Still summer...so want some lemonade?

They say August is one long Sunday. Here in Massachusetts we still have about a month left until school even starts, so its difficult to see posts from friends across the country who have already started, as well as the ubiquitous "back to school" and "summer's almost over, so..." ads. It pulls you out of it a bit, you know? I've spent my summer working on getting fit, hiking and doing some traveling, so it's been great. But HOT!

So consider some Lemonade! Remember the old Lemonade Stand game? You are given weather information and need to decide several things: how many cups of lemonade to make, how much to charge for it, and how many signs to make to advertise your stand. In the process, we can engage students in a number of language and social competencies:
-"listening with the brain*" and language comprehension
-using visual supports, however we provide them
-applying functional math and problem solving
-causal and conditional language ("It's going to be hot, SO let's make more cups...")
-following a "group plan,*" i.e. making logical rather than silly decisions to sell as much as possible

*language from the Social Thinking® methodology

Here are two ways to play it.
-Classic Lemonade Stand is a free app for iOS that uses the 'ol Apple IIe text interface, but is still fun
-Toward the end of the school year, I played the Alexa version on Echo Dot (enable the skill by saying "Alexa, launch Lemonade Stand"). This free skill provided a few extra elements that I found helpful: more opportunity for auditory comprehension and listening work, turn taking in speaking, using visual supports, and processing the humor and figurative language offered in this particular skill.

I always like pairing activities for further context, and our students before playing worked together to make a lemonade stand "sign." This engaged them in pretend play and lots of conversation. This could be done with poster materials or with the free app Pic Collage as we did below (You could also do this with Google Drawings on a laptop):

Enjoy Warmer Weather with Ice Cream Truck

Apps that go beyond a simple screen and involve people around a play space have great potential for interactivity and "speechieness," or using language in the context of the app.  Ice Cream Truck ($1.99) is one of those apps- it's somewhat in the vein of Toca Store but it has additional contexts. With Ice Cream Truck, your young students can "drive" the iPad around a space (incorporating augmented reality through the camera) and decide where to park for their customers, using the horn and music to signal it's time to buy ice cream!

There are several modes that interact with each other, almost like spaces within the truck- stack ice cream scoops on one screen, mix yogurt on another, and bring it all to the cash register screen. Overall, a great context for descriptive language, requesting, and all sorts of language structures, as well as building play skills.

Common Core Connection:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.K.4 Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.

mARch: Play with Plants in Cactus AR

Cactus AR is a simple, free app for iPhone and iPad (camera required) that provides you with a context to engage students in "taking care of" an augmented reality plant. After downloading the free app, you can email yourself and print a "marker," a piece of paper that functions like a QR Code. Many AR technologies function this way, by scanning a marker that brings up an image- it's very cool and will give you a "wow!" factor with your students!

In addition to providing an animation (a funky-cute little cactus), Cactus AR is interactive! Each day you can check in on your cactus and give it a water mist and fertilizer- just don't overdo it! A meter shows you how much to provide:

Ultimately, Cactus AR is a simple use of augmented reality that replaces the messy process of having kids take care of real plants. In either case, they have an interactive and visual experience that reinforces the categorical (sun, plants, water), causal and quantitative concepts around plant life, a key aspect of the science curriculum. A good, though small example of FIVES- Fairly Priced, Interactive, Visual, Educationally Relevant, and Speechie.

Common Core Connection:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.1.1g Use frequently occurring conjunctions (e.g., and, but, or, so, because).

Google on Apple: Google Catalogs

Continuing this series on Google's offerings on iOS, here's an app I know many SLPs will LOVE.  Catalogs can provide a great therapy material, as they are visual, descriptive, personally relevant and motivating, and filled with categories!  Catalogs also provide contexts that stretch across many age levels and populations.  There have been a number of good posts about using catalogs in therapy; see Speech Time Fun for one and Speech Room News for another.

Google is naturally involved in the world of goods and services, but I find it interesting that they chose to create an app as interactive and creative as Google Catalogs (free). Google Catalogs lets you browse catalogs in a wide variety of categories, pinch to zoom and tap the tag to select items to view more information.

The truly cool thing about this app is that it goes beyond information consumption to become a creative tool. You can tap the heart icon to "Favorite" any item, and then go into a collage mode to create a picture array integrating your favorites with a themed background and text.  This creative capability allows SLPs to target categories, descriptive language, causals, conditionals and written expression, or have clients work within a budget to target functional math.

Ok, maybe I don't really NEED these things...

As you can see from the screenshot, the collage mode allows you to add items you have tagged as favorites (heart), text, change themes, and share the collage. Check out the app, and make sure you don't buy too much in the process.

Common Core Connection:

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.1b Provide reasons that are supported by facts and details.

Planet Orange

Planet Orange is a robust interactive site from ING investing company that teaches kids about money.  After a quick free registration, you can guide kids to complete missions on 4 different "continents" in order to earn  "OBucks." Because you have registered, you can save your progress within a group session and return to continue the activities. The site is fun, simple, and practical, and besides all of that, I really like orange.

