As of last Friday, I’m officially done my first trimester as a speech therapist! I actually started writing this blog post a year ago because I had found so many good activities for FREE on Teachers Pay Teachers during my school placement. At some point, I’d love to make my own materials for SLPs (and grad students especially) but for now I’ll stick with sharing what I’ve found with all of you!
One of the cool parts about working in a school is doing ~theme therapy~ which is basically using a new theme with your activities each week/month. Some of the themes I did in the fall this year and last year were: pirates, superheroes, Halloween, and fall (leaves, apples, etc)! I spent a lot of time last year scouring Teachers Pay Teachers and the internet for some materials… I thought it would be nice to A) share everything I found with you and B) document my favorite activities from this fall so I remember to get them out again next year!
Before I get started, though, I wanted to take a second to reflect on my first marking period! It was filled with ~10 IEP meetings and lots of trial and error on my part. The hardest thing from the first marking period was trying to figure out how I was going to stay organized, and also figuring out all of the different paperwork elements and timelines! Since I went to grad school in Delaware and did my practicum there, it was hard for me to get used to the PA requirements. I think I am doing pretty well with it now though which is awesome!
An amazing part of this marking period was getting to know my coworkers. I went to a happy hour, and became close with the Life Skills teacher, Maggie! She and I have become each other’s confidant and I really like having someone I can talk to who “gets” it. Definitely would not be surviving as well as I am without her!
Now it’s time to share some resources. Here’s what I’ve found and used so far this year sorted by ~theme~. And remember everything is FREE! But be sure to check out the other resources these shops have to offer!
“Get to Know You”.
- The first week of school we did “get to know you” activities! These printable iPhones were really cute and my students loved coloring their phone and drawing pictures of themselves at the bottom! Find it in Speech MaterialGirl’s shop.
- This year, I used these also! There were different versions featuring different questions and I thought it was a fun way to get to know my students during the first week of therapy. Find it from Fun in Speech.
Pirates.
- In the second week, I was still getting acclimated to the school & students so I didn’t have too many activities saved but I did love this following directions freebie from Kathy Babineu’s shop! Find it here.
- You can also find lots of fun activities centered around “talk like a pirate day”!
Superheroes.
- I loved these superhero fact cards to use with students working on comprehension! It also worked for articulation during a structured speaking task. I just pre-sorted cards based on sound and asked the student to read the fact aloud! Find it here from K. Ratliff.
- I also loveee any vocabulary cards such as these word association cards. They’re great for language activities and articulation. Find it here from Jenn Alcorn.
Football.
- Football activities were so much fun! This football following directions activity was perfect for my first grade students and kept them busy! Find it here from Teaching Heart Colleen Gallagher.
- Also loved this Football board game to keep with the theme! Find it here from Ashley Rossi.
- I didn’t do a football unit yet this year, so these resources are from last year! I think around Super Bowl time I will do the football unit!
Halloween.
- These candy corn questions were great for students working on wh-questions. You could use them for a mixed group with articulation as well by sorting out questions that contain the target sound you’re looking for. Find it here from Speech Time Fun.
- Another great activity for students working on wh-questions and comprehension were these Halloween sentence comprehension cards. Find it here from Speech Time Fun.
- Game boards are always a huge hit in the therapy room, and I loved using this one throughout the month of October! Find it here from Tales from the Third Degree.
- I didn’t end up using this activity but it would be great for your younger students! This is a great activity for language and inferencing! Find it here from Peachie Speechie.
- This witchy feet language activity was great for comparing/contrasting, describing, and synonyms/antonyms! I ended up using the compare/contrast cards the most for my students. Find it here from The TLC Shop.
- Another fan favorite is bingo! These Halloween bingo boards were a huge hit during October as well. Find it here from Carly Fowler.
- Probably one of my favorite Halloween-themed activities I did this year was these “potent potions”. Using the provided word lists for each sound, I had kids come up with their own potion and draw a picture to accompany it. It was so much fun for them and for me! To get that needed practice, I had them read their potions aloud at the end and use words in sentences as they picked from the list. Find it here from Sublime Speech.
- Would You Rather is my go-to game when working with students on fluency! I had a one-on-one situation with a fluency client so these games really got the conversation going between us and I could easily count the strategies he was using. This one was a great Halloween themed would you rather game! Find it here from Rachel Lynette.
Fall/Thanksgiving.
- This open-ended leaves game was a HUGE hit with my second graders. I added some extra prompts into the mix and it was a great game to play while working on articulation. Find it here from Seldom Speechless.
- I also used these language leaves throughout the fall for all types of language activities. Synonyms/antonyms, categories, comparing/contrasting, describing, and more! Find it here from The Speech Buzz.
- I loved using this Fall bingo in that weird time before and after Halloween or with my students who don’t celebrate Halloween. Find it here from Sounds Like Fun.
- This apple dot marker activity could be used with crayons or bingo chips as well! It was a great activity for the younger clients on my caseload who were working on articulation. Find it here from Speech Sprouts.
- Also can’t go wrong with another free game board! Love using this Thanksgiving one from OPEN Speech Therapy! Find it here.
I’ve been sharing a lot more inspo on my speech therapy Instagram this year @speechwithkayla! From random musings about my day to therapy ideas and snippets of my classroom, I’ve shared it all. You can follow me here for more info and inspiration! And let me know if you found this post helpful 🙂
