Anita R. McMillan
The Three Brave Little Boys and Their Articulation Antics has been written to help encourage articulation and language development for all children especially those who may have difficulty with articulation (pronunciation). It offers children the opportunity to enjoy reading or hearing brief, humorous stories which may help improve their articulation, language and vocabulary development.
The stories target certain phonemes or sounds (b, ch, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, sh, t, th, v, w, z). The target words are listed at the beginning of each story. These words have the targeted phoneme in the initial position, but words with the target phoneme in the medial and final positions have also been used repeatedly in the stories. This provides the child with multiple opportunities to hear and practice saying the targeted phoneme.
At the end of each story are questions which may help the child with reading comprehension and may help improve auditory memory. The additional activities section may be used to expand on the stories.
Most importantly, these stories are to be used so children may have “fun” with words.
Anita Reeves McMillan is a speech pathologist who has worked with children with multiple speech and language differences. She received her degree in speech pathology from Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, KY and has a music degree from Volunteer State College in Gallatin, TN. She is currently employed by the Marion School District #2 in Mullins, SC.
She is also the author of, Ready-to-Use Language Articulation & Development Activities for Special Children.
She has found that children learn faster and easier and retain more of what they have learned when they enjoy the activities. She hopes the silly antics of “The Three Brave Little Boys” will help children have “fun” with words and have “fun” learning. She dedicates this book to brave little boys everywhere, especially William, James, and Alexander.
THE THREE BRAVE LITTLE BOYS
AND
THE BICYCLE BASH
B
* TARGET WORDS
BALLOONS BIRD
BASKETBALL BOARDS
BEACH BUCKET
BICYCLE BULLDOZER
BUTTONS
One balmy, breezy, day in November, the three brave little boys debated about having a bicycle bash. They wanted to build an obstacle course in a bodacious labyrinth on the beach for their bicycle bash. They also wanted to invite all of their friends to participate in the bicycle beach bash.
“Let’s ask the beach patrol if we can build a bodacious labyrinth,” said the oldest brave little boy.
“Yes, the beach patrol might even help us build it,” said the second oldest brave little boy.
“I need to go blow up my bicycle tires,” yelled the youngest brave little boy.
The three brave little boys bounced down the beach to ask the beach patrol if they could build a bodacious labyrinth for a bicycle bash. The beach patrol didn’t want any of the people on the beach to be bored, so they said a bicycle bash would be a blast!
The beach patrol gathered up all of the brown and black tubes and lumber they could find to make the obstacle course needed for the bodacious labyrinth. They also blew up billowy balloons to help make the bodacious labyrinth more difficult, and they used boards for the bicycles to ride across. With the help of the beach patrol, the bodacious labyrinth was built and everyone was ready for the bicycle bash to begin!
“I bet I win the bicycle bash,” boasted the oldest brave little boy.
“Yes, I bet I’m the best bicycle rider on the beach,” boasted the second oldest brave little boy.
“You better believe I’m the best, and I’ll beat everybody,” boasted the youngest brave little boy.
The three brave little boys bounded onto their bicycles and grabbed the basketballs the beach patrol gave them. Before they could begin the obstacle course, everybody had to shoot the basketball in the basketball net. They made their shot, so the beach patrol blew the buzzer for the bicycle bash to begin.
Everybody on the beach who had a bicycle joined in the bash. Bicycles began bouncing over the boards trying to reach the end of the bodacious labyrinth. There were all kinds of bicycles and all kinds of bicycle riders in the bash, but nobody could ride a bicycle better than the three brave little boys. The bounded their bicycles over the boards faster than a rabbit and avoided the barriers without a blink of their blue eyes. They peddled their bicycles over the boards so fast all anybody could see was just a blur as their bicycles blasted through the bodacious labyrinth.
The three brave little boys nimbly balanced their bicycles on the broad, brown boards as they bounced along. They had memorized the best way out of the obstacle course so they could breeze through the bodacious labyrinth. They knew they had to turn left at the bulldozer and turn right at the blue buckets. They knew they had to ride past the bird baths to reach the finish line.
“There’s the bulldozer. We have to turn left,” yelled the oldest brave little boy to his brothers.
“Yes, and there are the buckets. Turn right,” yelled the second oldest brave little boy to his brothers.
“Here are the bird baths. Get ready,” yelled the youngest brave little boy to his brothers.
The three brave little boys had a plan. They had designed special blasters on their bicycles so they could fly over the bird baths. They pushed the special buttons on the handlebars of their bicycles to turn on the blasters. Nothing happened! The three brave little boys couldn’t believe it. They had worked so hard on designing and building the blasters and now they wouldn’t work! This was unbelievable! The three brave little boys knew they would have to rely on their own powerful biceps and their brilliant memory to get through the rest of the labyrinth. They peddled harder and faster than they ever had before. They barreled across the bumpy, broad boards toward the final barrier. With one final boisterous peddle, the three brave little boys buzzed across the finish line. They were the winners! All of the other bicycle riders were either too tired or too lost to find their way out of the obstacle course of the bodacious labyrinth.
