It’s been a busy month for me, and I’m sure you’re all feeling the crunch of being over halfway through the first semester! I wanted to take a minute to break away from the pile of eval paperwork on my desk to send a little bloggin’ love your way:
Facebook: A HUGE shout-out to my new (and long-time) Facebook followers. Social media has really changed our field in recent years and I believe it has been in a positive way. Never before have SLPs been in such constant contact with others, sharing INCREDIBLE materials, and rejuvenating our field in amazing ways. Facebook is one of those social media outlets. We had a goal to have over 500 “Likes” on Facebook by the end of October and I’m so excited to say that we have FAR surpassed that goal. As of this morning, we were at 693 likes and growing! This is going to be such a quick and easy way for you to keep track of new blog posts, freebies, giveaways, and so much more! If you aren’t already a fan, head over (click here) and “Like” us on Facebook! We will have exclusive giveaways there frequently so you don’t want to miss out!
Thank You: A huge thank you to my fellow SLPeeps, particularly Jenna at Speech Room News for helping meet the above goal! Keep up the great blogging and amazing resources!
Freebie: Now, on to what you’ve been waiting for… The thank you to our increased number of followers is a freebie… Speechopoly. This is an incentive bulletin board I developed and have been using this quarter. It is a huge hit with my kids of EVERY grade! It is made to fit a 45″ by 45″ bulletin board. I took pictures of my students doing various poses, printed them as 2″ high pawns, cut them out and laminated them and stuck a thumbtack through. Now they each have their own tiny version of themselves to move around the board.
This is how we do it:
At the end of our session I decide if they gave me their “best” effort or a “good” effort. If “best”, they get to roll both dice and move. If only “good”, they can roll one die. Then I help them move their pawn person around the board. I tell them what they’ve landed on and oftentimes what that means (e.g. Contrast Court – contrast is when you say what is different about objects, people, places, etc.). There are chance and community chest cards as well with various rewards and consequences on them. As the students pass “GO” they get $10 Speechopoly money to spend or save. If they choose to spend it, they can purchase varying items from our “Speech Store” (basically a treasure chest). If they save their money, I keep it in an index card box with their name attached. They can save up for larger rewards like lunch with me and bigger prizes. I also afford an extra roll to students who bring their homework back to me.
The bonus is that if you print the PDF out as 4 pages per sheet (File->Print, Page Scaling: Multiple Pages per sheet, Pages per sheet: 2×2) it will print out to be approximately the same size as the tabletop board game and you can use it as a board game reinforcer within therapy sessions! I’ll post a photo of this when I’m finished with it.
Click Here to get the freebie from my TeachersPayTeachers store, and check out the other materials while you’re there!
I hope you enjoy Speechopoly. Please share how you use it in YOUR speech room!
This looks like so much fun! I’m excited to use it in my room as an incentive game. The old punch cards and treasure box was getting a bit stale 🙂
This is amazing! I’m thinking a new reward system for next year =) Thanks!
Thanks so, so much for sharing! I will definitely be trying this out at the beginning of the new semester in January!
Thank you ! Thank you! I think my kids would love this.
I love it! So do you just talk about what the name of the property they land on means or do they have to do something to stay on that spot? For example, if they land on Social Skills Street, do you give them a quick scenario and they have to say what the appropriate reaction would be. Or if they land on Synonym Street, do they have to tell you what “synonym” means or you give them a word and they give you the synonym. Just curious, because I am thinking those could be “quick” checks on some of their knowledge that we may not be addressing through goals.
Anywho, so glad you made this! I’ll probably wait until Christmas break and start it when we get back to school in January thus getting rid of my sticker charts. My biggest struggle is with the prize box…what do you put in there because the little things I have they don’t seem very interested in. And what value’s do you place on the items?
I love this! It’s definitely something that I will try out next year (this year is the kiss your brain jar).
Miss Thrifty SLP
what is kiss your brain jar? Sounds intriguing!
This is AMAZING! I will definitely be pinning this for future use!
I love this idea! Very creative…can’t wait to use it!
Speechopoly looks like a keeper! How is the board framed?
I utilized a bulletin board in my room for my games.