A small green inchworm is proud of his skill at measuring anything—a robin’s tail, a flamingo’s neck, a toucan’s beak. Then one day a nightingale threatens to eat him if he cannot measure his song. Children will enjoy the clever inchworm’s solution and delight in finding the tiny hero on every page.
This brave and clever bugs book can be used in speech therapy to target rich vocabulary and sequencing. It is also great for making inferences, describing and for targeting /m/, /b/, /zh/, /er/, and /ch/ sounds! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using Inch by Inch in speech therapy below:
Frequent Speech Sounds:
/m/ initial
/b/ initial
/zh/ medial (measure)
/er/ medial
/ch/ final
Themes:
bugs
non-seasonal
being clever
Book Details:
Diverse Characters: N/A
Age Recommendation: Early Childhood, Elementary
Inch by Inch
By Leo Lioni
Key Teaching Concepts
Narrative Structure:
complete episode
Narrative Concepts:
vocabulary
problem solving
sequencing
metric system
inferencing
theme/message
Sequencing:
order of things measured (robin’s tail, flamingo’s neck, toucan’s beak, heron’s leg, pheasant’s tail, hummingbird’s body, nightingale’s song)
order of birds (robin, flamingo, toucan, heron, pheasant, hummingbird, nightingale)
Vocabulary:
robin, gobble, inchworm, inch, twig, useful, emerald, measure, flamingo, toucan, heron, pheasant, camouflage, brave, clever
Grammar:
describe each animal and it’s parts
Inferencing:
How do you think the inchworm feels as he is about to get gobbled up?
Why do you think the robin wants its tail measured?
Why did the inchworm suggest that it is useful?
How do they feel as inchworm measures?
Why do you think the inchworm measured each specific part?
Why do you think nightingale wants its song measured?
Why do you think he can/can’t measure the nightingale’s song?
Why did the inchworm go into the tall grass?
Predicting:
Where do you think robin is going with the inchworm?
What other animals do you think they could measure?
How do you think the inchworm could measure the song?
How many inches do you think the nightingale’s song will be?
Where do you think the inchworm is going?
Do you think the inchworm got eaten or escaped? Why or why not?
Problem Solving:
An inchworm encounters a robin who wants to eat it. The inchworm convinces the robin that he is valuable because of his ability to measure. The inchworm avoids being eaten.
The inchworm encounters a nightingale who demands that the inchworm measure its song. However, the inchworm measures things, not songs. The inchworm is clever and agrees to do the impossible to avoid being eaten. The inchworm crawls away out of sight while pretending to measure what cannot be seen.
If you are interested in using Inch by Inch 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 Inch by Inch and other bug-themed books!
