! Talk about a lot of work!!

Areas included:

• Articulation
• Fluency
• Grammar
• Vocabulary
• Categories
• Word Relationships
• Basic Concepts
• Comprehension/WH questions
• Main Idea/Details
• Sequencing/Retell
• Inferencing
• Multi-step Directions
• Clarifying Questions
• Problem Solving
• Pragmatics

What I love:

• It is such a comprehensive list! 15 different areas are included-it can't get much better than that!
• She not only took the time to research what standard fits best for each goal area, she also divided it by grade!
• She made it SUPER easy to include CCSS in your lesson plans (which I know my administrators love!)

The preceding thoughts are solely mine and were written on my own terms, no person asked me to write this review.

Are you thinking this sounds like something you could use? Check it out here (don't forget to leave feedback if you download). And while your at it, visit her Facebook page and tell her that I sent you!

What product have you bought recently that you thought was worth it?

Worth it Wednesday {Articulation Game Show! sh, ch, th, s, r edition}

This week's Worth it Wednesday post looks at a product from Kristin over at [simply speech.], her Articulation Game Show- SH, CH, TH, S, R Edition!

Articulation can be SUCH a boring thing to target. How many times can you run through that set of artic cards before your students are begging to do something different? Well ladies and gentlemen I have found your answer- Artic Game Show!

It's set up like the popular game show Jeopardy. There are 5 different categories, each with 100 to 400 point squares. Each sound gets its own game board. The categories included are:

1. Fill in the blank- Kristin included sentences with a blank somewhere in there. All words have the target sound in them, in either the initial, medial, or final position.
2. Rhyming- You are given a word to rhyme with. Each one of the words has the target sound in the final position, requiring your student to use the target sound in the rhyming word.
3. Make me a sentence- You are given a word (with the target sound in it) to use in a sentence.  
4. What am I?- In this category, you are given a few clues to guess the word that contains the target sound. 
5. Mystery Square- All the questions in this category are a little different- hence the term mystery square. Options range from wh- questions, tongue twisters, repeating words, and fill in the blanks.

What I love about this product:

• It makes articulation fun! Your students aren't stuck doing drill, they feel like they are playing a game.
• You can use it with mixed groups. Because there are so many different categories, this would be perfect to use in mixed artic/language groups! So many language topics are covered- word finding, wh- questions, rhyming, sentence formulation, etc. 
• It's also great for one student who has mixed artic/language goals. You can play one game and get in both goal areas at one time. Talk about using your time wisely!
• It's in a friendly competitive format. I love the Jeopardy style board. You can even split your group into small teams to incorporate teamwork and peer interaction. 
• It targets those harder sounds- these are some of the hardest sounds to learn and are often the sounds I see kiddos the longest for. 
• As I mentioned earlier, I really, really LOVE that it targets so many language concepts in addition to artic. Products like these are so valuable!

The preceding thoughts are solely mine and were written on my own terms, no person asked me to write this review.

Have I perked your interest? You can check it out on TPT here! (And if you like it so much you want to get it with different sounds, check out her Articulation Game Show: k, g, f, l edition!)And while you're at it, head on over to Kristin's Facebook page and blog and tell her hello. 

What have you gotten recently that you thought was "worth it"?

Worth it Wednesday {Wh- Whale Questions}

Rachel from over at The Queen's Speech has a great Wh- question activity available in her store- WH- Whale Questions {Who, What, When, Where, Why, How}. 

This is SUCH a cute activity! The graphics are adorable, and Rachel has done a wonderful job! First in her packet are definition pages. Each Wh- word has a page with it's definition as well as examples (what an awesome idea, right?). Then she provides you with cards to match the definition to the question word. I love this because it truly tests if the child understands what each question word means. 

Up next are the Wh- cards. There are 144 total cards, 24 for each word! There are open and close-ended questions, which is great! It gives students an opportunity to give their own opinions on questions while also providing them with the structure of close-ended questions. 

After the question cards is a homework/quiz page. Your students must draw a line from the Wh- question to its meaning. AND they have to write two of their own Wh- questions. Here's where this product is different from so many other Wh- question products I've seen. Your students have to form their own Wh- question- what better way to see if they truly understand what each question means! To make it even more fun, she has included a die with the question words on each side. Have your students roll the die and ask that type of question. You could also use this with the Wh- question cards. Just have your students roll the die and answer the type of question they land on.

The last page includes a cute game board to be used with the game or with any other targets you choose.

Overall, I think this game ROCKS! What I love:

• The anchor charts for each word. Not only do they include the definition, they also include lots of examples (huge plus!)
• The Wh- cards are new and interesting from what I've seen before
• Your students have to ask Wh- questions, not just answer them
• A die is included (I don't know about you, but there's something about dice that my students go nuts over!)
• The graphics are so cute and are very versatile for all age groups

The preceding thoughts are solely mine and were written on my own terms, no person asked me to write this review. 

