Amelia Bedelia

I have been neglecting my blog lately with all the business that goes with the end of the school year.  I am looking forward to summer, but will be working with a few kids for ESY.  I've been meaning to write this post for a while, but everything else seems to have gotten in the way.  If you follow my blog at all, you probably know that I LOVE using books in therapy, and I also love sharing my favorites with you.  This year, I've been working on getting my collection organized by target language skill to help me plan lessons based on IEP goals.

These are just some of the books I have in the series.  There are tons of them!  You'll have to pick which ones are most practical for the skills you are trying to teach.

 Amelia Bedelia books are some of my favorites for working with multiple meaning words and idioms.  They are a great way to explore your students thinking when you start working on them.  I've had students who recognize that she's doing silly things, but can figure out the right thing to do.  Other students insist that she is doing exactly what is asked, and even though they can identify that some of the things are silly, they can't figure out why other people would get mad a her.  Still more kids can't define the words or idioms and realize that it's funny and why.  I like this peek into my students thinking because it helps me identify where I need to start teaching idioms and multiple meaning words.  Does my student just need to memorize the meanings and practice the words?  Or do we need to add the step of critical thinking to help the student understand that not everything is literal.

When first reading the books, I ask some of the following questions:
Is Amelia Bedelia following directions? Why or why not?
What else could she do when given that direction?
Does that make sense?
What would you do?
Is that funny?
Why is that funny?
Does that seem like something you should do?
Can you think of something that would make more sense?

After we've already done one book, I have students keep track of the words/phrases that Amelia Bedelia is getting wrong.  Depending on the level, my students keep their own list or we keep a list as a group.  Because many of the books were written years and years ago, I will chose some of the words to focus on for practice based on current use of words and practicality in their lives.

I have found that individual books in the series focus more on idioms and others on multiple meaning words.

The original Amelia Bedelia focuses more on multiple meaning words.

The book, Amelia Bedelia Bakes off has a lot baking related idioms, along with some multiple meaning words.

I do the Amelia Bedelia books with my 4th through 6th graders this year.  The reading level makes it easy to access for even my struggling readers.  There are even lower levels than the traditional books that have been written more recently.  These feature Amelia Bedelia as a kid.  I'm planning on doing these with one of my students who is going into 3rd grade next year.

Do you use these books in therapy?  What do you do?

National Geographic Easy Readers

I'm always looking for ways to connect my classroom to things that are going on in the general education classroom.   As every speech therapist knows, this can be extremely challenging - multiple grade levels, multiple needs/IEP goals, and different teachers doing different things at the same time within the same grade.   My school is also an IB world school, so there are themed units that build on each other from grade to grade as the kids progress through elementary school.

My latest find for connecting to the curriculum is National Geographic Easy Reader books.  I've been using the animal books to get the big ideas of habitat, predator and prey across to my second graders for the past few weeks.  There are also other non-fiction titles that would connect well to other units.  I've been using the books with my second graders, and lower third graders.  I don't have any first graders right now, but would also use the books with that grade level.

I love these books.  My kids are very interested in the different animal pictures (and they are great ones) and learning about non-fiction in general.  I also can get some great non-fiction comprehension questions as well as practice working on inference skills throughout the books.  One of my biggest inference areas is when the author talks about what certain animals like, we make inferences about what they don't like.  The books also have great vocabulary for targeted areas.  My second graders are learning about animals right now and some of their key words are habitat, predator and prey.  The key vocabulary words are highlighted in the text with a pop out word + definition, and then reviewed at the end of the book.  I really like this, since as we all know, our students need so many more times hearing and seeing a word to learn it. 

I've found that both levels 1 and 2 are great for single speech session lessons, while level 3 books usually take 2 days with some review time on the second day.  I also don't read the books word for word, after a few trips through, I'm paraphrasing.  I skip over some parts and spend lots of extra time on other parts.

Oops! A book for Cause and Effect

I haven't been posting very much lately.  Before my spring break last week, I attended a training on inclusion and have been rolling many ideas around in my head about how I want to structure things in my speech room in the future, and in particular how to focus on vocabulary.  Vocabulary can be paralyzing in many ways.  What words do I work on?  How do I choose my words?  How do I write measurable goals for my students?  I've come to the conclusion that anything is better than nothing, and as we know, planned vocabulary teaching is much better than anything we do on the fly so I need to do some good, vocabulary units that go beyond describing and comparing in the future.  I've got stacks of things on my desk at work and my kitchen table, and the ears of the teacher coach, literacy coaches.  Now I have to figure out where to go from here.  Thematic units?  Focus higher level sight words?  Focus on Tier II words?

What are your vocabulary needs?

Now!  On to a therapy idea for today, or in my case the last few weeks.

I very often use books in therapy with my students.  I find that I can work on many, many skills with picture books, and I thought I'd share one of my favorites for cause and effect with you all!  I'd recommend it with kids in grades 4, 5, 6, and 7.  Younger kids may enjoy the pictures and parts of the story, but can struggle with some of the vocabulary involved. (and there is that word again!)

Oops by Jean-Luc Fromental is available on Amazon.

The entire book is a series of events precipitated by someone losing a bar of soap, that prevent a family from reaching the airport in time to go on vacation.  The bar of soap starts it all and each subsequent even is caused by the previous one.  My students have loved the graphic style of the illustrator (my 6th graders who did the book with with this week discussed the difference between author and illustrator so much that I think they finally have the difference down).  I really like in the story how each effect because the next cause and we can discuss how things can be both causes and effects. 

The book takes place in France (I'm picturing Paris in my head as I read it) and is a great way to expand your students minds about international things and people in different countries.  I'm at an International Baccalaureate World School so anytime we can discuss the different parts of the world is a great bonus.

At the end of the book there is a long description of causes and effects throughout the entire book.  If you get the book, I recommend reading this a few times before doing the book in therapy since not all causes and effects are super-clear in the story and pictures.  I think for future years, I'm going to shell out for a color copy so we can follow along with the page before reading the book.

What are your vocabulary needs?
What are your favorite picture books to teach?

Also, 20% off all items in my TPT store tomorrow and Monday and many other SLP sellers are having sales, so it's a great time to clear out your wish lists and stock up on some great products!