Western New York Teacher Center

Throughout the month of September, I will be focusing on improving your child's auditory listening skills.  I will encorporate theme units such as colors, shapes and Johnny Appleseed/apples into auditory directions, articulation, language and pragmatic social skills.  You can reinforce listening skills with your child this month by reading to him/her, listening to environmental sounds and having your child try to identify them and giving him/her simple auditory directions to follow.

 

October:  One of the themes I will be focusing on in speech therapy is "Feelings".  We will go over situations in which the students feel happy, sad, mad, scared, frustrated, tired and hurt.  At home, please help your child state the emotion he/she is feeling when it occurs.  (Example-"You look happy when you're playing with your cars.")  You can also make them aware of how you are feeling as well. (Example-"That Halloween ghost in the store is making me feel scared.  Does it scare you?".    Have fun making "feeling faces" in the mirror at home together and naming them.  You can also use books and television to talk about emotions.  I will encorporate speech and language skills into Halloween theme games, stories and activities at the end of the month.  On Halloween, we will turn the speech room into a "haunted speech room"  with spooky fun speech and language activities.

 

November:  This month I will be focusing on the themes of food, family and Thanksgiving.  Some activities you can do at home to carry through these themes is to have your child help with the grocery shopping or putting things away in the cupboards at home.  (Ex.-"Put 3 apples in the bag for us to buy"; "Put the soup can on the bottom shelf"; "Put the milk in the fridge").  For the family theme, you could plan a family activity night where your child plays a simple board game or pretend play activity (ex.-playing restaurant/store) with the family.  You could even make up a puppet show using old socks or paper bags.  Just remember to have fun!

 

December:  I will be focusing on the themes of the 5 senses, stores, toys and the holidays this month.  Have your child explore the 5 senses by finding holiday things they can see, smell, touch, hear and taste.  Together you can categorize his/her toys into basic categories such as cars versus legos or more complex categories such as soft versus hard toys.  When you go shopping during the holiday season, make a picture or written shopping list of presents to buy for family and/or friends.  Have your child help you find the things on the list at the appropriate store.  Enjoy the season and have a very Happy Holiday!

 

January:  Happy New Year!  This month I will be focusing on the concepts of time (ex.-yesterday, today, tomorrow, morning/night, etc.) and new versus old to ring in the new year.  We will cover the themes of clothing, Martin Luther King's birthday and winter as well.  You can carryover the clothing theme by having your child help with the laundry (ex.-matching socks or categorizing or foldiing the clothes up).  Have fun with the winter theme by enjoying winter activities together like sledding, having a snowball fight,  building a snowman or taking a winter walk.  You can talk about action verbs like sledding, throwing, rolling, patting, making, etc.  Your child can practice sequencing skills too by going over the steps with you to do an activity.  For example, when you make a snowman you can say "First we make a big ball of snow, second we make a little ball of snow, third we put the little snowball on top of the big snowball, etc."  Welcome winter!

 

February:  This month I will be focusing on the themes of Groundhog's Day and shadows, things/people we love for Valentine's Day.  For carryover fun, you can make shadows on the wall using a flashlight and objects or your fingers.  See if your child can guess what the shadow is .  On Valentine's Day have your child find all the red things he/she can at home or out in the community.  Enjoy the winter break.

 

March:  This month I will be focusing on the themes of Dr. Seuss to celebrate Dr. Seuss's birthday, green things for St. Patrick's Day and Spring.  For carryover fun, read some Dr. Seuss books to your child at night.  Point out the rhyming words if your child is at that level.  Have fun in the kitchen by making green eggs and ham for breakfast one morning.  See if your child can find some green things around the house.  Have your child pick out a green outfit to wear on St. Patrick's Day.  For extra fun, have an unseen "leprechaun" create a little mischief around the house by putting things backwards or upside down, etc. and see if your child notices what's wrong.  To celebrate spring beginning,  take a walk outside and look for signs of spring like new buds growing on the trees or flowers starting to sprout up.  Welcome spring! 

 

April:  This month I will be focusing on the themes of community helpers and household things.  For carryover fun when your family is out and about, point out the people in the community he/she sees and tell who they are and what they do.  For example, if you go to the grocery store, point out the cashier.  If you go to a restaurant, point out the waiter.  If you go to the zoo, point out the zookeeper,etc.  For the household unit, see if your child can name the things around your house and what room they belong in.  Enjoy the spring vacation break!

 

May:  This month I will be focusing on the themes of Mother's Day, animals and red, white and blue things. The class will be going on a fieldtrip to the farm.   For carryover for the animal unit, you can read books about farm and zoo animals and discuss different attributes of each animal.  You can also categorize animals according to whether they live in the water or on the land.  If your child has play animals, he/she can separate the farm versus the zoo animals or name the animals and make the sound each animal says.  To celebrate Memorial Day, have your child find red, white and blue objects or food around the house.  Take a walk and count the flags in your neighborhood.  Have a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!

 

June:  This month I will be focusing on the themes of Father's Day, transportation and summer/leisure activities.  For carryover  have your child cut out magazine pictures of either transportation vehicles or things he/she can do in the summer (ex.-pool, bike, etc.) and make a collage of them.  Prepare a picnic lunch with your child and have him/her help make the sandwiches, etc.  Then have a picnic outside or one inside on a blanket in the living room if it's a rainy day for fun.  Have an exciting summer vacation filled with lots of adventures!