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The Night Before Thanksgiving book in Speech Therapy
Frequent Speech Sounds:

/th/ initial
/t/ initial
/k/ medial
/dr/ medial (children)
/er/ medial and final (farmer)
/ch/ initial (children)
/f/ initial (farmer)

Themes:

Thanksgiving
clever thinking

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

‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving

By Dav Pilkey

On the day before Thanksgiving, a group of children visit a turkey farm and meet Farmer Mack Nuggett and his coop of cockerels: Ollie, Stanley, Larry, Moe, Wally, Beaver, Shemp, and Groucho. The children and turkeys giggle and gobble, and everything is gravy. As the trip comes to an end, the children leave the farm with full hearts — and bulging bellies — reminding people and poultry alike that there is much to be thankful for.

This funny Thanksgiving book can be used in speech therapy when targeting vocabulary and verbs. It is also great for noticing character actions! Discover more of the speech and language teaching concepts for using “Twas The Night Before Thanksgiving in speech therapy below:

Key Teaching Concepts

Narrative Structure:

complete episode

Narrative Concepts:

vocabulary
inferencing
problem solving
sequencing
illustration study
predicting
phonological awareness
verbs (regular past tense)
verbs (irregular past tense)
adjectives
prepositional phrases
conjunctions

Sequencing:

order of events that occurred on the field trip

Vocabulary:

terrains, clatter, rugged, polyester, rapid, embraces, fetched, downy, mysteriously

Grammar:

verbs (regular past tense)
verbs (irregular past tense)
adjectives
conjunctions
prepositional phrases

Phonological Awareness:

rhyming
alliteration

Inferencing:

Why are the children crying?
Why are the children mysteriously fatter?
Why do you think the children calmed down?
How do you think Mack Nugget feels when he can’t find the turkeys?

Predicting:

Where do you think they are going on their field trip?
How do you think the children will feel about the turkeys?
What do you think the ax is for?
How do you think the children will calm down?
What will happen to the turkeys?
Why do you think the turkeys are thankful?

Problem Solving:

The students didn’t like what would happen to the turkeys so they came up with a clever plan.

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. 

If you are interested in using ‘Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving and other Thanksgiving- themed books in speech therapy, then check out these print-&-go cheat sheets. Perfect for when you don’t need a full book companion.