Topic “Level 2”  

- fast/slow symbols - click here to print

1. Print and cut out the fast/slow symbols.

2. Explain to your child that they are going to pretend to be a car and move around the room. You will tell them to go slow or fast depending on which symbol you show.

3. Have a practice by showing the symbol and saying the word and encouraging your child to move slowly or fast around the room. 

4. Swap over and let your child tell you whether to go fast or slow.

- Traffic spot symbol sheet

- Fast/slow symbols

Printed cards with pictures of the shapes and their names.

Selection of 3D shapes.

1. Use simple 3D shapes like cube, sphere etc.

2. Make a model with them and label the different shapes you can see.

3. Match the shapes shown in the cards with the 3D shapes.

4. See if the child can name some of the shapes they can see.

5. Ask the children to use their shapes to make the same model. See if they can name the shapes as they go, and tell you where they are.

Printed cards with shapes and names.

Selection of 2D and 3D shapes.

Classroom equipment:

Pencil,

Paper,

Etc.

Prompt cards with the key words (as indicated in the text of the activity) written on.

1. Working with a group of children, help the group to line up in order of height.

2. Ask one child to identify the tallest (or biggest) and shortest (or smallest) person. Help as necessary.

3. Give the tallest person a card that says "tallest", and give the shortest person a card that says "shortest".

4. Explain that 'taller' means "more tall". Find two children who have quite different heights. Say e.g. "Martin is taller than Fatima". Explain that 'shorter' means "more short". Say e.g. "Fatima is shorter than Martin"

5. Ask each child to identify one person who is taller and shorter than themselves.

6. You can repeat this activity comparing other features such as:

biggest/smallest shoes

longest/shortest hair

widest/narrowest hand span

heaviest/lightest person

person who can jump the longest/ shortest distance

person who lives nearest to/furthest from school

most/fewest brothers and sisters

most/fewest letters in the name

longest/shortest hair

oldest/youngest person

or anything else you think of!

Selection of pencils

Pictures showing people at different stages of life (e.g. baby, toddler, young child, older child, teenager, young adult, middle aged adult, old adult)

Pass the parcel consisting of the following:

A small prize in the centre (a bag of sweets/raisins etc. which the group can share is a good idea).

Several layers of paper, each one needs a sticky label with a description on it. Each description needs to contain a superlative e.g.:

the oldest person

the youngest person

the tallest person

the shortest person

the person with the biggest feet

the person with the smallest feet.

the person with the longest hair

the person with the shortest hair

the person who was born furthest away

the person who was born nearest

the person who lives furthest away

the person who lives nearest

the person who has the most brothers and sisters

the person who has the fewest brothers and sisters

the person who speaks the most different languages

the person who has had fewest turns at the game

anything else you can think of!

Camera to make the picture sequences (or alternatively you can draw them or use a commercial resource).

Resources as appropriate to carry out a simple sequence

Examples of sequences (with suggested steps to make pictures for):

Putting on a jumper (get jumper, put head through, put arms through);

Drinking a drink (jug and cup, pour water into the cup, drink it)

Peeling and eating a piece of fruit (fruit, peel fruit, eat it)

Going to the door and lining up

Sitting down and eating dinner

Drawing a picture (pencil and paper, child drawing, finished picture)

Bubbles (unscrew lid, remove wand, blow bubbles)

Looking at a book (get it, open it, look at it)

1. Carry out the activity without the pictures;

2. Do it again, showing the relevant picture for each part of the activity as you do it;

3. Get the child to do the sequence, tell them what to do by showing them a picture for each part of the sequence;

4. Get them to show you what to do by giving you a picture for each part of the sequence. Try to do exactly as the picture you are given indicates, for example if they give you a picture of someone blowing bubbles without having given you the step for opening the bubbles container, try to blow the bubbles anyway (and act being disappointed when you don't get any bubbles).

A4 paper

Thick marker pen

Paper and pencil or pen for pupil to use.

1. Ask the pupil to visualise (see inside their head) something familiar: e.g. their TV and what's on top of it, beside it, etc; or their kitchen.

