Nathaniel and I have welcomed spring by learning about turtles this month. I like to select one animal that we might find in our backyard or on a nature walk and incorporate as much language as possible into our learning. This graphic gives a quick summary of the AAC core and fringe vocabulary that we used for some of the activites we enjoyed together this month.

Small World Play
Nathaniel loved playing with the turtles, sand, and pretend water. See links to the supplies I used below. I reuse the wood boxes that Melissa and Doug toys are sold in to contain our small worlds.

Supplies used to create the small world:

Science Study Turtle Skeleton and Morphology
This printable and a magnifying glass provided lots of exploration. Feel free to print your own copy of our Turtle Skeleton and Morphology sheet here

Shared Reading and Math Connection Books
These three texts were our favorites as we learned about turtles.

Alfie: The Turtle that Disappeared is a sweet story about a little girl who gets a turtle for her sixth birthday. The story is told both from Nia and Alfie's perspectives.
Core Vocabulary: go, find, come, it
Fringe Vocabulary: present, birthday, sad, lost

Turtle Splash: Countdown at the Pond offers a twist on the typical counting book - backwards from ten! The books provides a nice review of other animals we might see in our area with a brief paragraph on each at the end of the story. Also included is information on how to make leaf prints.
Core Vocabulary: get, off, down, in
Fringe Vocabulary: number names, log, frog, rabbit, squirrel, deer, mallard duck, polliwog, butterfly, chickadee, mosquitoes, fireflies

The simple text of My First Pet Turtles offers good science information about a turtle's needs and caring for the animal.
Core Vocabulary: like, need, what, it
Fringe Vocabulary: warm, water, food, mud, earthworm

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