Snowman Ornaments

A quick rewind to the week before winter break to document our snowman lightbulb ornaments! I found this cute project after a Google search for "ornaments to make with kids"…or something like that and then gave it a little speech-language twist for use in MLS&LR.

I did a trial run the night before 

just to make sure it was going to work!
This one was mine:

When I told Mr. Ludwig all that the project involved (glitter, paint, and spray adhesive), he expressed some reservations as to whether this really was the best idea. I already had all the supplies, so there was no turning back. Ha. ;)

Here's the supply list:
-Lightbulbs (I used clear ones)
-Spray adhesive (I found it at JoAnn Fabrics)
-White glitter
-Puffy paint - orange & black
-Hot glue gun
-Twigs from outside
-Twine
-Mixing bowls

Our ornaments ended up being a 2-day project. The first day was the glittering and painting.  The second day was the glueing arms and tying twine. Both days involved a spoken and then written narrative for some nice expressive language practice.

Step 1: Spray the lightbulbs with a light coat of spray adhesive. 
Disclaimer: I will warn you that the spray adhesive does smell pretty awful, so I was the "official sprayer". I took each bulb in the hallway and gave them a quick spray down.

Step 2: The kids held their bulbs over the mixing bowls and shook glitter all over their bulbs to made sure they were completely covered. 

Step 3: Then, they set their bulbs on the paper to dry.

Step 4: Next, it was time for the puffy paint. Each kiddo got a Post-It note to practice painting. I demo'd that if you squeeze too hard, you will get a big 'ol glob of paint. Not good.

So as we say….

Dot, dot, not a lot!

Once the kids were confident painters, 

it was time for the real deal!

And after they were all painted, 

we set them down to dry. 

And then we wrote down the steps

for a nice procedural narrative! 

We incorporated synonyms for those who needed synonyms

and verb tense for those who needed verb tense.

****Fast forward to Day 2****

Step 5: We attached the arms with hot glue.

Step 6: And tied twine around the top to finish off the ornament.

And then we used our leftover time 
to finish our writing pieces:

The kids were really creative and 
they all turned out pretty darn cute. 
Here are a few of these cute little guys: 

And there you have it!

We tried hard to keep our glitter contained, but I think we will have glitter in our  speech & language room for a very, very long time.

Thanks for checking in!

Mrs. Ludwig

Happy 2014!

Happy New Year, friends!!

I have SO much to write about as I have been remiss when it comes to my blog updates. Where to start, where to start.

Well, November was full of conferences. First up was the Adolescent Language & Literacy conference online. I watched a bunch of online presentations from the comfort of our couch. 

Next up was ASHA in Chicago with my mom. I don't think I've mentioned on here that my mom is also an SLP! Fun fact!  ASHA could take up a few posts in itself (I'll get to those when I get to those), but I gained a ton of professional development and great information/ideas to take back to my speech & language room. 

The Magic of Teamwork: Science and Service Delivery

Hence the magic hat :)

Then we moved right on in to December! 
The last few weeks of the holidays with my kiddos was eventful with these cute lightbulb ornaments: 

And some nice procedural narratives and written language tasks that targeted lots of goals:

 We did Secret Santa at work. 

I drew the principal's name, so this is what she got:

Dasher & Dancer (puppy chow)

Prancer (Starbucks Card)

Vixen, Comet, Cupid, and Donner (Mt. Dews)

Blitzen (nail polish), &

Rudolph (some cute gloves)

]

My Secret Santa was amazing. I got a few gift cards to Target and Einsteins (favorite places), goldfish and granola bars (favorite snacks), a cute little bag, and some ornaments for our Christmas tree. Secret Santa was a success!

And in other news, Mr. Ludwig and I saw the real Santa! ;) 
And celebrated the holidays with our family and friends.

And that brings us to…2014!!

aka the 2014-2015 IEP date range. That will take some getting used to.

We are stuck in a historic snowstorm of below zero temps

and Snow Day #4 is on the way!

Hope you, your families, and your kiddos are safe and warm! 

Thanks for checking in! :)

Mrs. Ludwig