Trick or Treating Lesson from All Y'all Need

Buy the big, cheap bag of variety candy.    Make sure you unwrap some candy.
Next, break a few pieces of candy and put the candy bits in your bag.
Also, leave some empty wrappers in the goodie pile.
It will make sense.
This is a trick and treating lesson.

State your 4 expectations:
#1 Give an appropriate greeting
#2 Say “trick or treat”
#3 Say “thank you”
#4 Do not eat your candy

Each student must greet you and say, “Trick or Treat” before you hand over a random piece of candy.
Or maybe a candy wrapper.
You hand them a piece of candy.  
They are not allowed to pick their own candy or grab from the sweet stash.
The response you are listening for begins with “Thank you”.
Thank you…..for the empty candy wrapper?
Thank you……for the candy that no one  in my family likes?
If there is no “thank you” expressed, feel free to take the candy back.
The kids sit with their candy until everyone has been tricked or treated.

Now, you can discuss trick or treating with your students.
Kids will express their opinions.
Especially if they only got an empty candy wrapper.
So, be ready.
I have kids stand up if they received a treat and ask them to explain.
“I love lollipops!”
I have kids stand up if they received a trick.   Sometimes the trick kids have to speak first.   They just have to tell you about it.
“Hey, all I got was an empty wrapper.   You already ate my candy.”

This is my effort to end drive-by trick or treating.
Good manners are always appropriate.
Safety is always stylish.
The kids are allowed to throw the candy away if they don’t like it.
The sweeties throw away the empty candy wrappers and broken pieces.
You teach why the sweeties should not eat the broken pieces.
You can remind them they don’t have to eat all the candy on Halloween night.

After the discussion, give half of the class a new piece of candy.
A partner will come to them to trick or treat following the same expectations.
Repeat.
Yes, students will remind you that some students have two pieces of candy.
At this point, you even everything up so that all students leave with only treats.

Did you know that Halloween is on a MONDAY this year? Is there anything scarier?

Halloween. On a Monday.

Dress-up. On a Monday. Excited students ready to trick-or-treat. Celebrations on a Monday night. Staying up late on a Monday night. There goes the rest of the week, right? Maybe not.

Here are some ideas that will keep your students engaged and learning.
 Dia de los Muertos by All Y'all Need
Dia de los Muertos is a holiday I've started to introduce to my students. Some of my students celebrate the day. There are holiday items in our grocery stores, discount stores, and craft stores. Even if my students don't celebrate, they are seeing skulls and skeletal mariachi bands. It's a real-life opportunity to teach about their environment and to learn about a holiday that may seem creepy but is really full of tradition and remembrance.

Note: Items from Amazon are affiliate links, which means that if you click from here and buy them, we get a percentage of the profit  at NO COST to you.

Amy has a couple of book suggestions. You know, Amy. She's my sister who just also happens to be an elementary-school librarian and believes in oral language. So you KNOW her suggestions are good ones!



Amy also made a wonderful Informative Reader's Theater for The Day of the Dead, or El Dia de los Muertos. It explains how the day is a time for remembering people and the traditions that go along with it.
       Day of the Dead Reader's Theater by All Y'all Need
Because I have many students working on Wh- questions, I made a game that explains Dia de los Muertos. The focus is on answering what, who, where, and when questions. The answers are in the information on each card.
 Dia de los Muertos Day of the Dead Wh- game what who where when speech and language therapy All Y'all Need
And to address pronouns, Dia de los Muertos is part of our Pronouns, Places and Possessives scenes.  
 Fall Set 2 Holidays for Speech & Language Therapy by All Y'all Need
                                                 
The scene is set up for true pronoun discrimination. You can say, "Show me HE is sitting down", and because there are both a boy and girl sitting, the student has to rely on pronoun knowledge and not the word "sitting." The pack comes with an instruction page for you (it's the upside down one - you look at it while the student looks at the picture) and a B&W homework page. 

Halloween is on a Monday. That doesn't mean the rest of the week is sunk. Learning about Dia de los Muertos is a wonderful holiday for our students to learn about.


Are you ready for some football?!?!?!? Here in Texas, we're ALWAYS ready!
High-school football is a huge community affair for us. Our elementary students have siblings and neighbors who play football, coach, and are in cheerleading, band, and drill team. Every Friday is Big Red Friday - full of red spirit shirts, red face stamps, and cheerleader outfits and football jerseys. This week, we addressed the topic of football in speech & language therapy.

Many of our students have difficulty with fact and opinion. Oh, yours, too?

Amy made this wonderful Football: Fact and Opinion unit. I love it because it works well with mixed groups. Language students can focus on language concepts. Artic students can practice sounds in words or reading. Fluency students can practice strategies.

