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speech and language teaching concepts for The Truth About My Unbelievable Summer in speech therapy
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/tr/ initial
/zh/ medial (treasure)
/er/ final
/m/ initial
/p/ final

Themes:

back to school
adventure

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

The Truth About My Unbelievable Summer

By Davide Cali

What really happened over the summer break? A curious teacher wants to know. The epic explanation? What started out as a day at the beach turned into a globe-spanning treasure hunt with high-flying hijinks, exotic detours, an outrageous cast of characters, and one very mischievous bird! Is this yet another tall tale, or is the truth just waiting to be revealed? From the team behind I Didn’t Do My Homework Because . . . and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to School . . . comes a fantastical fast-paced, detail-rich illustrated summer adventure that’s so unbelievable, it just might be true!

This adventure filled back to school book can be used in speech therapy to address sequencing and predicting. It is also great for noticing character expressions and for targeting /tr/, /zh/, /er/, /m/ and /p/ sounds! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using The Truth About My Unbelievable Summer in speech therapy below:

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode​

Narrative Concepts:

vocabulary​
sequencing​
illustration study​
inferencing​
predicting​
text features​

Sequencing:

order of events during the boys hunt for a treasure map

Vocabulary:

unbelievable, magpie, port, unexpected, escape, squid, rescue, captain, promptly, submarine, out of reach, desert, arrival, disturbed, invention, experimental, deserted island, hitched

Text Features:

italics
capitals
ellipses
dialogue
question marks
exclamation marks
skeptical tone of voice

Inferencing:

How do you think he felt when the magpie swooped his map up?
Why do you think the pirates didn’t appreciate him being on the boat?
What was he thinking when the giant squid almost caught him?
How did he feel when the captain saved him but then put him right to work?
Why do you think the teacher said “How did that happen”?
What does she think about his story so far?
Why did he ask the actress to help?
How did they feel as they were sinking down to the ground?
What were they thinking when they ended up in the desert?
How do you think his uncle created his invention?
What is the teacher thinking now?
What do you think about all the places the boy said he went?
What did the boy think when discovered the snorkeling equipment?
How did he feel before he got in the water vs. being underneath?
Why did the boy think the teacher didn’t believe him?

Predicting:

Where do you think the treasure map led to?
Who do you think they will see on the ship?
Who do you think could save him from the squid?
Do you think they really traveled back in time?
How do you think this actress will help him get his map back?
Where do you think they will go next?
Where do you think his uncle will drop them off at?
What do you think he will find at the X?
What do you think will be in the treasure chest?
What do you think he will do with the treasure?
How do you think the map got there all along?

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.