Hot Tips

RESULTS OF THE 'LOVE AND REILLY' COMPETITION

1st prize: Frances writes about 'Chatterbox'.

" I am a tutor and  earlier this year I began using Chatterbox cards with some of my students as a starting point for writing. I bought the cards to encourage a (not untypical) middle primary boy, Hugh,  to say more to me than yes, no, or I don’t know.  All my well-intentioned attempts to engage him in talk, as a pre-cursor to writing, proved counter-productive until I presented him with Chatterbox cards to select from.
 
For Hugh*, having a card to generate conversation depersonalised it.  This relative objectivity lowered expectations at the same time as improving outcomes. Each week now he delves into the pack of cards, and then talks. Sometimes he talks lots, sometimes only a bit. Either way it is fine with me, as he has taken  control. He will often ask me to give my answer, and the exchange is spontaneous and genuine.
 
I don’t always ask students to write in response to the cards, but a few weeks ago Hugh chose a question that really fired him up. The card asked what you would do if you forgot your friend’s birthday. When I suggested he write his response, he asked how. Hugh is a child of few words, but before I could reply he told me that he would write a letter. Here it is.
 
Dear Jordan,
I am terribly sorry I forgot your birthday.  My uncle ran in the City to Bay and had a heart attack. Since then I haven’t been able to go anywhere because I am too scared to ask my dad to take me.  We’re currently in the hospital.  My brother Shane, who doesn’t care about our uncle, has been showing off his City Bay medal to all the nurses in the hospital.  Mum has been trying to sort out my two baby brothers who have been arguing over the hospital toys. Anyway, I hope you can forgive me.
From Hugh

*names changed for anonyminty
 
I was thrilled. Hugh’s ability to convey his mortification at the hypothetical situation,  and his command of language, were way above his routine level of written expression. 
 
So – go Chatterbox!

Frances.

2nd prize: Ngaire told of her use of 'Love and Reilly' products with small groups of prep and kindergarten students.

"Hello – my ‘hot tip’ for using Love and Reilly resources: I work for the Ed Dept in Tasmania, so my caseload is huge.  I’ve been trialling some whole class therapy this term by visiting a prep class and a kindergarten class for an hour on alternate weeks, and spending 15 minutes with each group of 4-5 children (so that I see every child in whole class before I leave), where I target phonological awareness skills and questioning skills using books and suggested questions from Love and Reilly’s language packs.  The children really love the activities, and I love seeing the progress!"
Ngiare

3rd prize:Bernice wrote about her school's use of the playground as a venue for learning about sounds, letters and math facts.

"The playground at Carey Baptist Grammar Junior School has just been
brightened by the addition of many different forms of hopscotch.  There are
lower and upper case alphabets, an empty ladder for for multi purposes
number patterns in ones, twos and fives, compass points, number squares and
target numbers.  The children are happily jumping, chanting and playing with
all varieties.  Not only do they add to the social organisation of the
playground, but they are another tool to combine the physical, visual and
auditory senses to aid learning."

A reference for you:  http://www.ultralinemarking.com.au/pages/default.cfm?page_id=21226 Sydney
Action Linemarking, PO Box 50, Mt Waverley Victoria

Bernice

4th prize:Susan wrote about our newsletter articles.

"Dear Elizabeth and Sue,
Your newsletters are so helpful. I am a Special Education teacher and find them a most useful tool for mini PDs. When I receive them, I quickly forward them to our Pre-School, Prep, Years 1 and 2 teachers. I also send relevant Newsletters home to parents.
Thanks so much for your service."

Susan

Hot Tips includes ideas that readers and workshop participants have found to be useful in promoting language in the clinic and at school. Some of these relate to Love and Reilly resources and others are more general in nature. Please feel free to email us with some of your experiences.

Word Journey

Narelle – teacher (Queensland) -

"As a result (of attending a workshop on oral language) I purchased several of your resources.(Word Journey, Word Wise and Away with Words) The Teacher Aides and I have found them to be a fun way of getting students to participate in Language Development sessions and gaining confidence in using their imagination and speaking to a group. I tell the students that they are warm up activities and sometimes we do them for nearly the whole lesson."

