Good Night Gorilla

Week 1/2:

*While the teacher reads the book Good Night Gorilla, she will say, "Good Night Gorilla" and the student will finish the closed sentence by naming the animal. For those animals that have multisyllables the children will clap out the syllables of the animal's name and then blend the word together.

*The first step of understanding phonological differences of speech sounds is identifying a sound. Then, children learn to sort objects by two different speech sounds. The children will practice this skill by sorting "d" and "g" toys into separate piles after naming the object. The "d" is produced with the tongue behind the upper teeth and the "g" is produced with the tongue behind the lower teeth.

*The students will choose a different animal besides the one in the book to complete the Tools of the Mind activity of "story extension." This is when they think beyond the book and come up with ideas of their own that are related to the book and to their own life experiences. They will draw a picture of an animal that is not in the book and and complete the stem, "Good Night __________ ."

*Rapid naming of zoo animal pictures increases word retrieval and reading fluency.

Week 2/2:

*Children will retell the story of Good Night Gorilla using flannel board pieces matching the same color of the key and cage. Retelling stories using key words of "first," "next" and "last" teaches children how to organize their language so it makes sense to the listener.

*The first step of understanding phonological differences of speech sounds is identifying a sound. Then, children learn to sort objects by two different speech sounds. The children will practice this skill by sorting "d" and "g" toys into separate piles after naming the object. The "d" is produced with the tongue behind the upper teeth and the "g" is produced with the tongue behind the lower teeth.

*The students will draw a picture of an animal in the book and complete the stem, "The animal didn't run away because....."