2. Write words in large unjoined lower case letters in thick felt tip on A4 paper - maybe important bits in a different colour or larger.

3. Hold the word up in front of the pupil.

4. Discuss visual features (e.g. two o's looking out of the middle of the word school).

5. Pupil shuts eyes and tries to 'see' the word.

6. Ask 'What colour are the letters?' 'Change the colour' 'What's the first letter?' What's the last letter?' 'Put the letters inside a picture' etc.

7. If the pupil gets something wrong, ask him/her to have another good look.

8. The pupil writes the word down, and checks it is correct.

9. It may help visual recall if the pupil looks up towards his/her top left when trying to remember the word.

Paper - A4 size or larger

Thick felt tip

Pencil and extra paper to write on

Pencil and paper, or whiteboard and dry-wipe pen

- Ring binder and paper or some blank exercise books

- Topic pictures

- Word web template - click here for word web resources

1. Choose a topic - this can either be curriculum related (at school) or around an activity you will be doing e.g. a trip to the seaside (at home).

2. Explain that you are going to think about all the words you need to talk about that topic. Aim for 5-6 words.

3. Think about what sort of things you will see and do. You could write these down - let your child think of as many as they can.

4. Together look for pictures to stick in the book for each word.

5. Write down the word for each picture and fill in a word web template.

6. Put the word webs together to make a book that you can use to discuss your topic.

- Bingo cards - each with a list of your topic related words on it - you may wish to put a picture/symbol alongside each picture.

- A set of definitions of the words (descriptions of what the words mean).

- Alphabet game template

- Blank sheet of paper

- Pens

- Cards with different topics on them (optional)

- What is that word questions cards - click here

Who what where prompt cards (each prompt card should have the word e.g. "who" along with a picture or picture symbol for that word)

Counters or other treasure

A range of objects including animals (optional)

You can make the prompt cards using the Commtap Symboliser for PowerPoint.

1. Hide the counters as treasure. Put them around the room, or under / behind the different objects.

2. Explain to the child that they can find out where to look for the treasure by asking questions.

3. Revise the questions they might need to ask, and remind them of the prompt cards.

4. As they ask questions, give them the information to find the treasure.

5. See how much treasure they can find in a set time!

Question prompt cards

2 sets of pictures - use at least 2 categories, e.g. animals and food

Masking tape / head band

A book with interesting pictures

Question prompt cards

Digital camera

Playmobil figures or other action figures and simple props.

Question words.

everyday objects, shopping bag, table

One pupil sits at the 'shop'. Another is asked to go and buy an object.

pictures of everyday objects, post box

Take a picture of an object, say or sign what it is, and post it

pictures with paper clips attached, magnetic fishing rods, 'pond' e.g. a flat box

Eight picture cards, small piece of paper with a fish drawn on it

Picture cards or objects

Use one of the pre-made flowcharts or use the blank flowchart to make your own one.

You can find these charts on www.commtap.org:

Template for creating your own question flowchart: Blank 3 question challenge

Pre-made flowcharts: The Animal Challenge, The Food Challenge

Labels to write the answers on

Write one answer per sticky label. Stick one of the labels to the back of the child / children.

Using the questions on the flowchart, they must work out what the word on their back is.

Object cards (optional)

Sheet with boxes labelled "...will...", "...is..." and "...has...":

Simple sequencing pictures showing an action that is about to happen, the same action happening and the action when it is complete, for example Black Sheep Press's 3-step sequencing pack. Alternatively, you could make your own (e.g. take photos of the child, or draw them) or you could print them out from a picture resource such as "Flash-Pro" if you have it, or use other commercially produced sequencing pictures such as LDA or Colorcards.

Glue or Blu-tac

Pen or pencil

1. Put the sheet with the boxes labelled "....will....", "....is...." and "....has...." in front of the child and help the child to read the words.

2. Mix up the pictures from one of the sequences.

3. Help the child put them in the correct order, putting them in the correct boxes on the sheet.

4. Ask him/her to describe the sequence, using the words "will", "is" and "has" in his/her description (e.g. "the boy will eat the apple, the boy is eating the apple, the boy has eaten the apple"). You may need to give the child some support to use the right form of the verb at this stage.

