Benefits of Games in the Classroom

I love it when people *get it!* School is not always easy (or fun...) for all kids. Each person has a different learning style, too.
The other day, I received my e-mail from the National Education Association (NEA) and loved what I saw! The title was "Experts Tout Educational Benefits of Board Games" and there were two articles (Washington Post and mlive from Michigan) talking about these benefits.

Discovery Toys has some great games that can be used by teachers (and even speech pathologists ;) ). Here is some info about some of my favorites:

Number Hunt:
Recommended for ages 4+, children are motivated to learn math skills, like number recognition, counting and addition.
PS...it's on sale right now until February 6!

Labyrinth:
I have to admit that this is one of my favorites! I've even played it by myself, even though I'm much older than 7... It's a great game for teaching turn taking skills and for following directions, but it really takes some critical thinking and planning ahead to play, which is so important for children in school. On their turn, the player moves board pieces to clear a path to the object they need to collect. Lots of fun!

Zingo:
I've actually already expressed my love for this game here ;)

Other great games include Wiz Kids, Friendship Island, Play to Be Safe, Word Flip, and A to Z Jr.

We're always playing different kinds of games in my classroom during our small groups time. It's great for teaching turn taking, vocabulary, sentence use, and we've even played some Bingo games for specific speech sounds!

Happy playing!

Our Day In Preschool!!

In my program, we have 3 different classes. On Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays, 2 sets of students come--they are my 3 year olds, one morning class and one afternoon class. On Tuesdays/Thursdays, my 4 year olds come just in the morning. Each class is 2 1/2 hours and we have a lot to do each day!
Here is a brief description of our day and why we do what we do:

Arrival and Free Play:
Once our kids get off the bus or dropped off by their family, we head to the classroom and the playing begins! From a teacher's point of view, this is our chance to take attendance and look through backbacks, etc.
From the students' points of view, it's free time! They get to do their main job in life--PLAY! It's a child-directed time where they can explore, read a book, build blocks, do a puzzle, cut and color...the possibilities are endless!
How is this speech and language therapy? Well, the 3 adults in the classroom (me and my 2 assistants) use this time to model correct productions. We get to play, too! As we push cars, we talk about it. As the children pretend to cook, we talk about it. If there is a battle over a toy, we talk about it and give the students the correct words. The adults in the classroom are always talking with them about what they are doing (“oh, the car is going fast!”) or have them follow directions (for example “pick up the red block and put it on top of the table”).

Opening Circle:
Here, we are basically teaching the children to be students, including how to sit and pay attention for 10-15 minutes. That can be a long time for a preschooler! We also work on name recognition, spelling their names and simple math, like counting and simple addition.
How is this speech and language therapy? We work on answering questions (who is this? what is your name? who is not here?), saying short sentences (my name is ___) and we help the kids with their pronunciation (if she says "I am a dirl," we give her lots of help to say that /g/ sound and say "girl").

Meal Time:
Who doesn't like to eat? It's a pretty motivating time in our day! Yum! Not only do we work on talking, we also introduce some literacy skills--we have placemats with drawings of all the things we need, plus the written words.
How is this speech and language therapy? My students don't get anything without making an attempt to communicate! Some kids can say "I want pancakes," other kids will use American Sign Language signs for "more" and "milk" to get their drink. It's also a great time for me to make sure their feeding skills are fine and they can move their mouths correctly.

Circle:
At the second circle of the day, we focus on the vocabulary theme we are working on. We talk about the words and look at the pictures on the bulletin board. Then we will sing a couple of songs or read a book related to the theme.
How is this speech and language therapy? One of the most common goals that my students have are to learn more vocabulary words. The constant repetition of the vocabulary words, especially in song, help them learn the words so they are able to point to the word and then say it. Books are also a fantastic way to learn vocabulary and to teach storytelling.

Small Group Rotations:
During small groups, the students spend about 8-10 minutes at each of our 3 activities. The activities they do here typically change each class, although we may repeat some. Here, we have teacher-directed activities where we focus on pre-math, pre-literacy, fine motor and articulation and language skills.
How is this speech and language therapy? First, each activity is related to the vocabulary theme that we are working on, so they have more practice with these words. Second, the students need to request everything! They can't even get a crayon without saying "I want a crayon!" Finally, this is the time where I really get some direct time with them to work on their specific speech and language goals, including vocabulary, grammar, following directions and articulation.

