The Big Road Race
I admit, we originally bought this book because my son is obsessed with race cars. That and the Berenstain Bears rock. But it turned out to be a great book. A tortoise and the hare (edit: OOPS! I just caught a big homophone typo. Exactly the type that I hate because they make me look and feel uneducated.) style where the nice slow-poke ends up winning because of persistence. The rhyme and rhythm of this book make it a fluid and fun read. This is a great book for a bunch of speech therapy ideas as well.
Speech Therapy ideas:
1. Rhyming is an important early literacy skill. Have your child try to fill in the rhyming word as you read.
2. Practice prepositions. This book is full of them. Also descriptive attributes, including colors. What is the orange car like? Describe the green car.
3. Finally, speech sounds. This book is /r/ sound heaven. If your child has an inconsistent /r/ sound then have them say the /r/ words in the book: red, race, road, over, under, around, through, green.
My son much prefers listening to rhymes or singing. If i speak he puts his fingers in his ears!!
Great book idea.
I love Berenstain Bears!! And I love all the little tips you give every Monday. It’s so nice to have smart friends!!
Thanks for the ideas! I have one student in my room who is just starting speech. He also speaks Spanish at home and English at school.
I do a ton of rhyming activities/ centers, and games in my room.
I don’t love the Bears as much as you do, but I adore Junie B. Jones. Also George and Martha by James Marshall. A lot of kids books, though, I’m more than happy to forget.
I love your blog. Very cool concept.
Thanks for the tips, I’m going to keep them in mind and work on them!
My daughter loves the Berenstein Bears and the tips are great. She just recently finished speech therapy but is having some articulation problems since stopping. I will have to try your tips.
Okay, I officially have a crush on you. I’ve just contacted the school district for ideas for my (3.5 year old) daughter to get some speech therapy. (Maybe I can email you for ideas and specifics?)
Thanks, again, for the tip.
We have this book – I never realized how good it could be for our 5yo daughter (post-otitis auditory disorder – trouble getting words out and takes time to hear them also – due to numerous ear infections earlier). She struggles with /r/ sounds and has trouble picking out rhyming words also.
She loves books! There’s nothing like a great book and one-on-one time for learning!
Love your site -glad to have found it!
Andrea
I love this book too! Thanks for therapy ideas!