Thankful

I'm thrilled to be participating in the Frenzied SLPs Thankful blog hop/scavenger hunt!  I've been so busy, that it's been difficult to stay in touch with everyone, but I'm going to try to be more active!

The Frenzied SLPs are bringing you a scavenger hunt style blog hop where we will share our thankful and grateful stories while inviting you to participate in our giveaway. Three lucky winners will be chosen to each receive a $10 Teachers Pay Teachers gift card and a $10 Starbucks gift card. Here is how you can participate. 
1. Read each Thankful and Grateful post from The Frenzied SLPs! 
2. Collect the character at the bottom of each post. 
3.  Don't forget to write down the characers in order to reveal the secret phrase. 
4. Enter the Rafflecopter at the end of any post by entering the phrase. 
5. Visit The Frenzied SLPs Facebook Page for an extra entry. https://www.facebook.com/thefrenziedSLPs/
6. Three winners will be chosen after the rafflecopter closes on 11/13/2015. 

Being busy means work, work, work!  But the plus side of it is that I have some absolutely amazing children I get to see each week.  I'm so thankful for them, they make all of the paperwork, evaluations, meetings, and more paperwork worth it!  I'm not driving around as much this year, which I am definitely happy about.  I now work in four schools and have two home care students.  Last year I had 10 home care students and three schools.

I'm thankful for my fellow bloggers.  When I first started my store and blogging a few years ago, I don't think I would have stayed around too long without them, but through establishing wonderful online connections, I feel like they are part of my extended family!  Some of my bestie bloggers include Jenn from Straight Up Speech, Mia from Putting Words in Your Mouth, Kelly from Speech2U, Lynda from Say What with LyndaSLP123, Rachel from Queen Speech, and Tracy from GoldCountrySLP.  There are many others too who motivate me every day and help me to be the best SLP I can be.  I'm also thankful for all of our readers and buyers!  Without all of you, I wouldn't be inspired to create!

My husband.  What can I say?  His humorous personality has kept me laughing for 19 years!  I couldn't live without him.  He supports my decisions, good and bad, and doesn't say "I told you so."  He is definitely an optimist, which I need, because lately I've been a "the glass is half empty" kinda girl.  I'm trying to get over this bump, especially because of our kids.  This man keeps me going, he is my rock, and I am so fortunate to have him!  My home is filled with laughter and love, and for that, I am grateful.

And on that note.....  My little loves!  For them I am definitely most thankful.  My life has not been the same since I became a mom more than 8 years ago.  I'm definitely more tired and harried, but love almost every minute of it.  I never would have thought I'd be a soccer mom and a dance mom, but I love watching my kids participate in their activities, and watching them grow has been amazing!  I'm truly blessed, and I love my crazy life with my little family!  

Don't miss my letter for your chance to win!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Speechie Freebies: Parent Note

It's been a crazy couple of months!  Not only did I begin working at another school part time, in addition to my school district position and home care, but with the end of the year coming, I feel like I am always rushing to get everything I need done accomplished!

Anyway, at the new school, I am a contractor, so I only get paid for the time I see students.  I see students back to back, and don't have time to find and write in the notebooks tha the teachers send home daily.  I started just writing notes on large lined post-it notes, but it was too sloppy looking, and I didn't think it looked very professional.  I created this note to help me communicate better with the parents at this school.  I hope you can use it too!  Click on the picture to download.

Speechie Freebies: Play dough Placemats

I am so excited to be blogging over at Speechie Freebies today!

I have been working on this product for months!  It's still unfinished, but I'm posting one phoneme for you today!

So many of my students can't sit still for drill work.  I have recently picked up a whole bunch of preschoolers, and they always love play dough.  I wanted to make activities for them that would be fun and functional, incorprating their speech sounds, as well as language skills.

You can download them here!  And be on the lookout in the next couple of weeks for more of these!  Enjoy!

Two Facts and a Fib-- Revealed

A.  True....  I still have no idea why it was not considered inappropriate to cast hookers in a play, but I did play one of a pair in Guys and Dolls.  And my parents let us... Lol!

B. True.... I still remember the name of the child I turned blue when dyeing Easter eggs.  Luckily, his mom had a great sense of humor!

