We are linking up with Kacey at Doodlebugs again!
 Creative Clips
It's birthday week! You might know today is Johnny Appleseed's birthday. But I bet you don't know it's my hubby's birthday and that Wednesday was my dad's birthday. 

You might think we are all about football here in Texas. But there's another season - high school volleyball! Loving to see my daughter play!


I am loving the cooler weather! There have been years we've still had 100 degree days at this time! It's so nice to walk out into a pleasant morning and not sweat all the way on the drive home.

I found this book for $6 and started it this summer. I was able to finish it recently, and I recommend it!

Guess what (or who) is coming on Sunday?!?!

Happy First Day of Fall, Y'All!

So, Laura and I are thinking the same thing this week.
We are sisters.    It happens.
We both planned this week to share about apples, more apples and apples again!
We have this in our TpT store.   Laura and I are both using it this week.    Great minds.

The 1st and 2nd grade sweeties are getting some apple-li-cous stories and nonfiction books.   
Take a look.   Yes, Laura and I both chose The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall to read.

And because the sweeties liked building a pig last week, we built an apple this week.
This time I used this product from Keeping Life Creative.

But like I said.
My products never, ever turn out like the original.

We talked about the parts of the apple.
I only put a magnet on the apple body.
The felt sticks to felt.   
The sweeties love that part.
Here is where my apple went rogue.
I did not have light brown felt.
I did have plenty of pink felt left over from the pig.
So, the apple core turned out pink.

I like green.   So, I cut out two leaves.
And, we were running out of time on questions.
So, we only had time to get three seeds on our apple.
Each piece of the apple earns one piece of the apple up on our easel.
So, they answered 9 questions correctly in this class.

Have a Terrific Tuesday,









It's Apple Week in my speech/language room! Plus, my dad is having a big birthday, and my husband shares his birthday with Johnny Appleseed. Which brings me to…

Starting out the week with Apples: Facts and Opinions.
 Apples: Facts & Opinions by All Y'all Need
This will be great for my 2nd-5th-graders. I will have them read a card to their neighbor, which addresses artic and reading. The neighbor then decides fact or opinion, which gets in several language goals because students have to use complete sentences to back up their decisions. Plus, there are recording sheets. Artic students underline their sounds, language students work on sentences, and fluency students work on easy speech. A game that hits goals and provides homework all in one!

My 2nd-5th graders will end the week with a Johnny Appleseed Information Readers' Theater.
 Johnny Appleseed Informative Readers' Theater by All Y'all Need
Artic students will highlight words with their sounds, language students will work on the sentences as well as the bonus of reading, and fluency students will practice strategies. The unit has 5 parts, so it will be perfect for small groups. Some students may have to double up on parts, or I may take a part!

Next is one of my favorite apple books!
Students in Kg, 1st, and Functional Academics will get to read The Apple Pie Tree by Zoe Hall and answer comprehension questions. I have velcroed visual cues to help them out as needed. Then, they'll get to do some apple tasting after reading The Star in the Apple story!

If we have any time left over, we'll do some "kill and drill" with this APPLES game from Speaking of Speech.



We are linking up with Kacey at Doodlebugs.    I know it is really Saturday.    But I do not know how to do a linky.   I needed extra time.


We did a blog, logo, TpT store makeover!    
Our designer is the incredible Parker at PJ's Design Laboratory.    
We appreciate all of his hard work to make the three of us happy, happy, happy!

I got the chance to share one of my favorite new books with the sweeties this week.    
Last week, we read Clark the Shark by Bruce Hale and illustrated by Guy Francis in Kindergarten.   This week....we dared!     
That is right we dared to share and danced our best little funky Sharky Dance with a hip and a hop.   
We are HUGE fans of Clark and Miss Inkydink.

First observation of the year is over.    It was not a formal evaluation by a boss.    
Beginning in August, we have two of the sweetest, youngest and cutest librarians as our fearless leaders in LibraryLand.    
One came over to observe me this week.   
She is like Miss Amazing Librarian.  
She got to see a few of different sessions.   
And because she is adorable, Miss Amazing Librarian joined right in on the funky sharky dance. 
And because she is such a professional, she wrote me a very nice note afterwards.   
And because she is a leader, she sent an awesome note to my principal.   
I know.   Amazing.
We also got to read one my favorite fall books to read.    
Nancy Carlson has lots of books on my go-to-shelf.    
You know, the shelf that has books that everyone loves, no exception.    
Louanne Pig tries out for cheerleader.   Arnie tries out for football.    
But Louanne is better at tackling and passing.    
Arnie is an expert jumper.   
Dot, dot dot... 
The kids loved it!   I love a happy ending!

