Hello 2015-2016 School Year!

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I'm back. After a nice long summer break, full of traveling and quality family/friends/ME time, I'm back to the world of schedule making, IEP writing, and session planning. I really can't believe it.

Tomorrow is the first official day for teachers/staff here in NYC, and the kids return on Wednesday. I had to be in my building last week for faculty meetings, so tomorrow isn't so much of a shock. I guess that's the bright side of coming back a bit earlier!

I had some time last week to put my room back in order (which was seriously a HOT mess) and organize myself for the upcoming school year. One of the first things I did was create a "Welcome Back to Speech" letter. I usually have one handy, but wanted to change things up a little this year.

This year, I really want to try to get my students to buy into speech & language. I want them to see our sessions as an amazing opportunity for extra support that other kids don't have (even if they might need it). I want them to WANT to come to our sessions (not just because they get to miss a class). Maybe I'm being too hopefull, but that's never a bad thing. There will always be the kids who don't think they need services, but if even a handful are excited about it, then I'm happy.

Check out my Welcome Back to Speech letter HERE.

I plan on reading the letter aloud with my students and engaging them in discussion as we read. I want to hear what they think, and what they want out of our time together. I included one of my favorite quotes on top of the letter, which could also lead into some cool discussion. When you get to the part about how good reading/writing skills are used in the real word, maybe you could ask your kids to think of some other examples!

I think this will be a great 1st week activity. Let me know what you think!

HERE'S TO AN AMAZING 2015-2016 SCHOOL YEAR!