Having a mixed group therapy session in preschool or kindergarten classrooms can seem absolutely terrifying at times (especially if you’re new to the setting!).
If this sounds like you, you’ll want to keep reading! If this doesn’t sound like you, you may want to keep reading anyway because you may learn some new tips and tricks to make your lessons run more smoothly!
6 Quick Tips to get you started during your PK and Kindergarten group therapy sessions:
- Be fun and engaging!
- Don’t worry about what the other adults/teachers/paras think of your lesson.
- Read the story, but allow students to engage and comment on the things they see in the pictures.
- After the story, add a fine or gross motor activity that includes the speech target.
- Add additional extension activities across other curriculums, such as math or science, that incorporate the themed vocabulary and speech targets (if possible)
- Send home a list of simple activity ideas for additional practice.
Quick Tip #1: Be fun and engaging!
Say this with me, “The more fun and engaging I am, the better my session will go.”
Think about it…Have you ever heard someone reading a story aloud using a monotone voice that sounds bored out of their mind? Were you able to focus? Or were you just as bored as the reader?
It’s the same with early elementary school learners (especially preschool and kindergarten)! It might even be more exaggerated.
Act enthusiastic and silly. Use funny voices and exaggerate intonation. Use hand gestures to demonstrate a vocabulary word (e.g., wide spread arms to represent “big”).
Not sure if you feel comfortable doing all of that? Just start with one of those aspects…such as using gestures to demonstrate vocabulary.
Some books allow you to be more fun than others…And some days you’ll have more energy than others. And that’s okay! Just keep trying to be fun and engaging and the students will thrive on your energy and excitement.
Quick Tip #2: Don’t worry about what the other adults in the room think about your lesson
This is a really tough one to get over…Having the teacher, paraeducators, aides, etc. can really quickly make you feel super self-conscious about how ridiculous you look.
However, you will become more comfortable with practice and as you get to know your colleagues more.
Talk with the adults beforehand (if possible) to let them know your expectations during your lesson. Do you want them to help manage behaviors? Do you need them to lead a breakout group? Etc. This will help your lessons run smoothly.
Having fun and being silly is part of preschool and kindergarten, right? 🙂
Quick Tip #3: Read the story, but allow students to engage and comment on the things they see in the pictures
One of the BEST parts about reading a story is having your students make connections with their own lives.
If they recognize something in the story, or are making a prediction, let them make their comment! Obviously, there is a balance because if you allow too many comments and story tangents, you’ll never actually make it through the book. 😆
If the story is about a dog, start off the lesson by asking, “Who here has pet a dog before?” or “Who here has a dog?” Allow them to share and make those connections with one another.
If you don’t have time for everyone to share, have them turn to their neighbor to share with them. Then everyone gets a chance to talk without taking up a ton of your lesson time.
Ask questions as you read the story. Rephrase unfamiliar vocabulary words by defining them to help students with their understanding.
Quick Tip #4: After the story add a fine motor or gross motor activity that also has your speech targets or themed vocabulary
Add a super engaging activity right after students have been required to sit and pay attention because it, helps them get some of those wiggles out which helps to regulate and prepare them for more learning.
When you have an activity that is related to the story, it helps students generalize and carryover those speech targets into other areas.
For a gross motor example, if during the story you were targeting prepositions and spatial concepts, you could make an obstacle course around the classroom. Go “under” the table and “around the trash can. Have students practice saying those spatial concepts as they are doing the action.
For a fine motor example, give students each a plastic cup and a manipulative. Have them follow your directions to put the item “under the cup,” “next to the cup,” etc.
Quick Tip #5: Add additional extension activities across other curriculums
Now you might be saying, “Stacey, I’m not a classroom teacher. How in the world am I supposed to also prep a math or science activity?!”
These math and science activities don’t have to be super complicated. And if you really can’t think of anything, collaborate with the classroom teacher. Tell the teacher what you are specifically targeting and the theme and see if he/she can think of an activity.
Part of speech therapy is to help students be able to access their grade level curriculum, right? So why not incorporate some of those additional common core standards into your lessons?
By adding a science or math activity, you can also demonstrate to the classroom teacher and paras how they can target language and vocabulary during these other learning opportunities. (Which is AMAZING for carryover and generalization!)
Science activities can be as simple as watching a “How it’s made” video or take a virtual field trip to a farm or the zoo.
Math activities can be as simple as sorting items into different containers and comparing and contrasting which container has more/less and least/most.
Quick Tip #6: Send home some activity ideas for additional practice
Try to come up with a few simple activities that only take a few minutes to help families practice the speech concepts at home. It can be as simple as a handwritten note you’ve photocopied, or a worksheet with some target words on it.
You probably already know how important it is to have additional practice outside of the speech session. Oftentimes, parents want to practice, but either don’t know where to start or think they don’t have enough time.
By giving parents quick and easy ideas that only take 5 minutes and are already an activity they do throughout the day, can really help them “buy-in” to practicing at home.
For example, if the student practiced spatial concepts, send home a list with some sample sentences they can use. “Let’s put the plate IN the dishwasher.” “It’s time to put your pajamas ON.” Etc.
👇🏻If you have trouble coming up with ideas, check out some pre-made therapy idea handouts for parents that are all ready to go below.
✅ Want a jump-start with your literacy group lessons already planned for you?
✅ Need ideas that will last several A MONTH?
✅ Searching for TONS of additional cross-curricular activity ideas for fine motor, gross motor, science, math, and additional concepts that last multiple sessions
✅ Print and go homework handouts to send home for carryover practice
AND MORE!
Using these group lessons will be a HUGE game-changer for your sanity as an over-tired school-based SLP! AND it will help you feel like you are making a difference even with your mixed group sessions. 🙌
Discover how fun being a school SLP can be, even with those hard-to-engage mixed groups.
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