It's officially that time of the year again...time for BACK TO SCHOOL! If you're a school-based SLP, I'm sure you're feeling a mixture of excitement, anxiety, worry, and maybe a little bit of calm (it can be nice to have a routine again!).
A lot of people ask me how I schedule my themes for the year. And...surprise...
~ I don't! ~
Everyone is different - maybe long-term planning is for you - try it out! You never know!
I have found in my own therapy that I have to follow what my students are leaning into or moving away from. And sometimes I personally just don't want to do a certain a theme or read a certain book! I like to have OPTIONS!
Check out my top 3 picks for themes to use for back to school & fall - I'll connect these themes to our matching products as they pop up in our shop! I've even added my favorite goal areas for each theme. You can s-t-r-e-t-c-h these themes out over an entire month if needed!
🎒Back to School:
- Grab these Build-A-Story cards to talk about different situations that may come up at school (and some silly pictures too!)
- Target who, what, & where questions by going on a school scavenger hunt to find different rooms in the building. Who works in that room? What do you use in each room?
- Talk about your favorite things. Work on commenting, sharing ideas, describing, & more!
🍎 Apples, 🎃 Pumpkins, 🍂 Leaves!
- Grab some fake apples, pumpkins, & leaves and make a sensory bin! Talk about texture, size, & shape.
- 🍎 Use the book Ten Apples Up On Top to target quantity concepts while you read the book. Who has more? Who has the least?
- 🎃 Talk about the life cycle of a pumpkin! Compare/contrast how the pumpkins look as they grow.
- 🍂 Put leaves on a tree! Use spatial concepts like top/bottom, next to, above/below to describe where the leaves are.
🚜 Farm
- 🐮 What parts does each animal have? What can they do? Where do they sleep?
- 🦆 Do you have plastic farm animals? Get them dirty! Use brushes, spray bottles, or towels to clean them up. Follow steps for a bath to work on following directions. Use describing words to make two-word phrases "clean cow", "dirty duck".