5. Help him/her to stick them in the correct places on the sheet (use Blu-tac if you want to be able to re-use the pictures).

6. Help the child to write a description (using the words "will", "is" and "has") under the pictures.

Sequencing pictures as above.

Sequencing pictures as above.

Card with a large '?' on it (some sets of cards come with this card included).

Coloured pictures of a range of objects (in two or more colours e.g. red and green) with a big and a small version in each colour (e.g. big green fork, small green fork, big red fork, small red fork).

To make the pictures, you can: draw your own, use clip art, photocopy line drawings on to different coloured sheets of paper, or use a product such as "Flash-Pro" (see www.aba-materials.com)

1. Have a set of 4 pictures (e.g. big green fork, small green fork, big red fork, small red fork). Spread them out on the table in front of the child.

2. Ask the child to select the one you name.

3. When s/he can do this introduce another object so you have 8 pictures (e.g. big green fork, small green fork, big red fork, small red fork, big green cup, small green cup, big red cup, small red cup).

4. Swap roles so the child has a chance to give you instructions.

Different coloured sheets of paper, according to the colours you choose.

Pictures as above

Paper,

Coloured pens/pencils

- Soft toys

- Play food and kitchen items

- Optional camera

1. Start by playing with the cutlery and play food. Eat some food yourself and say 'I'm eating banana/ apple/ bread' etc.

2. Let the child play with the food. As he/she eats say 'Sally's eating a banana/ an apple/ some bread' etc.

3. You take photos of the child, you, or the soft toys eating/drinking different items. 

4. Print the photo and put it in a book. Show the child the book. Can he/she respond when you ask 'What's happening?' You may need to model the answer for the child for example 'Teddy's eating an apple/ banana/ bread' etc.

- Action sentence picture cards - click here to print.

- Postbox - click here to print a template or you can make your own using a cardboard box.

- Sentence building dice - click here to print.

- Sentence building dice with colourful semantic colour coding - click here to print.

A picture of an everyday event, or social setting e.g. crossing the road, or going to the cinema.

A story to go with the picture (no more than 5 or 6 sentences).

Or

See the resource sheets in 'Language for Thinking' (LfT) by Parsons and Branagan (Published by Speechmark). If using this publication, use Module 1 and level A questions. This programme has questions for a range of ability levels.

1. Choose a scenario picture.

2. Show the children the picture and read the story to them.

3. Focus on questions where the child looks for the answer in the picture and just uses a little background knowledge. E.g. 'Find one that is....', 'When did...', 'What does this do?' 'What else is an X? etc.

- category dice - click here to print

or

- category cards - click here to print - if you do not have a printer you could make your own.

- normal dice (optional)

1. Print and cut out the catgeory cards and/or dice. You can make your own if you do not have access to a printer.

2. Explain to your child you are going to play a game where you think of items from different categories, e.g. 'animals' - you might say 'cat'.

3. Choose either the category dice or cards to play with.

4. Roll the dice or choose a card. The person has to name an item from that category. If the same category comes up later in the game, you need to think of a different item. You may want to keep a list of the items that have been named as a reminder.

- Pen and paper

Symbols for the above adjectives

Pens, spoons, bricks and a bowl of water

You can find symbols for adjectives in the Commtap Symboliser.

1.Start by using objects. Collect a group of things which can get wet safely e.g. pens, spoons, lego bricks and put some in a bowl of water and some on the table near by.

2. Use the symbols for wet/dry and categorise the objects according to whether they are wet or dry.

3. Make a mistake sometimes and see if the child can catch you out!

4.Point out things in the child's everyday environment which are wet and dry

5.Can you give the child choices e.g 'Do you want a wet or a dry plate at dinner?'

Soft toys

Pretend food

Cups of juice

Cups and a jug of water

Pasta/beans

Blue-tak and pictures

Play-dough and pots

Drum and shakers and bells

Symbols

Picture books

You can find symbols for adjectives in the Commtap Symboliser.

Miniature figures for role play