Past projects 4
Learning through Play with Littles in Speech Therapy
Funded Dec 25, 2024Thank you for your donation which has allowed some great resources for my students that has been utilized during their speech therapy sessions already and will continue to be used. Some examples of items received has been fantastic sensory toys that have not only been a motivator for students but has also been a fun way for students to target goals. For examples, the kinetic sand toys have been utilized for my students to practice forming letters and making letter sounds in a different way rather than just writing letters. Instead, students have been shaping letters using this fun kinetic sand that they enjoy and is easily malleable for them to practice with. Simultaneously, I have used the wooden ABC's within sessions to teach students the alphabet, as well as practicing goals such as finding the letter that makes _ sound etc. The use of the ABC; s has been fun in sessions as they are rainbow colored and allow students to hold each letter as they learn the sound the letter makes. Also, I have used sensory tubes in therapy sessions and they have been a fun way for the very young students (aged 4- kindergarten) to utilize as reinforcement as well as vocabulary expansion while the pull on the tubes and place them back together.
Also, utilizing materials such as PLAY foods has been a fantastic way for my students to learn about new food items that they maybe have not interacted with or simple did not know the label for including labels of foods such as green beans, broccoli, eggplant, onions etc. These toy foods are not only hands on but also manipulatives as they separate, i.e., the eggs come out of the shell and can be cut in two, the watermelon pieces also can be cut with the toy knife. This is a fun activity for my students. While these are just some of the items received, the students have already been enjoying them greatly.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ciurej
Essentials for Speech Therapy
Funded Dec 25, 2024Thank you again for being generous and allowing my students so many great resources to implement into their speech therapy sessions. While there are many items that have been purchased and included in sessions, here are just a few. The gift card for teachers pay teachers continues to provide amazing resources that are relevant to each child's functioning and allows them visual supports and hands on activities. A few examples I provided here are vocabulary printables for my younger students who are just expanding their language skills. Other printable work sheets target my students phonemic awareness skills targeting the initial sounds of words, i.e., what is the first sound in dog, as well as rhyming worksheets that allow our students visual supports and hands on activity to print our papers and allow them to match pictured items and glue them down. The resource of laminating pouches comes in very handy when laminating some resources to re-use from session to session. For example, the vocabulary activity that was purchased from teachers pay teachers and was then laminated became a fun BINGO activity for my students. This is very rewarding for students in place of just looking at something in a book and instead they use play dough to represent a coin for BINGO as well as of-course taking the time to play with play dough. Other resources we have already included in our classroom is these big POST IT pads that have information for our students to look back at while targeting writing goals. For example, the one pictured is a visual cue for our students on what to include when describing a story.
Also, the sensory items have been a big hit as a reward for students and as a way to implement their goals into play time. For example, the SENSORY BIN construction zone has been used by kids from 3 years old to 10 years old. For the younger students I have hidden pictures of vocabulary words that we are working on while they "dig" for vocabulary and for older students it is a moment of reprieve.
Please find attached some pictures of these fantastic resources in play.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ciurej
Basics for the Speech Room
Funded Mar 17, 2023Technology is apart of our every day and the use of printers in the school system is not only helpful but a necessity. Thank you very much for your support with providing Basics for our speech room. I am happy to say I have been using the printer provided through these fundings on a daily basis! This allows me to provide my students with copies of work, activities for sessions and even take home work.
Other things from the order included a Mr. Potato head, a farm, and magna tiles. My students from 3 years old to 5th grade have all loved using these toys in therapy sessions. I can't forget about their favorite play-dough and modeling clay. It's amazing to see how these simple toys can bring so much joy.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ciurej
Language Fun for Everyone
Funded Dec 1, 2021On behalf of myself and the students I teach, we would like to thank you for your generosity and donation to our project. With your support we have received fantastic materials to support the students growth within the classroom setting and specifically in Speech and Language therapy. The items we received include a variation of work books, vocabulary books, and games including; brain quest and hands on support for language learning.
The materials have and continue to allow our students to have hands on support during their speech and language sessions. Examples of how we have been able to incorporate materials into our sessions include using games such as "Brain Quest" to have students ask one another questions, and providing answer options verbally to support them in stating the answers to the questions. The students have shared enjoying this game as it states "fun facts" and allows them to learn about things that are both related to things occurring now as well as historical facts. Other materials utilized during our sessions including phonetic support such as with the game "Sound hounds" this has been fantastic to provide students with visual and tactile support, specifically those struggling with reading skills. Activities such as these support pre-reading skills to help students identify letter to sound relationship, decoding sounds and segmenting sounds which they could do not only verbally but using cards as manipulatives to increase their attention. The various workbooks have been incorporated into our sessions to teach spelling skills including vowel differentiations, spelling pattern rules and are being carried over into the students sessions.”
With gratitude,
Mrs. Ciurej
This classroom project was brought to life by Macy’s and 8 other donors.