PrAACtically Reading with Karen Natoci: In My Pot of Gold

It’s green where we live, but even our friends who’ve been battling snow and ice for far too long (!) have been seeing bits of color…IF you count the rainbows and gold-filled pots in their therapy rooms, offices, and classrooms. St. Patrick’s Day can be a fun, playful holiday to celebrate, and there are plenty of thematic materials around to build language and literacy skills. For some learners, acquiring holiday-related vocabulary. like shamrock and leprachaun, makes sense. But for most of the AAC learners with whom we work, the priorities are elsewhere.

That’s one reason that I’m delighted to share Karen Natoci’s PrAACtically Reading for March. As always, Karen is incredibly generous in sharing both information and materials (such as her lesson plan and PowerPoint story). What I love most about her post, though, is that it honors the excitement and traditions of the holiday while keeping focused on the goal of building core vocabulary. Take a look at Karen’s suggestions for connecting AAC learning and core vocabulary to St. Patty’s Day fun.

Book:  In My Pot of Gold, by Karen Natoci (Published on Tarheel Reader)

Core Vocabulary focus: LOOK, YOU, GET, IT, OUT, WHO?, TURN, WHAT?

COMMUNICATION Matrix Level:  I-VII

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This month, we decided to publish a book with a repeated line that could be recited by our students. We went to Tarheel Reader to do this! After it was published, we downloaded a copy as a powerpoint so that we could make the graphics larger, color the background green, and print the book for each child to take home.

We repurposed the black “cauldron” (from our Halloween activity) and turned it into a pot of gold by crunching up gold cellophane and shiny paper!

We put GREEN items in the “pot of gold” that looked exactly like the items featured in the story. (Actually, we created the story based on the green objects that we found.)

We read the story straight through without interruption so that the students had a sense of FLOW. After we finished the story, each student took turns looking (core: LOOK) or feeling (core: GET) for an object in the “pot of gold.”  Next, there was a perfect communication opportunity for the student to tell everyone what he/she found (thus, a labeling activity: example, “BELL!”)  Students used their means of communication:  PODD, Go Talks, Symbol array, dynamic display devices, eye gaze boards, all with CORE + FRINGE words on the display at the level that was most appropriate for them.

Click here or on the image below for the lesson plan.