Peek At Speech: The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything
Theme: Pumpkins/Halloween
Book: The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything By: Linda Williams
Vocabulary: gloves, hear, scarecrow, hat, shoes, pants, little old lady, cottage, shirt, pumpkin head, afraid, forest
This week in speech we are reading The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams as part of our scarecrow theme. We will be talking about what materials you need to make a scarecrow (shirt, pants, gloves, hat, shoes) and what the job of a scarecrow is which will incorporate nicely with our story. This week we are working on retelling a story by combining words with motions. We will also work on sequencing, discussing what came first, second, third, and so on. Suggested activities to complete with your child to incorporate both language enhancing strategies and articulation practice include:
1. Here is a book entitled To Make a Scarecrow. Read the story to your child. Ask your child questions about the story, such as “What does the scarecrow wear on his feet?” Allow your child to tell the story back to you as well and allow them to ask you questions about the story- they love the opportunity to be the teacher. At the end, help your child sequence the materials that are needed to make the scarecrow.
2. Here is a worksheet that requires your child to match the clothing item/pumpkin head with its corresponding action. Once again, use this activity to encourage retell and correct sequencing and identification of materials. Also, ask wh questions along with this activity, such as “what did the pumpkin head do?” or “what did the shirt do?”
3. Make a scarecrow out of dress up clothes, worn out clothes, etc. Use this experience to work on sequencing as you and your child decide what needs to be done first, what needs to be done next, etc. Make this an interactive experience allowing your child to ask questions while you ask questions in return. Talk through what you are doing as you are doing it to model good language skills.
4. Have fun practicing the actions with the items.
5. Here are the vocabulary words for the unit. Practice expressing and identifying the words.
**Use these activities to practice articulation for target sounds and fluency skills. If your child says his/her target sound incorrectly, take the opportunity to repeat back what your child said and over emphasize the target sounds. Talk about how your child can HEAR the sounds produced and can LOOK in a mirror to watch their mouth produce the sounds. If your child has bumpy speech while completing an activity, practice with your child using smooth and slow, easy speech. Remind them to slow down when expressing their ideas to help increase fluent speech.
It is my pleasure to serve your child, if you have any questions, please contact me at [email protected].
Sarah Beckman M.Ed., CCC-SLP