Outside Play:
Here, we really let the kids run free! They can ride tricycles, run around, play games, and sometimes go to the bigger kid playground and slide and swing. It's fabulous for gross motor skills!
How is this speech and language therapy? Well, we have the kids in their favorite environment, so they are very motivated to get what they want. This makes it easier for us to get them to request. They also learn to use correct words to get what they want and to share--the bikes are popular, but there just aren't enough! It's also a time for us to simply model correct speech and language, like "he is riding," "she is running," "the ball is under the slide" or the /s/ sound in "Swing."

Closing Circle:
At the end of the day, we finish up by singing goodbye, reviewing the day and lining up to head out to the waiting bus or mommy and daddy.
How is this speech and language therapy? When we review the day, we have pictures representing each activity, so we are teaching them to sequence. This included important words like "first, next, last." Also, the students need to say "I want my backpack" before they can go, reinforcing the fact that they need to use their words.

Our day goes by fast, but, as you can see, it's full of lots of speech and language opportunities!
Until next time, "Good bye friends, we're sad to see you go, boom boom!"

A Day at the Pretend City Children's Museum

So, I do love my Discovery Toys business, and I love being a speech-language pathologist, but, in all honesty, my favorite thing in life is spending time with my awesome and adorable 2 year old daughter, Rachel.

We needed something to do today while Daddy worked a double shift so we decided to go to the Pretend City Children's Museum in Irvine, CA. Now, I know, I know, I've neglected my blog lately. But, when I have something totally cool that I've seen, I need share!

This is not your typical museum where you look, admire and then move on. Oh NO!! At Pretend City, your kid can touch anything and everything--and they are encouraged to do so! By the way, did you know that Speech Language Pathologists also look at PLAY skills during evaluations for young kids? It's true! Play, including pretend play, is related to speech and language development!

Rachel and I started our adventure at the grocery store. Rachel piled and piled (and piled) pretend food into her shopping basket. It was kind of funny to watch her realize she could (and should) play with everything! We skipped the check out line because Rachel saw the fruit and vegetables to be picked and planted in the next room--The Farm. She also checked out the not-so-pretend baby chicks!
Here she is planting and riding the tractor:


Rachel then caught a ride in a car and we traveled to her favorite part of Pretend City--the amphitheater! She hopped on stage and grabbed some instruments but didn't quite to know at first. That's the beauty of getting our kids involved with other kids--she figured out she was supposed to be rocking out by watching the other kids. Then, the test came!! Another kid wanted her instrument!! A lesson in sharing occurred with no bumps or blood. Phew!

I confused Rachel a little, telling her I wanted to go home--I meant to Pretend City's house! We wandered through the house, looking in cabinets, closets and drawers and cooked a little bit in the kitchen.

Next, we played at the beach, but a cool car caught Rachel's eye, so we moved on over past the gas station and to the Beach where she played in the sand. We passed right by the Park, Police Station and Fire Station over to the Marina. Rachel played in the water and discovered that fake fish float! So, she enjoyed holding it down under the water defying rules of flotation.

The doctor's office waiting room beckoned next, probably because of the cool books. When she went into the doctor's office, I think she took great pleasure in giving the baby doll a shot. Sweet revenge!! She must've been hungry, because we ended up at the little cafe serving pretend Vietnamese cuisine. She was distracted by the mop, however, and did a great job cleaning.

Although I had a great time NOT feeling the need to be overprotective-mama and let her run and lead the way, there was one place that I wanted to visit--the Art Studio! Ribbons, glue, markers and sequence galore!! Rachel made a beautiful princess crown. Such a fabulous room! I was amazed that Rachel sat and put markers away when she was done!! (now, how do I teacher her to do that at home???).

Rachel took one last run around Pretend City and ended up at her favorite place-the Amphitheater! More stomping, playing and singing. She had such a blast up on stage! She even tried to share her mic with another kid. :) Here is my star on-stage:

Pretend City is totally the type of museum I would've loved as a kid!! I know Rachel had a blast, too. We will definitely be back!! I think you should go too ;)
It's fun, inexpensive and (shhh...) educational!

Snappy Ducks From Discovery Toys

Rachel, my 2 year old little girl, has a new favorite toy! It's Snappy Ducks from Discovery Toys!

Snappy Ducks are available now from Discovery Toys and are perfect for your toddler! You will get a set of 24 sturdy ducks in a variety of colors that snap together super easily. Take them any where you want to play--they can even be used in the bath, which is good because Bathtime Bugs weren't helping us have a cry-free bath anymore (that's ok! they still rock...everyone needs variety!). Snappy Ducks come in a long box, but I prefer keeping them in a storage box for easy access.

There are so many things you can learn with your Snappy Ducks!
Pre-math skills-
Count your ducks!! Your child may be able to count to 100, but it's also important to count with 1:1 correspondence. (I expect my 3 year old students to count with 1:1 correspondence to 5 and my 4 year old students to 10).

Sort your ducks!! Put the blue ducks together, your orange ducks together, your yellow ducks together and your green ducks together. Sorting is an important skill for your toddler and preschooler--you need to sort objects before you can add them (you know--2 green ducks plus 1 orange duck equals 3 ducks!)

Make patterns with your ducks!! AB patterning is a precursor skill to learning math as well as a pre-reading skill. So, find your pattern--blue-red-blue-red.

Fine Motor Skills
Your Snappy Ducks are great for developing little hands. At first, it took a while for Rachel to be able to grasp the ducks appropriately to be able to get those ducks to snap. But, she's finally got it! The ducks also help with hand-eye coordination because it takes some precise movements to snap the ducks together.

Speech and Language Skills
Descriptive concepts, like long and short. Encourage your child to make some long rows and some short rows. Make sure to talk about the different sizes, including big, bigger, biggest.

Spatial concepts- Different concepts you can help teach are first, last, middle. When you snap the ducks together, have your child point out the first duck, last duck, etc. These concepts are also precursors to story telling...just remember, when you're putting pictures together for stories, go from left to right!

Articulation- Do you know any kids who leave of the /s/ sound? Well, when you are playing wiht your child, make sure you over emphasize the /s/ and say /ssssssssssnap/ as you snap your ducks together. Start out by modeling the sound, then see if your child can make it. Don't worry if she can't at first and says "nap"--just keep trying!

Some of the fun sentences I've heard Rachel say include:
"let's put the ducks together," "where's mommy duck?," "I have 2 ducks."

It's also just really fun to watch her think and learn!Now, in the photo, you can also see that she's put her duck in her Hammer Away! I don't recommend that...

Be sure to contact me if you have any questions about Snappy Ducks or any other Discovery Toys product!!

Happy Snapping!!
~Marcy

Ahoy There, Me Hearties!!

ARRR!! Saturday, September 19th be International Talk Like A Pirate Day!! Arrr!

Well, shiver me timbers! What better way to celebrate than with a fun Discovery Toys product! Let's take a look at

Ahoy, Pirate Pete!

Ahoy, Pirate Pete is a fun, interactive change-the-story book where kids can choose different elements of the story to have the adventures unfold different ways each time.

How do you do this?
Well, when you first receive your book, you will punch out little pictures and place them in the correct place in the book. This is your first learning task!! Visual discrimination and matching, plus work on fine motor skills to stick in the little tabs!!

As you read the book with your child, you are given options for how you want the story to unfold. Do you want Pete to have a pet dragon or a pet bird? Do you want Pete to look in the sky and see a bird or a spaceship? Once you choose, take the picture and place it in the story. The stories are endless!!

How can you use Ahoy, Pirate Pete to increase your child's speech and language skills?
Use this versatile book to help your child in:

Responding to Questions About Stories: After you read the book, ask your child questions. Who is on the ship? What did Pete see? Where was the octopus? Since the story changes every time, it's an extra challenge for your child! You're really helping his listening skills!

Retelling Stories: The ability to re-tell information is vital in your child's school success. He needs to be able to listen and attend, remember details, organize information and then tell the information in grammatically correct sentences with appropriate vocabulary. That's a lot!! Help your child by reading the book a couple of times and then having him tell the story--first with the book, then see if he can do it without.

Learning Vocabulary: You can even use Ahoy, Pirate Pete as a sneaky way to teach vocabulary! Categorizing (or putting similar words together) is a fantastic way to teach vocabulary. So, take all the pieces out of the book and have your child categorize! Put all the food together, all the ocean creatures together, all the things that fly together, etc, etc. Have your child label each item and tell you what the groups have in common. Lots of fun while learning!

Practicing Articulation Skills: Ok, as a speech-language pathologist, I love pirates!! Why? They have truly mastered the R sound!!! AARRRR matey! First, you should know that the /r/ sound isn't expected to be mastered until after age 6-7 or so. You should also know it's a really hard sound to learn!! But, pretending to be a pirate is a really fun way to practice the /r/ sound! So, on each page when your child sees Pete, have him make the "Pirate Sound" of /r/!! Just don't forget to tense up that tongue and raise the back.

