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speech and language teaching concepts for Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach in speech therapy
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/skw/ initial
/sk/ initial
/air/ medial
/er/ medial
/ch/ final

Themes:

ocean
anxiety
phobias
fear

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

Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach

By Mélanie Watt

We know by now that Scaredy Squirrel only feels safe when he’s at home in his nut tree, with his defenses, his emergency kit and his back-up plans at the ready. So even though the sun is shining and it’s time for a vacation, Scaredy does not want to go to the beach — that vast, frightening place where a squirrel could get stranded. (Not to mention other hazards such as sea monsters, falling coconuts, seagulls, pirates and lobsters.) Instead, Scaredy builds his own safe beach getaway under his nut tree, complete with germ-free inflatable pool, artificial beach scenery, a flashlight and a plastic flamingo. Still, the lure of the genuine beach is strong — even a dedicated homebody such as Scaredy can’t resist it forever. Can his back-up plans save him from its perils? Will his No.65 sunscreen protect his delicate complexion?

This quirky ocean book can be used in speech therapy to address social/emotional issues like overcoming your fears. It is also great for inferencing, problem solving, character analysis and for targeting vocabulary as well as for describing! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using Scaredy Squirrel at the Beach in speech therapy below:

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode

Narrative Concepts:

vocabulary​
theme/message
problem solving​
character analysis​
sequencing​
illustration study​
inferencing​
social/emotional​
predicting​
adjectives
verbs (action)
verb (present tense)
verbs (regular past tense)
text features​

Sequencing:

order of steps Scaredy Squirrel takes to make a private beach

Vocabulary:

squirrel, scared, beach, rather, vacation, safe, risk, crowd, flock, tribe, herd, pack, mob, private, guide, scenery, inflate, install, wildlife, germs, soothing, solution, real, description, quality, performance, exterior, occupied, passport, mission, operation, arrive, caution, territorial, eager, exhibit, SOS, panic, realize, inspired

Character Analysis:

Scaredy Squirrel learns that the beach might not be so bad after all and that even though there are risks to every situation, often times it’s worse in your head.

Social/Emotional:

Scaredy Squirrel overcomes his fear of the beach by focusing on the parts he does like.

Figurative Language:

idioms (birds of a feather flock together, sea monsters are camera shy)

Grammar:

adjectives
verbs (action)
verb (present tense)
verbs (regular past tense)

Text Features:

instructions
enlarged text
map/diagrams
quotation marks
ellipses
capitals

Inferencing:

Why do you think Scaredy Squirrel never goes to the beach?
How do you think he feels about people?
Why do you think he doesn’t want to be caught in each of those crowds?
Why do you think there are quotation marks around scenery, sand, sunlight, ocean and wildlife?
How does he feel when he completes his instruction manual?
Why does traveling to the real beach require careful planning?
How do you think he might feel when he gets to the real beach?
How does he feel when he’s there? Did he forget to plan for something?
What does he think about the beach at the end?
How did he forget about all of the crowds he didn’t like?

Predicting:

What kind of crowds do you think he doesn’t like?
What do you think he will need to build his private beach?
What do you think he will do with each of those items?
What do you think he might be missing?
How do you think he will get the soothing sound of the ocean?
How do you think he will prepare for the crowds he doesn’t like?
What could he use to protect himself from them?
What do you think will happen when he gets to the beach?
What do you think he will do now?
What do you think he will add to his private beach when he gets home?
When do you think he will go back to the beach?

Problem Solving:

Scaredy Squirrel comes up with a plan to make his own private beach.