I don't know of very many SLPs and educators who do not like the "There Was an Old Lady" series by Lucille Colandro. These are predictable stories are great for targeting rhyming, sequencing, cause/effect, vocabulary, etc. The latest in the series does not disappoint. If you don't have it yet, you can find it for $6.99 on Amazon.
"There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books" features the familiar old lady who eats some bizarre things. In this version, you can expect her to eat some school themed vocabulary including: some books, a pen, a pencil (case), a ruler, a folder, some chalk, and a bag.
Because of the vocabulary in this book (and skimming the pictures), you could easily use it to work on bilabial sounds (/p/, /b/, and /m/): books, pen, pencil, and bag. Words containing bilabials sounds are also easily found in the pictures: bus, puppy, bird, bone, bench, butterfly, bugs, bunny, park, boy, backpack, and mouse (yes, that was the only /m/ word I found!). I created some picture cards using Custom Boards that contain these bilabial sounds.
When I'm working with preschoolers, I like to use visuals and/or manipulatives with stories. When I use the "Old Lady" books, I typically draw a large picture of the Old Lady (she tends to look different in each story) and the objects that she eats. I attach the old lady to a container...shoe box, tissue box, milk carton. Whatever works for the size of the lady. Then I have the students "feed" the lady as I read the story. Here's my Old Lady for this story:
I wish my scanner was large enough to scan her for you, but it's not. I was able to scan the objects though.
Here are some of them in black & white and color. (Excuse my drawing/coloring...I'm not much of an artist!)
Check out Pinterest for some other cute ideas for this series.
- I loved this idea from The First Grade Parade using the writing prompt "If I were the old lady, I would eat..."
- Here's another great one from Eberhart's Explorers. It's designed for "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Clover," but could easily be adapted to this story.
- Head on over to Teaching Heart Blog for more printables (story telling pieces and dice game).
These are just a few ideas for the "Old Lady" books. There are too many great ideas out there for me to post all of them!
That concludes Back to School Week on Carrie's Speech Corner. Hope you found something you could use!!!
PS, Check out these other "Old Lady" Books on Amazon: