Making It To The End Of The School Year!

The end of the school year is such an incredibly busy time! IEP meetings, re-evaluations, report cards, end of year reports, cleaning and organizing your room…. All of these in addition to doing therapy with kids who have probably had it by now!

 

Since there are also many schedule conflicts, like class trips, end of year picnics, field day, and state testing, to mention a few, a quick and easy therapy plan is just what the doctor ordered! Luckily for you, I have a few ideas to help you get through the end of the school year!

 

By the last month or so of the school year, it is a great idea to make sure that your students’ skills are being used in real life activities. Rather than increasing skills vertically, by age or grade level, make plans to ensure that the skills are broader, deeper and more functional on a horizontal level. In other words, just use the skills for a wider variety of activities.

 

There are so many fun ways you can do this: crafts, games, books, activities, and conversation, to name a few. To be honest, I am incredibly spent this year, so I am opting to share with you some online games that are making happy faces in my speech room this year!

 

A word of warning: always be sure to check online resources yourself before using them with your students! I have checked these sites for use with my low functioning middle school students, but you may have different considerations to think about with your caseload.

FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS

http://www.abcya.com/fifth_grade_computers.htm

Don’t worry about the fifth grade link- there are lots of choices for lower levels, too! These 3 make- a- __  games in the skills section of the website are great for giving and following directions! My students work in pairs with one child giving the directions to the other, who is in charge of the mouse. Once they have completed making the item, they switch places and roles. Fun!

MAIN IDEA

http://www.pspb.org/blueribbon/games/burger/burger.html

This game is fun and easy. It even reads the sentences out loud for limited readers! I was quite surprised that my group had as much fun with this as they did and had as much trouble with it as they did (sigh) since it uses a limited amount of stories.

http://roomrecess.com/mobile/MainIdea/play.html

This game has awesome sound effects!

PROBLEM SOLVING

http://pbskids.org/arthur/games/yougottobekidding/

For younger kids or those who won’t mind seeing Arthur characters, this game asks questions for practical social interactions and gives 3 possible answers as choices.

http://pbskids.org/itsmylife/games/

For older kids, try some of the games at this part of the site!

VOCABULARY

https://www.theproblemsite.com/games/picture-word

To review vocabulary, try this hangman version with a hidden picture!

http://www.learninggamesforkids.com/vocabulary_games.html

There are lots of vocabulary choices here, including idioms and analogies!

INFERRING SKILLS

http://www.philtulga.com/Riddles.html#free

See how many clues you need to figure out the answer!

http://www.pspb.org/blueribbon/games/detective/DetectiveGame.html

This activity is cute for low elementary level predictions.

http://www.toonuniversity.com/aol/1l_infer.html

Another lower level inference game!

http://reviewgamezone.com/game.php?id=7

Deciding which answer is an inference lets students earn game time!

You CAN Make It to the End of the Year!

See? You can change up your regular therapy routine, tell your students that work is done, and have an easy conscience as they practice their skills in different contexts at the end of the year! I hope these tips help keep you smiling until the end of your school year! If you need a few more ideas, come on over to my blog!