We love Farley.   Her little boy is the cutest sweetie pie.
Link up with Farley and her currently to join the fun.
Listening
I do love Jerry Seinfeld.   So, I am catching up on "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee".  
Is anyone else a fan?

Loving
Winter break has been fun with lots of family and friends.
Lisa was not with us.   So, Laura's adorable daughter is her stand in.
But first, Lucy was Laura's stand in.   Me, Lucy and Lisa on Christmas Eve.
Thinking
Go to Melonheadz now and get this sweet freebie.   Thank you, Nikki!


Wanting
Reading instead of working.   It is a daily struggle folks.   Especially when you are a librarian.

Needing
Buying gifts on Etsy is always fun.   I just need to make up my mind and place the order already.

Yes
Going to Spring Teacher Blogger Meet-Up
Check out Mrs. Ehle's Kindergarten Connections for details.

Maybe
I will start saying "no" more often.


I Wish
I wish there was a cure for cancer.
The End.

Happy New Year, Y'all!


We are linking up with Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for her weekly linky. 
Yay!
If you're still reading after this, we have a few things on the nice list.
I got a fun Secret Santa pack from Elizabeth at The Speech Owl!
Love all the chevron and fun stuff!
Be sure to visit her site and look at all her great posts!

Niche ranked the school districts in Texas.
Did you know there are 1,000+ districts? Everything is bigger in Texas!
My district and Amy's district were in the top 65! Lisa's was in the top 25%. 
Not too shabby!
 
In SLP news, Kidmunicate ranked the top 75 websites for SLPs for 2015.
We were honored to make the list! 
And, to be honored side-by-side with Speech Freebies, where Laura is a collaborator!
Be sure to check out the list to see your favorites and find new ones!



Y'all.

Okay, maybe you don't say "Y'all" as a way of getting someone's attention or introducing a topic. But SLPs across the country have a LOT of things in common, especially items on our Christmas lists. Really, y'all. Introducing Santa Baby - The SLP Version.
 Santa Baby - The SLP Version by All Y'all Need
Download it for free from our store, All Y'all Need! And Merry Christmas, Y'all! We all get out for the holidays on Dec. 19. What about you?

(Note to Sp Ed Directors - want to make your SLPs happy? Buy an HP Color Printer, card stock, and ink. It's cheaper than contracting, easier than listening to concerns about workloads, and your rating as a boss will go WAY up!)
Need an easy solution for staff Christmas potlucks? Try Cake Mix Cookies!

When one of my schools celebrated National Cookie Day (really - it was Dec. 4. And it'll be Dec. 4 next year if you want to plan ahead…) I knew exactly what would fit into my schedule and be a crowd-pleaser. It's been several years since I've made them, but without even looking up the recipe, I remembered the ingredients. Here they are:
You might even have these in your pantry already! Just combine strawberry (or lemon) cake mix, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, and 1 cup Rice Krispies. Use a glass bowl and wooden spoon - no mixer needed!

Shape into balls and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes. The edges should be ever-so-slightly brown. Take out of the oven and let the cookies set for a couple of minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool.
At the end of the day, these cookies were all gone and the recipe was shared multiple times. Sometimes, the oldies really are the goodies!


After a sloooow October and short November, December is flying by! Here are a few activities from my speech/language room. And check out Old School Speech for more ideas!
 Santa Says by All Y'all Need
I love focusing on traditions. Santa Says is a game perfect for reinforcing Christmas Around the World. The game is similar to Simon Says and includes a gift giver and tradition for different countries. Here is a group acting out "Papa Noel says - Let's go to Mexico and swing at a piñata". These kids are older elementary, and they got into acting out the traditions. So fun!
 Reindeer Fact and Opinion by All Y'all Need
My sister Amy made these wonderful activities. Reindeer Fact and Opinion is super for language and artic goals - have students practice sounds while reading the cards. And Target even had a cute reindeer bag that the students got to draw their cards from!

Antlers and Santas targets antonyms and synonyms. My students are obsessed with sticky-tac, so I used it to my advantage. I hung one set around the room, then the students got to hang up the corresponding picture with sticky-tac. Oh my goodness, there was so much joy! Antlers and Santas even comes with a recording sheet - perfect for circling artic words or working on putting words in sentences.
Also from Target - this awesome felt taco packet. I have several Treats games where students roll a color die to get parts, like the gingerbread man game above. Unfortunately, the company went out of business. My plan is to treat the taco game like a Treats game. I have blank dies from the teacher store. Then, each side will get a small sticker. It works like an open-ended game. After practicing a target, the student rolls the die. Red=choice of tomato or pepper; black=the huge mound of beans; brown=choice of the chintzy beef or chicken; green=choice of jalepenos or lettuce; and yellow=cheese. That will leave me with an extra side on the die that will probably stay white, and the the students get to choose a color. I'm thinking this will be great around Cinco de Mayo.

