fbpx
speech and language teaching concepts for Pig the Winner in speech therapy
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/p/ initial
/w/ initial
/tr/ initial
/v/ medial
/g/ final
/er/ final

Themes:

dog
non-seasonal
playing fair

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

Pig the Winner

By Aaron Blabey

The world’s greediest pug won’t play fair, and he’ll do just about anything to win! Will Pig ever learn? He’s an absolute cheat and quite the sore loser as well. But when Pig challenges his foot-long playmate, Trevor, to a kibble eating contest, he accidentally stuffs more than just food in his mouth. Lucky for Pig, Trevor knows what to do and saves the day! Young readers will love Blabey’s irresistibly quirky illustrations that are paired with a relatable lesson about learning to play nice. For dog and pet lovers everywhere.

This dramatic dog book can be used in speech therapy to address the topic of playing fair and accepting loss during game play. It is also great for noticing character expressions and for targeting linguistic verbs as well as for /p/, /w/, /tr/, /v/, /g/ and /er/ sounds! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using Pig the Winner in speech therapy below: 

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode

Narrative Concepts:

vocabulary​
theme/message​
character analysis​
illustration study
inferencing​
figurative language​
predicting​
verbs (action)
verbs (linguistic)
text features​
phonological awareness​

Vocabulary:

quivering, sob, sulk, stamp, glee, shyly, stuffing, wolfed down, kibble, awash, whoppers, gnashing, choppers, tantrums, ceased

Character Analysis:

Pig learns to be a team player and to play fair even when he doesn’t always want to.

Figurative Language:

idioms (best in show​, a pink fit​, wolfed down​, all of them whoppers​, stuffing his hole)

Grammar:

verbs (action)
verbs (regular past tense)
verbs (linguistic)

Text Features:

enlarged, bold text for emphasis

Phonological Awareness:

rhyming

Inferencing:

How do some pugs act?
How does Pig feel when he doesn’t win?
Why is he hard to beat?
What do you think the other animals think about Pig?
How do you think Pig is acting?
Why did Trevor talk “shyly”?
Why do you think Trevor doesn’t want to race?
How do Trevor and Pig feel when they realize he ate his bowl?
Why was Pig lucky?
What is Trevor thinking?
How does Trevor feel when Pig doesn’t thank him?
Why do you think Pig got knocked into the trash can?
What is Trevor thinking when Pig gets knocked into the trash can?
How do you think Trevor feels now that he has a chance to win and play nicely?
Why do you think Pig changed?

Predicting:

What do you think Pig will do if he doesn’t win?
What do you think will happen if Pig doesn’t stop?
What do you think will happen when Pig races eating his food?
How do you think they can get the bowl out?
What do you think will happen with the bowl?
What do you think he will do next time they play a game?
Do you think Pig will be able to play fair? Why or why not?

If you are interested in using Pig the Winner and other pet- themed books in speech therapy, then check out these print-&-go cheat sheets. Perfect for when you don’t need a full book companion.