Rock Chalk Speech Talk

Sharing Speech & Language Therapy Ideas!

  • Rock Chalk Speech Talk
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Free Resource Library

Preschool Circle Time Language Groups: PUMPKINS

Fall is in full swing, and with trips to the pumpkin patch likely on the horizon for many of our preschool kiddos!  I’ve seen questions come up often enough in the Facebook groups about whole group circle time language lessons in the preschool setting, so I wanted to start a series of posts to share fun and easy ideas in this area based on common preschool themes.  First up… pumpkins!

Materials needed:
-Book (“Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin”)
-Die cut pumpkins with 1, 2, or 3 step directions written on them OR
-Printable pumpkin pages with directions on them (see further down for the link to download)

Targets:
-Yes/No questions
-Where questions
-Prepositions
-Following directions
-Social interaction

Book: Duck and Goose Find a Pumpkin


I love this book because it’s short enough and simple enough for those groups of kids that have realllly short attention spans, and you can target yes/no questions and “where” questions throughout the book.

“Where is Goose?”
“Is the pumpkin in the apple tree?”

Follow-up Activity: Following Directions Pumpkin Patch

Note: While you are reading the book, have the classroom teacher or a para hide the paper pumpkins around the room in places the kids can easily see and access.  After reading the book, tell your kids that they’re going to all take turns to go to the “pumpkin patch” to find a pumpkin, just like Duck and Goose!

Activity targets: “where” questions, prepositions, following directions

Have your students one by one go find a pumpkin and bring it back to the circle. Ask them where they found it (under the table, on the chair, next to the bookshelf, on the table, on the floor, etc…) to target “where” questions and prepositions.

Next, read the directions and have them follow the two-step direction (or, modify as needed and give only one of the directions) on the pumpkin.  Afterwards, that student picks a peer, says their name, and tells them it’s their turn.  If you have nonverbal kids, give them pictures of two peers to choose from.  If that child is mobile, help them give the photo to the peer they chose.  Go around until everyone has had a turn to “drive” to the pumpkin patch and get a pumpkin.

Song: 
The other day, I heard one of the preschool teachers I work with use a song in her classroom that is perfect for this activity! The kids pretend they’re driving a tractor while you sing this song:

(to the tune of “Hurry, Hurry, Drive the Firetruck”): “My friend (name) is driving to the pumpkin patch, my friend (name) is driving to the pumpkin patch, my friend (name) is driving to the pumpkin patch, let’s see what (s)he finds!”

Some additional thoughts:
You can have just the child who found the pumpkin follow the direction once they get back to the circle, or have all of the students follow the direction– I think it really depends on the size of the group and how difficult transitions are.  If you have a lot of kids who have a really difficult time with transitions, following directions with steps where they get up from their chair or spot on the rug, such as “stand up” “turn around”/”spin around” or “take a bow” on repeated opportunities may be more than they can handle at this point in time.

On the other hand, having all of the students follow the directions keeps them involved with the activity throughout the whole duration, and if you’re counting this time as therapy minutes, you may be able to take data for following directions for multiple students at once.  Maybe mix and match– some directions only the “finder” follows, and others you have the whole group follow.

Free download:

If you don’t have access to a die-cut machine, or just want pre-made pumpkins, here are a couple options for you– blank pumpkins, pumpkins with directions, and pumpkins with QR codes if you want to incorporate technology.

If you use the QR codes, you can tell your kids that the pumpkins all have a “secret message” on it, which they are sure to love!  These are text-only, so you don’t need wifi to access the message.  I prefer the “QR Reader” free app.

Also included in the download are visuals for prepositions to help your kids describe where they found their pumpkin, as well as visuals for yes/no to go along with the book.

These also come in handy for your nonverbal kids to describe where they found the pumpkin– you can give them two choices, and, if they have a communication device, model the words on their device as applicable (such as “in” or “on”) afterwards (“You found it “ON” the table!”).

Grab the download here!

«
»

Filed Under: Uncategorized Leave a Comment

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe Via Email

Categories

Search

Latest on Instagram

3rd time’s a charm trying to post this 😆😅 3rd time’s a charm trying to post this 😆😅 Loving 10 Lucky Leprechauns for a St Patrick’s Day book for the littles— my own 2 year old has loved it and so did a lot of my preschoolers last week! 

Super similar in style to “10 Fat Turkeys” — each page adds a leprechaun doing a different action (great for -ing verb practice!) and has a fun repetitive line (“Fiddle de fizz, tis magic it is”) 

Use this book for /l/ and /f/ sound practice too, with your speech sound kids! 

For an easy no prep activity, have a character swing from a vine (pipe cleaner, ruler, string, etc) to a target card like one of the leprechauns in the book! We worked in s-blends too with “swing” and telling the leprechaun to “stop” 💚🍀
❄️ It’s the most wonderful time… of the ye ❄️ It’s the most wonderful time… of the year! ❄️ 
“Turkey Claus” is the best way to transition from Thanksgiving to a Christmas theme and no one will ever prove to me otherwise 😂 🦃 🎅 

And not to get ahead of ourselves, but… Did you know there’s a Valentine’s version coming out in a couple weeks, too?!
Turn your @learningresources sorting houses into s Turn your @learningresources sorting houses into spooky houses for trick or treating!

