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Today, I am continuing discussing the books that I recommended yesterday for students who are older and would like to read short stories, verse and novels. I cited eight titles and provided annotations for each. Each of the books focuses on the theme of resilience and with the ability to take perspective of self and others, students will be able to “see themselves through others’ experiences” and reflect on their lives in general. During the next several days, I will provide a glimpse into each book and refer to the Story Grammar Marker^®. Today we will apply the Story Grammar Marker^® to Esperanza Rising, chapter 1. I chose Esperanza Rising as the first in this series since Esperanza means “HOPE.” Hope is a vital character trait for us to focus on during these times. Through literature, students learn about themselves, through others’ experiences. They see resilience in action!

Last of 3-Day Lesson Ideas for Settings: When choosing Big Red Barn as a follow-up to the “At the Farm” assigned passage, my purpose–as a parent at home–was to use the book to elaborate on the topic that was presented in the assigned passage, as a teacher may do in school. I wasn’t worried about lexiles. I wanted a book that would appeal to a child in kindergarten to read for fun and maybe to teach a few things. When looking through Big Red Barn I found many elaborations!

Colleagues often ask how I would use the Story Grammar Marker^® or Braidy the StoryBraid^® with Aesop’s Fables. Fables are stories that teach a lesson and, because of that feature, are often part of academic curricula from grade 1 on. I decided to write a little bit about fables today because the lessons learned often relate to New Year’s Resolutions we all make! Most often fables involve animals as the characters but relate to human nature. Perspective taking, Theory of Mind and Lessons Learned are required to understand a fable. All of these are difficult for many students. The following shows the use of our Story Grammar Marker^® icons to map “The Ants & The Grasshopper” fable for purposes of comprehension and expression. These icons—and our entire SGM^® approach—will be 28 years old in 2019!...

In a recent blog for Cinco de Mayo, we posted the analysis of the book, Too Many Tamales. (Previous blog.)

Too Many Tamales is quite complex in terms of its content. The reader needs to be attentive to the illustrations as well as the text itself. Complexity of a text poses challenges to students and instructors alike. There are several measures of complexity of text.  They are: Lexile Measures, Qualitative Complexity and Knowledge of the competence of the student as reader/listener in order to match him/her to text and task. (Please see references below for further study.) As instructors and interventionists, we are constantly attentive to these measures...

Session #2 — Comparative Analysis of a Geographical Setting

This post is a continuation of our analysis of Setting of the short novel The Big Wave by Pearl S. Buck. In Session #1, we learned about Japan the country. We will now compare the Settings of the two main Characters. There are two primary geographical settings in this book. Both are in Japan.

1. Kino lives on a mountain farm near a volcano.
2. Jiya lives in a fishing village at the edge of the sea.

Fleischman, R. (2004). Seedfolks. NY: Harper Trophy. This is a collection of voices of people who, in one way or another, relate to a vacant lot in Cleveland, Ohio, during the 1930s. The vacant lot is full of smelly trash dumped there over a period of years. Gradually, people are drawn to the site to plant, see things grow and to socialize. All are people who have sustained great hardships in life. Each short chapter is a snippet of their experience, mostly as immigrants to our country. I’ve selected the character Leona as a focus for this lesson. Leona’s chapter begins with a memory of her grandmother. The memory centered on goldenrod tea with a nutmeg floating in it. Her grandmother drank it every day to ward off illness…and any doctor! There are several kick-offs that signal mini-episodes within this short story. Handout Available...

Wade, M & L. (2006). And Then It Happened. Ontario, Canada: Books for Boys. This series of books was given to me when I was in Ontario, Canada, presenting about narrative development. I thought I would present one of these stories today since there is an opportunity to have a little fun with the content of these volumes. The short stories are written for boys (and girls) between grades 3 & 6. The website www.boysbookshelf.com provides a sample short story from each of the volumes as well as listings of all the Canadian school systems visited by Michael Wade, one of the authors. My favorite story is “The Giant Cupcakes.” I have used it as reader’s theater with props. It is lots of fun. There are several Kick-Offs throughout this short story. Handout Available...

To broaden this lesson about settings and our conversation about a farm, we are providing other setting references: Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown is the selection for today’s mini-lesson reading. Other suggestions are provided in the handout...

