PrAACtically Reading: The Cat in the Hat with Karen Natoci

Who doesn’t love reading books by Theodor Seuss Guisel? Michigan-based SLP Karen Natoci is back to show us how she is using one of his most beloved books to integrate language and literacy instruction with the AAC learners in some of the classrooms she serves. Be sure to download her lesson plan and watch the video clip of Karen in AACtion. Enjoy!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

CLASSIC Book: The CAT in the HAT, by Dr. Seuss

Core Vocabulary focus: LOOK, NOT, LIKE, NOT LIKE, NO, GO, DO, UH-OH or OOPS.

COMMUNICATION Matrix Level: I-VII

Four Block focus: Shared Reading and Working with Words (at the alphabet/rhyme level)

————————————————————————————————————————————-

It is Spirit Week at our school and Monday is Hat DAY!!  What better excuse to read, The Cat in the Hat!! The rhythm of the reading along with the site of all of our wacky hats made for a fun morning in room 8! The reader maintained the rhythm of the story but in a slower, more deliberate way. Whenever a CORE word came up while reading, she used her strong light pointer to augment a CORE word! We plan to repeat this reading but will add the FRINGE words as well!  Before beginning the book, we introduced the RHYME –at as you can see in this photo. This way, we emphasized CAT and HAT during exaggerated rhythmic/poetic/metered reading of this fabulous classic!

We read the story straight through without interruption so that the students had a sense of FLOW and rhythm. After we finished the story, each student took turns choosing a letter to place in the initial position of the –AT rhyme. Each student used their alternative pencils and were guided for success. We plan to repeat this next week with a little more planning added as follows:

1. Add fringe vocabulary: cup, cake, ball, hat, books, fish, ship, milk, rake, man, fan, kites.
2. Use Partner assisted scanning to have students select their FAVORITE illustration, then write about it using their alternative pencils.

Take a look.

Click on the image below or visit the AAC eToolBox to download the lesson plan: