Where's the Turkey FREE book Companion + Paperback or Kindle Edition

"Where's the Turkey" is available as a Kindle book or paperback!

It's time for a warm holiday gathering, and traditional family favorites are making their way to the Thanksgiving table. But where is the turkey? Find out in this richly illustrated picture book about a vegan family's Thanksgiving. 

My students love to search for the turkeys hidden throughout the book. I am the author-illustrator and I'm a long-time vegan, as well as a speech therapist. Like most SLPs, I use children's literature almost daily in my sessions at a primary school, and I was inspired to create my own Thanksgiving picture book after finding a need for a story in which the Turkey is not threatened at some point. 

Click on any of  the illustrations in this post to get my free 12-page book companion which contains bingo cards, a pragmatic activity, activity extension ideas, and more.

Of course you can use the companion pack without purchasing the book, but if you would like a copy, click here for the Amazon link.

Valentine's Day!

Like most holidays, Valentimz (haha) has a wealth of activities. Here are 2 of my favorites!

Please contact me if you would like these files in PDF instead of images!

First, a little Dinosaur - see the upside-down hearts? Cute, eh?


I originally got this idea from Mailbox magazine. Here are scans of the blanks for the dinosaur and the hearts, both of which I copy onto construction paper.


And here is a bingo game, which I love for both language and artic. I printed out one board to make the cards. I have the kids pick a card and describe it and the other players have to guess which one it is. I always use Chipper Chat chips and wands - magnets are just so exciting!



I've uploaded 4 different board layouts, if you'd like to download and print them.
Board 1
Board 2
Board 3
Board 4

Groundhog Day

This is my favorite book for Groundhog Day! There are so many great 'wh' questions and prediction questions.

After reading, there a are a few groundhog crafts and cut-n-pastes you could do. Or, doing a sequence activity (holiday or months) would tie in nicely with this book.

Here are the questions I ask through the book:

1. First I make sure they are somewhat familiar with what GH Day is all about. Then we talk about hibernating.

2. Why is GH reading "How to hibernate?". Sometimes we come back and review if that book helped him or not.

3. When is Columbus Day? Why is he brushing his teeth? What will he do next?

4. He set his clock for Feb 2nd. Is that how our clocks work?

5. Half past October - what will he see on the next page (I ask this preceeding every holiday shown).

6. It is Halloween- how do you know? (I ask this for each holiday).

7. After we've established that he gets a ride home, I ask for predictions about 'who' will give him a ride at each holiday.

8.Other questions - what season is it? how do you know?

9. What does "make yourself scarce" mean and why does the turkey want to do that?

10. Also after each line noting that "GH had never seen this before", I ask why not? We discuss how, for every winter before, the GH had slept through all the holidays pictured.

11. Why is he reading a book about gardening?

Product Review: Phonology and Artic Fun Sheets

Don't you just hate it when you order materials with your precious budget money and they stink! The books or games sit on your shelf, year after year, taunting you.

For me, this was definitely NOT one of those items. I use these worksheets almost every therapy session. The themes cover almost everything: pets, gardens, animals, seasons, holidays. I love this book and if you do a lot of cut-n-paste (which I do to generate homework) then you just might love this book. Here is a link to the book on Amazon (#ad).

Santa Duck

We just had a massive snowstorm here on the east coast so all my remaining Christmas ideas may go unused! This book is new to me this year and contains a treasure trove of great WH questions. I'll list them below, basically following the sequence of the story. Naturally this is only appropriate for kids on your caseload who celebrate Christmas.

1. Does a duck come down your chimney? (if it's not a tough crowd, they laugh)

2. If there is one day left, what day is xmas? What does Nicholas usually get for xmas?

3. Who gave him the hat and coat? Did he like it? How do you know?

4. What do you think a chicken would want for xmas? (I cover the text for all the animal pages if I have a reader; also I accept any good associative word - even eggs). What do all the things the chicken wants mean/have in common? So what does the chicken want to do for xmas?

5. What do you think a cat would want for xmas? What does 'bonkers' mean? Why does Nicholas think all the animals are bonkers? What does the cat want to do with the things on his list? Also I review the meaning of canary and trout.

6.What would a turtle want? (I'll take almost anything..pond, friend, shell) Why does the turtle want something fast?

7. What would a squirrel want? (review almonds, walnuts) Why does he want a shovel?

8. What would a rabbit want? Does he want a big cake or a small cake? What's another word for 'frosting'?

9. For higher level students, we discuss what happened when the hat fell off? Did he forget? What did he realize? Why did he want to get rid of the hat? What does 'phew' mean? What do you think will happen to the cow now?

10. What would a cow want? Why does he want an XL hat?

11. Which animal is Nicholas' brother? How do you know?

12. What do you think Nicholas wants? Will he get it even though he didn't tell Santa his list?

13. Who wrote the note? What does Santa mean when he says "May I count on you next year?"

14. On the last page: I just review what everyone got and talk about it.

The Toymaker

Today I'd like to share a link to a very generous toymaker. I'm sure all you creative SLP's out there can think of thousands of uses for these enchanting and FREE paper toys. They are delightful. I've posted a screen shot of the "holiday" portion of her website. You'll need a color printer, some cardstock and a PDF reader. Have fun at www.thetoymaker.com.

Pumpkin Face Bottle Cap Game

We all have a TON of October/Fall activities don't we? I gottamillion of 'em and maybe I'll post them someday. It just so happens that I made this bottle cap activity today so I was motivated to pic-n-post. Here are the materials:



And here are the finished pumpkins:


I got the idea from The Mailbox (I think). They had you painting the bottle caps with glue and paint...but since I have an organized husband who uses multi colors of duct tape to color code tools, I just cut the tape and stuck it on. Bits of black plastic electrical tape were used for the face parts.

So..here is how you play, but of course the rules are open to variations. Before each turn,say your sound, answer a question, whatever. Then, throw the 5 lil pumpkins onto the floor (or table) and get a point for each one who lands face up. Alternatively you could use a sharpie and put numbers on the underside and use those for points, number of responses, etc.

Yes, Bass is my favorite beer!