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speech and language teaching concepts for Oona in speech therapy
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/n/ medial
/t/ medial

Themes:

summer
ocean

Book Details:
Diverse Characters: Yes
Age Recommendation: Elementary

Oona

By Kelly DiPucchio

This comical and heartfelt picture book is a winning celebration of invention, creativity, and friendship. With gorgeous underwater scenes and a crowd-pleasing tale, this is one little mermaid who is here to make a splash! Oona and her best friend Otto love to search for treasure…and often find trouble instead. Messy trouble. Tricky trouble. Even shark-related trouble. That’s never stopped them before, though! After all, no proper treasure hunt is without some adventure. But when the grandest treasure yet is stuck in a deep, dark rift, Oona’s not sure if she can dive right in. What might be waiting for her in those unknown waters?

This adorable and engaging summer and ocean themed book can be used in speech therapy to address social/emotional issues like bravery, confidence, and perseverance. It is also great for inferencing and problem solving. Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using Oona in speech therapy below: 

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode

Narrative Concepts:

vocabulary
problem solving
character analysis
illustration study
inferencing
figurative language
adjectives
text features
social/emotional

Vocabulary:

treasure, brave, curious, oyster, rescued, searched, crown, determined, rift

Character Analysis:

Oona learns to enjoy the journey. Her determination and creativity helps her to retrieve the treasure that she was wanting, but she realizes that the best treasure is the one that is made.

Social/Emotional:

independence
self-confidence
bravery
perseverance

Figurative Language:

personification (greedy rift)
simile (salty like the ocean)

Grammar:

adjectives

Text Features:

italics
ellipses
enlarged font
different font color

Inferencing:

How do you know from the beginning that Oona likes to explore?
How do you know that Otto and Oona are best friends?
Why was Oona determined to get the crown?
Why didn’t her plans work?
Why was Oona “missing her spark”?
What led Oona to the crown?
How did Oona feel when she couldn’t see?
What did they use to get the crown?
How did she feel when they got the crown?

Problem Solving:

Oona and Otto find a creative way to retrieve the crown.

If you are interested in seeing other summer and ocean books to use in therapy, then check out the Narrative Teaching Points Book List for a printable copy.