Who doesn’t love a bargain? I love checking out the Dollar Spot at Target. Today I was looking and found a packet of EIGHT 16 page blank books for 3.00.
Here’s why I was REALLY excited. Have you heard of the Cartwheel app by Target? It’s a coupon app you have on your phone. You need to put in the coupons that you want to use and then the cashier scans them in at checkout time. I usually have them scan it each time-and usually I don’t have anything in it. Today through 2/8/14, they have a 20% off Dollar spot items coupon. Plus I have a Target debit card which takes off another 5%. So even with tax, each book cost me about .30. That makes it an EXTREMELY cheap therapy item.
I picked up some for my son since he is really into making his own stories. And I picked up 2 extra packets to use in speech therapy. Here are a couple of ways to use them:
1. Social Skills Vocabulary Book: Write a social skills or social thinking® term on each page. Have your students fill out examples of each one, or a time that they used “good social skills.” You could also make up a Hidden Rules book. Title each page with the Location (ex. school, public Bathroom) and discuss different hidden rules for each situation.
2. Action Verb Book: Have students cut out pictures from magazines of people doing different actions. You can use the book to work on vocabulary, pronouns or verb tense forms. This works for anything-you could make a category book, a pronoun book, a preposition book etc.
3. Speech Therapy Memory Book: For some of your students with lower language or who struggle with sharing information related to the past, take pictures of them doing therapy activities or during group activities/field trips. You can use the book to target what they did, work on scripting with AAC, event recall and past tense forms.
4. Vocabulary Book: You could make a vocabulary journal or take each page and focus on an element of describing/defining from programs such as the Expanding Expression Tool Kit. On each page you could list examples or carrier phrases to use when defining. You could also do a Prefix/Suffix Book and have students write the prefix, it’s meaning and list examples.
5. Low Tech AAC Books: You could make up a low cost AAC book focusing on Core Words using Boardmaker symbols or search for ready made Core word Boards. Praactical AAC is my favorite blog right now for AAC resources. Check out their post on sample core word boards HERE. Another great idea would be to make a Choice Book. Label each page with different categories (ex. toys, food, movies, places in the community etc.) Cut out pictures from magazines or ads or take pictures of their favorite items.
How about you? How would you use these books in Speech therapy? I’d love to hear some more ideas below. Thanks for stopping by. If you found this post to be interesting or helpful, please share with others by clicking on the Pinterest or Facebook buttons below.
I’ll have to look for these at my Target when I head out later today. I’m pushing in with a third grade class and we’re going to be working on their language goals and memory strategies within the framework of their reading workshop mini lessons. These little books look good to hold their mini anchor charts 🙂 Also, my son and daughter would be all over these to create their own stories!! Thanks for sharing!