When I work with a child with Word Finding difficulties I follow his curriculum and work closely with his teacher. I have been fortunate this year to have an outstanding kindergarten teacher to collaborate with. She sends home a book on the day that I see her student, with a note as to what the class will be learning and discussing prior to her introducing it in class. I have received books on seeds, dinosaurs and recycling this spring. We read the book, go over concepts and play with the vocabulary so my student is familiar with the content.

Some of the fun books that I used to supplement the re-cycling unit were:

“Michael Recycle” by Ellie Bethel: A version of Superman, Michael Recycle wears a colander on his head with the initials “MR” on his chest and flies through the air to as the green-caped crusader to help clean up in a responsible way–“You’ve got to recycle! You’ve got to act soon! Before all your trash reaches up to the moon!” Kids love the clever rhyme that teaches the lazy townspeople how to crush a can, save their paper, and collect the rain. The fanciful illustrations provide a canvas for description as kids seek out the detail.

“The Adventures of an Aluminum Can”  and “The Adventures of a Plastic Bottle” are two books in a series by Little Green Books. They are written in diary form from the viewpoint of the can or bottle. From the oil refinery to making the plastic bottle, being sold at the grocery store, providing a cool drink or holding a flower, each step is illustrated for kids to see the process from making the bottle to recycling and reclaiming as new plastic toy, chair or ball. These books are great for teaching kids to write in diary form, sequence and discuss cause and effect, as well as become good stewards of our environment.