Thinking about checking out this product? You can find it on TPT here! And while you're there, check out her blog and Facebook page as well (And be sure to tell her congrats on her upcoming wedding!). If you decide to buy it, be sure to leave her great feedback! 

What product have you bought lately that you've thought was "worth it"?

Worth it Wednesday {Go Fly a Kite: Idioms and Other Sayings}

I'm back this Wednesday with another great product, this time from Carissa over a Home Sweet Speech Room! I introduce to you Go Fly a Kite: Idioms and Other Sayings.

Idioms are such a hard concept for students to grasp because they are so abstract. Carissa gives you 105 - yep that's one hundred and five! - different idioms to practice! I've never seen a more inclusive list. She also includes the meaning of each idiom in a "cheat sheet" for the SLP. 

Her color coded game board is such a great idea! She has included a color coded die to be used with the game board. 

Up next she has the game cards with all 105 idioms on them. The student draws a card and must say the meaning of the idiom. If they are correct they get to roll the die and move on the game board. She has even included some blank cards to add your own idioms! Also included are special cards to make the game more fun.

The last four pages are worksheets for extra practice. Up first is a worksheet to write sentences using idioms. The next two pages are for matching an idiom to its definition. The last page has a spot for you to write down your idiom, draw a picture of it, and explain what it really means. 

What I love:

• There are so many different idioms! 105 idioms is a ton, I've never seen so many in one product.
• I also love that she has provided a cheat sheet with the idiom meanings.
• The graphics are so cute! They are colorful and really keep your attention.
• I love the color coded game board with the die, it can be used with anything and is more fun than a regular number die.
• The worksheets are wonderful! They are a great way to test the child's knowledge of the idioms and their meanings.

Get Go Fly a Kite: Idioms and Other Sayings here! Also, check out Home Sweet Speech Room on Facebook, TPT and her blog. (Be sure to check out all the awesome giveaways she's doing for 1,000 likes on Facebook and let her know I sent you!) If you decide this is something that would be worth it to you, please leave her some feedback, you can earn TPT credits to use towards future purchases.

The preceding thoughts are solely mine and were written on my own terms, no person asked me to write this review. 

What was a product that you thought was "worth it"?

Worth it Wednesday {Grammar Dice and Pronoun Pop-Up}

Ann over at The Buckeye Speech Path has developed this AWESOME series involving dice, and this week's Worth it Wednesday is focusing on one of those activities- Grammar Dice and Pronoun Pop-Up.

I'll start with the pronoun pop-up- it's such a good idea! You get subjective, objective, and possessive pronouns, each with a boy and a girl as the main character in case your students are picky (I know mine are!). So how do you use the pop-up? Simply roll the dice! Pick whether you want to use subjective, objective, or possessive pronouns, roll the dice, and then use the pronoun that matches up with your dice roll. 

Then you get 5 pages of nouns, at home, at school, and in the community. These pages are on a grid, with dice numbers on the top and the side. You roll 2 dice, and use the grid to pick which noun you use. To use the pronoun pop-up with this, just roll again and use that pronoun with your noun to make a sentence. 

In addition to the noun pages, you also get 7 verb pages that include regular and irregular verbs. The concept is the same as the nouns, you roll 2 dice and use the grid to determine which verb to use. 

What I love:

The pronoun pop-up! The concept is great and you can use them with anything- think artic or language card decks you already own.

It's all in black and white- you don't have to waste any color!

You get a wide variety of nouns and verbs to use.

You can target many objectives- plurals, subject/verb agreement, past/present/future tense verbs, as well as describing, functions, wh-questions, syntax.

You can use the noun and verb worksheets with or without the pronoun pop-ups.

Have I convinced you this product was worth it? Check it out here. In the meantime, follow The Buckeye Speech Path on Facebook and Teachers Pay Teachers, and check out her other dice activities while you're there! 

The preceding thoughts are solely mine and were written on my own terms, no person asked me to write this review. 

What product have you purchased that you thought was worth it?

Worth it Wednesay {Newspaper Companion: Speech and Language Pack for any Newspaper}

I'm sure you've heard of my friend Jenna over at Speech Room News, right? Well she has developed a great resource (not that ALL her products aren't great) called Newspaper Companion: Speech and Language Pack for any Newspaper.

This is such a great activity in that it requires virtually no planning- who doesn't love that! All you need is a newspaper. Yep, you heard me right, that's all that you need! 

This 41 page download includes 27 different activities:

Main Idea
Newscaster retelling
Perspective taking
Most/Least comparing
Opinions
Cause/effect
Current event conversations
Category sorting by type of article
Evaluating Weather
Vocabulary
Problem Solving
Synonyms/Antonyms
Multiple Meaning Words
Current event summaries
Fact/Opinion
Sequencing (recipes & comics)
Syntax (finding parts of speech)
Humor, figurative language
Inferencing from titles
Job search matching
Compare/Contrast ads/articles
Persuasive writing
Name the caption
Narrative writing
Inferencing from pictures
Perspective Taking from advice columns
Articulation

It also includes a letter to send home to parents and blank templates to make your own activities! 

