Click Clack Moo

Some of my second grade friends are reading this story in class next week.  To listen to and watch this story read aloud click here.  Then discuss your child's answers to these questions:

What was the problem that the cows wanted to solve?
How did they attempt to solve their problem?
How do you know that this story is fictional (not a true story)?
Duck helped to solve the problem.  Do you think the farmer was happy about the solution?  Explain your answer.
Do you have a pet, or know someone who does?  What do you think that pet would say if it could type?
Can you tell the story in your own words?

September Home Practice

I'm going to try something a little different with home practice this year.  I am sending home a "Home Practice Log" for parents to initial, indicating that they practiced with their child 5 times during the week.  Home practice sessions should not take a lot of time...5-10 minutes per day, and all the work should be done out loud (nothing needs to be written--except for a drawing sometimes).  All the children should have received a speech folder to keep in their backpacks.  This folder has the Home Practice Log and will have a copy of the homework page for the month.  The language homework pages (grades 1 and 2) have a list of activities--parents will choose 2 to practice each week.  Please contact me if you have any questions!!

Click here for Phonological Awareness home practice activities for September
Click here for grade 1 Language home practice activities for September
Click here for grade 2 Language home practice activities for September
Click here for Articulation home practice activities
Click here for the September board game for articulation practice

Imagination!

Have you seen this video?  It's about a 9 year old boy in Los Angeles, who created his own arcade out of used cardboard boxes.  It is amazing!

Here's the challenge...

Our first theme when we get back to school in September is "At the Fair."  Now, if you've ever been to a fair, you know that there are lots of games like the ones Caine created.  Your summer homework is to create a game (it doesn't have to be as big as Caine's games) and be able to explain how you made it, and how to play it.  If it's small enough, you can even bring it to school and we can use it in our speech group!

I can't wait to see what you create!

Listening Comprehension--The Rainbow Fish

Here is an activity to practice the skills of listening comprehension and answering questions.  Click here for a link to the Storyline Online website, which is a website that contains videos of famous actors reading  children's stories.  Then at the top of the list, click on The Rainbow Fish, read by Ernest Borgnine.  After listening to the story, click on the "Related Activities" button and have your child try to answer the questions about the story, or to retell the story.  If necessary, you can go back to the story and replay parts to help your child remember what happened.  Another technique you can use to help your child answer the questions is to give him/her choices of answers.  For example, if your child has trouble answering what was special about the Rainbow Fish, say, "Was the Rainbow Fish special because he had shiny glittering scales, or because he was very strong?"

Listening to stories and answering questions such as these are important skills that children need to have in school.  Practicing activities like these at home will help your child to become a better listener, and to improve his/her communication skills.

The Ocean

Last week most of my groups got to watch a short video that showed lots of creatures that live in the ocean.  After that, they were able to add their artwork to the big whiteboard in my room.  I had already drawn an ocean scene on it, with a few fish and rocks and shells.  This is what it looks like now!  There are shrimp, horseshoe crabs, coral reefs, sea turtles, sharks, whales, squid and many other creatures!  Activities like these help students organize language/vocabulary into categories, which makes learning new vocabulary easier, and helps with word retrieval.

We have had fun sequencing and retelling the story, "There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Shell."  To print out the characters/objects that we used, click here for page 1 and here for page 2.  Have your child try to retell the story to you (hint:  the sequence is shell, crab, fish, gull, pail, sand, and wave.)  After she swallowed the wave she burped and made a sandcastle.  Model complete sentences and have your child repeat, if necessary.