Weather is a theme that all students can relate to in some way, which makes it such a great topic to learn about in speech therapy! Most students have not experienced all types of weather, especially severe weather, conditions. The beauty of using a weather theme to target speech and language goals is that we can naturally build off of students' prior knowledge and experiences.
Weather is not only a relatable topic but also a functional one. It's something that students learn about in science. They might even learn about significant weather events in social studies or history. Additionally, the weather is a common topic in social interactions with others, as well as something that's shown often on the news. And most importantly, students should be able to identify and respond to severe weather that can occur where they live.
For this evergreen theme (i.e. it can be used any time of year!), I've collected links to a variety of different weather-related activities that you can use with your students. The best part– nothing has to be printed. Use these activities in teletherapy or in-person using an iPad, computer, or smart board!
Extreme Weather Boom Cards for Speech Therapy
Boom Card decks, especially those that target a variety of skills, make it a breeze to use themes effectively in therapy. For me, there is no resource more useful than one that teaches about an interesting topic and targets multiple functional goals.
This resource is designed for older elementary students (grades 3-5) that are working on language goals such as vocabulary in context, comprehension, text inferences, and past tense verbs. It teaches about 8 types of extreme weather, so it lasts across several sessions!
Extreme Weather Passages & Activities Download for Speech Therapy
This interactive PDF is the much-requested sequel to my National Parks resource for older students. After reading an included high-interest, informational passage about one type of extreme weather or natural disaster (such as tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, etc.), you can easily target higher-level language goals with your middle and high school students.
For each of the 8 types of weather, there are 25 multiple choice or short answer questions to target vocabulary and comprehension. Just like the Boom Card deck above, this resource will last you for weeks!
If you're an email subscriber, try a free sample of this resource to see if your students love the topic!
Weather Themed Books for Speech Therapy
There are a lot of books out there (and I mean a lot) pertaining to weather. Below, I have listed just a few. Search the titles/authors wherever you access digital versions of books (your local library, YouTube, websites, online stores, etc.).
National Geographic Readers: Weather by Kristin Rattini (4-6 years)
The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane by Joanne Cole (for preschool-3rd grade)
Tap Tap Boom Boom by Elizabeth Bluemle (preschool-2nd grade)
Tornado Alert by Franklyn Branley (1st-4th grades)
Flash, Crash, Rumble, and Roll by Franklyn Branley (kindergarten-4th grade)
National Geographic Everything Weather by Kathy Furgang (8-12 years)
Eye of the Storm: NASA, Drones and the Race to Crack the Hurricane Code by Amy Cherrix (middle school)
Weather Themed Websites and Games for Speech Therapy
Ready.gov: Disaster Master and Build a Kit Game
Weather and Climate Change Activities on the website of the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies
Tons of weather-related activities and articles on the Weather Wiz Kids website.
Weather Themed Videos for Speech Therapy
This video on the NASA website explains the difference between weather and climate.
The National Geographic website has a resource library full of media (including videos, photos, and PDFs) about different types of extreme weather.
This video gives an explanation of what makes weather 'severe'.
Weather Articles & Activities for Older Students
Global Weather on ReadWorks discusses wind-related weather events.
How the National Weather Service affects our lives on Newsela tells about how the NWS helps people by forecasting dangerous weather.
This article, entitled Hurricane forecasting enters the drone era on Newsela, shares about advances in hurricane technology.
How Water Loss Affects Biodiversity on ReadWorks tells about the consequences droughts have on living things.
Thunderstorms Types on ReadWorks gives detailed explanations of various types of thunderstorm cells.
This article from the Nature Conservancy tells about a rare weather phenomenon that spontaneously produced snowballs in Idaho.
Don't forget about the easiest activity for older students... ever! This fill-in-the-blank passage (from the Spring version of Speech Libs) adds a little (or a lot) of humor while targeting goals within a weather theme!
Your students will love learning more about the topic of weather, and you can keep the information and activities as simple or complex as works for your students! With this theme, the sky's the limit (no pun intended)!
If you want an organized way to hang on to all of these links, make sure to add this FREE spreadsheet of links to your Google Drive!
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