Drinking a Smoothie in hopes for a smooth day

This morning for breakfast I had a homemade smoothie! I have never been one to eat that much in the morning, so smoothies are perfect for me. My favorite is strawberry-banana and it is really easy to make. You need: strawberries, 2 bananas, a cup of greek yogurt, 1/2 cup of skim milk and a blender! This usually makes the equivalent of 2 morning smoothies for me. So I dump 1/2 of the smoothie into a cup with a lid for today and another into a storage container for the next day! I don't drink smoothies everyday- but if I know I am going to have a tight schedule the next day, I will make a smoothie ahead of time so all I need to do in the morning is grab and go! Breakfast in the car, set my stuff down and walk into a meeting feeling energized.

I always like fruit in my diet, so I add fruit to my smoothies. Watch how much you consume though because fruit has sugar in it too. I prefer skim milk to other milk's, but you can use whichever milk you like. I use greek yogurt because it has protein in it and, therefore, it makes me feel satisfied for longer.

Do you have a easy morning breakfast that you like to drink or make?

Thank Goodness for.....Matt and Molly Product Review- I LOVE THEM!

Ok the product was bought by a co-worker of mine and the opinions are all mine =) I work in an elementary school 2 days a week and a junior high 3 days a week. My favorite product that is at the elementary school is Matt and Molly in the Series Autism and PDD. There are many different book sets to choose from: Intermediate Social Skills Set, Picture Stories and Language Social Skills, Picture Stories and Language Activities, More Pictures and Stories and Language Activities,  and 2 CD sets with Matt and Molly.

They incorporate yes/no questions, open ended questions, inferencing, social skills, vocabulary and language building tasks in a story format with simple pictures. I think that is what I like best- the simple line drawings with the basic information. Therefore, the children can use their minds more to generate ideas and thoughts.

There is a script along with the book that makes the story really easy to read. My fellow speech pathologists and I use Matt and Molly everyday. At my school, we have all of them (except the intermediate series which I believe is fairly new). That is going to be on my wish list for my junior high! The 25% off sale at Linguisystems is going on right now until November 2nd for the Members Only sale.

Here is the link to one of the Matt and Molly Series-- you should definitely check it out. I even truly think that some of my kids are low enough language wise that I believe I could incorporate all of the products into my junior high lesson plans.

 Matt and Molly  This particular set is my favorite!

If just one person gets useful information from this post- than it is a success! Do you have a favorite Linguisystems product? Let me know!

Be sure to check out my Facebook Page! Major Speech Fun by a Minor Girl

Speech Materials Organization Ideas

I shared with my fellow speech pathologists today some storage ideas for materials and so I thought it would be best to put it on here too!



The first thing I shared was storage for printed materials. I found it on someone else's blog, but I CANNOT for the life of me find it again. Basically this person took duct tape and taped the end of a plastic ziplock baggie. She then took a 3 hole punch and punched 3 holes on the duct tape side to allow for the baggies to be placed into a binder for storage! Wonderful Idea!

UPDATE: Thanks to a fellow speechie and commenter- she was able to find where I originally found the Ziplock idea. Ziplock Baggie Idea by Speech Language Pirates

The second thing I shared was how to share printed cards. I either use the "pill baggies" from Walgreens or the portable soap containers for larger cards. Both work great! They kind of look like these!

More Storage Ideas:
 If you need a way to hold printed chipper chats or BINGO cards- this is how I do it. I put them all in sheet protectors and place them in a Binder labeled Articulation or Language. Here are some pictures below.

 

I then put my binders in a magazine holder like this:

 I put all of my storage card baggies in a basket that I leave on shelves in my speech room. I found these baskets for 2 dollars a piece at Walgreens on sale. I am all about sales! As you can see I also have the Super Duper Inc Parking Garage for some of my card decks- I need more! Maybe that will be on my wishlist for next year's materials list =) I also have a basket of toy animals up in the corner. Baskets are my friend. I use them all the time. There are so many options to choose from and many times they are on sale!

I put my board games (mostly mine are from Super Duper Inc) in a paper holder I found at Walmart at the beginning of the school year in the school supplies section. I am always looking for possible storage ideas and I loved these- so I bought 3! I should have bought more because I use them all the time!

Anyways that is all I have for now! I hope you find this fun containers and if you have more storage ideas- leave me a comment and let me know! Sharing ideas helps everyone! Have a great weekend everyone!