Just 4 more days! Merry Christmas!

We are linking up with Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for her weekly linky.
Which one do you think you are on?
This is our product where your students decide who makes Santa's nice list.   
And there are plenty of characters that students will happily place on the naughty list.
I love reading this book each year.
Our mom (Laura and mine) reads to and completely spoils two classes at my school.
She visits one class of 1st graders on Thursday and one class of K sweeties on Friday.
Today, I snuck in to help her make no-cook gingerbread play dough with the sweeties.
They love, love, love her weekly visits.
Here is another beautiful book that I love to share with the sweeties.
I am excited this year because I have a new activity to share after story time.
It will be fun to teach information about reindeer to the sweeties.
They are in awe of the season.
 
Pete the Cat was a crowd pleaser this week, too.
It was fun to read to read the names on Pete's List (aka Santa's list).
I told students, "I am going to listen for my name.   You listen for your name."
My name did not make the cut.
But there were smiles all around for the students who heard their names.
Of course, I explained that the list is incomplete.

Here is a book I gave my mom for her birthday last week.
The reason is not because Jerry Lee Lewis is our favorite.
But we have the same favorite book, All Over But the Shoutin'.
Rick Bragg has a way with words that immediately engages you to lose all track of time.
Mr. Bragg and Harper Lee were just named as two of the inaugural writers in the Alabama Writers Hall of Fame.
I think my mom likes the book because she already started it.

Have a great weekend,
Amy

fiveforfriday2

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Barry and Larry

Do you have an elf in your classroom? I adore Elf on the Shelf so much that I have two in my classroom! Some of my former students have asked me when Barry and Larry are coming?!?! They were so excited to see them arrive this week. One of my precious kinder kiddos (now first grader) stops by after school to tell Barry and Larry hello. :) My kinder class was ecstatic when they walked into the classroom on Monday and saw our new friends. Follow us on Instagram to catch Barry and Larry's daily classroom adventures. 





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Oh, Christmas Tree!


I love putting up the Christmas tree every year. Yes... I do admit that I'm one of those that puts their tree way before Thanksgiving! 








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Whimsy Workshop's 12 Days of Christmas Kindness Freebie


This week, we began our 12 Days of Christmas Kindness. Whimsy Workshop has an absolutely adorable one on tpt. The best part is that she created an editable version so you can personalize it! Such a sweet idea!





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Reagan Tunstal's Techy Santa


Seriously?!?! Could this be any cuter?!?! My kinder kiddos flipped over it!





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Christmas Music


Because...... 
"The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear." - Buddy the Elf 




Disclosure: The product was provided to me. The views are my own.

If you've started thinking about your SLP Christmas wish list, I have an item that needs to be on it!
Shanda Gaunt, one -half of Twin Speech, Language & Literacy LLC is the author. I was already familiar with her products from TpT and how comprehensive they are. "Say & Do" Apraxia Fun Sheets is no exception.

The program starts out with parent-friendly explanations and a parent letter.

Then, VC combos are introduced, followed by CV, CVCV, and CVC words. Each section has LOTS of opportunities for practice. My favorites are "feeding" the cards into things like presents and dogs and dotting while saying words. My students can't get enough of Bingo daubers. Other practice pages incorporate some fine-motor skills, such as tracing and gluing.

Although this is an apraxia product, Shanda has made it easy to incorporate patterning, sorting, counting, and many other concepts students will need.

Things I love about Say & Do Apraxia Fun Sheets:
* the pages are in B&W - so easy to copy, no worries about color ink
* LOTS of opportunities for practice and TONS of repetition - just what my students need
* a variety of fun activities that also incorporate language and fine-motor skills
* the comprehensiveness that is included in the 160(!) activities
* terms are parent-friendly
* activities and sound combinations are student-friendly and follow a hierarchy
* everything is SLP-friendly

"Say & Do" Apraxia Fun Sheets is available at Super Duper Publications for $21.95, and that includes free shipping. It's an SLP tool you'll reach for again and again.



All Y'all Need products are 20% off! Use the code TPTCYBER at checkout for a total of 28% off! And just in time for the sale, our best-selling speech and language checklists have been bundled. That's right - get teacher-friendly checklists for PK, K, 1 and 2 all in one download! Separately, each one is $2. The bundle is $6.40 - and it will be on sale! Happy shopping!
 Speech & Language Checklists by All Y'all Need

Happy December y'all!
We love linking up with fellow Texan Farley.
So, here is what I am up to.

And don't forget about this.....
Have a super day!


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