What I love:

The possibilities with this product are endless! 

There are so many different activities that target endless goals. 

All you need is a newspaper-no planning required. 

I especially love that it would be a wonderful resource for older students. It's a way to keep your students interested and work with materials relevant to the world around them, all while focusing on their IEP goals. 

Thinking about buying this product yet? You can get it here. And in the meantime, follow Speech Room News on Facebook and her blog. As always, be sure to leave feedback if you download!

The preceding thoughts are solely mine and were written on my own terms, no person asked me to write this review. 

What is a product that you've purchased that you thought was worth it?

Worth it Wednesday {Articulation Menus}

I'm back with another Worth it Wednesday! This Wednesday, I'm looking at the Articulation Menus by Speechy Musings. 

How do I begin-this resource is AMAZING!! You get 18 different menus: 2 targeting initial /s/, 2 targeting initial /f/, 2 targeting initial /l/, 2 targeting initial /k/, 2 targeting initial /g/, 3 targeting initial /r/, 1 targeting /sh/, 1 targeting /th/, 2 targeting /sp/, and 1 targeting /st/. Whew, that's a lot of menus!

Each menu has its own theme and menu items. You can order a "Shellfish Shake", a "Raisin Wrap", or a "Coconut Cookie". Seriously, there are so many different menu options it's crazy!

Not only do you get the 18 menus, you also get some extra worksheets. The first set of worksheets you get are "My Speech Menu". This has spaces for questions such as "The most expensive thing on the menu?" and "Where is it located?". Then you get a worksheet that targets sequencing, e.g., I would order ____ first. What's the best part, the whole time you are working on producing your student's target sound- talk about mass productions!!

There's a dice game, a note to send home to the parent, and progress notes. Also included are a game board with cards and a general reinforcer game resembling a lunch tray. 

This packet can be used for so much more than just articulation. Use it to work on social skills - like ordering food/taking a food order in a restaurant, what's appropriate in a restaurant. Use it to target vocabulary- what exactly is rhubarb? Use it for expressive language and comprehending questions. The possibilities really are endless.

Have I convinced you to go download this packet yet!? Go get it here, and follow Speechy Musings on Facebook and on her blog. As always, if you download, please leave her some feedback! 

The preceding thoughts are solely mine and were written on my own terms, no person asked me to write this review. 

What's a product that you've purchased that you thought was worth it? 

Worth it Wednesday {Race to the Princess}

I hope you all enjoyed last week's post on ZAP Language Activities by The Speech Bubble. This week I'm going to share with you an activity by one of my favorite bloggers, Jess, over at Figuratively Speeching SLP.

Her Race to the Princess Language Games is a huge hit in my speech room! This HUGE packet targets language goals such as categories, descriptions, functions, similarities/differences, rhyming, and auditory memory. Not only that, she gives you suggestions on how to use your own materials with her game board, expanding the possibilities on the use of this game!

Two game boards are included, one that fits on one page and a two page board that allows extra practice on targets before reaching the finish. You can use the game board alone-by writing targets directly on the board, or you can use the cards she includes. 

You get 32 cards for each area- categories, descriptions, functions, similarities/differences, and rhyming, and 48 cards for auditory memory. The cards are easy to follow and contain interesting material that gets slightly harder as you go through the cards, and the clip art is wonderful. As a bonus, she included blank cards in each area for you to add your own ideas- how neat is that!

My students loved this game. It's engaging and fun-who doesn't love rescuing the princess? If you get the chance, check it out here! Go like her on Facebook and visit her blog (the link is her store name above!) and let her know that I sent you. 

What's a product that you thought was "worth it" to buy?

Worth it Wednesday {ZAP Language Activity Packet}

I'm starting a new weekly feature called "Worth it Wednesday". Each week, I plan to review a product that I have purchased that I felt was "worth it" to buy. No one requested I do this review of their product, I'm doing it on my own free will.

With that being said, my first Worth it Wednesday is from The Speech Bubble (you can check out her blog here).

Her Language Activity Packet is a quick, simple, and incredibly fun game! The best thing about this packet is it includes all of her ZAP games: Categories, Synonyms, Antonyms, Multiple Meaning Words, Irregular Verbs, Singular and Plural Possessives, Singular and Irregular Plurals, and Singular and Plural Nouns- all in one comprehensive download!

Each game has similar rules. You cut out all the cards and put them in a bag or container. Your students take turns drawing out cards and performing the task. If they are correct, they keep the card, if they are wrong they put the card in a discard pile. The player with the most cards wins.

Now here comes the fun part- you also have ZAP cards in the bag. There are two types, regular ZAP cards and ZAP a Friend cards. If you draw a ZAP card, you have to put all your cards in the middle and start over. But if you draw a ZAP a Friend card, you can pick someone else to put all of their cards in the middle!

My students love this game, and I love how easy it is to play. Go check it out and let her know what you think!