Going back to work in the fall is always bittersweet. I will miss those lazy summer days, but I can’t wait to see my kids again! As I was get ready for all the excitement of the first day of school, I decided to look for fun class ideas on Pinterest. I’ve seen soooo many cute ‘First Day of School’ activities, but nothing really for the ‘First Day of Speech,’ which can come with its own special rewards and challenges. Well, that had to change. 🙂 Here are a few first day of speech ideas!
Prep Ideas
For many of us, the first day of speech is about sending information home for parents and getting your kids ready for the year. With a little prep, your first day of speech can get your year off to a fun start!
First things first: always prep your information and materials. My students get a speech folder at the beginning of the year. This folder goes with them back and forth between speech and home. In each folder I put a blank homework log and parent welcome note. Since all the folders have the same information I can stuff them ahead of time and let students choose which color they prefer.
If you are going to do any activities that day, gather all your materials ahead of time and do any pre-cutting, sorting, etc.
First Day of Speech Ideas
Looking for a way to make the first day of speech fun and memorable for your students? Check out one of my FREE minibooks: one for Summer and one for Back to School. These are filled with great ideas for getting to know your new students and catching up with the old ones.
If you’re looking to target behavior, check out my Back to School Behavior Board Game, which is also completely free.
Super Duper also has a great Fun Deck, ‘All about You, All About Me’ with more general questions that can be used year when you get new friends in speech.
You can also play a great game called ‘Guess What’s in My Backpack’. Simply get a backpack or bag and fill it with common school supplies: pencils, markers, notebooks, tape, etc. Reach in, choose an object, and describe it. The student who correctly guesses what the object is first gets to go next. It is a fun game to tie in back to school themes and describing skills.
I love using books in speech whenever I can. The book, ” Speech Class Rules “ by Ronda M. Wojcicki, M.S., CCC-SLP is a great story to share with your students at the beginning of the year, especially for your students new to speech. The book acts as an introduction to speech therapy as it tells the story of a student who is ‘graduating ‘ from speech therapy.
What do you like to do on your first day? Drop your favorite first day of speech ideas in the comments! I’d love to hear from you.
P.S. Do you have a student teacher this year? Check out my blog on Gift Ideas for Student Teachers!
3 Responses
I can’t find the link for the summer get to know you cards. Where can I download those? They are great questions for the beginning of school!
The cards were a ‘limited time freebie’ back in 2013. I do have several other back to school freebies that are great for starting conversations and getting to know your students. 🙂
I love these ideas! I am going to incorporate them into my first day. I also like to have student make their “goal card”. I give them a half a sheet of paper. I write (or they write) the goal on the paper and decorate or write key words that help them remember their goals. The students share their goals with the other students in the group. We discuss how everyone is working on something and we are all here to help and support each other.