As a fan of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, I love reading “Balloons Over Broadway” by Melissa Sweet in speech therapy. The book details the history of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade floats and the evolution of the parade. “Balloons Over Broadway” has wonderful pictures for descriptive language, vocabulary, and sequencing opportunities for students. It’s also easy to work on speech sounds while reading aloud.
There are many lessons that can be built off of this book. Below are some ideas:
Learn about Thanksgiving - Explore the history of the holiday. This is a great opportunity to build vocabulary, make inferences, and answer comprehension questions.
Discuss the History of the Macy’s Parade - Discuss the inspiration behind the Parade, and how the tradition continues today. Children can answer comprehension questions.
Make a Parade Float Craft - Focus on following 1-2 step directions, describing the float, and prepositions while crafting.
Practice Sequencing and Story Retell - Use a graphic organizer and/or picture cards to help your child sequence and retell the story’s events.
Adjectives & Attributes - There are many opportunities to practice using descriptive language while looking at the pictures.
Practice Speech Sounds during Reading Aloud - Model these sounds for your child, and then have the child say the words back.
Readers: Have you tried any storybook extension activities at home?
About the Author: Melissa Goff, M.S, CCC-SLP, is the owner of Sunflower Speech & Myo Therapy, PLLC, in Charlotte, NC.