My Facebook Page=100 likes= Freebie for YOU

If my facebook page " Major Speech Pathology Fun by A Minor Girl" gets to 100 likes by tomorrow that means a Freebie for you! If we get to 200 likes that means 10% off sale at my TPT store. If there is 500 likes that means 50% off my TPT store! So get to sharing and liking to spread the word!

My Students Humor with my gluten free diagnosis!

Some of my speech students and fellow teachers thought it would be funny to decorate my hallway for halloween as "The Haunted Hall of Gluten" to scare me! Pretzels, signs, bread and crackers were hung in the hallway outside of my room. It was also Red Ribbon Week to be Drug Free so of course the door decorating contest was included into the Gluten Free theme. It created a lot of smiles and laughs for anyone who came to visit me. Here are some pictures of the "Haunted Hall of Gluten" The Home of Gluten-Head. Nobody in the class next door voted for Romney or Obama. They all voted for healthy and drug free lifestyles! I love it!

 
 

My Gluten Free Lunch of the day

I was up later than I usually am last night because I had to go to computer training from 5:00-9:00 last night for a new computer system at the new rehabilitation hospital in Oklahoma City! I work for Mercy Health Services on the weekends because I love adults as much as I love working in the schools.

None the less, I didn't have time to make a lunch for school the night before. Today at school was Teacher Appreciation Lunch Day- well unfortunately my school was serving a lunch that I was unable to eat. So I brought my own from home (like I do everyday!). I always get comments on the soup that I brought today, so I thought I would share! It is Creamy Tomato Soup by Pacifica! I just open the container when I get to school, pop the container of soup in the microwave and BOOM an easy grab and go lunch! I also had a water bottle full of water X2 and some Kettle Sea Salt Potato Chips (which are gluten free). My husband even likes them! You can both of these products in most mainstream grocery stores. It was a quick and easy lunch and compatible with my gluten free diet! Happy Health Eating!

There are many other options of these Kettle Chips. I also like the Sour Cream and Onion. Again, I don't eat chips that much (only in a pinch of not having a prepared lunch like today or when we fix hamburgers). I have found that a lot of gluten free packaged products have a lot of sodium in them. So watch your salt intake too. I just ate a few today to get my "salt" fix in while I sipped on my tomato soup!

Ever since I have started this gluten free diet, I have been so much happier. I will share my story of how I found out later on this week =) Thanks for reading!

Another Healthy Snack choice!

Hummus is another favorite snack of mine! Since I can no longer have pretzels or crackers (except gluten free kinds) I use vegetables! You can dip anything in Hummus....red pepper slices, green pepper slices, carrots, celery, ANYTHING! 

This Sabra Roasted Red Pepper Hummus is my favorite!!!!!!!!!!!!! The garlic is also really good!

Facebook Page- Major Speech Pathology Fun by a Minor Girl

Check out my new facebook page- its called Major Speech Pathology Fun by a Minor Girl! On there I will have various postings on speech pathology related materials! There is one up right now with a FREEBIE! Apple Concrete Categories- my kids love putting the apples in the baskets!

There are even more therapy materials available that are Freebies and that are available for purchase at my teachers pay teachers site. Search "Major Speech Pathology Fun by a Minor Girl" at the teacherspayteachers.com site and see all of my fun creations!

A new (Once A Week) SNACK

Ok my first post about FOOD! A new snack of mine that I eat just once a week is grapes dipped into vanilla pudding. I got the idea from a website a long time ago about easy foods to set out for guests at a party. I just get a vanilla snack pack and some grapes. I only eat this as a snack once a week because the pudding does have a lot of sugar in it. I try to eat a lot of fruits and especially vegetables for snacks!

   

Hello World!

This is my first attempt at a blog for all things speech pathology related and gluten free related.

I absolutely love my speech pathology job(s). Yes, thats right I have 4! I work in the schools, in 3 hospitals and 1 rehab setting. The schools is my full time position, but I work in the medical settings on the weekends and during school holidays.

I recently found out that I am gluten intolerant and as it is becoming more prevalent I thought I would share some healthy meals and snacks with you! My sister who is one of the best resources I know for healthy living will guest blog every once in a while with some great tips! Neither she nor I are a nutritionist, so the recipes I put up on here are recipes and snacks that I have enjoyed since the onset of my new diet restrictions!

I will be putting up some fun new materials that I have made, found on other blogs or have come across during my search for the best materials for my students. So this blog will be a catch all for school and medical speech pathology as well as healthy lifestyle! I hope you all enjoy my blog!