My students love smelly smilies.

Smelly? Yep. But the good smells, not the bad ones. You need a variety of fun-smelling lip gloss. That's it. Then behavior manage away! Just draw two eyes and a smile to make a happy face out of lip gloss - a smelly smilie!
Here's how I use smellies:
* students who finish the game or activity in the group get a smelly smilie for completing the task
* groups of students who talk a lot get reinforcement for finishing a group turn without talking
* students who participate when others don't get reinforcement to motivate others
* students who need more frequent reinforcement get one part of the smelly smilie at a time - work for a few minutes to get one eye, work some more to get the second eye, and complete the session to get the smile
* students in self-contained rooms get frequent reinforcement for attending to activities
* students in self-contained rooms work on requesting by choosing the scent they want

Most students love the smellies because they don't get them anywhere else. Smelly smilies are a cheap, motivating, and flexible reinforcer.

It is Friday.
We are linking up with Kacey at Doodlebugs Teaching.

We are wishing everyone a fantastic Christmas break!

Here are some of my favorite books I read leading up to our Christmas break.
I bet you recognize some of your favorites.
Here are the titles:
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
Together at Christmas by Eileen Spinelli
The Elves and the Shoemaker illustrated by Jim LaMarche
An Otis Christmas by Loren Long
Little Robin Red Vest by Jan Fearnley
Olive, the Other Reindeer by Vivian Walsh and J. Otto Seibold

We had so much fun with the Elementary Entourage Secret Santa!
Shana from Mrs. Groom's Room was our delightful Secret Santa.
Pens, Post-It Notes, candy, washi tape and notebooks were all included.
She gave each of us such adorable treats!
And the packaging was adorable.

We have enjoyed sharing our #festivaloffriends each day this December.
We are not finished celebrating just yet.
So, keep checking our Instagram account to see who else inspires us.
Tis the season to be fabulous!

Do I have plans for Christmas break?
Yes, I do.
I love going to the movies.
Here are a few movies on my list to see over the holidays.

Have a wonderful weekend!





We were showered with gifts from the wonderful Shana Grooms from Mrs. Grooms' Room! She sent us the most adorably wrapped gifts and the sweetest card! Here's a few pictures of our goodies:

Seriously.... How cute is this wrapping?!?!?!



Thank you, Shana for the wonderful goodies!!! We LOVED them!!! :)
Since we were blessed with wonderful gifts, we'd like to give you a treat as well. We are throwing a Christmas cheer flash sale in our TPT for TODAY ONLY!

Have a great day!!!


Well, here I am, a day late again... But it was my mom's birthday yesterday, and we spent the evening watching a wonderful stage version of Beauty and the Beast, so it all works out.
We are linking up with Kacey at
Check out Kacey's blog to see who else is linking up.
It was back to work after a great Thanksgiving break!
That brought changes in our district assignments.
Which means I get to supervise a great licensed assistant again!
And go to a middle school along with a K-5 school.
Elementary is definitely my preference.
But everyone at the middle school was welcoming, and I already know some of the students.
Everything always works out.
My elementary students read If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff.
Then, they searched for Christmas vocabulary and artic words around the room - including under the table!
These cards were used for /s/, /l/, /k/, /g/, and /f/ practice.
Presto - instant language and artic homework with Christmas Write & Say the Room!
 All Y'all Need

Next week, we'll be learning about Texas through Santa Claus's travels.
All Y'all Need

Is your life frenzied at this time of the year?
Of course it is.
The Frenzied SLPs are here to help you out!
We have 21 days of giveaways - that's 1 winner of a free product per day!
Like our page and check back often!
 The Frenzied SLPs

Dec. 4 is a big day around here.
It's my mom's birthday!
And my school celebrates National Cookie Day.
I took Peppermint Bars the The Girl Who Ate Everything,
replacing the chopped Candy Cane Kisses with Andes peppermint bits.
I'll be making this again.


It's the second, so it's time for a Currently from Oh Boy 4th Grade!

Oh wait - that happens on the 1st. Fixer Upper's season premiere was last night, so this blog post didn't happen.

It's after school. The Christmas hits are turned up! Luckily, our district hasn't blocked Songza. May all your Christmases be white!

Secret Santa is in full gear here. It's a huge tradition of asking, lying, out-complimenting, and sneaking. I have no idea who mine is yet, but she gave me a Christmas CD and a two great ornaments, plus a Diet Coke!

Our district just made some changes in the speech/language department. For me, that meant adding part of a middle school caseload - but also getting a licensed assistant! I supervised her last year, so we already know each other. And this is allowing me to make a dent in my paperwork pile. I'm feeling pretty good right now, which means something big is probably coming down the pike...

Yep, I need a nap. I love naps. That is all.

We have 4 fake trees in our living room - Biblical story, Memories, Fancy, and Disney. My hubby likes the lights on the fake trees so he can concentrate on the outside lights. We are now the obnoxious neighbors with lights synched to music. Not constantly, though. We are thoughtful that way.

It's time for a TpT Cyber Monday sale, which means it's time for a What's In Your Cart linky hosted by Speech Room News!
If you have a few dollars left over from Black Friday, TpT's sale is a great way to stretch not-very-much into a-lot-of-materials. Most sellers, including All Y'all Need, have set store prices at 20% off. Enter the (upcoming) TpT code at checkout for an extra savings!

