Going Batty in Speech

We are continuing to gear up for Halloween, and this week we are feeling a little batty! 

I am loving the book Bats at the Beach I found at a local Ollie’s (discount store). 

It is available in most bookstores, and my kids kindergarten through third grade have enjoyed the rhyme and detailed pictures in this book.  Each page has lots of opportunities for conversation and to practice speech and language goals.  I have been surprised by how much of a hit this book has been this week.  But the paper and pencil game I found on-line under math games has been an even bigger hit!

Since the book takes up about twenty minutes, I was left with seven or eight minutes to fill in.  I found this really cute game called “Fat Bat” that I have played with my second and third graders and they really get in to it:  https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9fXi0D7J3y4dy1VZFh0QkJQWUU/edit?usp=sharing 

 The game is played in three rounds, and basically before we start a round, we do a quick sound drill or skill drill first.  Then I roll a dice and they record the numbers I roll in the appropriate column (see specific directions with the activity attached).  If I roll a one, and they have not decided their bat was fat enough before I roll that dreaded number (by drawing a line under the last number they want to stop at), then they end with zero points for that round.  If they stopped before I rolled a one, they add the points they got and put it in the column.  Highest number wins the round.  After three rounds, you total the columns and highest number wins the game.  (Takes less than a minute to play a round!)  They asked to flip their papers over and do it again on the back.  Wow-  nothing like an easy prep quick game to get them motivated to practice.  Here is what one of the sheets looked like after we played-  this sweet guy was the winner in his group.

 

For my younger students, we made bat pictures.  I precut by hand some yellow circles for a moon and a bat silhouette out of black construction paper and we glued them to gray construction paper I had cut in half.  After they practiced their speech, I gave them a few star stickers to add to their picture.  This what it looks like when it is done.

 

 

The second activity of the week was playing the game Acrobats (after practicing speech goals you get a turn to roll a die and see what color bat you have to add to the magnetic top bat without causing the chain of bats to fall).  This game is hard to find, but check local thrift stores and ebay.  It is a fun one that goes fast and allows for lots of speech practice!