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speech and language teaching concepts for The Sandcastle that Lola Built in speech therapy
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/l/ initial, medial and final
/s/ initial and medial
/k/ initial and medial
/t/ initial
/er/ medial and final

Themes:

summer
ocean
beach
friendship
teamwork

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

The Sandcastle that Lola Built

By Megan Maynor

A modern, summery spin on the classic The House That Jack Built, in which Lola’s day at the beach leads to new friends and a giant sandcastle. Lola is building her dream sandcastle–one with a tall, tall tower and sea glass that sends signals to mermaids. But the beach is crowded, and soon enough, a boy steps on her castle. Not to worry! Lola recruits him to build a wall. When a toddler with a bulldozer starts digging too close the walls, Lola decides he can be in charge of digging the moat. As the sandcastle grows, so does Lola’s friendly group of helpers. There’s only one thing that Lola doesn’t want near the sandcastle: a wave! Will the new friends be able to salvage the mermaids’ castle when their hard work is washed away?

This playful summer and ocean book can be used in speech therapy to focus on predicting and sequencing. It is also great for targeting a variety of sounds: /l/, /s/, /k/, /t/, and /er/. Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using The Sandcastle that Lola Built in speech therapy below: 

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode

Narrative Concepts:

vocabulary
theme/message
problem solving
sequencing
illustration study
predicting
social/emotional
repetitive text
verbs (third person singular)

Sequencing:

sequence of events that happened to Lola’s sandcastle and children that helped Lola build it

Vocabulary:

sandcastle, tower, mermaids, bucket, bulldozer, moat, surround, dig, pour

Social/Emotional:

After each child “destroys” Lola’s sandcastle, she asks them to help her. When she is sad when the waves crash her castle, the children cheer her up by helping her to build a new castle. She experiences the gift of friendship and working together.

How does Lola feel when the Frisbee Dude knocks over her castle?
How does she feel when each incident happens to her castle?
How does she feel at the end of the story when the waves crash her castle?
Why do you think she is sad?
Do you ever feel sad when something doesn’t go as planned?
How do her new friends help her in the end?
How does she feel when they help her?

The color hue to symbolize Lola’s sadness, and then when she is happy once again.

Figurative Language:

onomatopoeias (Bzhhh!, Beep!, Crash!)

Grammar:

verbs (third person singular)

Text Features:

moving text
enlarged text
change in text color
repetitive text
dialogue

Predicting:

What do you think will happen next?
What do you think the boy will dig?
Where do you think the girl will add the shells?
What do you think they will do next?
What do you think has happened to the sandcastle? (after the wave crashes over it)
How do you think each kid will help build the sandcastle?

Problem Solving:

Lola’s new friends help her to rebuild her castle after each time of it getting destroyed.

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