PrAACtically April: Resources for a Year of Core Vocabulary Words

April showers bring May flowers…and a new set of core words for us to highlight. Whether you are following along with the Set 1 (2013) (12 words/month) or the Set 2 (2014) words (16 words/month; Different than the previous year’s core words), or are just getting started, this post has  some helpful resources. Many, many thanks to Tina Lombardi, Russell Cross, Gail Van Tatenhove, Allison Wade, Eric Sailers, Bill and Lori Binko, Heidi LoStracco, Rachael Langley, and all the others who have contributed to this effort.

Our words for this month are as follows.

• Set 1 (2013) List: big, busy, do, drink, feel, he, in, make, out, some, tell, who
• Set 2 (2014) List: blue, brother, close, family, head, last, long, no, old, right, scared, soft, thing, top, wash, whole

Here are some resources to help with implementation.

1. Templates for you to plug in your own symbols: Set 1words, Set 2 words
2. Minspeak/Unity version: Set 1
3. PCS versions: Set 1; Set 2
4. Symbol Stix version: Set 1
5. Lesson Pix: Set 1 Words
6. Speak for Yourself: Set 1, Set 2

The beauty of core words is that we can use them all throughout the day. Here are some ideas to get you started. 

Looking for ideas to model these words and/or have AAC learners practice using them? Rachael Langley has a month of ideas for us! Here is a link to her calendar from last year with the Set 2 words. The image below has ideas for using the Set 1 words.

Reading is another great way to model and elicit core words. Here are some book suggestions for each core word list.

Books for Set 1 (big, busy, do, drink, feel, he, in, make, out, some, tell, who)

• Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina: busy, do, feel, he, in, make, some, tell
• Koala Lou by Mem Fox: do, feel, in, out, some, tell
• Stone Soup by Marcia Brown: big, do, drink, feel, he, in, make, out, some, tell
• The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant: big, busy, do, in, make, out, some, tell, who
• The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle: big, busy, do, feel, he, in, tell, who

Books for Set 2 (blue, brother, close, family, head, last, long, no, old, right, scared, soft, thing, top, wash, whole)

• Brave Irene by William Steig: blue, close, family, head, long, no, old, right, scared, thing, top, wash
• Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen: close, head, long, no, old, scared, thing, whole
• Stand Tall, Molly Lou Melon by Patty Lovell: close, family, head, long, right, scared, thing, whole
• The Three Little Javelinas by Susan Lowell: brother, close, family, long, no, scared, whole