TGIF! Have you ever noticed how wound up the kids get on Fridays? "What are we doing today?", "Can we play a game?" TGIF! Have you ever noticed how wound up the kids get on Fridays? "What are we doing today?", "Can we play a game?"
In my school, we work on a 6 day cycle. So, the rule is, whenever your speech day falls on a Friday, we will play a game. Little do they know- we are not really playing a game. We are using a game format as a vehicle through which we are reinforcing whatever language skills and concepts are being taught at that time.
I learned my lesson a long time ago, at the beginning of my career, when I sent my students home with a final project we had been working on for an entire week. There were about 9 language goals that I incorporated into this lesson. It was highly motivating, multi-sensory and required the students to integrate many of their newly acquired skills.
However, when the children brought home their final project to share with their parents, it simply looked like arts and crafts. I'd love to say that I only received 1 complaint letter from a parent- but I'd be lying.
The important lesson I learned from that experience, and one I'd like to share with all of my SLP peeps, is that we always need to communicate the language goals with the parents, either preceding the lesson, or when the child brings it home. The note should state the exact skills their child learned and which specific language concepts they were required to use, in order to successfully complete the project. It might take a bit of time to write something up, but I would much rather do that, than spend the time on the phone, explaining myself to the parents.
This cool reinforcement activity is by Colleen Gallagher at Teachingheart.net . It's called Roll a Penguin. The kids LOVED it!