You know I love a little, or a lot, of "Dancing with the Stars".  
It returned this week.    So, I watched it on Monday.   Then, I tuned in again on Tuesday.   
On Wednesday, there was no dancing.   There were no stars.    
I don't even have a clue who a bunch of the dancing stars are this season.
I do not even care.   
I will be tuned in next Monday to see more stars and more dancing.
I have a confession. I might have a problem with to-do lists. No, not in actually doing them. Well sometimes... But I tend to write down a lot of tasks down just for the sake of crossing them off. I know, it's sick. And… after I cross off all the items, I get to crumple my paper and toss it. It's exhilarating for me. Now, I've found a new thrill - a desktop organizer wallpaper!
 Organization Wallpaper for Desktops {Freebie} by All Y'all Need
I want to thank Schroeder Shenanigans in 2nd for the idea. Not only is she super sweet - we got to met her in Vegas - she has a great wallpaper that I used for a couple of weeks. Then, I realized I needed bigger spaces.
It was impossible to make as many categories as I had icons for, so I had to change my thinking. I put the Most Used space on the left. To Complete holds my current reports, summaries, and anything else. I put it smack dab in the middle so it gets my attention frequently. And it's so fun to engage in virtual crumpling! When something is finished, I either get to trash it or file it away in documents. 

To Make holds products I've bought from TpT that I need to print out and laminate. Shortcuts is really an "Other" folder. I have all these computer icons that I have no idea about. But if people from Technology show up, they want those icons to be easy to access. 

To get your own Organization Wallpaper for Desktops {Freebie} head on over to All Y'all Need and download. There are several resolution sizes. Keep reading for how to use them.

In Windows, find your screen's resolution. Click on the Start Button, Control Panel, and Display. This should show your screen's resolution. Mine is 1366 x 768. Now, go to the downloaded file of organizers and choose the one that best matches your resolution. Right-click on the picture, and there will be a pop-up menu. One of the choices is "Set Picture as Background". Click and voila!

The organizer was blurry on my laptop. I ended up using the 1920 x 1080 resolution, even though that did not match my screen's resolution, because it was clearer.

For Mac, go to Finder, System Preferences, and Displays. The display button will show the resolution. Mine is 1680 x 1040. I installed that organizer with no blurriness. Hold down Control while clicking on the picture. A menu will pop up that gives you the option to use the picture as the background. Just select that option.

After installing, just drag icons to the appropriate spaces! I hope this makes your life easier! Thanks for taking a look.





I was an /r/ kid. Actually, I was a lot more than that, but I had that lingering /r/ after my other sounds were corrected.

When I was little, only my mom could understand me. She took me to speech therapy at the Texas Tech clinic. My best guess is I had blend reduction, final-consonant deletion, or fronting, or a combo. But I only remember working on /r/ in 4th grade, having it "click" during the summer, and not going to speech therapy in 5th grade. Which brings me to...
Fast forward two decades - from 5th grade to my own job as an SLP to being a mother - to Example 1. When my daughter was born, my husband and I agreed the name we had chosen didn't fit her. We went with the only other choice we could agree on, Rebecca, or R as I call her. Hello, I'm an SLP and I gave my own child an /r/ name. I blame the natural childbirth on that one.

R went through a few artic developmental stages. She had fronting, blend reduction, /f/ for /th/, and a frontal lisp for a while. Nothing big, nothing that a little modeling didn't correct.

But the /r/ stuck. And I'm an SLP.

One day when she was about 4, I did the unthinkable. I tried to get her to say /er/, even turning her upside down. She just said "uh" and I thought we could try again in a couple of years. Then… that night as she was brushing her teeth, she practiced saying /er/. On her own. And called me in to hear it. She had it! The /r/ took a little more work, but she was using /r/ in all positions in conversation by the end of kindergarten.

Example 2: I inherited an IEP student who was working on fronting. He mastered that by the end of kindergarten. The /r/ stuck. I was young and naive and didn't realize that I could have put him on consult, so we pressed forward with the /r/. He left for Christmas Break during his 2nd-grade year slightly stimulable for /r/ in words and came back using /r/ in all positions in conversation!

