Bats at the Speech....Room!

Welcome to another edition of Wild About Books Wednesday. We're going to get a little batty today! For some reason, I've always loved bats! So when I ran across some adorable bat clip art over at Scrappin' Doodles I knew I had to make a book companion for one of my favorite books - Bats at the Beach by Brian Lies. I usually use this book near the end of the school year (after spring break) and it is just too much fun!

You can find this book companion in my Teachers Pay Teachers store, here. 

If you have students who are working on phonological awareness, particularly rhyming, this is definitely a book to feature during therapy. The entire story is written in an AABB rhyme scheme to ensure a bombardment of rhymes.

The first activity in this book companion is a memory-type rhyme game. Flip all of the batterific cards upside down on your speech table and have students hunt for rhyming matches. The cards are somewhat self-checking, as words that rhyme use the same exact bat. Here's a sample:

A midnight trip to the beach isn't complete without some s'mores made with bug-mallows! These fun comprehension cards feature s'more clip art and provide students with practice answering questions and making self-to-text connections.

What's in the beach house? Students can help the bats figure out what's lurking inside these cute little beach houses! Simply have students draw a riddle card and try to figure out what is being described. If they find a seagull they get to take an extra turn.

Another great thing about this book is that it does feature some non-fiction details, such as bats love snacking on bugs. The bats have a few treats at the beach, which inspired my next card game - Bugged Out Directions! Students draw a direction card and follow either a temporal or conditional direction. Watch out, don't become a bug-mallow!

Beachy Multiple Meanings! This activity is designed to promote vocabulary development. Students take turns drawing cards and providing at least two meanings for the provided word. Students get to keep the card if they are successful, but if they draw a "oops.. forgot your moon-tan lotion card" they lose their cards!

Lastly, I designed another phonological awareness activity. These cards can be used in conjunction with any game or can stand alone. Student draws a card and must delete the initial phoneme to create an entirely new word. An example probe would be, "If you take away the /b/ from boat, what new word will you have?" Here is a sample:

If you already have this book - this companion will really spice up your lesson plans! If you haven't used this book as a therapy tool - run to the library or bookstore immediately! You'll love it.

Go batty and enjoy!

~Scarlett