FLASH FREEBIE! Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? Interactive Adapted Book

I haven't done a "flash freebie" in awhile and thought.... what better way to start the new school year!

I made a really cute interactive, adapted book to accompany "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?" by Bill Martin, Jr.  It will be FREE on tpt until 8/31 at 5pm est.  Find it HERE!

On each page, the student must select the correct sight word, from a field of 3 (I, see,a) and the correct picture (from a field of 10) to complete the

sentence (" I see a_____").

I then have my students point to each word and read the sentence. This not only works well as an adapted companion for the Brown Bear book, but targets many skills on its own including:
-sight words
-colors
-vocabulary
-describing
-sentence creation
-increasing MLU
-syntax

Directions: Print and laminate all pages for durability.
Cut each page in 1/2 , but leave page 7 whole as the book base.

Cut all pieces on the bottom half of page 6 out, and velcro above matching pieces on page 7 to allow students to interactively create sentences.  My students LOVE velcro and really enjoy interactive books.  For more instructions on assembly and to see the completed version, please visit BigAppleSpeech.blogspot.com.

Enjoy!

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Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni

I finally finished a cute companion pack for one of my favorite books by an amazing author!

Fish is Fish by Leo Lionni is great for working on vocabulary, compare/ contrast, cause/effect and many other goals!
You can find this packet HERE on teachers pay teachers.  The activities are geared toward grades K-2 but many can be differentiated to fit various student levels.

Contents and Directions:
Print and Laminate all pages for durability.
Pages 3-5: Compare and contrast characters: Frog & Fish
use page 4 as a branching strategy to have students match descriptions to the character(s) they belong with on page 3
Pages 6-8: Frog Lifecycle model and student page.
Includes cut out word choices for differentiation.
Pages 9-11: Sequence the story with the choice of 2 sequencing mats.
Pages 12-15: Target Vocabulary found in the story and pertaining to the characters
Includes fill- in the blank worksheets for homework/ extra practice.
Page 16-17: Concrete and higher-order language open-ended “WH” questions 
Pages 18-20: Cause and Effect
Includes a matching cause and effect page and a writing page.
Pages 21-: Following directions with prepositions
Print one “pond” page and one “pond life” page per student.
Give students directions to place each piece on the pond page according to prepositions (above, below, next to)
You can also use these pages for multi-step directions (ie. put one duck and two bees above the pond).
Enjoy and please leave feedback!

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Freebie alert! Accountable talk stems

Accountable talk is a great way to teach students to actively listen to each other's statements, agree/disagree with them, and build on ideas. Find it HERE on Teachers pay teachers.

Directions and contents of this download:

•Print as many copies as you need for your students and laminate for longevity.

•Cut out circles and attach to popsicle sticks using glue or sticky tack.

•Use stems to encourage accountable talk and teach students to agree/ disagree with each other’s statements/ reasons.

•This is great for turn and talk exercises.

•Enjoy and please follow BigAppleSpeech for more great materials!

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New Fall Packet for Emergent Readers!

As the school year is coming to an end, I'm already prepping for Fall!

I posted a new Fall themed activity geared toward Pre-k through 1st graders to work on phonemic awareness, rhyming, vocabulary and more!  Check it out on Teachers Pay Teachers HERE!

The packet includes:

•Pages 3-5: Fall vocabulary cards and worksheet

•Pages 6-8:  Compare and contrast Apple and Pumpkin

–use page 8 as a branching strategy for student choices

•Pages 9-11: Sequencing carving a pumpkin

–Includes 2 choices with various sequencing words

•Page 12-13: Describing Fall

–Use page 12 for drawing pictures and page 13 for writing words

•Pages 14-17: Rhyming

–Use a train to help students identify ending sounds in words and match words that rhyme.

•Pages 18-19: Beginning and ending sound identification mats

•Pages 20-22: Following directions with prepositions (print one mat and page of picture cards per student)

•Pages 23-24: Auditory Comprehension Fall story (differentiated)

–Open ended questions

–Multiple choice questions (can read choice to students)

Please message me with any questions!  I hope you can use this with your students:)

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Halloween Cause and Effect Task Cards (33% off until 10/26/15)

I am sharing my latest activity to target the literacy underpinnings of Cause and Effect with a Halloween theme!

