I went in for bread and milk. Seriously, that’s all! Bread and milk. And this is just a portion of what I walked out with in my cart!

Why do you have such power over me, office supplies?!?

I know I’m not the only one with this condition, though, so that does make me feel better. (Come on. Admit it. That’s the first step, you know.)

So, let me tell you what was going through my brain as I tossed these little beauties into the buggy.

I use these mostly for checklists and notes to myself.

I picked these up for social skills units. I plan to have the students think about situations where they would be tempted to say something out loud which really should be thought and kept to themselves. Then they can write them on the correct conversation bubble post-it pad.

These I’m planning to use these cute shapes for mini-bulletin boards. I’ll use the acorns for “I’m thankful for…”collection in November. The hearts will go on a “I ‘heart’ SPEECH because…” board in February.

I’m thinking these will be used in a number of ways.

Firstly, I want to target some lingo versus real speak with my older students. I’ll give them a list of common abbreviations (ur, ttyl, atm) and have them correctly decipher them (you’re, talk to you later, at the moment). I think this is important so that students understand when to use the slang and when to write correctly. I’ve heard some teachers complaining about students handing in English compositions with text speak! Secondly, I’d like to use these for building conversational skills with some of my students who have pragmatic language difficulties. I’ll give them green and blue markers and a conversation starter and let them add on to the conversation in turns. We’ll see how it works out.

I think I’m most excited by these.

I’ve recently begun the process of obtaining hours to become a Board Certified Fluency Specialist. I’m planning to use these handy grid paper Post-Its to chart dysfluencies in speech samples. I like that they’re small so I make marks quickly on the page as I’m listening to the recordings.

Did any of these spark a new idea? Tell me about it in the comments.