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speech and language teaching concepts for Clark the Shark in speech therapy​ ​
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/ar/ medial
/kl/ initial
/k/ initial, final
/sh/ initial

Themes:

back to school
ocean
impulsivity
mindfulness
regulation
perspective taking

Book Details:
Diverse Characters: N/A
Age Recommendation: Elementary

Clark the Shark

By Bruce Hale

Clark is a shark with zingbang, and BOOM. Clark zooms into school, crashes through the classroom, and is rowdy at recess. Clark loves life and always means well—but when his enthusiasm is too much for his friends, Clark’s teacher, Mrs. Inkydink, helps him figure out a way to tone it down.

This fun rhyming back to school and ocean book can be used in speech therapy to address social/emotional issues like self-regulation and perspective taking. It is also great for noticing character expressions and for targeting problem solving as well as for describing! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using Clark the Shark in speech therapy below:

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode

Narrative Concepts:

vocabulary  
theme/message
problem solving​
inferencing  
illustration study​
character analysis​
social/emotional​
text features​
adjectives
verbs (regular past tense)
phonological awareness​

Vocabulary:

bellow, rough, handle, fin, cool, shook up, instead, grin, tentacles, galore, breathless, settle

Character Analysis:

Clark gets really excited about everything and has a hard time staying cool. His classmates try to tell him when he isn’t staying cool but he has a hard time controlling himself until he comes up with some special rhymes.

Social/Emotional:

Clark struggles to control his impulses as well as take perspective to notice how his actions impact the other students.

Figurative Language:

idiom (cool your jets)

Grammar:

adjectives
adverbs (too, so)
verbs (action)
verbs (regular past tense)
verbs (present progressive)

Text Features:

italics
capitals
enlarged text

Phonological Awareness:

rhyming

Inferencing:

How does Clark feel about his life?
How does Clark feel as he goes about his day?
What do the other kids think about Clark?
What do you think his teacher wants him to do when she tells him to stay cool?
How do the others feel when Clark forgets to stay cool?
How did they feel when Clark used his rhymes?
What did everyone think about the new squid?
How did the squid feel when he broke the slide and swings?
How did he react when Clark gave him the advice?

Problem Solving:

Clark needs to come up with a plan to help him remember his tips and tricks for staying cool at school.

If you are interested in seeing other back-to- school books to use in therapy, then check out the Seasonal Teaching Points Book List for a printable copy.