"Dots" of Fun with Spring Activities!

Whoop! Whoop! We are doing the happy dance here at our school because we are finished with state testing! Testing is always such a hectic time of year, especially for SLPs.  In addition to our normal schedules that are usually crazy to begin with, we have the added challenge of completing IEP annual reviews.  With all this madness going on, who has time to plan and prepare for therapy? Not us, and most likely, not you either! This is why we are thrilled to tell you about these awesome Spring Print & Go Activities created by Kari Radovich at Rock Chalk Speech Talk.  This no prep, low-ink spring pack is filled with fun activities for your students.  What makes it even more fabulous is the students get to use paint markers (daubers) for many of the activities in the pack! Our kiddos, younger ones and older ones, go nuts over paint markers so this pack could not be more perfect for our students! This fun-filled pack contains activities for following directions, basic concepts, functions, pronouns, WH questions, describing, vocabulary, and categories.  There are also several open-ended activities which can be used to target any language or articulation goal.

We particularly love the Hopping Through WH Questions activity! The SLP reads the WH question and the students stamp or cover the fly around the frog with the correct answer.  This activity was a welcomed break from the same-old WH questions cards our kids usually see.

Another favorite of ours from this pack was the Dot-N-Dash Categories.  The students see how fast they can dot & dash through a board by naming 3 items in each given category.  Not working on categories?  No worries! Kari includes a blank page that can be used to target any skill!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Kari for this fantastic product! Because it has been such a life-saver for us this week, we would like to share it with you.  For a chance to win this awesome Spring Print & Go Activities pack, as well as our Spring Speech & Language Therapy Pack, just follow us on Instagram @SoundsLikeFunSLP, like our post about the Spring Print & Go Activities give-away, comment with your email address, and we will pick a winner on Friday, May 1st!

Getting to Know Your Favorite SLPs

Any of you who know Natalie Snyders, know that she always has the best concepts, and we are so excited about her latest great idea, Getting to Know Your Favorite SLPs!  Today we are linking up with her to tell you a little bit about ourselves.

 

Who Are We?

Hi! We are Kim Cummings and Angela Wiggins, an SLP duo from small town, Georgia. We are both in our 20th year of “speeching.” We graduated from Auburn University together in 1994. War Eagle! Kim continued her graduate studies at Auburn and Angela at the University of Georgia.  We recently celebrated our one year anniversary on TpT. Yay!

Kim lives with her husband and soon-to-be high school graduate in west-central Georgia. She has two grown children and a son-in-law. She spends a lot of time with her new grandson, Tillman, and her grand dogs.
 

In honor of #tillmantuesday :)

 
 Down the road a little south, Angela lives with her husband and 2 children, ages 14 and 16. Pray for her, please!

What Do We Offer?

Just like our name, Sounds Like Fun, we try to create products that make learning fun, but at the same time make a difference (even if it’s one sound at a time). One of our favorite and most popular products is our Articulation Stations. These are independent stations for students to target any speech sound goal. Our kids love these stations and the ownership they provide. We have several therapy packs for different seasons and holidays. These packs include activities to use with students targeting different goals. Another popular product we offer is our language and literacy book companion lessons, such as Grow Flower Grow by Lisa Bruce. These lessons include listening comprehension questions, vocabulary development, a language and phonemic awareness target, and a fun activity.
 

 

 Our Dream Job?

We are actually living the dream. Neither of us could think of anything we’d rather do. Why? Because we are speech language pathologists, that’s why!

3 Favorite Things?

 

We both love chocolate! Kim also loves reading and tennis. Angela loves traveling and Quaker Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal :)

 

Who Else Should You Know?

You should know our friend and colleague, Jessica Finch (The Speech Peach) and Heidi Britz (Smartmouth SLP).

 

 

 

 

Sparklle-y Speech Fun!

Whew! We have been busy, busy, busy this month! On top of our regular duties, we are required to help with end-of-the-year state testing. All my Georgia SLPeeps know what a big deal the new Georgia Milestone assessment is and we are right in the middle of it this week!  With all this craziness going on, we are sssssooooo thankful for the awesome therapy materials we received from Sparklle SLP in the Speech Trading Post! Our kiddos have had a blast using them.

