Fall is coming to an end! I’m sad to see my favorite season go but honestly the excitement of the seasons and holidays is just getting started. During this time of transition from season to season I love to use book companions in my speech therapy sessions. At the end of this fall season let’s cover some fun fall book companions!
Literacy-based speech therapy has lots of benefits when it comes to language development, articulation practice, joint attention, social skills, and applying effective extension activities! It was so fun to use some of my students favorite seasonal books to get them engaged and excited when practicing some of their speech goals. Another great thing about book companions is that it is a great way to target a variety of goals with a small group of students using just one fun book.
Fletcher and the Falling Leaves Book Companion Lesson Plan
Today’s free printable resource is a good one! We created an entire Book Companion to go along with one of the highest rated fall to winter seasonal books – Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson and illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke. This is also one of my favorite fall books!
Below, you will find a Free Book Companion that covers:
- Articulation practice for Initial F, Initial T, and Initial L
- Vocabulary Practice
- Compare and Contrast
- Sequencing
- Social/Emotional Prompts using Inferencing
- WH Questions (P.S. Yes – there are 45 Fall Leaves themed WH Questions below for you to use!)
Why Use Book Companions in Your Speech Room
Let’s take a quick and closer look at why book companions like this are such an incredibly effective way to support our students with language impairments!
Book companions are beneficial for speech therapy for several reasons:
- Contextual Learning: They provide a rich context for language use, helping children understand basic concepts, vocabulary, spatial concepts and other literacy instruction goals such as story elements within a narrative.
- Engagement: Storytelling captures children’s attention, making them more motivated to participate in activities related to the book. Feel free to use interactive books!
- Targeted Vocabulary: They allow therapists to introduce specific vocabulary and sounds in a structured way, making it easier to practice articulation.
- Comprehension Skills: Book companions can help improve listening and comprehension skills as children discuss the story and its characters.
- Repetition: Reading repetitive text reinforces language patterns, phonemic awareness, and pronunciation.
- Visual Support: Illustrations in the book can aid understanding and retention of new words and concepts.
- Creative Expression: They encourage children to express themselves through basic concepts, retelling, acting out scenes, or creating their own story strip, enhancing their language skills. Get creative and use sensory bins if applicable!
So YES, book companions are a big deal and can be used throughout the school year with our students!
SEE ALSO: 21 Best Reinforcement Games for Speech Therapy
A Free, Fun Fall Themed Book Companion Lesson Plan for YOU!
Speech-Language Pathologists, teachers and parents – we know it is a busy season so we made this a one stop gathering of everything you will need to implement this!
To pair with our Free Book Companion, we also created 15 WH- Questions Fall Leaves Themed Flash Cards! WH – Questions are such a huge focus for many students, so we wanted to make sure to incorporate that in a fun way into this lesson plan!
HERE ARE 45 FALL LEAVES THEMED WH QUESTION FLASH CARDS!
(Hint!) Save this post so you can come back and use the flashcards next fall too!
Fletcher and the Falling Leaves Read Aloud – Fall Speech Therapy Book Companion
Also – don’t forget how easy it is to find read -alouds! Here is Fletcher and the Falling Leaves Read – Aloud using Youtube Videos!
Our last tip – using a story visual can help many students! I normally look for fun mini objects to use as visual supports, but this one is simple – gather a few single fall leaves from outside for your students or children to spin or play with as they listen to this read-aloud!
Don’t forget to download the free Fletcher and the Falling Leaves Easy Print Book Companions Below!!
SEE ALSO: 81+ Free Speech Therapy Halloween Activities
The Best Fall-themed Books + Picture Books
A Pro-tip for you – your local library, or school library, probably has a fun set up of quality fall themed books! If you have a student in middle school, there are even book companions that go with the whole book series! Also, never underestimate the power of youtube videos read alouds for younger students! If you are looking for book recommendations – the little old lady series is always a hit! The Little Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Leaves by Lucille Colandro is always a big hit. The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming and The Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle are also high quality books for younger students! Feel free to get creative when incorporating these with special education students, and within occupational therapy and even physical therapy!
We promised archives – so here is a big list of additional ideas for Fall Themed Picture Book Language Companions to use in your next session!
Fall Speech Therapy Book Companion List
- How to Catch a Turkey | Fall Craft | Book Companion by Pre to the K is a fun turkey themed craft to go with an even more fun books!
- Fall Book Companion for Use with The Scarecrow’s Hat FREE Speech Therapy by Build Words SLP is a printable book companion to go with the story The Scarecrow’s Hat.
- The Leaf Thief- Fall Book Companion- Expressive, Receptive & Pragmatic Language by Wrames Speech Corner is a highly rated book companion that doesn’t take much time to prep and focuses on expressive and receptive language skills while using the book The Leaf Thief.
- Barn Dance Book Companion FREEBIE – Fall Writing Booklet by Stories and Songs in Second is a great, easy to print booklet to go with the Barn Dance Book! This is great for your younger students!
- Apple Trouble Book and Game Companion NOW WITH BOOM CARDS by Kari Radovich uses the book Apple Trouble to practice speech goals with a book companion and a fun game!
- Freebie! Chrysanthemum – Graphic Organizer Activity – Back to School – Fall by The Wise Teacher 350k takes another popular book and gives you easy to print work sheets to break down some language goals!
- FREE Book Companion for Bear Wants More by First Grade Hip Hip Hooray is a print and go book companion with vocabulary practice!
- It’s Pumpkin Day, Mouse! Book Companion for Toddlers by Scanlon Speech Therapy is an easy to use book companion for younger students!
- FREEBIE: The Wild Robot Novel Study: Digital AND Print N’ Go by Sierra May is a book companion you can use with older elementary students after completing the book the Wild Robot! This is a great one that could be used the entire year!
- Reading Companion for “Binny’s Diwali” Story (No-Prep Read-Along Packet)(Autumn) by Read Learn Write is an interactive book companion created for 2nd – 7th graders!
SEE ALSO: 257+ Fall Speech Therapy Activities
Conclusion – Fall Speech Therapy Book Companion
We hope you are feeling a little bit more excited and prepared for the last few fall speech sessions you have this year. Book companions have always been so fun for me – I am excited to hear what you think about this one! Cheers to a fun and done for you fall themed book companion lesson plan! Hope you have a great week!
🍂GRAB YOUR FLETCHER AND THE FALLING LEAVES BOOK COMPANION FREEBIE HERE!
Want Even More Lesson Plans for Speech Therapy?
- Free SLP Planner [Updated Yearly]
- 917+ Best Free Boom Cards for Speech Therapy
- 31 Best Wordless Videos to Teach Problem Solving
- 133+ Categories List for Speech Therapy
- The Best Handout for Phonological Processing Disorder Therapy
Want the Best of the Best?
Be sure to check out our most popular posts below!
- 21 Best Reinforcement Games for Speech Therapy / Teletherapy
- Best IEP Resources
- 71+ Free Social Problem-Solving Scenarios
- 430+ Free Multisyllabic Words List Activity Bundle
- 432+ Free Measurable IEP Goals and Objectives Bank
- 279+ Free Speech Therapy Digital Materials
- 179+ Free Speech Therapy Wh-Questions Printable