I am a huge fan of thematic units! I love going along with my students' classroom themes and incorporating seasons and holidays into my therapy sessions. Spring has officially arrived here in Florida so I am in full spring mode. This past week we have been reading, Mouse's First Spring by Lauren Thompson. (This post contains Amazon affiliate links for your convenience. This means if you purchase something from my link, I may make a small commission.)
This is one of my favorite books to use with my younger students. In the story, little mouse and mama mouse go out for a walk. Mouse sees all sorts of spring creatures for the very first time.... butterflies, snails, and worms, oh my!
This book is great for spring vocabulary, descriptive words, and story sequencing. I love having hands-on activities for my students when we read a story, so I created a set of story sticks to use with this book.
The story sticks are free in my TpT shop and easy to assemble. After I print and laminate the story pictures, I attach them to a stick with velcro. I use a paint stirrer (you can get these for free from Home Depot or Lowes) That's it! It's a simple but effective activity for my students. And it doesn't take up a lot of room in my bag which is huge since I am constantly on the move to see my students.
I purchased the book on Amazon for under $7. You can find it here.
You can find the story sticks, here!
PS- if you ever want to preview a book to see if it's one that's age appropriate or relevant to your students, look it up on YouTube. There are almost always videos of someone reading the book. Check it out before you buy!
