This week my focus for therapy is on all the different Thanksgiving foods.  I read the book “Turkey, Turkey What Do You Smell?” and the students each created a Thanksgiving plate with different food items.  The book, “Turkey, Turkey What Do You Smell?” focuses on the students identifying different Thanksgiving food items the Turkey smells.  I wanted to use a different verb besides “see” for this book which is why I used “smell”.  For this book, I taught about how we smell so many different scents with our noses.  It also focused on practicing those food vocabulary terms.

To set up the book, I placed a piece of hard Velcro on each plate which is where the food item will go for that plate.  I used the front cover with the finished food plate as a template for where to put each food item.  You can put the food anywhere on the plate I just liked to keep it more consistent for the students.  The student places the correct food item on the plate.

I had the student name the food item as he/she placed it on the plate.  For my non-verbal students I just focused on having him/her identify the food items to put on the plate.  I also asked various questions about the Thanksgiving food such as “What color are the cranberries?” or “Do you like green beans?”  The yes/no questions work well for students using core boards because the food items will not be on the core boards but the students can still actively participate using their core boards.

Thanksgiving Plates!

After we finished reading the book the students created their own Thanksgiving Plate!  This activity focuses on following directions involving the different Thanksgiving food vocabulary terms and color concepts.  The students each got a piece of paper with the different food items on the page.  Please click the link if you would like a copy of this page to use with your students. Thanksgiving Food Craft.

I set up the activity differently depending on my students’ skill levels.  First, I had the students point to each food item on the paper as we named the different Thanksgiving Food items.  If my student was non-verbal I just had the student point to the food items as I named each picture.

Then I gave the students directions on how to color all the food items.  For some of my students I had them look at the entire sheet and gave different directions such as “color the corn yellow.”  If I was focusing on receptive language skill, I had the student find the yellow crayon and color the corn.  For my students working on expressive language skills, I had the student request the correct color crayon.  Students with core boards, I might have the student point to the correct color or I might hold up the correct crayon and have the student point to “need it” or “want” on the board.  There are many different ways you can set up this easy coloring page depending on the goals you want to target.  After the students finish coloring all the items it’s time to cut them out.  Some of my students can cut out the pictures independently, other using loop scissors, and some I have to cut for the student.

After all the pieces are cut out, I gave the students directions on what food item to glue on the plate.   Some students can identify the correct food item with all the pictures on the table but for other students I give them a choice of 2-3 pictures.  You can also have your student give the directions.  Have the students take turns giving the directions to their peers.  This is a great way to practice those expressive and social language skills.

The plates turned out really cute!

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Sarah Allen, MA CCC-SLP

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