Cozy Up with a Great Book

"Young children who heard the same book multiple times retained a new word better than children who were read different books containing the same word."

Numerous studies have shown that storybook reading promotes later academic performance, reading fluency and print knowledge. A study in 2011 by Horst et. al. was the first of its kind to explore how being read to influences young children's ability to learn new words from storybooks. The lack of research in this area is particularly surprising given how frequently young children are read to during their everyday preschool experiences. The study found that repetition of storybooks is important for learning new vocabulary from books. Young children who heard the same book multiple times retained a new word better than children who were read different books containing the same word. 

Reference: Horst, J.S., Parsons, K.L. & Bryan N.M. (2011). Get the story straight: Contextual repetition promotes word learning from storybooks. 

KUDOS to @midtownspeechnyc for this special instagram post, if you're not following along click this link to check her out!

Here are the books I read on repeat for my students during Winter. 

Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner

Read the story of what Snowmen do at Christmas.

-Compare/contrast our Christmas traditions to the Snowmen's

-Search for hidden items on every page; mouse, T-Rex, cat, bunny and a Santa face.

*Tip: Searching for hidden pictures is great for visual skills needed for attention, reading and writing!*

Sneezy the Snowman Maureen Wright

Sneezy the snowman enjoys winter fun with his friends, but keeps sneezing!? His friends make attempts to help him warm up, but keep melting him.

Pair the story with the amazing melting snowman, build the snowman and read the story. Watch what happens!

-Sequence

-Cause/Effect

-Categories (things that are hot)

*Tip: I have students discuss items that are hot, and then illustrate a sentence as to why Sneezy may have melted*

The Mitten by Jan Brett

Nikki goes on a winter adventure and loses a snow-white mitten from Baba. Forest animals find the cozy mitten and all squeeze in.

-WH questions

-Sequencing/recall

-Following directions

-Oral motor (put it on, ball, bam/smash, put it in)

*Check out @simply_speech and her FREEBIE smash mat companion*

Falling for Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox

Add this fun story to your Valentine's Day sessions. Rapunzel is too far away to quite make out what the Prince is trying to say. This is a hilarious hit in my speech sessions as we read the story of miscommunication.

-Sequencing/recall

-WH questions

-Rhyming

-Yes/No questions

-Vocabulary

-Create your own story

*Book companion can be found on TPT by SteamPunk Speech*

*Tip: pair this story with card game Sleeping Queens and Lover's Leap found on www.thelisteningroom.com*

Pancakes for Breakfast by Tommie DePaola

National Pancake Day is typically in early March. We celebrate every year in speech with this story and flippin' fun activities. This wordless story is great for any age. Early one morning the lady wakes up and decides to make pancakes, but keeps running into problems. 

-Problem solving

-Create grammatically correct sentences

-Sequencing/retell

-Vocabulary

-Oral motor (she can make it, she needs..., go out)

The Doctor is in...

Anyone else celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday?! I love incorporating real world items into our therapy sessions. The students love making a mess, so in honor of the great Dr. Seuss we make "oobleck". We learn about Dr. Seuss and read a short biography, I read a truncated version of "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" by Dr. Seuss (the original takes over 30 minutes for me to get through!?) and then I present them with the science experiment.

Oobleck is a 'non-newtonian fluid'. Viscosity is the rate at which something pours. Water pours quickly and honey or syrup pours slowly. These liquids have a constant viscosity, it will never change. Oobleck pours both quick AND slow!?

When made correctly Oobleck can be molded into a ball and have properties like a solid, and when released will "melt" in your hand like a liquid.

Oobleck is a 2:1 ratio

2 cups cornstartch

1 cup water

TIPS:
*I love to find youtube videos to help the students see what should happen, before starting.
*Use disposable bowls and spoons for easy clean up.
*Buy the rolls of plastic tablecloths to work on, then just throw everything out.
*If the oobleck is too hard add water, and if it is too wet add more corn starch!
*If the oobleck spills over and out, let it dry it will turn into powder and you can easily vacuum/sweep it up!


PROMPT: *I created a short "Bartholomew and the Oobleck" on my SMARTboard, I can change the words/phrases/sentences to achieve my various targets!

LANGUAGE: scientific method, following directions/steps, math fractions

PRAGMATICS: sharing items, turn taking for measuring, following rules

Oo the messes you will make!

Listening Language

Dingle Dangle: Listening and Language! I love this app it is so adorable and silly. There are two different activities: players can listen to instructions (in noise!) or build their own scarecrow.

This app was created by the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children (RIDBC) by listening and spoken language specialists.

I love to pair this app with the story "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything". I use this with a lot of my students.

We color and cut out the pieces and make puppets. They have to listen to the sounds of the pieces and make their puppet do the actions

Shoes say "clomp clomp"
Pants say "wiggle wiggle"
Shirt says "shake shake shake"
Hat says "nod"
Gloves say "clap"
Pumpkin says "boo!"


       

PROMPT:
Phonatory Control: "ah" for on, "mm" for more
Labial-facial control: boo, shake, oh no!
Lingual control/sequenced: clomp, wiggle, clap, nod

LANGUAGE: sequencing, following directions, recall story, describing

      And the mouse went ::click click::

It looked like just another mundane post...but it wasn't another mundane post!

