The end of the world is near!

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As you hopefully have heard, Friday will be the End of the world. Since this is also my first day of Winter Break, that pretty much sucks.

So there are a few things I must share with you before the End occurs.

First, the world’s best holiday cookies. I admit that I am no food photographer (gasp!), but you have to give these cookies a try. Preferably today since tomorrow will be the last day to enjoy them.

I adapted this recipe from here.
Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup butter (softened)
1.5 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp peppermint extract
2 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup candy canes broken into tiny bits (I enjoy taking the baby candy canes and then getting out all my aggression on them)

Directions:
1. Mix butter and brown sugar until deliciously light and fluffy. Add eggs and peppermint extract. Try not to sample (because of salmonella risks)
2. Dump on top (I hate using 2 bowls!) flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix until well combined.
3. Stir in the chocolate chips and candy cane bits.
4. Refrigerate/freeze until semi-solid (this is REALLY hard to wait for!)
5. Form small balls (1 inch) and space 1.5-2 inches apart on baking sheet.
6. Bake at 400 degrees (sorry! I guess you should have pre-heated the oven first!) for 6-9 minutes.

Second, a new Speech unit I developed last weekend. I used the book Owl Moon (winner of the 1988 Caldecott Medal) for this literature based unit.

I made this one different than my other literacy-based units because there are no cards. No laminating. No color printing. This is designed to be worksheets to support speech and language with a focus on literature. It is also my shortest unit, only 11 pages. I hope that this will be exactly what someone out there is looking for!

There are not many higher-level vocabulary words in this book. So I took 5 words from the story that I felt were worth knowing and made them into a matching activity, plus create your own sentences with the vocabulary activity.

One page of irregular past tense verb sentences that help retell the story (this is a FREE download under “Download Preview“).

Two pages of similes: one directly from the story and one in which the students complete their own similes.

Two pages of metaphors: one directly from the story and one in which the students complete their own metaphors.

A page of describing the setting and characters.

A story map page to fill in and help retell the story.

A listening comprehension page. The Speech-Language Pathologist reads the text aloud and then asks students to recall the information. This can be done in writing or verbally.

A page of /r, s, z, l/ articulation from the book.

A page to create sentences with the articulation words from the story.

Go get the whole thing here (and you’d better hurry!!).

Even though the world is ending and all, I hope that this is exactly what someone out there is looking for. A no-laminating, non-colored ink, literacy-based speech therapy unit!

  

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