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speech and language teaching concepts for Ruby Bridges Goes to School: My True Story in speech therapy​ ​
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/bl/ initial
/sk/ initial
/ch/ initial

Themes:

Black History Month
Women’s History Month
kindness
friendship
bravery

Book Details:
Diverse Characters: Yes
Age Recommendation: Elementary, Late Elementary

Ruby Bridges Goes to School: My True Story

By Ruby Bridges

The extraordinary true story of Ruby Bridges, the first Black child to integrate a New Orleans school — now with simple text for young readers! In 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges walked through an angry crowd and into a school, changing history. This is the true story of an extraordinary little girl who became the first Black person to attend an all-white elementary school in New Orleans. With simple text and historical photographs, this easy reader explores an amazing moment in history and celebrates the courage of a young girl who stayed strong in the face of racism.

This powerful Black History Month book can be used in speech therapy to address social/emotional issues like kindness and bravery. It is also great for targeting inferencing.  Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using Ruby Bridges Goes to School: My True Story in speech therapy below: 

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode
autobiography
expository text

Narrative Concepts:

theme/message
character analysis
social/emotional
inferencing
verbs (regular and irregular past tense)
illustration study (real life photographs)

Vocabulary:

neighborhood, segregation, government, brave, etc.

Character Analysis:

Ruby was brave as she entered into a new environment at a school for white children. She remained brave even during the toughest of moments in the change of integration. Ruby loved her classmates and her teacher despite their differences and they loved her.

Social/Emotional:

kindness
bullying
bravery/courage
confidence
complex emotions (afraid, lonely, happy, etc)
friendship

Grammar:

verbs (regular and irregular past tense)

Inferencing:

How do you think Ruby felt when she went to the new school?
What made her feel afraid and lonely?
How did her new teacher make her feel?
Why did famous authors write about her and famous artists paint her story?
Why does Ruby teach others to be kind?