It’s time to plan ahead and pre-teach vocabulary needed during the next few weeks. In what activities will your students be participating? What special classroom and family events are planned? What are their traditions? I like to play some games that use some vocabulary common to most of my students. Each student makes a stocking from construction paper, then draws a picture from a pile that includes:
ornament greenery wreath frost garland celebrate celebration custom
tradition holly mistletoe carol sleigh pine cone candy cane Advent
poinsettia nativity Hanukkah menorah dreidl gelt resolution blizzard
tinsel mantle Kwanzaa toy names that are on their “wish list”
I have drawn pictures of many of these objects or used Google images. Old Christmas cards are also a great source of pictures. Your students may want to bring in photos of some of their own family activities. It’s so much easier now that most families have smart phones! Ask your speech parents to email you some family photos to add to the mix. Younger children will enjoy manipulating real objects. The child should name the object and use the word in a sentence.
Any vocabulary that is difficult to retrieve will need to be reviewed and mnemonic cues provided if necessary.* Obviously, not every word needs a cue. I have listed some of the cues I have presented in the drop down menu at the top of this page. Please email me with additional cues and I will add them to the spreadsheet.
Don’t forget that the curriculum will move forward during this time as well. Check in regularly with your classroom teachers and be sure you pre-teach vocabulary words to your “word finders.” Review often and be sure the kids say the words aloud. You will find they are much more successful at retrieving the words they need to communicate with their friends, families, and teachers. And successful communication helps build happy kids!
*The “cloud” cards (I all them “thinking bubbles”) are from the Word Finding Intervention Program, Second Edition, German, 2005 . Please refer to my “resources” page for additional information.