C.  False....  I did not babysit for Alexa Ray, Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley's daughter. My college roommate did though!  She lived on the main road in the town next to theirs, and one day she met them while she was looking after her younger siblings. They liked her, and asked her to watch their daughter throughout her senior year of high school!  

Two Facts and a Fib

Welcome to the Two Facts and a Fib a Blog Hop.  I'm thrilled to be joining my fabulous SLP blogger friends in this fun blog hop, where you will have the opportunity to win a $50 Amazon gift card! Can you spot my lie?

A. I played a hooker in my school's 8th grade production of Guys and Dolls.  The drama teacher decided he wanted twin hookers walking the "street" in several of the numbers.  The teacher told me I looked fine, but that my twin sister would need to be "stuffed."

B.  I once turned a student into a Smurf while coloring Easter eggs, and forgot to call the parents to let them know what he would look like when he got off the bus.

C.  I babysat for Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley's daughter, Alexa Ray.  As some of you know, I hail from Long Island, and Billy Joel lives here too.  When I was younger, and before they divorced, I was asked to watch his daughter.  So cool!!!  Hmmm, for those of you not from this area, do you know Christie Brinkley better than Billy Joel?


Take your best guess, then hop to the next blogger, Maria from Communication Station, to see if you can guess her fib!

An InLinkz Link-up

For The Love of Speech Blog Hop: Prepositions

I am so happy to be participating in another blog hop!  I hope you enjoy this fun prepositions book for Valentine's Day!  "Where is the Heart?" is printer-friendly, just print, cut the pages, and have your students color in each page.  Save on color ink with this no-prep, black and white coloring book for your students! You can use this as a book or use the pictures as flash cards to teach the concepts. Once the students have colored the book, you can also use hearts that you provide to copy the positions in the book for a cute carryover activity! You can also send this home for homework.Click on the cover page to download.

I hope this helps you with some of your planning for the next couple of weeks... I know I'm counting down to February break (two weeks, yay!) and just want some quick and easy activities to use with my students!

For your next stop in the blog hop, click on the picture.  

The Frenzied SLPs -- Introduction

I am thrilled to be part of The Frenzied SLPs!  I hope you are enjoying the posts you have seen so far.  

My  New Year's resolution this year is to reduce, reuse, and recycle.  Between my kids and my various jobs, I'm finding it hard to keep organized and clutter-free.  My kids are also learning about recycling and reusing, so I decided they could pitch in and help.

We went away in December, so I had to clean out my car, a massive undertaking, since I am seeing 9 students in their homes over the course of a week.  I had several different bags and tons of games in the back of my car, in addition to whatever my kids brought in that never seemed to find it's way back into the house.  I debated showing you a picture of the corner of my living room, but I figured I would spare you the horror!

As I was sorting through my materials, I found my boxes of broken crayons and empty glue sticks.  Instead of throwing them away, I decided to reuse them and make new crayons.  It's actually pretty easy, I have made them before using silicone molds which I couldn't find (organizational tips anyone ;-) ), so I used mini muffin cups and empty glue stick containers.  

I hope you will enjoy this tip and find it useful.  

DIY CRAYONS!  

First you will need your supplies:



Old crayons
Dixie cups
silicone molds, empty glue sticks, 
or mini muffin pans or cups
microwaveable container with about 2 cups of water

NOTE: I used the microwave because I could not find my silicone muffin pans.  You can find directions on how to melt crayons in the oven here.  



Next, sort and peel your crayons.

I forgot to take a picture of the crayons in the microwave.  Place the cups of crayons in the microwave  You can mix colors to make swirled crayons, but only mix dark colors with dark colors, and light with light.  It takes 4-5 minutes to melt dark ones, but the lighter ones can take up to 10 minutes.  

I added a microwaveable measuring cup with 2 cups of water to the microwave, along with the cup of crayons.  You need to stir the crayons every couple of minutes, they are similar to chocolate chips, where they retain their shape (mostly) until you stir them.  The picture on the left shows the orange melted crayon about to be poured into the empty glue stick.  The second picture shows more being poured into muffin cups.  You need to work quickly, as they harden very quickly.

Finished product!  Twistable crayons and fun shaped ones too!

I hope you enjoyed this tip.  How will you find alternate uses for common household items that are cluttering up your house?

Remember to like our facebook page for more tips to help make your life easier!