The Weekly Review: Week 41

This week's brief Weekly Review is sponsored by the holidays and being hundreds of miles from home. Wish us luck on our 12-14 hour ride home tomorrow.

Website of the Week

Another great website I discovered recently is Art Projects for Kids which is a blog written by an elementary school art teacher. Again, I just went months and months back in her archives finding tons of great art projects to do with my little ones.

Highlight of the Week

Family. Really, that is what the winter holiday time is about for me. We had two wonderful days spent with both parents focused on the children and with hours and hours of bonus grandparent time. Then we traveled to spend even more time with extended family. Yes, I enjoyed choosing special gifts for special people and watching them open those gifts, but mostly I just enjoyed the time spent with family. I watched my son spend hours building his first big Lego set with his father. I played music with my own father (Dad on the piano and me on the children's new glockenspiel). Ava was delighted with her new big girl backpack and carried her new Hello Kitty stuffed animal around in it everywhere. We sat down for two big family meals and the children are old enough that the focus was on lively conversation rather than just the mechanics of feeding two small children. It was all lovely and I hope you all had amazing holidays as well.

Ava and Michael this Week

Michael is long and lean and looking so much like a little boy these days rather than a big toddler. He's taken to talking to his sister like I do. I didn't realize how often I say, "Ava, baby..." until he starting copying me. Wow, that sure sounds condescending coming from a 4-year old. Ava lets me get away with it, but whenever her brother tries she corrects him saying, "I'm not a baby."

Ava got a kids camera for Christmas and loved it. At first, she just held on to it clicking the picture button as quickly as possible. Then she noticed the viewscreen and would get about half an inch from her intended target and attempt to take pictures that way. After a while, I noticed her slowing down and really watching her viewscreen. She'd start up close, and then back away actually framing a shot before taking her picture. She would then switch to the review pictures mode and check out the pictures she had taken to see the results before taking more. I think I have a budding photographer on my hands.

P Simple Sentence: Free Speech Therapy Articulation Picture Cards

Description

This articulation card set is designed to be an extension of my single-syllable cards sets. The focus is still on simple /p/ words, but this time the pictures are more complex to facilitate simple phrases or sentences (3-4 words). Sentence/phrase suggestions are provided on the back of each card. As much as possible the sentences are kept simple as well using mostly early emerging consonants. The target audience for these cards are children with severe speech delays who have mastered sounds at the single-syllable level, but need practice incorporating those words into phrases. No blends or vocalic /r/ sounds are included in this set. (Scroll down to preview set.)

Key Features

• This set includes 24 therapy cards with the picture on the front and two simple phrases or sentences on the back. The /p/ words are printed in bold and include initial /p/, final /p/ and some simple two-syllable /p/ words.
• The words are CV, VC, CVC or CVCV in syllable shape.
• The vast majority of the words included feature early emerging consonants and simple syllable shapes.
• The words are simple and are easily understood by or easily taught to young children.

Permissions

I give permission to copy, print, or distribute this card set provided that:

1. Each copy makes clear that I am the document's author.
2. No copies are altered without my express consent.
3. No one makes a profit from these copies.
4. Electronic copies contain a live link back to my original and print copies not for merely personal use contain the URL of my original.

Looking for Feedback

I would love to hear back from anyone who uses this card set. Let me know if you find errors or there is anything you would change. Comment on this page, or send me an email at testyyettrying(at)gmail(dot)com.

Where can I find more?

More sets are on my Free Speech Therapy Articulation Cards page.

Card Sets

To download click on the image to open it full size. Then right click on the image, choose "save as" and save the page to your computer.

I recommend you print on cardstock and laminate for durability.

Busy Book - Simple Button Flowers Page

I wanted to incorporate buttons somewhere into my busy book. I saw this simple flower page and thought it was adorable. I've seen much more complex button flower pages, but this one was simple (and therefore quicker) and super cute at the same time. So, I pretty much copied it.

Busy Book / Quiet Book Page - Simple Button Flowers Page

I cut out all the pieces and attached the sun, flower stems, and petals first. Then I sewed on the buttons. The flowers are simple two layer circles. I taught myself how to use the buttonhole feature on my sewing machine (much easier than I expected) and put button holes in the two-layer felt circles. Then I used my pinking shears to jazz up the edges of two of the flowers and finally sewed the edges together with a simple circle.