fbpx
speech and language teaching concepts for Nightsong in speech therapy​ ​
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/fl/ initial
/ch/ initial
/r/ medial

Themes:

bats
bravery
self-confidence
growing up

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

Nightsong

By Ari Berk

A breathtaking picture book by award-winning author Ari Berk, illustrated by mega-bestseller Loren Long, about a young bat setting off into the world using only his good sense! Sense is the song you sing out into the world, and the song the world sings back to you. With these words, Chiro’s mother sends him off into the night for the first time alone. It’s an adventure, but how will he find his way? And how will he find his way home? As the young bat discovers, navigating the world around him is easy as long as he uses his good sense.

This uplifting bats book can be used in speech therapy to address themes of self-confidence and bravery. It is also great for noticing character expressions and for targeting figurative language as well as for character analysis! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using Nightsong in speech therapy below:

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode

Narrative Concepts:

vocabulary
theme/message
character analysis
inferencing
figurative language
predicting
verbs (irregular past tense)
verbs (linguistic)
text features

Vocabulary:

clinging, good sense, peer, chant, girth, gleeful, beyond, curious, dune, kin

Character Analysis:

Little bat is worried and nervous about going out on his own for the first time. As he goes off he starts to believe in himself and his confidence grows. His curiosity grows and he even goes beyond the pond and feels limitless. Once the sun starts to rise, he thinks of his mother and goes home to tell her about his song and “sense”.

Figurative Language:

similes (darker than the moth’s dark eyes, than the water before dawn, comparing branches to long arms, songs sounded like breakfast)
metaphors (sense i the song you sing out into the world)
personification (tall trees called out to him, river of whispers, each grain of sand calling out in chorus, cave called out)

Grammar:

verbs (irregular past tense)
verbs (linguistic)

Text Features:

dialogue
ellipses
italics
capitals

Inferencing:

Why do you think little bat twitched his ears this way and that way?
Why do you think his mom is telling him to sing out into the world?
Why shouldn’t he go past the pond unless his song is sure?
How did Chiro feel on his way to find food?
How did he feel once he heard the echoes of the song?
Why is he wondering about what’s past the pond?
How does he feel about not knowing what’s past it?
How does he feel out on his own now?
Why do you think he was singing louder than he every had before?

Predicting:

What other senses do you think he can use besides sight when he can’t see?
What do you think he will do to help him get to the others?
Do you think he will go straight home?

If you are interested in seeing other bats books to use in therapy, then check out the Themed Key Teaching Points Book List for a printable copy.