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Pre-reading Activities for Apple Themed Books in Speech Therapy

Updated: Oct 7

I am often asked how to structure pre-reading knowledge activation sessions in a way that is engaging and meaningful for students, especially if I'm recommending to spend up to two whole sessions in this phase of the literacy-based therapy framework!


The goal of pre-reading sessions is to engage students in lively discussions about topics and words that will help students comprehend the story.


If we want students to be engaged during discussions, we need to provide interesting stimuli.


Below are some of my favorite ideas for activating knowledge and pre-teaching key concepts prior to reading apple themed books in your therapy sessions!


Side note: be sure you are also integrating vocabulary words and concepts that are essential to comprehending the specific book that you are reading.


Virtual Field Trips

screenshot of an apple orchard sign from a youtube video

Take a virtual field trip to an apple orchard! This is a great way for students to see where and how apples are grown, especially for those that live in urban areas.


Pause the video throughout to talk about orchard related terms like hayride and tractors, discuss how apples grow, and how to harvest apples.


Encourage student driven discussion and pause the video to listen to what students have to say. Student interaction and hearing the connections they make is the goal for this type of activity.


Here are a couple of videos on YouTube you could use:


Pre-teach Vocabulary


Understanding vocabulary is essential to text comprehenison.


We can explicitly work on vocabulary using one or more of the activities below:

  • Make a word cloud

  • Vocabulary journal

  • Create vocab posters to refer back to when reading the story

  • Sort words by part of speech & display on word wall

  • Semantic maps

link to sign up for my email newsletter and receive a free sample of my thematic word clouds

Parts of an Apple

parts of an apple youtube video

Discuss the parts of an apple! Bring a real apple into the session, cut it open, and see what students have to say/are able to label!


(be sure to bring along a baggie or container so that you can take the apple back home to compost or feed your pets 😉)


This is a great opportunity to work on describing and use of adjectives (e.g. smooth, juicy, moist, soft, mushy) too!


Here is a great YouTube video you could use to introduce and talk about the parts of an apple.


After watching the video, review by having students label the parts on the real apple you brought in.

click to see apple themed book companions with no prep pre-reading activities

How Apples Grow

Talk about what apples grow on, what apple trees need to grow, and how to harvest apples.


This a great opportunity to discuss words and concepts like seeds, planting, blossoms, pollinators, pollinating, pollen, harvesting.


You can look at pictures in chapter two of this book to support your discussion.


screenshot from the chapter called How Apples Grow in the book Fall Apples Crisp and Juicy

What Can You Make With Apples

Talk about what you can make with apples! Search Google for pictures to support your discussion.


If you're able to use food at your school, this could be a fun time to make something with apples that students can also eat!


Discuss ingredients and tools that are needed for various recipes - you can even compare and contrast recipes and have students vote on which recipes seem the easiest and hardest to make.


picture of food that can be made with apples

KWL Chart

You can pair a KWL chart (know, want to know/wonder, learned) with all of your discussions.


You can fill one out as a group and fill in the "learned" column together after reading your story.


KWL chart for apples

I hope this has been helpful! 😊


About the author Sarah. Sarah is a pediatric SLP and the creator behind Speechie Adventures.

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