Plus, when it isn't a student's turn, they can write on the Fact and Opinion homework pages. A fun game for mixed groups with homework - I call that a touchdown!

We also read about Gunner, Football Hero by James E. Ransome. Gunner is an underdog, and we love those stories. (This is an affiliate link, which means that if you purchase the book, we get a percentage of the sale at no cost to you.)

A great open-ended football board game, Down the Field by Jenna Rayburn, kept the students' attention and was great for target drills.

Let's hear it for football in therapy!

I always struggle with Constitution Day. In fact, I didn't even know the day existed until a few years ago. Since then, I've learned about the day and want to share some resources to help you.
 Constitution Day resources for elementary students help teachers target difficult concepts, vocabulary, and IEP goals in speech & language therapy.

My thoughts of Constitution Day run along the gamut of:
* Hey, what a great idea! We NEED to celebrate our Constitution!
* Don't we do that on July 4th?
* Has this always been a recognized day? Did I just not learn about it in school?
* What do I even know about Constitution Day?
* I'm supposed to teach Constitution Day?
* How am I supposed to teach Constitution Day in speech & language therapy when my kindergarteners are still learning how to line up, much less say multisyllabic words?

Here's a quick rundown. Constitution Day is a federal observance (not a holiday) on September 17. Except when September 17 is on a weekend, like this year, when we'll observe it on September 16. On September 17, 1787, delegates signed the Constitution at State Hall in Philadelphia. The day's purpose is to remember this event and to recognize people who are U.S. citizens. The law recognizing Constitution Day was passed in 2004. Every school that receives federal funds must teach about Constitution Day.

You can find out more at:
* National Constitution Center. This website has a resource center just for educators, as well as a countdown clock.
* Constitution Day has biographies of the 39 Founding Fathers who signed the Constitution.

The websites are helpful but still contain difficult concepts for many of my students. These kids are the reason I created Constitution Day - A Wh- Game. The questions focus on what, who, where, and when concepts, and the answers are within the prompt. Students listen and answer.
It also comes with data pages to help you (and me!) out. There are two pre-made pages so you can just print it out and mark data. There's also one blank data page that has fillable boxes so that you can put in your own goals. The game has simplified language to help my students learn about this not-as-well-known-holiday, and they get a model before answering. If they need more help, vary the game using the techniques I outline for playing card games. And, it has a homework page to help students stay on task between turns for home practice!

 Constitution Write & Say the Room for Speech & Language Therapy by All Y'all Need
Since we can't play the same game every year, I also use Constitution Day Write & Say the Room. I hang cards of the day's vocabulary around the room with sticky-tack, give each student a clipboard and pencil, and have them hunt for words with their speech sounds. They love it, especially when cards are in unusual places like under the table or covering a person's face on a poster!

Amy included Constitution Day as part of her wonderful Informative Reader's Theaters. Because they are laminated, students can highlight words with artic sounds or vocabulary. We discuss the day and the lines and then act it out!
 Constitution Day Informative Reader's Theater by All Y'all Need
We can't leave you without a book suggestion.
This is an affiliate link. That means that if you click on this picture and buy the book, we can get a percentage of the sale at NO COST to you.

Have a happy Constitution Day!


 Constitution Day resources for elementary. Target vocabulary, difficult concepts, and IEP goals.


I stopped saying, "Look in the card catalog for books about hamsters."
We have an online catalog for that. 
Or just ask me, the librarian.
I know where the cool hamster books are located in the library.

I almost never say, "Shhhhhh!"
Cause the swift-finger-to-lips gesture just does not work for me.
But sometimes I forget that it does not work for me, so I say it by accident.

I do not have to say, "Sign your name here".
Just scan your library card, please.

I have never been good with overdue books, so I just say, "please return your library books".
When you are done reading them, just bring them back to the library.
That's all.

But I still, for some mysterious and aggravating reason, am required to say,  
"Stop writing in your books!"

After twenty four years, so many things have completely changed in library land.
But kids still like to write in their library books.
And their teacher's books.
I just do not understand this.

It is a problem for me.

Sometimes kids write their name.
Sometimes kids just scribble away like a black-out is required on every page.
Often baby sisters and brothers get the blame.
I have seen the following writing utensils used in library books:
markers, pencils, ballpoint pens, dried-up makers, crayons, highlighters and milk.
Ok, maybe milk was just spilled in the book.
I instruct my cutie pies on the finer points of book care.

Then, I make them promise to take their of precious library books.
They sign their names to a special promise page.
I even let them use Mr. Sketch makers to sign their names.

If you share my problem, you might want to take a look at "I Can Take Care of Books".
Pictures from this product are featured in this blog post.

Open the book, but put the pen down.
Your librarian thanks you.
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