Summer Language Activities

(summer 2013 on the Oregon Coast)

What do I like to do in the summer time?  Go to my parents cabin (it's my happy place).  Make homemade ice cream - fresh peach is my favorite!  See a fun movie with my family.  Hiking, biking (my daughter is going to bike camp this year to learn how to ride a two-wheeler without training wheels), road trips, taking lots of photos, hosting a family reunion, playing with cousins, swimming, and going on picnics.  I'm certified to dive now, so at least a couple of diving trips.  I can't wait to show my students the pictures under the water!  We're planning to take the train downtown a few times to explore.

I've had a lot of parents ask how to promote language skills over the summer.  Head to the library.  check out books to read together.  Point out pictures, predict what will happen next, and everyone says "Turn The Page!" when it's time.  Make cookies and talk about what is going IN the bowl.  Are the cookies crunchy or soft?  Head to the zoo, the park, the mountains, the lake, or where ever your family likes to hang out.  Make funny animal sounds, talk about the weather, and comment about what you see.  Head to the pool or run through the sprinklers and talk about cold water, hot sun, and wet vs dry.  

Want more ideas?  Check out Lisa Geary MS, CCC-SLP on the ASHA blog for some fun language activities to do over the summer.  Picnics, beach, and butterfly treats!  Click here.  You can also check out Lisa's blog Live Speak Love here.  

Playing With Words 365 has SLP Katie's Top Ten list of summer activities for your toddler that includes water play, ice play, obstacle courses, and field trips.  Check it out here.  

Water balloons, summertime treats, and pool activity ideas to promote language can be found on Preschool Speech.com.

You can find a whole bunch of language activity calendars over at Alberta Health Care Services.  They even include some nursery rhymes to learn (just like Miss Ange's class!).  Scroll down to find the calendars for June, July, and August.

Comment on what you like to do in the summer.  If you see me out and about with my family, come say hi!  

May: Week 4

We had such a great time listening to sounds last week! Some of our lower verbal kids became verbal rock stars as they were excited to tell me that they saw elephants/lions/zebras/monkeys at the zoo or that they had dogs/cats/snakes for pets, or saw fire engines, helicopters, boats, and planes.  I decided to repeat all of Week 3 for Week 4.  It has proved to be a good idea as the children have demonstrated good listening skills and had a great time identifying animals. 

This week one child identified planes as "FUN vacations!"  Yes.  Absolutely.  I agree completely.

May: Week 3

Phoneme: /s/
Transition Song:  The Circle Song (The Kiboomers)
Pre-literacy Skills:  the Letter S.  Put your finger on the top - swooooop over - swirl down - swooooop under - and STOP!

Concepts: sounds, listening, voices off, labeling, What questions

This week we turned our voices off and our ears on and listened to sounds.  One (or two) of my favorite apps for iPad is Sound Touch (and SoundTouch2).  You touch the icon for the animal/vehicle/weather/human noises/household noises/occupation and a photo pops up with the accompaning sound.  If you touch it again, a different picture for the same icon pops up.  Usually it cycles through5 pictures with appropriate sounds.  The children listened for the sound and tried to guess what it was.  This activity was a HUGE HIT and will be repeated next week.

Working on VERBS this summer

Chapel Hill Snippets is a fantastic speech/language blog with a bunch of free resources.  Check out her latest - a summer book on verbs which you can find here.  Print it out and read it with your kids.  Then make your own with things you want to do this summer.  Make another at the end of summer with pictures from all of your fun activities.  Not only will you be working on verbs, but pronouns, present tense, and past tense.  Even sequencing (First we went _________, and then we went ____________.

If you do this, have your kids bring their books to school next fall.  I plan on doing this with my summer vacation plans.

May: Week 2

Phoneme: /s/
Transition Song:  The Circle Song (The Kiboomers)
Pre-literacy Skills:  the Letter S.  Put your finger on the top - swooooop over - swirl down - swooooop under - and STOP!

Concepts: body parts, colors, high/low, fast/slow, stop(freeze)/go

Activity:  Silly Dance Contest (Jim Gill).  I wonder how you can move your arms?  Your legs?  Feet?  Hands?  Head?

• dance, jump, fast/slow, hands high, shrink low

My favorite part of this Jim Gill video?  When he says the children don't leave his concerts remembering dancing the Silly Dance.  They remember dancing with their moms and/or dads.  So please do this at home!

May Language Calendar

The Moog Center has posted their awesome language calendar for May.  You can download and print it here.

May: Week 1

Phoneme /s/

Transition Song:  The Circle Song (The Kiboomers)

Pre-literacy skills:  draw the letter S.  Start at the top.  Swoop over.  Swirl down.  Swoop under. and Stop!

Activity:  Following the leader.  We sang and played In And Out The Dusty Bluebells with the words changed:

In and Out, Around our friends -
In and Out, Around our friends -
In and Out, Around our friends -
Who will be my partner?

(At this point the leader holds hand with the nearest child and starts going again.  We kept it to one verse for simplicity.  Full instructions and music can be found here.  Big thanks to Let's Play Kids Music.com for supplying the directions and music to this fun activity.

Concepts:  Following the leader, In, Out, Around, High, Low

Here is the music to get started.