Sunday, May 1, 2016

Articulation Notebooks -Simple, Yet Genius

Each year, before the summer break, my students create their very own articulation and language notebooks out of large sheets of folded construction paper with desired number of pages stapled inside. Students are motivated by a wide selection of stickers, stamps, and pictures to add to their books. After a child has found a picture containing their target sound, they stick it on the left side of the page and write a sentence using the target word to the right. Students who really struggle with writing often dictate their sentence to me, and I write it to keep the primary focus on speech and language.

As a way to reward hard work, I create personalized notebook covers for each child. I ask students to tell me their favorite animal, cartoon character, sports team, etc. and then tell them they have the opportunity to earn that notebook cover. My student's work hard on their articulation notebooks for 3-4 sessions and are always very eager to take them home to show off their finished product. After seeing their personalized cover, I have witnessed children doing a happy dance, squealing, and even repeatedly kiss their notebooks! Talk about excitement in the therapy room!

I create the notebook covers in Powerpoint and then convert the slides to a PDF to print. Pictures are pulled from Google image search. (Please note, Google images may be used for personal classroom use, but sharing and selling the covers you create with trademark characters would be illegal.)

Needing some printable articulation pictures to add to your supplies? Check out my Black and White Articulation Pictures on TpT! Have fun creating speech or language notebooks with the kids on your caseload and leave a comment to let me know how it went!