This is a great and simple activity for identifying simple objects (some doozies in it "Great Horned Owl", "Angel"). After you read the book you can make your own spilt milk clouds!

Squeeze paint in the middle of the page (*I added sparkles for something special*), fold the page in half, press down and open.

I looked like a sheep....but it wasn't a sheep!

PROMPT:

*Use a carrier phrase "It looked like a ______, but was it?!" the child can respond "No"

Language:

Sequence, answer simple "WH" questions

Don't Let this post get by....

Mo Willems has done it, time and time again! Author and illustrator of the "Don't let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" (caldecott honor) and many others.

I love this interactive book.  My kids love to yell "NO!" when the pigeon asks to drive the bus.  My strong willed preschoolers occasionally are swayed when the pigeon offers them $5 bucks...but are easily redirected when reminded, "The bus driver said, don't let the pigeon drive the bus!" They then enthusiastically yell, "NO!"

**Hello labial-facial control!**

Best yet, there's an app for that! "Don't let the pigeon run this app".  This allows the user to create their very own pigeon story! The "chick" makes up a different story every use, "little pigeon" allows the user to choose different items from a field of three and "big pigeon" allows the user to answer questions using their own words/voice!  The author Mo Willems even teaches you to draw the pigeon in a step-by-step!

PROMPT:
Labial-Facial control: no, mo

Language:
Answer "Wh" questions, simple sequence

Don't let this book and app pass you by!

Hungry for Summer!

Here's a few activities that keep my clients compliant and engaged throughout the entire session! Read the book, make some art and of course play on the iPad!

READ THE BOOK:
I've been on a "Hungry Caterpillar" kick!  First I read the story to my clients and tell them they will read the story.  All my Pre-Schoolers tell me, "But I can't read!" I assure them they can!  Then using felt pieces I made (A.C. Moore sells iron on paper! I just scan and iron onto white felt) my clients "read" the story.  It's great to see how proud they are when they finish and I get to tell them they read the story!

*Leave a comment with your e-mail address and I can send you a copy of the pieces so you don't have to scan!*

ART PROJECT:
A fun companion activity we do after is we make our own symmetrical butterflies.  Using scented dot markers (Wal-mart!) we make dots and designs and fold our paper in half to make symmetrical designs.  The kids think it's neat, I love the dot markers cause they don't make a mess and we get to explore some sensory integration with smell!

*Remember those great markers your elementary art teacher let you use! Check out all their products*

INCORPORATE THE BELOVED iPAD:
I was able to grab this app during a free app sensational sale (Check it out)! I have my kids follow directions and practice counting!

ARTICULATION
need, dot, more, me, same, mmmm, one, two

Mandibular control: dot, need
Labial-Facial control: more, me, same, mmmm
Lingual control: one, two

LANGUAGE

sequence; first/next/then/last, labeling (food items), counting, answering/asking "WH?", predicting ("What do you think yellow will smell like?"), follow directions

Smell ya later!

APP-Y HOUR: The Three Little Pigs

The Three Little Pigs (by the Nosy Crow) $5.99

For all you Harry Potter fans, another great British cast is here! "Three Little Pigs" is a fun and interactive tale.  It allows the user to read it themselves, have it read to them as well as read and play.  Tap the characters to hear what they have to say; all in a British accent.

For you reading up on this with the iPad2 and more current generations of iDevices, you can blow into the speaker to help the wolf huff and puff!

**Be careful; during a rousing reading of this, one of my little friends huffed. puffed. farted.**

This is a fun and timeless story.  Target pre-literacy skills, sequencing, following directions, WH?, pragmatics (feelings/bullies).


Happily ever after. The end.

APP-Y HOUR: Itsy-Bitsy Spider

Itsy-Bitsy Spider (by Duck Duck Moose) $1.99

Who doesn't love a good nursery rhyme? This interactive tale of the itsy-bitsy spider allows the player to "poke" and "slide" items while listening to the story.

My students request this one often.  I can target some articulation, but use it mostly for language activities.  It provides opportunity to: sequence, re-tell a story, follow directions, count, and develop pronouns (there are various people throughout the app).

In my personal opinion, it is worth the $$$ and provides minutes of fun! (I don't work in hours...30 minute sessions-but I'm pretty sure some of my kids would play for hours).

APP-Y HOUR: Monster at the end of this book & Another monster at the end of this book

Monster at the End of this book $4.99
Another Monster at the End of this book $4.99

Bought the first "Monster at the End of the Book".  HAD TO HAVE the sequel.  My students love this interactive book.  Following Grover and watching him do silly things to stop you from turning pages makes everyone smile.

Help knock down walls. Take off paper clips, remove glue and untie knots to turn the page and forge ahead to the end of the book!

Another triple threat: articulation, language, pragmatics.

Articulation: Various opportunities to work on a variety of sounds.  Some that I target are: anterior linguals, labial-facial control, mandibular control. (knot, no, oh-no, AH!, mommy, go)

Language: WH?, following directions, sequencing

Pragmatics: Users are forced to wait to touch the screen and patience is required (some of the pages are slow to re-load, and slow according to impatient 3 & 4 year olds).  This is a great book to talk about feelings too! Grover is scared to go to the end, and other feelings are mentioned (happy, embarrassed).

So check under your bed, grab your favorite blanket and join Grover and Elmo for a fun adventure!