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speech and language teaching concepts for Dear Dinosaur in speech therapy​ ​
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/r/ initial
/ks/ final
/ear/ final
/or/ final
/d/ initial
/s/ medial

Themes:

dinosaur
letter writing

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

Dear Dinosaur

By Chae Strathie

Max and his favourite T. Rex are back with a bang in this gorgeous follow-up to DEAR DINOSAUR. When Max visits his friend, the mighty T.Rex, at the museum, he’s disappointed to learn that T.Rex is no longer there. Instead, he’s halfway around the globe on a tour of the world. Max decides to write his missing friend a letter and, once again, his faithful friend writes back – this time from locations all across the globe. Dinosaur fans will love this interactive picture book with fold-out letters and cards to open and dinosaur facts to discover.

This fun, letter-writing dinosaur book can be used in speech therapy to address social concepts. It is also great for noticing illustrations and for predicting! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using Dear Dinosaur in speech therapy below:

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode 

Narrative Concepts:

vocabulary
illustration study
predicting
text features
social skills concepts

Vocabulary:

reply, impressive, embarrassing, keen, imagine, fossils, whoppers

Social/Emotional:

How was T. Rex being rude in his letter?
Why is T. Rex embarrassed about what he use to eat?
How did Max relate to T. Rex?
What questions did he ask based on T. Rex’s reply?
How are T. Rex’s letters changing? (notice that they are becoming more personal, notice his closing statements, more interested in Max, and how he starts adding drawings).

Figurative Language:

“your legs should have turned to jelly”

Text Features:

letters
change in text styles (hand-written, typed)
enlarged text
ellipses
ALL CAPS
exclamation points
facts

Inferencing:

Why don’t T. Rex and Triceratops avoid talking about food?
Why do you think the fish are not keen?
Why do you think T. Rex would prefer to not have a sausage unless it was the size of a house?
Who do you think is writing to Max? Do you think it really is T. Rex?
Why do you think T. Rex thought to convince Triceratops to wear a tutu? (notice Max’s drawing)
How big of a sandcastle do you think T. rex could build? Why?

Predicting:

What questions do you think Max wants to ask T. Rex?
Do you think Max will write to T. Rex?
Do you think the T. Rex will write back?
What do you think T. Rex eats?
What do you think T. Rex’s favorite bath toy is?
Where do you think he bathes?
What do you think Max gave T. Rex for his birthday?
What do you think T. Rex will do with Max’s tooth?
Where do you think the best place is to dig for fossils?
What do you think will happen when Max gets to the museum?

If you are interested in seeing other dinosaur books to use in therapy, then check out the Themed Key Teaching Points Book List for a printable copy.