1️⃣ Decorate them with Halloween stickers (turn it into a speech sound trial reinforcer or following directions activity!)

2️⃣ Put candy mini erasers in the houses (or, make it a silly game and do categories! Put different categories of mini erasers or mini objects in the houses and have them give the trick or treater something from a named category)

3️⃣ Put a person in the house 

4️⃣ Pull up Knock Knock Trick or Treat from @supersimpleofficial on YT

5️⃣ Use Super Simple’s free character printables and use them to go trick or treating at each door! Practice things like predicting who comes next based on the shadow, WH questions, “he/she/they are….” and imitate actions from the characters on the video (steer the ship like a pirate, dance like a ballerina, etc!) 

So easy and minimal prep! Tag an SLP friend below who could use this idea! ⬇️
Who else loves Room on the Broom?! I love it for t Who else loves Room on the Broom?! I love it for the core vocabulary modeling opportunities, rhyming text, repetitive lines, and the great vocabulary used throughout the story! 

ROTB unit with all kinds of story printables is now available on TPT… grab it for your next 2 weeks of Halloween therapy! 🧙‍♀️🎃
🍎🍎 Therapy materials don’t have to have to 🍎🍎 Therapy materials don’t have to have to be fancy!

Grab a cup, stick some apples on, and you have yourself an apple tree for “10 Red Apples” (or any other apple book!)

Some of my kids just aren’t into paper materials so I needed something that would add a “3D”/tangible aspect to the tree besides just sticking paper apples on a paper tree.  This did the trick!

What other books would you use this apple tree with? 
🍎 🍏 🍎
Dressing up book characters is always a fave in pr Dressing up book characters is always a fave in prek! 

“Pirate Jack Gets Dressed” is short and sweet with rhyming text and a focus on clothing and body part vocabulary and colors! All great for the beginning of the year themes like colors, pirates (Talk Like a Pirate Day is on Monday!), and All About Me!

I sent these free story pieces to my email list last week but if you missed them, grab them with the link in my profile! ➡️ @rockchalkspeechtalk
Is this book in your ocean themed collection yet? Is this book in your ocean themed collection yet? I *finally* checked it out this summer and I’ve been using it with almost everyone!

This book works great for…

⭐️sp and sw blends (repeated lines “I spy” and “Swim away”)

⭐️long a sound (“way” is repeated on every page) and I used “hey!” instead of “hello!” on each page

⭐️ Bilabials: I seem to always have 1-2 kids these last few years working on bilabials! “Me” is on every page, and you can use “bye” instead of “see ya later” on each page, too. The last page has tons of bilabials! (up up up, deep, mama (x3), me)

⭐️initial /d/ if you have a backer (down and deep are repeated on each page)

⭐️CV words “hi” and “me” (and “bye” if you use that instead of see ya later

⭐️Core words: down, in, I, see, look, me, go (when I pair with a sensory bin, I also use “like” “get” and “out”

⭐️Repetitive Lines: Makes it more engaging when the kids can chime in and “read” it with you!

⭐️Verbs: I love a book that has actions to act out on each page! Movement always helps keep my kids’ attention in sessions and especially at circle time in a bigger group!

⭐️Describing the ocean animals

⭐️Comparing and Contrasting ocean animals

Literacy based therapy is the easiest way to structure therapy sessions- centering it around a book always sparks ideas for play activities to use with and after the book to work on goals, too!
A Camping Spree with Mr Magee is always one of my A Camping Spree with Mr Magee is always one of my go-to books for a camping theme! 

⭐️ Full of s-blends and initial /k/ opportunities, it’s a great choice for when you have to have mixed speech and language groups (and who doesn’t have kids working on those sounds?!)

⭐️ Lots of opportunities for pronoun + be verb + -ing verb structure sentences, and regular past tense verbs, too!

⭐️ Lots of AAC core word modeling opportunities

⭐️ Multiple opportunities for “why” questions which aren’t always easy to come by!

⭐️ Rhyming text that has a great flow to it— especially love this during whole group!

⭐️ annnnd they make s’mores in the book, which is *obviously* a necessity in any camping theme 😂

Take a look at the mini unit with printables you can use for circle time and small group therapy- I just updated it so redownload from TPT if you already own it! I added ingredient icons and sequencing/retell pictures for the science experiment, 3 sets of Cariboo cards, and basic concept play dough mats for this unit to help you have even more of your goals covered with super easy planning!

We “packed the camper” at circle time this week and it was a hit! Easily adaptable for different language skills, too— Target receptive id or identifying based on descriptors like function, appearance, location, etc! 

Find it on TPT with the link in profile ➡️ @rockchalkspeechtalk

Copyright © 2023 · Website Design By Jumping Jax Designs