Example 3: More recently, I had a very bright student who had several errors that were pretty quickly remediated. Except for the /r/. We worked. We tried everything. During her 4th-grade year, I started seeing her individually after school a couple of days a week to try to fix the /r/ once and for all. The first session, she came in and announced, "I don't know why I'm heuh. My fwiends unduhstand me. I make good gwades. I don't see a weason to change." Still, she worked with me with some but limited progress. A few weeks later, she came and announced, "Okay, let's get to wuhk. I heuh it." She had recorded herself on the iPad doing a play at home and couldn't believe how she sounded. Even though we had used the iPad in therapy…. From then on, it was an easy climb to conversation in just 2 1/2 months' time!

Here is my struggle. What if I worked on /r/ earlier and students didn't have to miss as much class time? What if I'm working with a student who is not ready for /r/ and there's a lot of class time missed? How do I distinguish a developmental /r/ from one that's going to linger?

I once heard Wayne Secord say that SLPs should address /r/ right after fronting because that's hitting all the back sounds. That worked with Example 1 and 2. But my little Example 3 missed a LOT of class in 2nd, 3rd, and half of 4th because she wasn't ready. So how do we know? Without a crystal ball, we don't. I'll keep working on stimulability, readiness skills, and awareness and remembering that each student is an individual. Especially with /r/ sounds.

I like to look at teacher blogs.    Sometimes, I might steal or recreate an idea.
It never turns out exactly like the original.   Never.
See Miss Kindergarten is über-talented.   So, her project rocked.

Mine was kind of muddy.

We built a pig today.    Yep, it happened a few times today.

Everything we needed was in here to build a pig.
A shopping trip to Hobby Lobby was required.   Felt pieces were 4 for $1.   Pipe cleaner was less than $1 for the pack.
So, it was kind of like shopping Target's Dollar Spot.
I had everything else at home.

Next, I cut out pink and black felt.
I used tape, peel & stick magnets, peel & stick google eyes and a pink pipe cleaner.
Tape because I taped on the curly tail to the pig body.

I cut out a few other pieces.
Then put all the pig parts in the polka dot bag.

Today,  I read the sweeties some pig books.


I had a few other spare piggy books just in case.
PreK and K are doing something totally different this week. 
Sweeties were very, very interested in building the pig.

So, first we built a pig by identifying the pig parts.
Remember how I said magnets were necessary?
Because the pig stuck to our easel!
And the felt sticks to felt!    
So, you only need a little bit of magnet.
I like a lot of magnet.
You can judge how much magnet you need.
Then, really quick you disassemble the pig.
Put the pig parts in the bag.  Do it fast.

Then, I announced we would build a pig again.
They did not have much of a chance to criticize my freehand pig, so they were totally game for a second pig.

So, I asked them questions.
Every time, without fail, they answered a question correctly.....they got a pig part.
The face had the google eyes attached.   That was a 3 question pig part.
The body had the curly tail attached.   That was a 2 question pig part.
We built the pig again.
If they missed a question, a friend did get help them.
Because my pig had enough problems without missing parts!
Next, we did a little pig fact and opinion work from our TpT store.

Hope your week is awesome!




You might notice that All Y'all Need has a brand-new look! Go ahead, settle in and look around.
This awesome design was done by PJ's Design Laboratory. We loved how his portfolio showed unique blogs. We aren't sure how he took our list of what we liked and didn't like and came up with a design that we ALL loved so quickly, but there you go. He is just that good.

We think a celebration is in order! From now until Sunday night, enter below. We'll pick a random winner on Monday to choose a product from our store and to get a $25 TpT gift certificate. Good luck! And thanks for visiting us!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
We are soooo excited to bring you a book companion FB Frenzy! Just download all 18(!) items, and you'll have therapy items for PK-secondary for The Frog Prince and The Frog Prince, Continued.

Click on the map to go to a Google doc which will allow you to click on the links.
Or, start at All Y'all Need: Family Business. Look for the SLP Frenzy on the left and click away!

A few helpful tips - first, download on your computer or make sure you have an appropriate program for saving the downloads on your device. Second, the FB tabs are now on the left side of the page. Third, have fun and enjoy! And fourth, share the frenzy on social media! The frog prince turns back into a frog at 10 p.m. on Monday.

For a very important announcement!
 Yep, that's tomorrow! And if you want a sneak peek of the 18 FREEBIES we have in store for you, click this picture!
 FB Frog Prince Frenzy

Stay tuned!

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