If you’ve been around a little while, you know how I feel about books. Winter books are no exception, so I compiled my list of favorite Winter Books for Speech Therapy below!
If you’re new around here, I can’t live without books. They are BY FAR my number one must-have therapy item. I don’t believe there’s a goal on my caseload that I can’t target with books! I incorporate books into each and every therapy session because promoting literacy and instilling the love for reading is just that important. But also because I really can work on articulation, vocabulary, comprehension, fluency, grammar, MLU, and every other student goal using just a single book!
Theme-Based Therapy:
I’m also a big fan of theme-based therapy. My students stay super engaged, I stay really organized, and since the majority of my caseload presents with vocabulary deficits, themed therapy helps us target new, functional vocabulary year round.
One of my favorite themes each year is Winter. Maybe it’s because I live in South GA where 99.9% of the population has only seen snow on television, but there’s just something so fun about introducing my students to snow activities, winter weather, and Arctic and Antarctic animals!
I compiled a list of my favorite Winter books below, and a few suggestions for why I love them! I enjoy using both fiction and nonfiction books in therapy and believe both have an important place! (Amazon affiliate links are also included).
Winter Books for Speech Therapy:
1. Knut: How One Little Polar Bear Captivated the World, by Craig Hatkoff –
This is probably one of my favorite books to teach all year! Though its a bit wordy, you can easily paraphrase for your younger students. I love that it’s a true story, and it teaches the students about the importance of conversation efforts for polar bears! I have a book companion available for this book, which targets comprehension, sequencing, vocabulary, and so much more! There is even an activity at the end that promotes a positive friendly classroom debate on animals in captivity!
2. Pierre the Penguin, by Jean Marzollo –
Most surely this is one of my favorite books of all time! It’s also a true story, and is perfect for teaching problem and solution, problem solving, the importance of perseverance, and more! Plus….the setting of this story (the California Academy of Arts of Sciences) has a live camera feed of their penguin exhibit, so your students can watch the penguins from the story LIVE! My book companion for this story is a best-seller, and not only targets information from the story, but also information about penguins in general (including information on the 17 different species of penguins!) I’ve recently made a second companion for the story too that is entirely NO PREP!
3. Penguins: Smithsonian Science, by Seymour Simon–
These books are perfect for teaching factual information about penguins, including the different species of penguins, where they live, what they eat, and more. It also teaches vocabulary such as predator and prey.
4. The Snowy Day, by Ezra Keats–
Of course this is a classic book, especially for Winter. I love that is details so many activities that my students have never experienced in real life. There is also now a short movie of the book, which is great for comparing and contrasting the book to the movie!
5. Just a Snowman, by Mercer Mayer –
I LOVE using this book each winter to work on sequencing and the character education concept of COMPROMISE! The students love Little Critter and his friends, and this book is no exception! Little Critter desperately wants to build a snowman on his snow day, but he first has to do his chores, and then his friends all want to do other things first. So much fun to have the students sequence the different activities in this story while learning about winter verbs and activities! A book companion is available for this one as well!
6. The Biggest Snowman Ever, by Steven Kroll –
These “biggest ever” books are so much fun! There are many available for different holidays, but they all have a similar theme. Two mice compete to have the biggest item ever, but they eventually decide they can do more if they work together. These books are wonderful for teaching teamwork, communication, helping others, and more!
7. The Magic School Bus: In the Arctic, by Joanna Cole–
I’m an 80’s kid, so my Magic Schoolbus blood runs deep. This book is perfect for the winter theme, as the students find themselves stuck in the Arctic and freezing cold! They learn about heat and how animals in the Arctic stay warm, including polar bears and walruses. The corresponding episode is available on Netflix, which the students enjoy watching as a special treat after we’re finished with the book!
8. Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear, by Eric Carle–
While all of the animals in this book aren’t Arctic animals, my pre-school students still love this one so much! We usually make a polar bear craft after reading this book, which goes great with our winter theme!
9. Bear Snores On, by Karma Wilson–
If you’re not familiar with the “Bear” series by Karma Wilson, you’re really missing out! The stories are precious, the artwork is beautiful, the vocabulary is plentiful, and the stories always promote friendship and helping others in need. What can be better?!?! I also have a book companion available for this one!
10. Over in the Arctic, by Dawn Pubns –
I love using this book during our week on Arctic animals. It’s a cute rhyming book, but it teaches the students about some Arctic animals that are much less common. Anyone know what a lemming is? You will when this book is over!
11. Never Feed a Yeti Spaghetti, by Make Believe Ideas –
This has got to be one of my new favorite books for my pre-school students! It’s really short and doesn’t have many words, but each animal has a wide-open mouth that allows students to “feed” the animals or stick their hands in the animals’ mouth, which makes this book extremely interactive and fun! I made a book companion for it with activities for pre-school through 1st grade, and my students beg for this book and the activities!
12. Whales: Smithsonian Science, by Seymour Simon–
This is another fantastic factual book about whales, including vocabulary and the importance of conservation and the importance of taking care of our animals. I find many of my students enjoy learning things about animals they don’t get to see every day! We use Youtube videos to watch the animals in action as well!
Do you use any of these in your therapy? This list certainly isn’t all-inclusive, and I’m always looking for new additions, so if you have suggestions, drop them in the comments below!