The “Who Would Win…” books are interesting in themselves since they present lots of information on the two animals presented when competing with each other. The outcome is an evaluation of evidence—some descriptive, some cause/effect, some problem/solution—that helps the reader to form an opinion as to: Who would win, it the two were opposing each other in the wild. Even though the information could be presented in a science text book, the presentation of facts is consolidated by pictures, embedded boxes such as Fun Facts and Did You Know? Structurally, the pages referring to contrasts between the animals are opposite each other, allowing the reader, or listener, to view both animals as descriptive...

Continuing our lessons on information text, I would like to feature Dr. Seuss’ book about the Spring Season, “Spring Seasons.” In it is a listing of many things that are spring! Seuss’ characters, Thing 1 and Thing 2, are present on each page as they show elements of the Spring Season. The final page is an illustration of all things spring. We also discuss “Wonderful Worms, ”Glaser/Krupinski...

Today I finished a blog for our website about using the Story Grammar Marker^® and/or Braidy the StoryBraid^® with Aesop’s Fables. The blog was the result of a discussion with colleagues centering on problems teaching a fable as a read-aloud with few illustrations as guides. My comments focused on the need to develop perspective taking in our students so that they will be able to see both sides (perspectives). What led me to write this piece today? I received my latest issue of the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy (International Literacy Association). Connections to my Aesop’s Fables blog were made with an article listed below: Branum, Lezlie & Strong, Ashley & D'On Jones, Cindy. (2018).
Mitigating Myside Bias in Argumentation. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy. 62. 10.1002/jaal.915...

Because collaborators come from different points of view in terms of their view of the students’ needs, the contents of this listing may be something to use as a discussion tool fostering collaboration among general education teachers, special education teachers, speech/language pathologists, school adjustment counselors and those focusing on social communication growth!...

This final section of analysis of The Big Wave by Pearl Buck begins with personification of the sea and extends the overall themes of friendship, resilience, overcoming obstacles and gratitude leading to new beginnings. The Critical Thinking Triangle^® and the Complete Episode maps of the Story Grammar Marker^® assist students in qualitative analysis of the plot to form opinions and apply the themes to their own lives. On pages 20 and 21 Jiya must obey and make a decision. Use two Critical Thinking Triangles to map these...

The month of February is Black History Month, also known as African-American History Month.  It is celebrated yearly in February in the United States and Canada and coincides with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln on February 12 and Fredrick Douglass on February 14. MindWing Concepts would like to contribute to this celebration by posting several lessons to use with the Story Grammar Marker^® and ThemeMaker^® which focus on the contributions and accomplishments of black Americans. These postings will include a little known, but related, story of a Springfield Massachusetts Baseball Team which chose friendship over victory eighty years ago in the American Legion Playoffs...

To date in this gradual analysis of The Big Wave, we have talked about the characters within a geographic setting, one where the physical happenings inherent in a setting such as Japan may involve volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis. This setting also takes into consideration the cultures of those living in the setting. You may elaborate upon these aspects as you wish to build knowledge of the land and its people. When students approach fifth grade, a graphic known as the “Plot Diagram” or the “Plot Mountain” is shown as a way to organize the plot of a story, a chapter, or the events in a novel such as The Big Wave. Shown above is our version from The ThemeMaker Teacher’s Manual...

October 31 is Halloween. According to history.com, “every October, carved pumpkins peer out from porches and doorsteps in the United States and other parts of the world. Gourd-like orange fruits inscribed with ghoulish faces and illuminated by candles are a sure sign of the Halloween season. The practice of decorating “jack-o’-lanterns”—the name comes from an Irish folktale about a man named Stingy Jack—originated in Ireland, where large turnips and potatoes served as an early canvas. Irish immigrants brought the tradition to America, home of the pumpkin, and it became an integral part of Halloween festivities.”...

