If You Give a Cat a Cupcake...

If you give a speech-language pathologist a book... they're going to ask for a book companion to go with it!

"Books provide a key vehicle for introducing children to new experiences." - Laura Justice & Khara Pence (Scaffolding with Storybooks: A Guide for Enhancing Young Children's Language and Literacy Achievement)

The world, for many of my students, does not extend beyond their street block. They have not been to zoos or carnivals, they have not seen a tractor or a rowboat, and they have not been on picnics or vacations. In my speech room, I bring the world to them through the use of books.

This week's Wild About Books spotlight is illuminating yet another Laura Numeroff book - If You Give a Cat a Cupcake. I love these books and not just because they're "cute." It amazes me how one tiny event, such as giving a cat a cupcake, opens the reader up to a whole new realm of possibilities. In this delightful read a girl gives a cat a cupcake and he proceeds to take her on a journey. They attend a karate class, go rowing, and even stop by the science museum! This book is perfect for building upon a child's world knowledge.

Of course, I had to create a book companion to support a variety of speech and language skills! It can be found here.

First up, this book is perfect for modeling correct /k/ production so I created some articulation cards! There are 36 articulation cards featuring /k/ in the initial, medial, and final position. These words were carefully chosen. Here's a peek at the delicious cards:

Next up, I had to include an activity that supports receptive language skills! This temporal direction card game is inspired by the book and features beach clip art. The cat goes to the beach in the book - which is a great opportunity to provide students with world knowledge about the beach. With this card game students simply draw cards and follow the given directions. If students follow the direction correctly they get to keep the card! The student with the most cards wins.... but don't forget your suntan lotion!

This book companion also features 18 comprehension cards that can be used alongside any activity or they can stand alone.

Sequencing Sprinkles! This activity is garnished with sprinkles! 6 cards scramble three events in the story and students must put the events in order. The other 12 cards provides a student with a task and they must explain the sequence of events that are needed to complete the task.

The last activity addresses categories. 12 of the cards provide students with a category and they must list category members and the other 12 cards give three category members and students must provide the category.

This companion also contains a cupcake themed game board!

I hope your speech room joins this cat in his adventures soon! Does this book companion interest you? Please leave a comment for a chance to win a FREE copy! I'll email the winner next Wednesday. Thanks for stopping by!