Summertime, Booktime!

I know I have been very scarce with posts during this summer break, but as I begin my new job I hope to get back in the swing of things. In the meantime, I had to share some great books I have run into that would be wonderful for both therapy and large groups.  The first one was read at my daughter's story time at the library the other day.  It is called, "Jump" by Scott M. Fischer. 

It is a great story that could target animal names and actions.  Each animal "JUMPS" away from the animal they meet, with repetitive text that would be easy for imitation of words and actions while reading it.  I found this fun song that could even go along with it:

I am already planning a fun large group with this one! The next one is called, "Pepper Picks a Pumpkin" by Linda Bleck.  This one may be a little harder to find, but is a great one for individual therapy focusing on /p/.  Honestly, just reading it word for word provides some great auditory bombardment.  

The last book is another fun one from the library.  It is called "If You See a Kitten" by John Butler.  This is one that could be used for both individual and group therapies.  It has simple text that focuses on simple CV combinations that kids can't help but imitate!  For example, "If you see a snake...say EEEEEEK!"  How cute is that!? After reading this one, you could have the children act out the story and encourage all the children to say the sound/word when they "see" the animal!  

I hope you are all having a relaxing summer!  

What Will Fat Cat Sit On?

Next week for Large Group we will be reading "What Will Fat Cat Sit On?" by Jan Thomas. It is hilarious, and wonderful for working on negation!

Here is our learning card:

We will focus on the negation term "not" throughout the entire book, "Fat Cat did NOT sit on the pig."  In addition, we will work on labeling the animals.  Once we finish the book, we will play a game of musical chairs.  Each chair will have a picture of an animal from the book taped to it.  

No, he will not sit on the cow!

Will he sit on the mouse?

He did not sit on the chicken.

He will not sit on the dog!

Sit on the pig!!!

Before each round, one child will be chosen to be Fat Cat.  They will get to wear our Fat Cat headband. 

What will Fat Cat sit on?!?

After the music stops, Fat Cat will have to tell us what he sat on, "I sat on the pig!"  Then we will figure out what he did not sit on, "He did not sit on a mouse, dog, chicken, or cow."  You can get these fun visuals right from Jan Thomas' website.  It's what I used for our chair visuals and headband.  If you would like to review our other handouts on negation, check out these posts.  For next week, try to focus on "not" throughout your daily routine.  While getting dressed, offer your child 2 options for a shirt.  If they chose the blue shirt, say, "You did NOT chose the purple shirt."  Or while eating snack explain, "You did NOT drink all of your milk."  You can also work on receptive language as well.  While reading a book ask your child to point to someone that is not a girl.  Or while walking through the park, say, "Show me something that is not in the sky,"  Have fun with negation!!!   

The Cat in the Hat

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!!! March 2nd is Dr. Seuss's Birthday, so to celebrate we are having a very Seussical Large Group next week.  Below is our learning card:

We are going to read the first part only of "The Cat in the Hat."  In case you don't have it at home, you can get a video reading here.

After reading it, we will each get to pick an item out of this box:

Once we have our item we will label it and then figure out different ways to balance with it, just like in the book.  We will have this fun music to move to as well:

Last we are going to toss our "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" dolls around the circle:

Whoever catches the "Things" will have to show us their object and tell us what it is.  It should be as fun as a ham-ikka-schnim-ikka-schnam-ikka-schnopp!  Our weekly handout is from Speech and Language Kids.  It gives some great ideas for working on vocabulary at home. If the file she provides includes pictures your child already knows, cut pictures out of a magazine with more advanced objects to work on.  

Ocean Animals

One of our little guys LOVES ocean animals, so I decided to have a Large Group focused on this!  Here is our learning card:

We will focus on labeling actions and animals.  In addition, we will be playing a fun, fishing match game with these adorable visuals from Wild About Teaching!  While fishing we will be working on labeling the animals, but we will also be focusing on the concept terms, 'same' and 'different!'  Because of this, our weekly handout is one from Super Duper and focuses on teaching basic concepts.  

Looking Through the Window

Next week for Large Group we are going to be doing fun things with shapes, while working on pointing to and labeling objects throughout the room.  We will also be working on what-questions and practicing our "w" sound a lot!  Here is our learning card:

Since we have been focusing a lot on vocabulary these last few weeks, our weekly handout is another one from Super Duper.  It gives some great information on vocabulary development and ways to help increase your child's own vocabulary.  They recommend reading and as you read, have your child point out pictures or actions you name.  This will help with receptive language skills as well!

Shadows

Next week for Large Groups we are going to be talking all about Shadows!  It's a great Large Group activity where we will be doing lots of labeling, both objects and actions, imitating our friends actions, answering a variety of wh-questions, and talking about the basic concept terms "big" and "little!"  Here is this weeks learning card:

Our weekly handout is again from Super Duper and gives some great ideas for targeting language naturalistically at home!  The best way for children to learn is through play, and when we work on things in a natural way it helps a child generalize the skill or information.  You can focus on any area of speech or language while playing with your child and they won't even know you are "working" with them!  Since we focused on actions this week, you could do the same at home, using the ideas in our handout.  While playing with your little one, talk about all the things you are doing with your doll, truck, or blocks.  Or label the actions that your kiddo does throughout the day while eating, getting dressed, or cleaning up toys.