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speech and language teaching concepts for Thanks for Nothing! in speech therapy
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/th/ initial
/ks/ medial and final
/br/ initial
/z/ final
/s/ initial (surprise), medial (Thistle), and final (Bruce)
/er/ medial
/pr/ medial
/r/ initial (Rubert)
/b/ medial (Rubert)
/n/ initial (Nibbs)

Themes:

Thanksgiving
unfortunate events

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

Thanks for Nothing!

By Ryan Higgins

It’s autumn in Soggy Hollow, and the mice have a lot to be thankful for. But Bruce the bear is not so thankful for all the thanking.

This silly Thanksgiving book can be used in speech therapy to address character analysis. It is also great for noticing character expressions and for targeting sequencing as well as for predicting! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using Thanks for Nothing! in speech therapy below:

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode

Narrative Concepts:

character analysis
sequencing
illustration study
predicting
social/emotional
inferencing
negation

Sequencing:

order of foods the mice get into leading to them having nothing for dinner

Vocabulary:

nothing

Character Analysis:

Bruce learns that even though things did not go as planned, the day is what you make of it.

Social/Emotional:

Discuss being aware of others.
How do you think the mice should have responded in response to Bruce?
How do you think Bruce feels as he sees the mice use up the foods/items intended for the feast?
How do you think Bruce feels in the end?

Grammar:

negation

Inferencing:

Why would the mice think the stew is a foot bath?
What kind of pie was Bruce planning to make?
Will he be able to make it now that the apples have been eaten?
How did the mice ruin the next pie?
What do you think Bruce was intending to do with the peas?
What are the mice sliding on?
Why is it a problem for the mouse to balance a stack of plates?
What is the moose using to as a cover?
Why don’t they have a tablecloth?
What was supposed to be on the table?

Predicting:

What do you think the surprise for Bruce will be?
What food do you think the mice will get into next?
What do you think the next surprise will be?
What do you think they will do for dinner?
Do you think Bruce will let Moose sleep over? Why or why not?

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