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speech and language teaching concepts for Mercy Watson to the Rescue in speech therapy​
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/l/ initial
/s/ initial
/er/ medial and final
/s/ medial
/ts/ medial
/sh/ initial
/j/ medial (Eugenia)
/st/ final (toast)

Themes:

miscellaneous

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

Mercy Watson to the Rescue

By Kate DiCamillo

To Mr. and Mrs. Watson, Mercy is not just a pig — she’s a porcine wonder. And to the portly and good-natured Mercy, the Watsons are an excellent source of buttered toast, not to mention that buttery-toasty feeling she gets when she snuggles into bed with them. This is not, however, so good for the Watsons’ bed. BOOM! CRACK! As the bed and its occupants slowly sink through the floor, Mercy escapes in a flash – “to alert the fire department,” her owners assure themselves. But could Mercy possibly have another emergency in mind — like a sudden craving for their neighbors’ sugar cookies? Welcome to the wry and endearing world of Mercy Watson — an ebullient character for early chapter-book readers in a series that’s destined to be a classic.

This fun picture book can be used in speech therapy to address character analysis. It is also great for targeting figurative language and a variety of grammar concepts, such as complex sentence structures and adjectives! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using Mercy Watson to the Rescue in speech therapy below: 

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode

Narrative Concepts:

vocabulary
complex sentence structure
verbs (mental state)
verbs (regular past tense)
verbs (third person singular)
adjectives
inferencing
predicting
sequencing
character analysis
text features
figurative language

Sequencing:

order of events leading to Mr. and Mrs. Watson being rescued

Vocabulary:

warm, toast, bright, opinion, crisis, snout, scowled, dashing, emergency, alerted, prefer, great deal, snuffled, recalled

Character Analysis:

Mercy is a pet pig who loves Mr. and Mrs. Watson, but also loves a stomach full of tasty food.
Eugenia is one of Mercy’s neighbors. Eugenia has strong opinions and makes them known, including that Mercy belongs on a farm. She was good in crisis. She doesn’t like when Mercy is in her yard.
Mr. and Mrs. Watson love and adore Mercy. They believe she is bright enough to seek out help in an emergency situation. They celebrate her and spoil her.

Figurative Language:

personification
metaphor
simile
onomatopoeia

Grammar:

adverbs
complex sentence structure
verbs (mental state)
verbs (regular past tense)
verbs (third person singular)
adjectives

Text Features:

large text for onomatopoeias
exclamation points
question marks
dialogue
italics for thought and onomatopoeia

Inferencing:

How do you think Mr. and Mrs. Watson feel about Mercy?
How do you think Mr. and Mrs. Watson feel about Mercy sneaking into their bed?
Why does Baby agree with everything Eugenia says?
What does it imply when it says that Eugenia did not put in her teeth or put on her glasses?
Do you think Eugenia realizes that Mercy is having fun?
What do Ned and Lorenzo think is the emergency?
What does Lorenzo mean when he says, “There’s something to be said for that opinion?”
Who really rescued Mr. and Mrs. Watson?

Predicting:

What do you think Mercy will do?
Why do you think the bed is creaking and the floor is moaning?
Where do you think Mercy is going?
What do you think Eugenia will do when she sees Mercy?
What do you think Eugenia will do when Mercy stays?
What do you think will happen when help arrives?
Who do you think Ned and Lorenzo hear?