Back to School (Internet) Scavenger Hunt

It's back to school time!!! This is always such an exciting time of the year.  I love school shopping, decorating my speech room and the overall joy and excitement that comes with a fresh start to a new school year.  I also LOVE scavenger hunts.  What better way to celebrate back to school than with a scavenger hunt?

This scavenger hunt is not your typical hunt.  Instead of gathering items or pictures, you will be looking for "secret" words.  The google doc (listed below) has all of the instructions and hyperlinks to a variety of different SLP sites.  Some will be blogs, some will be Facebook pages, and some might be Instagram pages.  Your job is to visit each link and find all of the secret words (one for each link).  Once you have gathered all of the words, you will use them to enter the rafflecopter below for the GRAND PRIZE GIVEAWAY!!!  This is a great prize y'all.  Our grand prize winner will receive: $25 Amazon gift card, $25 Teacher Pay Teachers gift card, $25 iTunes gift card, a free app from Smarty Ears, a free app from Language Learning Apps, LLC, and several free products from some of our awesome SLP bloggers.  What a great prize!

As you are collecting your secret words, we hope you will enjoy learning more about your favorite SLP bloggers, meet some new bloggers, and you may grab some goodies along the way.  There are so many SLP bloggers who have great information to share.  We hope you enjoy getting to know us.  If you read something interesting, be sure to leave a comment for that blogger.  We love getting comments from our readers!  :-)

Ready to start?  Click HERE for the instructions and links. (All links should be live by 10:00pm central time on Saturday, August 8.)

Once you have found all of your words, enter the rafflecopter below.  Enter by midnight on August 14 (Central Time). Good luck!!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Funny Directions {App Review & Giveaway}

I hope everyone is  enjoying their last few weeks of summer.  My summer break is officially over.  I went back to work on August 3.  I won't actually see students until the end of the month when school starts, but we are all back at the office.  I have been busy prepping for back to school and shopping the big Teachers Pay Teachers sale.  Now I am going to take a few minutes to share an app review with you and give you a chance to win a FREE copy (see below to enter).  The app is Funny Directions and it's brought to you by Speecharoo Apps.

You will love this app if you have any kiddos who are working on goals for following 1, 2, or 3 step directions.  It offers a simple way to practice listening and following directions, while playing and having fun on the iPad.  And we all know kids love to be on iPads.

When you first open the app, you are greeted by the cute little Speecharoo kangaroo.  You can then proceed to the home screen where you will select your practice level.

There are 4 practice rooms to choose from.  Each room has options to practice following 1, 2, or 3 step directions.  Simply click on the corresponding balloon to enter the desired room.

Once you are in the room, you will see a variety of items spread about.  Each set of directions will be presented one at a time, up to 10 trials.  The directions are presented in both verbal and written forms, but you can turn each on/off to meet the needs of your students.

After the child  has successfully followed the direction presented, the item will activate and do something (make a noise, or move).  If the wrong item is selected, the directions will repeat until the correct item is touched.  After 10 trials in one room, our cute kangaroo friend will appear with a screen that says "Great job!"  He will hop around releasing balloons from his pouch, which the child can pop as they float up the screen.  This screen appears after 10 trials, no matter what the score was.

After a few balloons are released, an arrow will appear at the bottom of the screen.  Touching this arrow will move you into the next room with the same level of directions as you were on previously.  After all 4 rooms have been completed for each level of difficulty, the app will automatically move you up to the next level of directions.

I was very pleased with this app.  It is simple to use, easy to understand, and has fun animations to reward the children for correct answers.  I like that the directions are simple and clear and that there are opportunities to practice at 3 different difficulty levels.

I can see that some of my students may need to be taught certain vocabulary words prior to using this app (such as "globe"), but most of the items are very common and easy to identify.

This great app can be found in the App Store for only $2.99.  However, I have a FREE copy to give away!  Enter below for your chance to win.  Enter by Friday, August 7 at midnight (really Aug. 8, right?).  I will post the winner on Saturday morning.

Thanks for stopping by and good luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway