I can’t lie. I went a bit book-crazy with the back to school madness and bought a ton of new books. Here's a list of the new literature I added to my therapy bookshelf:The Name Jar
This is a great story for any educators/therapists with ENL students or students with culturally diverse names. It encourages learning the significance and history as well as the correct pronunciation of names.Splat the Cat: Back to School, Splat!
Splat the Cat is stressed out about show-and-tell at school because he can't choose just one activity from his summer vacation to share. He goes through each activity and eventually decided to bring along his little sister, who participated in all the summer fun with him.How to Get Your Teacher Ready
There are lots of books that talk about how to get students ready for the school year, but this book is a fun student-manual on how to get the TEACHER ready for the start of a new school year.If You Ever Want to Bring an Alligator to School, Don't! (Magnolia Says DON'T!)
Magnolia brings an alligator to school for show and tell and a serious of unfortunate events take place.The Day You Begin
This new release is a beautiful way to start the conversation with your classroom about cultural and linguistic differences being something to celebrate as you start the new school year.This week the speech and language department collaborated with the classroom teachers to facilitate a back to school show and tell session. We sent home letters requesting that parents/caregivers send in an object, photograph and/or written memory from summer (available for FREE in English and Spanish on TpT.)While you can probably use any of the books listed above (or something that is already in your classroom) we decided to read Splat the Cat: Back to School, Splat!. The adults in the classroom modeled a show and tell presentation.
I brought in pictures of my grandparents in the Dominican Republic and a large Dominican flag that they could wave. The kids loved it! Some pointed to the pictures and said "grandfather" or "grandpa" and most participated in the sensory activity of waving the flag.
We invited our OT staff to join us and they decided to bring in occupational therapeutic toys for show and tell. The wobble cushion
and unicorn popper
were both hits.They were both an introduction for students on potential therapy activities and provided them with some much needed sensory input during the session.One paraprofessional brought in mango and cut up pieces for the students to try if they were interested!
After the adult models, the students couldn’t wait to take a turn. Most brought in pictures, some brought in toys and a few needed prompts but were able to answer basic questions about their summer vacation.This was a fun, low-prep activity for both adults and kids. Send the letter home, read an engaging book, model show and tell and let the kids have a turn.What are your favorite back-to-school activities that require little to no prep? Do you facilitate show and tell activities with your students? Share your comments down below.
