Rock Chalk Speech Talk

Sharing Speech & Language Therapy Ideas!

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

If You Take a Mouse to School Push In Activities

We all know “If You Take a Mouse to School” is a classic start-of-the-year book. It’s an easy go-to, but, if we’re being honest- sometiiiimes…. those favorite go-tos, after you read them over and over, get a little stale, right?

Well, if you’re looking for some fresh, new ideas to use with this book for circle time in the preschool classroom- you’re in the right place!

Let’s get started with 3 ideas for whole group!

1. Object box

Using an object box/manipulatives to go with your story is one of the easiest ways to keep your kids engaged in the story- for some kids who typically need a sensory/fidget toy to stay with the group, having an object from the story to hold can work for them, too! (Chat with your OT if you need to problem-solve this!)

You can use an object box like this to target object functions and vocabulary while you read.  As you come across the items in the story, have your students take turns finding them from the box.

As an example… “If you take a mouse to school, he’ll ask you for your…. Does anyone know what this is? (“a lunchbox!”) . You’re right! A lunchbox. Johnny, can you come find the lunchbox? Raise your hand if you know what you do with a lunchbox.”

At the end, you can use the objects to help your students retell the story in order.
Example:

 “Who remembers what Mouse wanted first?”
(‘a lunchbox’)
“Who has the lunchbox? Come bring it to the front”

“What happens when you give him a lunchbox? He wants a…”
(“sandwich!”)
“You’re right! Who has the sandwich? Come put it next to the lunchbox”

“What else did he put in his lunchbox?”
(cookies, a notebook, pencils)
“If you have cookies, a notebook, or pencils, put them next to the sandwich”

and so on and so forth!

Object boxes are also a great way to adapt a book for your kids who have visual impairments. Instead of using the box with the whole class, you can use the box just with the student who has a visual impairment, and have a classroom para give them the object to look at/feel/hold as they come up while you read the story.

2.   Science experiment!

If you follow me on Instagram, you know how much I love doing simple science experiments as a group activity with a book- I’ve found it keeps even my most wiggly kids with attention difficulties engaged with the group!

Lucky for me, Mouse does a little experiment of his own in this book, SO… why not follow in Mouse’s shoes and do the same?!

Grab some baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring (if you want!) and make your own ‘explosion!’

You can either have a bin full of baking soda and take turns pouring vinegar and watch it bubble (see above) or take turns pouring baking soda into a bottle with a funnel, and then pour the vinegar in, to make an overflowing bottle!

3.  Yoga

I first tried this probably 5 years ago with one of my kids whose attention to task was one of his biggest hurdles, and it was such a huge success that I started using it whenever I read this book with other kids/groups!

I’m not sure how I thought of this idea- it just kinda struck me one day while looking at the pictures that Mouse was in a lot of positions that looked like yoga positions. 

Maybe I was doing a lot of yoga at the time? Ha- I don’t know!

Because it’s a book activity I love so much, I want to help YOU implement it in your groups, too! So, I made a free download for you.

It includes 12 full-page slides with yoga poses to pull up on your iPad or to project through the AppleTV/whatever smart board system the classroom has, AND small yoga position visuals you can tape inside the book on the corresponding pages.

(Worried about ripping the pages if it’s taped on and you take it off? Try washi tape or painter’s tape!)

The small ones within the book are great for doing the yoga positions while you read, during small group or individual therapy.  The full page visuals are super helpful for a whole class to see when you’re doing this for circle time in the classroom!  

The large visuals are in order of when they appear in the book, and the small visuals in the book also serve as a reminder of when to go to the next slide if you’re using both the large visuals and the book simultaneously!


So, what do you think? Did you get some new ideas for circle time? Ready to try some yoga? Click here for your FREE yoga visuals!

«
»

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