Here are a few things I'll be using this December.
 All Y'all Need
I hung up cards for Christmas Write & Say the Room just before I left for Fall Break. It's a great way to introduce the season - just hang up cards around the room, give students recording sheets, and they do their own homework! 

We will also be learning about Texas with these book companion activities for Steve Smallwood's book (not included) Santa is Coming to Texas.
 All Y'all Need
This unit includes 3 games/homework sheets for categories, spatial concepts, and following directions.
We also have Santa Is Coming to {My State} if you're in one of the other 49 states.

Confession: A Winter Book Companion Bundle by The Speech Owl is not in my cart - because I already own it! It's fun, comprehensive, and targets multiple goals - a win-win! 

On my list for my older students is Christmas (responding to non-fiction text & more!) by Mia McDaniel.
 I love all of her stuff!

And I'll be trying out Winter Find It on the Go for Language by Small Talk SLP. Another item that looks multi-purpose!
Happy shopping, and remember to use the code at checkout!



The last week of October we had our book fair.
I meant to blog about the book fair experience, but failed to do so.
"Better late than never" is the motto this Friday.
Our school always uses Scholastic Book Fair company to provide the merchandise
for our book fairs.
This fall their theme was monsters.
But for the first time ever, I did something new.
I used Krista's Creative Clips clip art to decorate the book fair.
The table signs were adorable with Creative Clips monsters.
The ceiling was strung with monsters, too.
Wow!
What a difference!
The kids are always super excited about the book fair.
It was nice to use monsters so close to Halloween, too.
I made monster-themed labels for everything.
These Top Secret UV Pens were a H-O-T seller at the fair.
The Dollar Tree colorful baskets and white baskets from Wal-Mart held things such as 
book packs, pencils, erasers and pencil sharpeners.
Teachers make out their wish lists of books they would like purchased for their
classroom libraries.
It is a wonderful program to get books for the class.
Students fill out their wish lists, too.
The stand up sign on the table and on the floor by the books were
provided by Scholastic Book Fair.
I just used Creative Clips to make the book fair look bright and happy.
These paper lanterns easily turned into monsters.
I hung up the book fair sign so it could be seen as soon as you walked
into the library.
The paper fans, a purchase from Hobby Lobby, were terrific!
I loved they came in chevron patterns, stripes and polka dots.
The black and white backgrounds were perfect for the clip art.
Here are a few more examples of book fair decorations.
And I added a little bit of ribbon to tie the labels to the baskets.
It did not take much time to create the labels, dump the merchandise into the baskets
and put on the table.
It was easier to point students in the right direction, too.
We had students dress up in their costumes for Literacy Night on Thursday night.
We handed out lollipops to shoppers, too.
I'll leave you with Captain America because he is adorable!
Are you getting ready for the holidays? Need some ideas? The Frenzied SLPs are up for the challenge!

For the first time ever, my district is having Fall Break! That means we are off the whole week of Thanksgiving! So this post is a mix of what I used for Thanksgiving last week and what I'm planning for Christmas.
 The Frenzied SLPs
Of course my students made turkeys with feathers. Is there anyone who doesn't do that activity? To make it a little more interesting for my self-contained students, I used random craft objects laying around and put them in a Dollar Tree chips and dip tray. $1 total for this activity. Love that. Note: the chenille stems do NOT glue down.
A LOT of my students need spatial concepts. So many. I'm thankful for my sister Amy who created Thanksgiving Spatial Concepts using movement and Thanksgiving vocabulary. Students have so much fun acting these out!
 All Y'all Need
Guess what's coming up? That's right, Christmas Spatial Concepts!
 All Y'all Need
Need a few Christmas {freebie} goodies? Of course, we all do! All Y'all Need has an interactive freebie to address even MORE spatial concepts!
 All Y'all Need
Activity Tailor and Jenna Rayburn put out an ebook where you can find even more ideas! Have fun perusing.

And for an easy holiday edible goodie - for yourself - try Praline Trash. It's great for men - my hubby and dad LOVE it.
Melt 3/4 cup butter and 3/4 cup brown sugar over medium-high heat, bring to a boil, and simmer for 2 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix 2 cups each Rice Chex, Wheat Chex, and Corn Chex. Add 1 1/2 cups pecan halves.

Pour caramel mixture over cereal and pecans. Stir to coat.

Lay out on a jelly-roll pan and cook at 325 degrees for 8 minutes.

Enjoy! And check out all the other great ideas by clicking on the links below! 

We are linking up with Kacey at
Check out Kacey's blog to see who else is linking up.
Thanks to all the veterans.
This picture is from an assembly my school had.
For Veterans Day, my students played Ask Away to work on vocabulary and artic.

On Thursday, my students got to enjoy I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie and start on some Thanksgiving activities.
 All Y'all Need Thanksgiving

Need some inspiration? Want to have a chance to win TpT and Starbucks gift cards?
The Frenzied SLPs are hosting a blog hop.
But hurry!
Entries end tonight!
Of course, you can always scroll down a post and start with our entry.
But if you like your letters in order, start at Speech Universe.


What's up for next week?
More turkeys!
My students will be practicing artic and language while working on Talking Turkey Facts and Opinions, thanks to my sister!
I'm grateful for my children and their big hearts.
My son, age 20, dressed up like a turkey and ran around with Lisa's Pre-K class.
I can't post pictures, though.
And my daughter and her friend participated in a food drive to benefit local food banks.
I'm proud of both of them for helping out!
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