The Grumpy Dump Truck

In Class:
This week in class we read The Grumpy Dump Truck! (My APPLE class read My Truck is Stuck, we will be reading the Grumpy Dump Truck in a few weeks)


This book can be kind of hard to find, but some libraries have it. Walmart also has it. We read it to find out why the dump truck was so grumpy. We talked about things that make us grumpy, and what we do to feel better.

At Home:
Print off a copy of the dump truck. Color it in and make it your own! Is it grumpy or happy?? Print and cut out the target word pictures. Glue the pictures inside (or around) the dump truck. Say each word 5 times, and then say a sentence about each word, before gluing it on. Once they are all in the dump truck, make up a story about all the items in your dump truck!

Go Away Big Green Monster

In Class:
This week in class we read the book Go Away Big Green Monster!!

After reading the book, we also did a fingerplay/puppet where we did the whole story by putting all the pieces on and taking them off. The kids were good at remembering what came next and great at using the /g/ sound on all the "go away" parts!

Everyone got a chance to put up there name on the Question of the Day board. Each class was about half and half- some were scared of the Big Green Monster and others knew he was just some "Spooky Fun" :)

In APPLE class, we also made our own Green Monsters to eat. As we ate the parts, we said for example, "Go Away, (ears)" and ate the ears. We enjoyed our yummy treats! Thank you Miss Marcia!

Home Activity:

Make a puppet with this template and a paper lunch bag. Have your child color the monster however they like. You can have your monster eat the target word cards. Or you can hide your monster and then when someone finds it you can tell him to GO AWAY, and have someone else hide and find him. 

There is a cute animation/song of the book here:

Goodnight Gorilla Activity

In Class:
This week we are working on the /g/ sound. We are reading Goodnight Gorilla!

After reading, we re-enacted the story with the children taking turns being different characters. They had to work on sequencing the story events and also re-told the story.

At centers, they got to find the keys that matched each gate and open them. There were animals inside to let out, just like in our story! Receptive and expressive language skills were targeted during this activity through answering questions, requesting and describing.

We also read "My G Book" about Little G who finds things to put into her G sound box. We practiced each target word multiple times using our good /g/ sound. This book was great auditory bombardment, and the activity was excellent articulation drill and practice as we talked about all the things she found in the book.

During centers we found items in our /g/ sensory bin and practiced each target word multiple times. We also used flashcards to target additional speech sounds.

At Home:
We have two activities this week. For the first one, print off either the color or black and white version of the characters from the cards. Cut them out and glue them on popsicle sticks (if you wish). Use them as stick puppets to re-enact the story from Goodnight Gorilla. Make sure to say "Goodnight ______" on each page, using your good /g/ sound!

 For the memory game activity, print off two copies of each of the following two pages. Cut out the target words and gorillas into square cards. Glue the target words onto the back of the Gorillas, so you can see the gorillas on one side, and the target words on the others. You should have a set of cards that you can play a matching game with, or even Go Gorilla (Go Fish)!

Goodnight Gorilla

We are reading Goodnight Gorilla in class and working on initial /g/ words. Print off 2 pages of each: gorillas and pictures. Cut the pictures out and glue them on the back of the gorillas. Cut around the gorillas as a square in order to make them cards.

You can play memory with your cards (the "matching game") where you lay them face down on the table and flip over two at a time to find matches. Or you can play Go Gorilla (Go Fish)! Make sure you are modeling the good /g/ sounds in every word, and make your children say them with their good /g/ sound.

Thanks to my favorite co-SLP Colie for making these amazing pictures! You can find other great speech activities on her speech blog.

Go Away Big Green Monster

Build a monster, just like the one we read about! Here are the pages to print off. There is an example of what the monster should look like in the corner of the page with the body/face.

You and your child can take turns hiding the monster and letting the other person find it. When you find it, say "Go away big green monster!" and then the person who found it will hide it again. While you're playing, you can talk about the monster's body parts and colors (ex. "look at his yellow eyes! What color are his eyes??").

For older kids (or for more of a challenge), print off 2 copies of a page from my blog with words that have your child's target sound. Play a matching game and when you find a match that means its your turn to hide the monster for the other person to find. 

Cows Can't Fly Activity

Activity 1: Make a paper bag cow- glue the head to one side and tail to the other so that it can stand up. Cut out all the words on the next two pages. Practice saying each word with your child with their good /k, g/ and /t, d/ sounds at the beginning of the word. If you say the first sound at the front of your mouth (/t, d/) then put the word in front of the cow. If you say the first sound at the back of your mouth (/k, g/) then put the word in back of the cow. If this is too difficult, just have them say the word with their good sound and put it in the bag.

Activity 2: Print the last two pages (the cow, and the tails and words). Glue a word to the back of each tail, and have your child color the cards. To play, hide the tails all over the room. When your child finds one, have them say the word on the back, and then stick the tail on the cow! You can blindfold to make it more silly :)

G initial words