Expressing Favorites Using “My Favorite… Is…”

Hello! Last lesson, the child practiced saying her name and age in full sentences. Today she can use another full sentence to share something she likes: “My favorite … is …” The goal is for her to name a favorite color, animal, food, and toy aloud. She does not need to read or spell the whole sentence independently yet.

Plan for about 40 minutes. Gather a few colored objects, pictures of animals and foods, and two or three familiar toys. Paper and crayons will be useful for a short book-making activity. Use the American spelling favorite on anything you write.

Make “favorite” mean something

Start with a quick greeting from the previous lesson: “Hello! My name is …” Then put two toys where the child can see them. Pick one up and say, “I like this toy.” Pick up the other, hold it close, and say with a smile, “I like this one the best. It is my favorite toy.” Let her choose between the toys. There is no wrong choice: favorite means the one she likes best, not the one the teacher expects.

The picture below offers another way to introduce the idea. Point to the ice cream cones and say, “I like ice cream. My favorite food is ice cream.” The printed question is there for you to say aloud; the child does not need to read it.

Now give her a sentence she can make her own. Point to yourself as you say “My favorite toy is my teddy bear.” Point to her and offer the beginning, “My favorite toy is …” If she gives only a toy’s name, acknowledge the choice and say the whole sentence together once. Then invite her to try it without your voice.

Hear a food example, then change the topic

Watch the short food conversation in “What is your favorite food?” from LucyMax English. It supplies another voice and a child-friendly context for talking about favorites.

Ask the child to choose between two pictured or familiar foods. Model first: “My favorite food is pizza.” Then give her the opening words, “My favorite food is …” Say her completed sentence back naturally so she hears the whole thought. After a couple of turns, put the food pictures aside. She should learn to use the sentence for her own choices, not simply repeat a video answer.

Give the sentence four places to go

Lay out four simple picture cues: a colored crayon, an animal picture, a food picture, and a toy. Point to each cue as you give one example:

My favorite color is blue.
My favorite animal is a cat.
My favorite food is pizza.
My favorite toy is my teddy bear.

The beginning and middle stay steady; the category and the answer change. Keep the cues visible while the child chooses her own answers. If a word is new, supply it aloud—she can still do the important work of placing it in the sentence.

Move the cues into a new order and invite a sentence for each one. Begin with strong support, perhaps saying “My favorite animal is …” together. Later, point to the animal picture and wait. If she says “Cat!”, respond, “A cat. My favorite animal is a cat.” Then give her another chance to say it. Avoid turning every attempt into a correction; the aim is a confident, complete spoken sentence.

One small distinction is worth modeling rather than explaining as a rule. We say “My favorite color is blue,” but “My favorite animal is a cat.” For a toy, “my doll” or “a ball” both work. Use natural examples and let her hear the patterns many times.

Make a small “favorite things” book

A book gives her spoken choices a purpose and makes room for writing without making spelling the obstacle. The My Favorite Things activity from CLI Engage Family suggests talking about choices first, then combining pictures and adult-supported labels or sentences.

Fold a sheet into a small book, or use four separate pages. Write one large frame on each page:

My favorite color is __________.
My favorite animal is __________.
My favorite food is __________.
My favorite toy is __________.

Let the child draw or paste a picture for each answer. Say the sentence together before anyone writes. You can write the answer she dictates; if she wants to copy a word or add a label, provide a clear model. The pages record what she said, rather than testing whether she can spell words whose sounds she has not learned.

When the pages are ready, turn them one at a time and let her tell you about them. At first, she may need the written frame spoken aloud. On a second trip through the book, try pointing only to the picture cue. Keep whichever level of help lets her speak in a full sentence.

Close

Put the book down and show the four category cues once more in a mixed order. Listen for a complete “My favorite [color, animal, food, or toy] is …” sentence with an answer that belongs to that category. If one category is harder, model it and return to it briefly at the next session.

Today’s key idea is that favorite names something she likes best, and one useful sentence lets her talk about several kinds of favorites. In the next lesson, she will learn to ask someone else about theirs with “What is your favorite …?”