fbpx
using Groundhog Gets a Say in speech therapy
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/g/ initial and final (Groundhog)
/skw/ initial (squirrel)
/kr/ inital (crow)

Themes:

Groundhog’s Day
appreciation

Book Details:
Diverse Characters: N/A
Age Recommendation: Elementary, Late Elementary, Middle School

Groundhog Gets a Say

By Pamela Curtis Swallow

There’s so much more to being a groundhog than just putting on a show once a year, and Groundhog has decided it’s time to tell the world the Hog truth. With the help of a few of his fans, Groundhog is ready to tell everything about himself, from how loud he can whistle (loud), to how fast he can run (not fast), to how many things he uses his teeth for (a lot). Groundhog may be full of himself, but chances are good that, by the end of this book, you’ll agree he’s pretty wonderful! From the illustrator of the Junie B. Jones books and the author of the Melvil & Dewey books comes a funny, fact-filled look at what happens when one very proud groundhog speaks out.

This snarky and sarcastic Groundhog’s Day book can be used in speech therapy to address inferencing, character analysis, and figurative language. It is also great for illustration study and noticing character expressions and for targeting facts about groundhogs as well as for describing! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using Groundhog Gets a Say in speech therapy below: 

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode
expository text

Narrative Concepts:

vocabulary
illustration study
character analysis
figurative language
adjectives
verbs (action)
text features
inferencing

Vocabulary:

appreciation, mound, piggyness, hog, burrow, rodents, marmots, fan, predator, periscope, “caller ID”, dandelion, cloves, gnaw, related, hibernating, chamber, disturb, slumber, mate, cycle, admit, talents

Character Analysis:

Groundhog explains all of the neat things he can do and finally captures the interest of squirrel and crow when he explains hibernation.

How would you describe the personality of the crow and squirrel at the beginning of the story?
How would you describe the personality of the crow and squirrel at the end of the story?

Figurative Language:

idioms (big news, full of himself, big head, pig out, old crow, you’re the hog)
simile (like a blimp with legs)

Grammar:

adjectives
verbs (action)

Text Features:

facts
dialogue
change in text size
ellipses
dashes
exclamation marks

Inferencing:

Why does Groundhog think there should be a Groundhog Appreciation Month?
How does he feel about being “big news” for only a day?
How do the other animals feel about him complaining?
What do they think about Groundhog?
How does the journalist feel about the others saying things about Groundhog?
What did crow mean when he said “you can pick your friends but not your family”?
How did squirrel feel about being related to Groundhog?
Why did he say his nose is like a “caller ID”?
How does squirrel feel about listening to Groundhog talk all about himself?
What about the journalist?
How did the crow and squirrels feelings and thoughts change about the Groundhog at the end?
What about the journalist?