A Sound Way

Sue – teacher ( Queensland ) -

"My copy of A Sound Way is tattered and torn but very well loved and very well used. Mr Tongue's House is an activity that I always use, whether it be an individual child I am working with or a whole class. I purchased a whole lot of mirrors that our students love using when we are working out where the sounds are being made in our mouths. I have found it is a good idea to always start off with a fun activity, like animal sounds. This activity certainly engages the children very quickly and we all enjoy watching our mouths making the mooing, squeaking, squawking, cheeping and roaring sounds. Try singing Old MacDonald had a Farm into the mirror as well. This leads very well into moving on then to the speech sounds."

Vocabulary

Lynette - Speech Pathologist (Victoria) -
Regarding "roll" - This is a response to "homework" from a Love and Reilly Vocabulary workshop focusing on words with multiple meanings.

A Day at School
Unwillingly, I roll out of bed and get ready for the day at school. At the supermarket, I take out a roll of notes to pay for the ingredients for my students' cooking lesson. At school, the first job is to do a roll call. In the cookery class, the students roll out the pastry to make a sausage roll. They also each prepare a salad roll and a cabbage roll. They then roll up serviettes to put on the lunch table. After lunch, they roll up in blankets for a nap. Some of the naughty children roll backwards and forwards in their blankets. Half an hour later there is a drum roll. They get up. We all go outside to play Bocce where we roll the balls as close as possible to the kitty. The next lesson is craft. Students are asked to make a special model using a cardboard roll. If finishing early, they can play snakes and ladders and take turns to roll the die. The day ends with a funny story. The children roll around the floor with laughter. The role of the teacher is a varied one!!

Chatterbox

Julie - Teacher (Victoria)
"I take small groups of children with reading/ spelling difficulties in a small country school. The Chatter Box cards with their stimulating topics have been invaluable in promoting lively discussion and consequently have proved an excellent aid for writing activities. The children beg me to use these cards and a second set would  be much appreciated!”

Julia - Speech Pathologist (NSW)
“The Chatterbox cards are great to have handy for those moments with older kids when you need quick topic ideas.  I use them for "Two Minute Talks", "Quick Thinking", group discussions, and paragraph and essay planning and writing.”

Andrew, Speech Language Pathologist -

• I use these cards with language-disordered students, autistic students (middle years to secondary school age) and stuttering students. I have found them useful for practicing fluent speech at the monologue level.
• A student's difficulty responding to a Chatterbox card led to a group discussion about individual strengths and weaknesses.
• I recommend these CHATTERBOX cards to teachers for daily Topic Discussion.

Wizard

Richard, Speech Language Pathologist -

• I have used the WIZARD cards placed along a game-board.
• I have used this resource to introduce parents to the concepts of sounds and letters.
• Some classroom teachers have been keen to use WIZARD as a work-station task during the morning 'Literacy Block'.

WordWise

Majella, Speech Language Pathologist -

• I extend some sections of WORDWISE. For example in JOBS I ask further questions e.g. Where would you find this person? Why does he/she need a ?
• I use WORDWISE to provide suggestions to the classroom teachers on how to target language skills in the classroom environment - i.e. in groups. I have also tried to link some of the ideas to the curriculum. E.g. when a teacher told me she was doing the topic of Sea Creatures in the class, I discussed relevant pictures for DESCRIBE ME, and WHY? relating to the sea and its creatures.
• I have extended the WHY activity with older children by asking them to write down what things they need each day. We then complete the WHY activity with the items from their list.

Merrian, Speech Language Pathologist -

• Very useful in promoting visualization as a strategy to improve recall. E.g. "close your eyes, picture a butterfly and tell me what parts it has." (PARTS activity).
• I use these for my language groups in schools. Wordwise has proved an easy and motivating activity for integration aides to use in follow up sessions two to three times a week with these language disordered students.
• I use the activities to stimulate home practice ideas - e.g. naming tools in the garage and the parts that they have, naming furniture in different rooms of the house. (BRAINSTORM and PARTS)
• With older students I have expanded the activity to include written responses for DESCRIBE ME and WHY?

Away With Words

Merrian, Speech Language Pathologist -

• I add extra cards from time to time to the SAME BUT DIFFERENT Task. E.g. jumper, shirt and jeans. I also introduce an extension task "Tell me the 'odd one out' and why? E.g. apple, carrot, banana.