In my opinion, books are one of the easiest ways to target a variety of speech and language skills with mixed groups. I also feel that it is one of the best ways to encourage and facilitate a love for literature with kids. Here are a few of my favorite Autumn books and a shortlist of targeted goals that you can cover with them.
There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves
by Lucille Colandro
SOUND SYSTEMS: Target velars, fricatives, glides, and consonant clusters easily with this repetitive story! Students can even practice carryover of their sounds (k, g, s, sh, l, r, clusters) while targeting language concepts too.
LANGUAGE: Target identification and labeling of basic vocabulary found in the print and in the pictures, work on wh-questions and yes/no questions, phonological awareness (rhyming), description of items, semantic features (location, function, part-whole), and practice sequencing and story retell!
The Biggest Apple Ever
by Steven Krol
SOUND SYSTEMS: Target velars, fricatives, glides, and consonant clusters (k, g, s, sh, l, r, clusters) easily with this cute story about cooperation!
LANGUAGE: Target prepositions, pronouns, irregular verbs, functions for common items, answering wh-questions, and story retell!
Sophie’s Squash
by Pat Zietlow Miller and Anne Wilsdorf
SOUND SYSTEMS: Target velars, fricatives, glides, and consonant clusters (k, g, s, sh, l, r, clusters) in this beyond adorable book!
LANGUAGE: Target vocabulary building for adjectives, using context clues to build vocabulary for Tier II verbs, cause-effect relationships, and answering wh-questions!
If you do not want to have go through the books and make your own lists, I have created an easy cheat sheet for articulation words, language concepts to target, and some basic wh-questions you can ask for each book! You can grab your free cheat sheet below.