First of all, let us explain how the Trading Post worked and then we'll tell you about the great products we were lucky enough to receive from our trading partner.  Here's how the Trading Post was supposed to work.  Several SLPs signed up to trade an item from their TpT Stores.  SLPs were randomly paired with a another partner.  Each SLP got to pick an item of their choice from their partner's TpT store. The two SLPs traded items, used them in therapy, and then shared their thoughts on the products they received.

We were paired with Sparklle SLP.  Hooray for us! Boy, did we ever get lucky! She had so many great items in her TpT store to choose from.  We especially liked that she had therapy packets available for each month which included several activities that went right along with the therapy our kiddos were doing.  These packets are so darn cute and they have the catchiest titles! We were wavering between her April Showers of Speech and Language and May Flowers of Speech and Language therapy packets and guess what?! She sent us both! I told you we got lucky :)

Both these packets are loaded with speech, language, and pragmatic activities and contain some super cute clip art that goes right along with each monthly theme.  We particularly liked the Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow activity in the May packet which contains 8 regular and 8 irregular verb strips. The activity was so versatile and could easily be differentiated by either being a verbal only or a written activity. Our students always like to use dry-erase markers so they especially enjoyed writing the past, present, and future tense of the verbs on the strips.  We even made a game out of it by placing a sticker on the back of one of the strips.  Each student got to keep the strip they were working on and at the end of the session, they flipped the strip over.  The student with a sticker on the back of their strip was the winner for the day :)

We think the best thing about this packet is, that in addition to many great skill specific activities, there are several open-ended activities that can be used with any skill your kiddos are working on! Our students are always up for a competitive game and the Flower Power Reinforcement Sheet was right up their alley . . . and ours too because all we had to do was print and copy and we were all set for therapy! So easy, yet so much fun for our kiddos :)

Oh, and did we happen to mention you can pick up this fabulous May Flowers of Speech and Language packet for only $3.00! That's right, just $3.00!  What a super deal! The only thing we can think of that is better than a great low-priced packet is a great free packet, so how about we give you a chance to win all this speech therapy goodness?  To enter the give-away, follow the link below to our Facebook page, like our page, comment on the May Flowers of Speech and Language Post, and tag a friend!  The winner will be picked using random.org and both you and the friend you tagged will win this super therapy pack :)

Go to our Facebook Page and enter to win!!!!!
 

Speech Trading Post

Hey Fellow SLP Bloggers and TpT Store Owners! How would you like to participate in a fun Speech Trading Post where you can promote your TpT Store and get better acquainted with one another?

 

 

Here is how the Trading Post will work.  After you sign up to participate, we will randomly pair you with another SLP/TpT Store Owner.  We will email you your trade partner’s information by Friday, April 10th.  You will take a look at his/her TpT Store and choose an item valued at no more than $5 to use for therapy.  After using the product with your students, you will write a positive review of the product on your blog or Facebook page and host a giveaway of this product.  Your trade partner will be given your information and will do the same. 

We think this will be a fantastic opportunity for us to network with one another and get some great exposure for our TpT Stores as well!

If this sounds like fun (no pun intended lol), read the rules below and click on the link at the bottom of the page to sign up.

To participate you must:

     Have a blog or a Facebook page which is associated with your TpT Store.

Agree to trade any one product worth up to $5 from your TpT Store with your randomly assigned trade partner.

 

Contact your trade partner to determine how to trade items (Google Documents, email, download from store, etc.

 

Use the item from your Trade Partner’s TpT Store with your students.

 

Write a positive review of the product on your blog or Facebook page.

 

Give away the product to one winner on your blog or Facebook page.

 

Agree to allow your trade partner to give away your product to one winner on their blog or Facebook page.

 

Post the review and run the give away by May 1, 2015.

You don't want to miss the fun so Sign Up Here!

 

Boo for us! Yay for you!

If you read our previous post from March 19th, you know we have been competing in a March Blogger Match-up.  Sixty-four different bloggers were paired with teams from the March Madness Tournament. We were matched with Louisville and we had a pretty good run in the tournament.  We are so sad we lost yesterday and didn't make it to the Final Four because there are some awesome prizes available. Dang! We only needed one more win and we would have made it. 

