EXPLORE SPEECH & LANGUAGE AT....
Jack and the Beanstalk
Saturday, August 8th at 11:00am at the Bethesda Library
The Rainbow Company presents Jack and the Beanstalk, an interactive adventure performance. See the beloved fairy tale come to life and spark your child's creativity, imagination, and speech and language skills!
TALKING
EXPLORE: Retelling
ENRICH: Narration and Sequencing
ENGAGE: The ability to retell events from a story
Retelling a story is a really important skill, both for language development and for literacy skills.
PARENT PROMPT:
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When the play is over, challenge your child to *retell the Jack and the Beanstalk story in his/her own words, using these strategies:
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Use complete sentences
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Retell at least 4 major events
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Use sequencing vocabulary like (e.g. first, next, after)
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*Bonus Material: You can use sequencing cards, like these from Sparklebox (http://www.sparklebox.co.uk/3661-3670/sb3668.html#.VbfArLdaKKx), to help your child remember the major events.
LISTENING
EXPLORE: Answering Wh- Questions
ENRICH: Understanding Comprehension Questions
ENGAGE: The ability to answer questions about story elements
Plays bring the written word to life for children, allowing them to both see and hear the story. This added visual piece is a great way to enhance comprehension of fiction stories.
PARENT PROMPT:
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After watching the play, ask your child to demonstrate their comprehension by answering the following questions about the story elements. If your child has trouble answering the questions, help him/her to respond by giving 2-3 verbal choices:
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Who are the characters?
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What is the setting?
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What was the problem? How was the problem solved?
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WORD PLAY
EXPLORE: Articulation
ENRICH: Pronunciation of Speech Sounds for Clear Speech
ENGAGE: The ability to produce the /dʒ/ sound
The Jack and the Beanstalk story is full of words with the soft "g" sound (written in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /dʒ/): Jack, maGic, Giant, etc. The /dʒ/ sound is an affricate, which is made up of two sounds. Help your child to produce it correctly by reminding them to start the sound with the /d/ (a short stop sound) and finish it with the /ʒ/ (a longer fricative sound).
PARENT PROMPT:
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Have your child practice /dʒ/ by making a list of words that have the sound at the beginning, middle, and end of the word and using them in the following contexts:
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In a single word (e.g. maGic)
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In a short phrase (e.g. maGic beans)
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In a complete sentence (e.g. He planted maGic beans)
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EXPLORE: Expressing Feelings
ENRICH: Social-Emotional Language
ENGAGE: The ability to understand points of view and emotions
In a play, actors dramatize not only the events in the stories, but the feelings of the characters as well.
PARENT PROMPT:
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Help your child enhance his understanding of emotions by talking about how the Jack and the Beanstalk characters were feeling a different points of the play. For example, "How was Jack feeling when he saw the beanstalk growing outside his house?" Have your child answer the following questions about at least three different events in the story:
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How did the character feel?
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Why did the character feel that way?
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How did the character react to the situation?
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