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using Hank's Big Day in speech therapy
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/h/ initial
/m/ medial
/kr/
/kl/
/fl/

Themes:

spring
friendship
nature
imagination
bugs

Book Details:
Diverse Characters: Yes
Age Recommendation: Early Childhood, Elementary

Hank’s Big Day

By Evan Kuhlman

Perfect for reading aloud, this spare, charming picture book about a day in the life of a pill bug in suburbia is also about an unusual friendship. Hank is a pill bug with a busy life—for a pill bug, that is. His daily routine involves nibbling a dead leaf, climbing up a long stick, avoiding a skateboarder, and playing pretend with his best friend, a human girl named Amelia, in her backyard. And when day is done, Hank likes nothing better than returning home to his cozy rock.

This adorable spring book can be used in speech therapy to address sequencing. It is also great for illustration study and targeting adjectives and verbs! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using Hank’s Big Day in speech therapy below: 

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

action sequence
circular narrative

Narrative Concepts:

vocabulary​
theme/message
sequencing
illustration study
adjectives
verbs (third person singular)
text features​​​
prepositional phrases

Sequencing:

order of Hank’s daily routine including the things he passes and does

Vocabulary:

pill bug, crawl, shimmy, nibble, cricket, worm, curious, weird, industrious, grasshopper, exercise, scoot, lumbers, pothole, shay, inspect, comfort, trudges, hero, Amelia Earhart, helmet, aboard, copilot, brave, daring, moss, gaze, friendship, trek

Grammar:

adjectives
verbs (third person singular)
prepositional phrases

Text Features:

arrows
change in font
change in text size
exclamation mark
speech bubble

If you are interested in using Hank’s Big Day and other bug-themed books in speech therapy, then check out these print-&-go cheat sheets. Perfect for when you don’t need a full book companion. 

Check out our 14 minute podcast episode, Our Favorite Bug-Themed Picture Books in Speech Therapy for more ideas on Hank’s Big Day and other bug-themed books!