Return to Death Valley

We made a return to Death Valley for the Clemson vs. Maryland game. We love the atmosphere of all of the tailgating. The game started at noon but many people had been out since early morning "preparing" for the game. They all bring tents, chairs, food and some even bring satellite dishes.
We arrived early so that we could experience the "most exciting 30 seconds" of the game. The players were bused from one end of the stadium to the other. They ran into the stadium touching the lucky death valley rock and then descended the hill as balloons were released.

The balloons were absolutely beautiful. It was fun to watch them ascend as the game started.

The Clemson flags were taken down the field at the beginning of the game. They are also waved after each touchdown. We left at the end of the 3rd quarter. The Tigers were ahead and ended up winning 31-7. FYI- Maryland's mascot is the terrapin, a turtle native to the Chesapeake Bay...hmmm.

Lessons in Frying: Apple Fritters

This week we fried up Apple Fritters. We found the recipe on the Pioneer Woman website. They were AMAZING! My favorite fried dessert yet.

Here is what the dough looked like.


Then we dropped scoops of the dough into the fryer.


We used the glaze recipe that she recommended and this is how they turned out.

Haunted Gingerbread House

Seth designed a Haunted Gingerbread House for me. He used AutoCAD to draw the gingerbread house. We printed the template and then cut the pieces out.

We tried to roll the gingerbread out on the counter, cut the pieces out, and then lift the pieces up onto the cookie tray. This strategy didn't work out so well. I became a little frustrated...Seth remained calm as always. We threw the gingerbread back into the bowl and decided to try again another night.

Attempt 2 was much more successful. Step 1: Roll the gingerbread between two sheets of wax paper. Step 2: Lift the cut pieces on the wax paper onto the cookie sheets. Step 3: Bake. A few of these pieces got a little too toasty but they worked out in the end.

After two decorating sessions, an extra trip to the store for more candy, and 2 1/2 batches of frosting our gingerbread house is complete.

Some of my favorite parts are the licorice siding, candy corn tin roof, the pumpkin patch, and the vine wrapping around the side.


If you want to make a creation of your own you may want to check out this site. They have a gingerbread recipe, template, and frosting recipe.

SLP October Therapy Ideas

I wanted to share a few of my recent therapy ideas with my SLP friends that read my blog. I have PDF copies of all of the materials below, so if you want anything just email. I spent most of Friday laminating, cutting, and velcro-ing materials. I have started using some of my new materials and they have definitely helped break up the monotony of therapy.

COMMUNICATION BOARDS

I put together a couple of communication boards. I use these for the most part with students that are nonverbal and we target vocabulary and "wh" questions. The board below is for the book "Big Pumpkin."

"Clifford's Halloween."


"The little old lady that wasn't afraid of anything."


VOCABULARY CARDS

These vocabulary cards are great for reviewing or introducing vocabulary. I made a set for the book "The little old lady who wasn't afraid of anything."

I also made a couple other sets specific to Halloween and Fall/Autumn.


SONGS

I love to use songs in therapy. For some reason the melody and repeatable lines help students pick up new concepts.

Below are symbols for the song "On Halloween" that I found on the Speaking of Speech website. I printed off a set a couple of weeks ago and put them in a paper bag. I have the students pull one out, label the picture and then we sing that part of the song. I laminated another set and put magnets on the back. I use them to for to work on vocabulary, "wh" questions, 1-2 step directions, and basic concepts. The students love putting them on the white board.

I recently discovered the Boardmaker share website. You have to sign up for a free account but once you do, you can download materials that other people have created. The only catch is that you have to have your own copy of Boardmaker. With my new job I have a copy so I am in luck. What I really like is that I can download a project and then tweak it to make it fit my needs. I find it much easier to use another idea as a springboard and not recreate the wheel. I found this book for the song "5 Little Pumpkins."


VELCRO BOOKS

I love books with removable parts. The students attend longer when they know that they can pull parts of the book off or put parts of the book on. Imade the book below based on an idea I found on Speaking of Speech. This targets a ton of vocabulary and prepositions.


I also found the book "Where is the Spider?" on the Boardmaker Share site.



BATS

I found this bat in some teaching supplies. The students in the special ed preschool have learned the colors red, yellow, and blue. They have also learned the shapes triangle, circle, and square. I thought this would be a great way for them to review and follow 1-step directions with me.

I also found some bat cards that I was able to laminate. With a dry erase marker I can change these cards to fit specific student needs.

I found this book about bats. After a little coloring, laminating, and velcro-ing it became very interactive.

SCARECROWS

I found this Scarecrow book on the Boardmaker Share website. I added vocabulary cards so that the song/book would be more interactive.

I also made the cards below to help my students understand compound words.


I feel like I am set for Fall and into November...now if I can just figure out what to do after that.

Apple Muffins

I made whole wheat apple muffins tonight. I found the recipe online. We are still searching for recipes to help us use up our apples. Let me know if you know of any good ones.

Searching for Fall

Seth and I set out on Saturday in search of Fall. There have been few signs of Fall in Clemson. It wasn't until this past week that temperatures started to dip below the 80s. Fortunately we were able to catch a glimpse of Fall in Mountain Rest a town 45 minutes Northwest of Clemson.

We started the day off at an apple orchard. I love Farmers market and the apple orchard had the same charm as a Farmers market. We made our way to the central building and taste tested the different apple varieties. We were also able to see some of treats they make with apples. Then we ventured out into the orchard with one apple picker, two buckets, and two big smiles. With Seth's 6'4 frame and this picker we were able to get some apples very high up in the trees.


The trees were not very clearly labeled...so our strategy was to find trees that just had apples up high. A tree with only apples up top had to have good apples. We found out later that our first apples were golden delicious. The apples were enormous.

It took me a while to get the hang of the apple picker. It really looks like a lacrosse stick. You just stick it up and around the apple you want and then pull down. I loved the pop as the apple came off the tree and fell into the apple picker.

This was my first time picking apples. I absolutely loved it. I hope it becomes a Robertson Family Fall tradition.

We ended up picking three types of apples:

Ozark Golden Apples
Winesap Apples


Golden Delicious ApplesThe orchard that we picked at was Bryson's. Look at how charming their mailbox is.

Our next stop was Oconee State Park, located just 9-10 miles from the orchard. We drove on a scenic road. Luckily there weren't any other cars in sight so we were able to slow down, roll the windows down, and enjoy the fresh air.

After stopping in at the Main Office to plan our visit we headed down to the lake. Seth's former co-workers gave him this picnic set as a going away present. It has come in handy on numerous occasions.


After our lunch we walked part way around the lake and spotted some Fall colors. These pictures really don't do the leaves any justice.


Next we hiked to Hidden Falls. This was our first hike since moving to South Carolina...it will definitely not be the last. We ran into very few people on the trail.

We ran into even more wildlife...mostly in the form of bugs buzzing around our ears. Fortunately we were able to run into this turtle. We named him Freddy.





When we arrived home we started looking up recipes to use our apples in. After a quick trip to the store for nutmeg and ice cream I made Apple Crisp. I found the recipe in my American Test Kitchen Cookbook. I have never had an apple crisp recipe with nuts...I think I will never make one without nuts. We of course ate this delicious treat with vanilla ice cream.

Today we made caramel apple pork chops. We will post more of our apple cooking adventures soon.

P.S. Today is 10/10/10.