Er. mah. gersh. Berks!!

Today, I just wanted to share some of the books that I like to use on a regular basis in therapy.  I mostly use these with my preK and younger grades or even my mentally disabled students.  I’ve also included any activities or companion packs that I could find around blogland to go with them!

Check out my top 10 anytime books for the little bitties!  {Besides Biscuit books, of course}

1.  Polar Bear, Polar Bear

This book is probably my non-verbal student’s favorite!  He always goes to find it when he comes into my room.  Naturally if it motivates him to communicate, I’m more than willing to use it!  Here are some cool links for ideas on how to incorporate it into therapy:
Companion pack from Speech Room News
I Spy Polar Bear Style from Just Wright Speech
I also have this set from Lakeshore.  Unfortunately, it’s discontinued.  I love it because the books are big and come with lots of little props.

2.  Silly Sally

Silly Sally is great for teaching kids sequencing, verbs, vocabulary, and concepts like upside down.  I have the props for this one that came in the Lakeshore pack as well.  However, I am definitely in need of a preschool companion pack for this book.  (Hmm…I think I smell a new activity brewing!)  You can also check out these cute freebie ideas for Silly Sally from SpeechTimeFun.  Love these!

3.  Where’s Spot

Who doesn’t love Spot?  This is a favorite of lots of my little ones.  They especially love lifting the flaps and finding the animals.  I like to work on yes/no questions, prepositions, vocabulary, and following directions.  Linguisystems has a great activity book for several different stories and it includes a unit for Where’s Spot.
You can also check out this post from Carrie’s Speech Corner for some more awesome ideas on how to incorporate this book into your sessions!  🙂

4.  If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (of course)

This is an obvious one because it’s a common go-to book to teach basic concepts, cause and effect, conditional phrases, answering questions, and just about anything.  Check out these fabulous activities and ideas to go along with this book:
THIS post and THIS companion pack from Speech Room News
THIS companion pack from MoLo’s Speech Blog
THIS companion pack from Speech Time Fun
THIS companion pack from Speech Universe that’s centered around phonemic awareness

5.  The Very Hungry Caterpillar

This is another popular one by Eric Carle.  Kids absolutely love this one and it’s perfect for spring time!   It’s great for sequencing, vocabulary, categories (bugs, plants, fruit, etc.), and simple cause/effect.  Here are some cutesie activities to go along with this fun book:
Ideas from The Speech Ladies
Fun ideas from Speech Lady Liz
Activities from Speech Room News
This companion pack from Putting Words in Your Mouth

6.  The Very Busy Spider

I love The Very Busy Spider!  It’s probably my favorite Eric Carle book.  I know I know…but it’s just so cute and I can manipulate it to target several goals.  It’s great for teaching animal vocab, verbs, sequencing, and wh questions.  I also have the kids find the “fly” on each page and tell me where it is using prepositions.  There aren’t too many packs for this one out there, so I’m putting it on my to-do list for sure!
Making Learning Fun has a few printables to go along with this book.
There are also some cute little activities from Communication Station 🙂

7.  Sheep in a Jeep

I really like using Sheep in a Jeep to work on phonological awareness.  It’s got lots of rhyming words and kids can really interact well with it.  We talk about the different words and I try and get them to manipulate some of the sounds (i.e. say “sheep” now change the “sh” to “J”).  You can also work on answering questions and talk about new vocabulary.
Here is a cute packet from Speech Room News that can go along with this book.
Here are more ideas for this book from If I Only Had Superpowers.
This book is also one that is included in Linguisystems Activities for Young Learners.

8.  Rosie’s Walk

I started using Rosie’s Walk in grad school when my preschool supervisor had us make speech/language companion props and materials to accompany it.  It’s such a cute little book and perfect for teaching prepositions, naming farm vocabulary, and naming verbs.  I just have some little make-shift props to use with it, but check out a couple of great ideas from my fellow bloggers:
Lots of cute ideas from Speech Room News
Here is a really cute craft from First Grade Parade

9.  Go Away Big Green Monster

If you have students that are working on identifying body parts, you’ve got to find a copy of this book.  It specifically targets facial and head features.  It’s also really good for interaction and eliciting words.  I encourage my kiddos to “talk” to the monster and tell him to “go away” or say “bye-bye” to the different body parts.  There are lots of adjectives and color concepts that can be targeted as well.  I actually own THIS cute puppet kit from Lakeshore that we use to retell the story and talk about vocab.
Here are some awesome ideas on how to use this book in your sessions:
Activities from Carrie’s Speech Corner
Ideas from [simply speech] 
Cute craft from Speech Therapy with Miss Nicole
A few activities from Making Learning Fun

10.  Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs

My little preK boys absolutely adore this book.  That is fine with me because they are both targeting basic concepts, which Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs is just full of.  I also use it to focus on naming verbs and answering simple wh questions.  One good thing about it is you could really pair any dinosaur themed activity with it, and it’d be appropriate.  I like THIS activity from communication station that works on wh questions and THESE cute artic cards from Liz’s Speech Therapy.

What do you think?  I’d love to hear some of your favorite therapy books…or even how you use some of these books in your rooms!  🙂