How I Teach the EET to Describe

I’m fairly obsessed with the Expanding Expression Tool (EET). I love how it incorporates so many language skills into one functional tool that I can pair with almost any activity. In order to keep my kiddos on track and motivated, I recently started teaching the EET in a more structured way. Bonus: it’s also super easy to plan 🙂

I teach one bead a week. That is 2-3 sessions for most of my caseload! Below is a rundown of how I structure my sessions:

(1) The first session is drill, drill, drill using this product. For example, when doing the green bead, I drill categories for the first session. I take data for 5 trials at both the beginning and end of the session.

(2) The second I try to incorporate another activity to reinforce the concepts from the bead. The second activity, I’ll have the students do a fun activity such as a category puzzle or fun Teachers Pay Teachers activity. We do a few drill-style trials at the end of the session where I take data. Some of my students are very motivated by comparing the data from day 1 to the data on the second day.

(3) On the third or last day, I usually do a mix of drill, and using the skill more functionally. We might do a scavenger hunt and describe the categories of the items we find, or do a craft and describe the category of the things we use or make. The last 5 minutes of the last session, I pull out 5 EET cards and have each student work with me 1:1. I ask them to use the bead strand to describe the 5 pictures using the bead we just learned about. I tell them ahead of time if they get a certain number correct (4/5 for most of my caseload) then they earn a bead in that color. Each student that I’m doing EET with has a Ziploc baggie to keep all of the beads they’ve earned.

If you’re interested in structuring things this way, below are some game/activity ideas that I pair with the EET:

I love doing things this way because it low to no prep, structured and motivating for my kiddos. They love the concept of “earning” their own beads and ask each week what color bead we are learning about next. How do you teach EET? Any materials you pair it with?

{thanks for reading}