We all know dragons are terrible, but this one is especially terrible. He scribbles in books. He steals candy from baby unicorns. He even burps in church. Seriously, who does that? Dragon, that’s who. The king, the knights, and the villagers are desperate to take down this beast once and for all. But sometimes it’s up to the unlikeliest of heroes to tame a dragon this terrible.
This clever dragon book can be used in speech therapy to target problem solving and sequencing. It is also great for inferencing, character analysis and for targeting a variety of /r/ sounds! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using Dragon Was Terrible in speech therapy below:
Frequent Speech Sounds:
/dr/ initial
/br/ initial
/r/ initial (reward, royal)
/air/ medial
Themes:
dragons
non-seasonal
Book Details:
Diverse Characters: Yes
Age Recommendation: Early Childhood, Elementary
Dragon Was Terrible
By Kelly DiPucchio
Key Teaching Concepts
Narrative Structure:
complete episode
Narrative Concepts:
vocabulary
problem solving
character analysis
sequencing
illustration study
inferencing
predicting
verbs (regular past tense)
text features
Sequencing:
order of attempts to try to tame Dragon
Vocabulary:
enough, brave, tame, reward, royal majesty, ordinary, bloke, lassie, determination, sketch, gasp, flinch
Character Analysis:
Dragon wants attention and goes around town causing trouble with no regard for the townspeople. Finally when a clever boy finds something to keep Dragon’s attention, Dragon settles down and enjoys a book with the townspeople.
Grammar:
verbs (regular past tense)
Text Features:
signs
bold text
italics
ellipses
capitals
enlarged text for emphasis
exclamation marks
questions marks
Inferencing:
How did everyone feel about Dragon?
Why do you think Dragon is ornery?
How does the king feel about Dragon?
Why do you think they all failed?
Why did the villagers want Dragon tamed?
Why did the ordinary townspeople fail?
Why did Dragon stop in his tracks?
Why is Dragon pretending to walk away?
How did the boy tame Dragon?
Predicting:
What do you think the king will do?
What could they do to tame Dragon?
Who do you think will try to tame Dragon next?
Do you think any of them will tame Dragon?
What do you think the boy with the feathered cap will do?
What do you think the boy is trying to get Dragon to do?
What do you think Dragon will do next?
What’s going to happen to Dragon in the tree?
What will Dragon want to do once on the ground?
Problem Solving:
The king and townspeople try to tame Dragon but don’t have any luck until one clever boy comes along.