Well, Shiver Me Timbers!! That's a lot of fine things you can do with this book! It is surely some great booty to your treasure chest of Discovery Toys swag! Smartly head on over to me website and get yer lads and lassies Ahoy, Pirate Pete!

Fair Winds and Happy Sailing to you, Matey!!
~Marcy
FoxToyBox

What's Happening in my Classroom?

Today was the first day of school for some of my students! I have 3 classes--Mon/Wed/Fri in the am and pm (my 3 year olds) and Tues/Thurs am (my 4 year olds). So far, they seem like they'll be a lot of fun! *fingers crossed*

I base my class activities on vocabulary themes because I believe that teaching vocabulary in categories is the best way for children to learn new words. Themes/categories help kiddos put new words they encounter into little "filing cabinets" of similar words to expand their vocab.

What's the current theme? Back to School!
We've got vocab words like school, bus, teacher, book, pencil, crayons, friends, backpack, toys, blocks, etc.

How are we teaching these words?
Well, today, we played a game where students took turns opening the backpack and taking out a vocabulary item. They had to label items and maybe even say a sentence (like "I have a backpack").
We also worked on their listening skills by having them point to items or follow directions (like "point to the book," "point to something we use to cut" or "pick up the apple and put it in the blue backpack"). If they can't do any of these right away, we give them cues, like pointing or modeling for them.

We also did a coloring page (with crayons and a bus) to give them a chance to practice their crayon/pencil grasp--- My trick for getting the correct grasp?--breaking crayons in half! (by the way, this is a coloring, experiential activity, NOT a worksheet activity--blech!)

Finally, we used our Discovery Toys EZ Blocks!
EZ Blocks are great first building blocks because they have a grooved top and bottom to make sure that little ones' hands don't accidentally knock the blocks over. They are also a nice size for the little hands, too. Give your EZ Blocks a little shake--they make noise!! How fun and inviting is that? They are also inviting to the eye because they have some basic colors and shapes.

So, how can you use EZ Blocks in a speech and language development class?
Well, first off, "blocks" is one of our vocabulary words for this theme since blocks and toys are key items in a preschool classroom.
We also worked on requesting-- my kids are taught the phrase "I want ___" It's a pretty powerful phrase, if you think about it! A great way to meet your wants and needs! We only give the students 1 or 2 at a time so they will always have something to ask for. We're sneaky that way!
Some basic concepts were also targeted, like colors and shapes, but also concepts like "tall" and "short" or "loud" and "quiet." Who made the tallest tower?

Some of the phrases and sentences I heard used with my students were "I make a castle," "shake blue," and "it fall down!" When we heard these utterances, we modeled and expanded so the students could hear the correct sentence use ("oh, I am making a castle," "I am shaking the blue block" and "it is falling down!").

There is so much more that can be done with EZ Blocks from Discovery Toys! The kids are learning and having fun, too!! They are available here at my website.
Also, check out the new fall catalog to check out an EZ Blocks addition--
EZ Blocks Wheels & More!
Here's to a great school year with lots of learning and playing!

Happy building!
~Marcy

It's September!! A DT teacher's special for you!

September---
The month that brings chills to children everywhere and makes moms and dads give a sigh of relief.

Then, there's teachers. So many things to do!! Put the classroom back together. Clean out the spiders (yuck. but, true.). Meet new parents. Find class lists. Write lesson plans. Wonder what kind of group you'll have.

It was a great summer, but now it's time for a great new school year. To help my fellow school staff members out, I'd like to offer a special 10% savings off of any Discovery Toys order!

Forever!

That's right! If you work in a school to help improve the life of children, I would like to offer you 10% savings any time you order from me (only orders made through e-mail, though!).

Why? Well, because being a teacher/classroom assistant/health clerk/principal etc. etc. is really a thankless job. Also one of the most difficult jobs out there. And, with budget cuts abound (at least in California), these folks need a break.
Why else? Because I believe in Discovery Toys educational products 100% and know they will enhance any classroom.

So, e-mail me anytime with your order and enjoy your 10% savings!

Happy shopping!
~Marcy
foxtoybox@gmail.com

P.S. Have you seen the new Fall catalog?? What are you waiting for?!?