Planet Orange offers highly visual stopping points and audio narration.

What could be more practical and real-world than teaching kids to budget?

Language Lens:

-The site would align well with math and social studies units around money and economics (perhaps those economics standards that teachers never have the time to really get to?) and help kids develop world knowledge.

-The categorical and sequential nature of the missions provides much opportunity to develop semantic and organizational skills, and causality and conditional forms could be emphasized throughout each activity.

-As an extension, you could devise missions of your own around the school to earn further Obucks and practice communication skills in a fun context.

Thank you to Free Tech for Teachers for featuring this site.

Run a Valentine's Day Store!

I found this resource on Karen Ogen's awesome blog, InTec Insights.  Thanks, Karen! Be sure to visit her blog for more Valentine's ideas.

Games such as the classic Lemonade Stand involve a lot of language and executive functioning: planning, ability to modify a plan, etc.  My Money Valentine is a version of this game, but involves running a Valentine-themed store, where you sell candy, cards, teddy bears, etc.  Students will need to purchase inventory and set prices while working according to a budget.  Customers give feedback and you may need to adjust some aspects of the store.

Add individual items to inventory or multiples for speed, by clicking Purchase All

Track Results and Feedback

One warning I would definitely give students is that you should not fire your staff and hire more expensive staff unless you are definitely sure you can afford it!  The game ends instantly if you have a day when you incur debt. There does not appear to be a way to save your game and return, so it's more of a one-offer (and encourage kids to try at home).

Language Lens

This site is a great way to explore categories (brainstorm Valentine's gifts before using the site), cause-effect, and curriculum concepts related to economics.  Even elementary students are supposed to understand concepts such as debt, goods/services, wages, and profit.  The site would also be a good opportunity to use a graphic organizer or table to track profits, etc and develop organizational strategies.

Language and Math

Many of us shy away from math curricula and concepts (or are teaching skills that classroom teachers consider to be mathematical without knowing it, as SLPTanya recently pointed out), but truth is, there is a TON of language in current math curricula, from vocabulary to sequencing of steps, etc.  Valerie Lill, one of my co-bloggers at ADVANCE also wrote a great post on this topic recently.

Check out my colleague Brian Marks' and his cohort Leslie Lewis' excellent website Yummy Math.  This website strives to place math in real-world contexts for kids by sharing lessons that draw on engaging and current topics, such as sports or food. Yummy Math just featured a lesson on the top grossing holiday movies, and in addition to the math components of the lesson, it would also be a great opportunity to work on oral narrative for upper elementary, middle or high school students.  Have the students research the movie plots or watch their trailers (a really fun way to work on inferencing skills as well), then share a summary with peers! Follow Yummy Math on Google Reader (there's a link to subscribe in their right sidebar) to get all these great lessons as they are posted.

Bad Credit Hotel

It's not quite as scary as that hotel from The Shining.

The Bad Credit Hotel from the US Treasury would be a fun exploration for MS/HS students, particularly after providing a background context, perhaps with the engaging Common Craft video on Borrowing Money. The site provides you with a creepy/funny tour of a number of aspects of credit, and would be especially appropriate for students studying some functional math or budgeting, etc. Overall it can be a little texty, but there are some great interactive features as you can see below, and some videos such as advertisements about using credit wisely.

Language Lens

• Any resource that provides information in a visual and interactive manner would be ripe for teaching comprehension strategies such as information mapping and higher-level categorization (e.g. looking for text structures such as lists and cause-effect).

Learn the value of a dollar around tax time!

The design your own bill interactive is a fun creative/interactive activity from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, maybe useful for April 15! Kids can make their own currency complete with "president" and all the aspects of a bill.

Language Lens:

• Use this activity with other resources to build background knowledge around economic concepts such as money and taxes.
• Kids' creations can be compared to images of actual currency for comparing/contrasting and further schema development, as well as addressing mathematics standards around money.
• Their final creation would be a good context for a writing activity, such as a description of the bill or perhaps a more imaginative assignment: what did you do to end up being honored with your own currency (targeting sequence of events).

Snow Days- Make a language-based snowflake!

Snow Days is a simple and elegant interactive from Popular Front, a web-based media company. Although 362 days of the year, I want nothing to do with snow, kids sure like it. This site provides a user-friendly way to make a snowflake, and you don't have to sweep up afterward. The click-and-drag interface lets you make a geometric or irregular design, add a "message," then let the snow fly! You can use your snowflake's number or other features to find it later. In the course of my inspection, a lot of users had not added a message, and all who did kept it clean.


Try it out while it's timely. Maybe this would be a good change-of-seasons activity.

Language Lens:

• The design process and snowflake showcase lend itself to using mathematical language and concepts, such as shape names, counting or more complex ideas such as center/perimeter.
• The message is a great little web publication opportunity (very motivating) and could be used for a language target. "When winter is over I will..." or "I will miss the snow because..."
• Locating peers' snowflakes provide a pragmatic context for commenting/complimenting, etc.