Birds are chirping, flowers are blooming, the sun is shining… Spring is here! Luckily, Spring Book Companions are here to channel some of that seasonal excitement! Read on to learn more about incorporating book companions into your reading block!
What are Book Companions?
Simply Special Ed’s Book Companions are supplemental materials for already published books. The activities included with book companions help students to engage with picture books, extend their understanding of texts, and work on targeted skills.
All book companions come with these elements:
- Teacher planning guide
- Suggested materials list
- Story Map
- Story sequencing
- Vocabulary clip cards and matching activity
- Three levels of leveled comprehension worksheets
- Craft project with related sentence and sequencing worksheet
- Visual supports
The picture books/texts are not included with the companions. But, these books are easy to find in book stores and online, at the library, and even on YouTube read alouds! You can check out a FREE book companion for “My Brother Charlie” here!
Spring Book Companions
The Spring Book Companion bundle comes with activities for four adorable books that will get your class in a springy mood. They are:
- “Kite Day” by Will Hillenbrand
- “Lola Plants a Garden” by Anna McQuinn
- “The Golden Acorn” by Katy Hudson
- “When Spring Comes” by Kevin Henkes
Book Companions Build Comprehension
Comprehension is often a goal for our special education students. Helping them build comprehension is so important! Utilizing book companions throughout the school year is a great way to support comprehension goals and help students make gains. For example, the story mapping activity helps students become familiar with the elements of a story. This is helpful for promoting conversations about books.
Another way students will build comprehension with book companions is with leveled worksheets! If you have ever used Simple Comprehension stories in your classroom, you will recognize these worksheets. Level one has picture comprehension, level two has lines for a written response, and level 3three has a blank response spot. I love that the format is familiar, so it is easy to add to my students’ routine!
Spring book companions are such a fun routine to add to your class during any season! Do you have any favorite springtime books to read to your students? Share them below!
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