Our bad luck means good luck for you! Losing bloggers are giving away products from their TpT stores on their blogs. Our tournament free product is our Language & Literacy Farm Bundle which contains book companions for Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown, Mrs. Wishy-Washy's Farm by Joy Cowley, and The Cow That Laid an Egg by Andy Cutbill. This bundle is designed to be used with kindergarten but can be used with pre-K and 1st grade, as well. Activities include listening comprehension, vocabulary extension, phonological awareness, language target, and a fun summary. Items include a bingo game, sequencing cards, graphic organizers, etc.  Just click the picture below to download this item for FREE!

 

 

 

 

 

Below is a list of the other bloggers who are participating in this match-up if you want to check out their free items as well :)

 

Learning with Mrs. Langley cheering on Belmont

Second Grade Stories cheering on Indiana

The Neat and Tidy Classroom cheering on UC Irvine

Live, Laugh, I LOVE Kindergarten cheering on Coastal Car.

Miss Johnston's Journey cheering on Maryland

The Creative Classroom cheering on San Diego State

Fifth in the Middle cheering on Wichita State

Lessons with Coffee cheering on Arkansas

The Kinder Garden cheering on Notre Dame

Exploring Elementary cheering on NC State

Inspired Owl's Corner cheering on Oregon

Frampton's Fundamentals cheering on New Mexico State

Learning in the Little Apple cheering on Michigan State

NC Teacher Chick cheering on Utah State

A Tall Drink of Water cheering on Baylor

Sara J Creations cheering on Oklahoma

ELA Everyday cheering on Duke

The Blessed Teacher cheering on Lafayette

Mrs. 3rd Grade cheering on VCU

Rock & Teach cheering on Albany

Create Teach Share cheering on North Dakota State

One Happy Teacher cheering on Gonzaga

Fern Smith's Classroom Ideas! cheering on Iowa State

First Grade Roars! cheering on SF Austin

The Learning Chambers cheering on Hampton

Teaching is Sweet cheering on Eastern Washington

Confessions of a Teaching Junkie cheering on Cincinnati

Year2tastic cheering on Kansas

Sparkling in Second cheering on Wyoming

Making Meaning with Melissa cheering on Purdue

One Sassy Teacher cheering on Villanova

Brittany Kiser cheering on Texas

Coach and Teach 24/7 cheering on St. John's

Hardcore Teacher Resources cheering on LSU

The Whole Wheat Class cheering on Oklahoma

Mixing It Up In The Middle! cheering on Mississippi

Teaching Maddeness cheering on UAB

Its Elementary My Dear cheering on Ohio State

Live Love Serve Teach cheering on Providence

 Education Kingdom cheering on North Carolina

A Dab of Glue Will Do cheering on Dayton

Learning to be Awesome cheering on Kentucky

Technology Timeout cheering on Harvard

Kovescence on the Mind cheering on Butler

Blossoms of Blue in 2 cheering on North Eastern

Mrs. D's Corner cheering on Robert Morris

Where the Wild Things Learn cheering on Buffalo

Bright Concepts 4 Teachers cheering on North Iowa (UNI)

A Trendy Teacher cheering on Valparasio

Lucky to Be In First cheering on Wisconsin

O-H So Blessed! cheering on Virginia

Tales of Teaching with Tech cheering on Woffard

Very Perry Classroom cheering on Arizona

A Kindergarten Life for Me cheering on Georgia

First Grade Buddies cheering on Iowa

Miss Case's Classroom cheering on Georgetown

A Grace-Filled Classroom cheering on West Virginia

Third Grade Cupcakes cheering on SMU

The Class Couple cheering on Xavier

More Time 2 Teach cheering on Georgia State

Owl-ways Learning cheering on UCLA



Happy Anniversary!!!

Wow! This is a big day for us! We have so much going on. I am excited to announce that today is our one year anniversary of our TpT store. Last year at this time, I would never have dreamed we would have come this far in just one short year! Granted, we haven't made a fortune, but we've had fun building our store, sharing our ideas, and making new friends! When we started the store, the idea of a blog never entered our mind. Neither of us had any idea how to even begin blogging. Hooray for Google! With a little research and some trial and error, what do you know? We now have a blog, a Facebook page, and an Instagram. So much work, but so much fun!!!

