It’s starting…the time when I start missing the artic cards and Candyland and planning therapy. Summer is coming to an end. I am down to one week left, which is exciting and a little sad all at the same time. I love being home all summer with my son…no schedules to keep, no alarms, and I can have my coffee on the couch while listening to Pandora and cruising Pinterest. But…I also love a new school year and seeing my students and getting back to “pathologizing” 🙂
So as I start planning, I have been thinking about what new activities I can do for the first week of therapy. I really don’t like doing the same things year after year. Maybe the kids wouldn’t care…but it’s boring for me and I don’t do boring. The first couple of weeks of therapy are always about getting things together…baselines, folders, procedures, and getting to know you games/activities. I have done a previous post on my student folders (if you missed it, check it out HERE).
I usually do this one in our first session, and we also talk about procedures and rules. Then I spend the next session doing baselines and completing the activities to get to know my students better. Because I have been at the same school for so long, many of the students are familiar with me and I with them…but I love watching them grow and change! I think it is so important for us to build strong relationships with our students and those first activities you do to learn about them are vital. I never assume a child has the same interests as they did the year before!
I also created these conversation starter cards! There are 36 cards, which you can use for the back-to-school getting to know you or for working at the conversation level on speech and language skills. You can download this freebie in my TPT Store!
Other activities I have been pondering were inspired by things I have pinned on Pinterest…
This one is based on nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Each letter is a different part of speech about themselves. This would be fun to do with language groups who have grammar goals!
I just think this is cute! Name webs with pictures of interests or hobbies, and you could have them do one line with what their speech goals are. I was also thinking you could do a collage…the kids look through newspaper ads and cut out things they like. Those ads are good for so many things!
What other activities have you planned for your students?
Love the conversation starters! I just posted a few of the activities I use for baseline data at the start of the year. I also like to use Super Duper’s “All About You, All About Me” cards for getting to know the kids. I like the “Bucket Fillers” book & Michelle Garcia Winner’s “Listening Larry” for illustrating my expectations of the kids. Sometimes I feel like there are so many good start of the year activities, and so little time, lol! (Especially since my district doesn’t even start until AFTER Labor Day!)
Thanks! I love, love, love Bucket Fillers. A lot of teachers in my school use that too. I agree…too many goodies and not enough time! WOW, you have another month! Enjoy!
The conversation starter cards are very cute! I’ll be starting my CF in a few weeks (I also start after Labor Day) and I am just eating up any and every idea as I have no idea what to expect for the first few weeks! So exciting, yet so anxiety provoking at the same time!
Thank you!! That’s awesome! It will be fine 🙂 Let me know if I can help with questions or anything!