Read Thematic Books After the Fact

Beautiful page from Olivia Forms a Band

Do you ever notice that we, as parents and teachers and decorators, tend to love holiday themes and decor before the fact, but often dismiss the theme immediately after the event?  We decorate for Christmas starting in October, but it's a faux pas to keep your decorations up past New Year's.  We wear red, white, and blue the whole week before July 4th, but put away the patriotic clothes on the 5th.  I used to do the same thing with my speech lessons.  I would read trick or treating books leading up to Halloween, but never after.  I would make heart crafts before Valentine's Day, but never after.

But I've noticed in this, my 16th year as a speech language pathologist, that children will often talk more about an event or experience after that experience.  Just by accident, I stumbled upon this bit of knowledge this year, when I left some egg and nest books out after Easter and had some children request the books saying things like, "Oh, those are like the eggs I hunted!" or, "Hey I did that-- let's read that one again!"

So let's slow down in putting our thematic unit activities away so quickly after an event or holiday.  I myself plan to read these two fireworks books -- Olivia Forms a Band, and The Very Lonely Firefly-- for the next few days in my speech therapy sessions, in hopes that it will help my patients be able to recall more details, vocabulary, and concepts about their own experiences with fireworks this week.


What were your favorite family traditions for July 4th?  What traditions do you hope to pass on one day?

Neat page from the Very Lonely Firefly