Find it HERE on Teachers Pay Teachers

 Directions and Contents:

•Print, laminate, cut all pages in half.  Attach to binder rings for easy storage.

–I like to circle the correct answer choice on the back of each card. Then punch holes in each choice.  This allows students to self-check!

•Leveled Cause/effect task cards include anchor chart and evaluation sheet.

•Includes bonus worksheets to match the cause to the effect for homework/ carryover practice.

•Levels 1 and 2: Multiple choice

–10 “effect” cards

–10 “cause” cards

–Each task card includes one “silly” answer to make the kids giggle!

•Level 3: Open ended

–10 cards to Identify the cause and effect in each scenario.

Enjoy and please follow BigAppleSpeech on TpT, Instagram and facebook for more great materials and flash freebies!!

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Cause and Effect Task Cards Easy Prep for Back to school

Back to school themed interactive Cause and Effect Task cards are now on TpT!  Find them HERE!

Great for Grades 1-3.  Very engaging and easy prep product!  Plus they are 33% off as a BTS school thank you until 9/9/15 at 9 pm est.

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Organizing tips for all those TpT purchases

If you're like me, you are always perusing Teachers Pay Teachers for new materials.  If you follow me on Instagram, Facebook or here then you know I make a lot of materials, too!  Click HERE for a link to my TpT store if you want to check any out.

There came a point this summer where I had piles of newly laminated materials spilling all over my house!  Don't get me wrong, I was really excited to use them all but my OCD self needed to get seriously organized.  So I did! Check out these tips to keep your materials organized.

1. Use theme-therapy.  
I love themes.  Both the kiddos and myself get excited to use holiday and seasonal materials.  I actually plan my entire year of therapy around themes! I try to find great books to go along with each theme.  (more on books later!) I pick a theme for each month and assign materials to accompany it.  I store each individual material in a large manilla envelope (from DollarTree).  I put worksheets and handouts in a large clear envelope labeled for each month.  I store all materials in BIG clear tupperware bins, separated by month.  I label everything.  Each month, I pull out the clear envelope and all the manilla envelopes of materials I have for that month.  Easy!

Here is an example of the themes I use.
September- Back to school/ Fire Safety
October- Fall/ Halloween
November- Explorers/ Thanksgiving
December- Christmas
January- Martin Luther king, Jr Day/ Groundhog Day
February- Snow/ Valentine's Day
March- Penguins/ Pirates/ St. Patrick's day
April- Spring/ Fish/ Earth Day
May- Lifecycles/ Bugs
June- Summer

2. You need binders! 

I try to always buy Avery Economy Binders at Walmart. They are under $2, have plastic binder sleeves and front pockets.  I organized all of my non-seasonal/ non-themed materials by intervention target or administrative topic.  My binders include Phonology, Articulation, Fluency, Phonemic awareness,  Social skills, apraxia, parent handouts, ASHA CEUs, CCSS, Reading Comprehension and Phonics. I put everything in sheet protectors so I can make easy copies!

3. Bins!
Homegoods, Target dollar spot and Dollar Tree are great places to score inexpensive bins.  I use large bins for special things like Sensory materials (felt food, play doh, etc).  I also use small bins for special office supplies (like the amazing chalkboard clips I found at Michaels)!  Buy some printable labels at the dollar store for an extra snazzy look!

4.  Books, books, books!
I can never have enough children's books!  I love using books in therapy.  I create many book companions to address literacy precursors.  It makes hitting those CCSS of vocabulary, sequencing, cause/effect, problem/ solutions, etc very easy!  As I mentioned, I use themes in therapy.  So, I organized all of my books by the month I will use them.  I separated the months by using paint sticks from Home Depot! Free, easy and organized!

Thanks for reading and I hope you picked up some organizational tips! Leave a comment if you'd like to get a better look at anything specific.

Happy Back to School!

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