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speech and language teaching concepts for The Night Before Preschool in speech therapy​ ​
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/l/ medial and final
/k/ initial
/th/ initial

Themes:

back to school
first day jitters
acceptance
friendship

Book Details:
Diverse Characters: Yes
Age Recommendation: Early Childhood

The Night Before Preschool

By Natasha Wing

It’s the night before preschool, and a little boy named Billy is so nervous he can’t fall asleep. The friends he makes the next day at school give him a reason not to sleep the next night, either: he’s too excited about going back! The book’s simple rhyming text and sweet illustrations will soothe any child’s fears about the first day of school.

This hopeful rhyming back to school book can be used in speech therapy to address social/emotional issues like acceptance and making friends. It is also great for noticing character expressions and for targeting describing as well as for /l/, /k, and /th/ sounds! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using The Night Before Preschool in speech therapy below:

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

action sequence​

Narrative Concepts:

vocabulary    
inferencing​
theme/message​
illustration study​
social/emotional​
adjectives​
verbs (action)
verbs (regular past tense)
verbs (irregular past tense)
phonological awareness

Vocabulary:

plush, nestled, vision, worried shy, wailed, appear, arose, clatter

Social/Emotional:

Billy is worried about his first day of preschool and feels lonely when he realizes he left his stuffed animal at home. When a girl offers him her stuffed animal, he feels comforted and a little less alone and musters up the courage to play with the other kids at the end of the day.

Grammar:

adjectives
verbs (action)
verbs (regular past tense)
verbs (irregular past tense)

Text Features:

thought bubbles

Phonological Awareness:

rhyming

Inferencing:

Why do we set our clothes and backpacks out the night before?
Why do you think he is worried?
How does Billy feel compared to the other kids?
Why do you think Billy didn’t want to eat?
Why do you think Billy can’t fall asleep?
How did Billy feel when the girl offered him her bunny?
Why do you think Billy needed something to sleep with?
How did Billy feel about preschool in the end?

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