In celebration of the one year anniversary of our store, we are having a sale this weekend. Beginning tomorrow, Friday, March 20th and running through Sunday, March 22nd, all of our TpT items will be 20% off.  Also, as a thank you to all our TpT followers, we will be sending them some special anniversary give-aways. If you haven't had a chance to follow our store, head on over there by clicking the picture below and follow us so you don't miss these special anniversary gifts!

In addition to our anniversary, we are participating in a fun March Blogger Match-up.

64 bloggers have been matched up with a team in the NCAA tournament.  Big Shout Out to Ashlyn Ellsworth at The Creative Classroom for all her hard work in setting up this fun event! We have been paired with the Louisville Cardinals.  Not being familiar with this team, I immediately called my basketball-loving hubby this morning when I saw the bracket. He said we could have done better, but we certainly could have done worse so . . . . Go Louisville!!!  For each win Louisville gets in the tournament, we receive a free product from the TpT store of our blogger opponent. When we lose, we have to give a product to our opponent and we also give away this product here on our blog. Be sure to follow the bracket and if Louisville loses, check back on our blog to get your free product.

Our tournament free product will be our Language & Literacy Farm Bundle. This cute bundle contains book companions for Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown, Mrs. Wishy-Washy's Farm by Joy Cowley, and The Cow That Laid an Egg by Andy Cutbill. Activities include listening comprehension, vocabulary extension, phonological awareness, language target, and a fun summary. Items include a bingo game, sequencing cards, graphic organizers, etc.  Mrs. Wishy Washy's Farm and The Cow That Laid an Egg are our two very favorite farm books! We love them and once you have read them, you will too.

 

 

We are so grateful for all of our followers! Thanks for your support! Happy Anniversary to us and Go Louisville!!!

Fun in the ATL

We had a blast at the GOSSLP Best Practices Conference last week. The conference was great and we learned so much. Char Boshart was a great resource for help with articulation difficulties and we especially liked Michelle Garcia-Winner's presentation on Teaching Social Thinking to Foster Learning the Common Core. However, not everything at the conference was smooth sailing :(


First of all, I was in charge of making the hotel reservations.  We like to stay at Embassy Suites because they have a delicious free breakfast in the mornings and the manager's reception at night. I made sure to make the reservations in plenty of time so we would be certain to get a room there.  So we arrive Wednesday night at Embassy Suites at 8:30, walk up to check-in, hand over our confirmation sheet, and guess what?! I had registered us for February 4th instead of March 4th (BTW both just happened to have fell on Wednesdays this year). Don't worry, the fun was just beginning because they were fully booked for the night and had no room available for us. To top it off, they had charged our cards $200 for a no-show fee from February 4th!  To make a long story short, we were able to get a room at another hotel and finally got checked in around 10 p.m.  Embassy Suites made us a reservation for the next night and refunded our no-show fee since it was an honest mistake. We just had to do a lot of packing and lugging around bags.  I was mortified about the mistake and felt horribly, but my co-workers were great sports and never even complained! They are the best! :)

These are our tired, sad faces on Wednesday night when we finally got settled in our room.  Aren't we pitiful?!

The next day at the conference, we did a poster presentation during the afternoon session.  When we signed up for the session, we assumed we would be standing around and answering questions about our poster. Boy were we wrong! When we got to the room to set up our poster, we found out the participants would be circulating from poster to poster in groups and we were going to have to give a short 10 - 15 minute presentation on our materials. Good thing SLPs are never at a lack for words, because we ended up giving presentations to ten different groups.  Here's a public apology to our first and last groups of the session.  The first group was used as guinea pigs as we figured out what to say, and by the time the last group came around, we were just exhausted!

All in all, it was really a lot of fun and we decided if given the opportunity next year, we would do it all again.  Here are a few pictures from our trip! I hope to be able to share our presentation on here with all of you very soon :)
 

We were so excited to meet Meredith Avren, the Peachie Speechie and buy one of her super cute t-shirts! We can't wear to wear them on Friday on our dress down day.  I'll post pics soon :)

Here we are presenting our poster. (Jessica Finch, the Speech Peach, Angela Wiggins & Kim Cummings, SoundsLikeFunSLPs)

Our poster for our presentation.
Special Shout out to Meredith Avren (Peachie Speechie) and to Karen Parden (Speech
 Umbrella) for their help!
 

 

Our food at P.F. Chang's & The Cheesecake Factory was yummy!