People often ask us how to get Story Grammar Marker^® implemented in their school/school district. The following article, re-printed here with permission, describes step by step how, with a supportive administration and engaged teachers and specialists, two Speech Language Pathologists did it! They even reveal the results of pre- and post-tests of narrative scores for retells. Thank you so much to Miranda and Melissa for having us out to train in Kelowna, British Columbia and for sharing your success story with us! — In the summer of 2016, Melissa Perehudoff and I brought in Maryellen Rooney Moreau (creator of the Story Grammar Marker^®) to provide a two-day workshop for Student Support Services-School District #23. We were using the Story Grammar Marker^® with many students for language therapy so we were really excited to see her in person...

Woodson, J. (2014). Brown Girl Dreaming. NY: Putnam. This is a book of poetry centering on the author’s life experiences growing up in Ohio. She remembers life as a child and applies these memories to her future. There are two poems that I would like to cite: “every wish, one dream,” (pages 313–314) and “it’ll be scary sometimes,” (pages 13–14). The first selection is about Woodson’s dream of becoming a writer. As many writers have, she has read much and remembered the themes, lines of stories and poems, and their life lessons. As I read the passage to you, think about her expression of her life’s goal. The second poem is about a memory from early life stories about family experiences from past generations. Handout Available...

Today I want to show how authors always include information in their stories. We should look for it as we read. For instance, the information for the setting is a time and a place…BUT…what is happening at that time in that place is the important part for a story! The timing of a kick-off and how characters in the setting respond to the kick-off through feelings, thoughts, words and actions is finalized when the character makes a plan. How things turn out as a consequence depends on the actions (attempts) to carry out the plan and whether the plan is realized. I used the book, Are You Ready To Play Outside? by Mo Willems. This book is part of a series starring Gerald the Elephant and Piggy, the pig! I noted in my mini-lesson that you might want to look at this book for the concept that kick-offs (the rain) often occur gradually in many situations...

Session #3: Description of a Tsunami

What is a Tsunami? A Tsunami is a huge wave that is caused by an earthquake or volcano eruption beneath the ocean/sea. There is a sequence of steps making up a Tsunami.

First, the sea bottom (Tectonic Plates) erupts. Next, the tectonic plates split or overlap, and pushing upward, cause the water above the split or overlap to rise in volume. Then, the water comes together to rise above the surface. At first the wave is not noticeable. Finally, the wave grows in height as it approaches the shallower waters of the shore...

Today we are winding back the clock to the early 1990s. While cleaning out her basement, Maryellen Rooney Moreau, creator of Story Grammar Marker^®, found some really cool SGM^® “mementos” from the early days of SGM^® when she started this business in her basement. To the right is Maryellen (today) standing next to the first-ever banner that was made for trade shows and conferences that Maryellen attended when she first published Story Grammar Marker^®. It is complete with vinyl lettering and fancy, colorful decals. To Maryellen’s far left is the life-size custom cut-out of Story Grammar Marker^® from last year’s American Speech Language Hearing Association Convention. WOW! There is quite a difference...

We stand in support of racial equality. To be anti-racist, people must be able to listen, use their voices, take perspective, tell their stories, and express their thoughts at home, in school and in life. We are committed to continuing to focus our professional development on supporting children in “telling their story” as well as sharing narrative and expository selections of children’s literature that are written by Black authors and People of Color, that have characters representing multiple cultures, as well as those books that take on themes and topics such as racism, racial justice, and diversity. This is Maryellen Rooney Moreau’s 50th year as a speech/language pathologist specializing in communication and discourse. Her passion is helping children to think...

Snowy evenings often inspire poets, musicians and writers. One that I love is Robert Frost’s famous poem entitled Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. I have a beautiful copy of this poem with illustrations by Susan Jeffers. This poem happens to be an exemplar poem listed in Appendix 2 of the Common Core State Standards. The last page of the book has a note written by the illustrator about her mother, an artist, who would take her daughter for walks on snowy evenings: “My mother’s favorite thing to do was simply to walk outside and look. She was a painter and my first painting lessons came from her. They were really lessons in looking. She would ask me: What is the color of the tree shadow? Is it blue? Blue- green” Violet? She was teaching me to paint what I saw, not what I knew. What I knew would never be enough.” Color often is a clue to the author’s, poet’s or illustrator’s theme. Robert Frost’s poem, so beautifully illustrated in this version, reminded me of Owl Moon by Jane Yolen and illustrated by John Schoenherr, due to similarities of the winter night’ setting, the owls and the mention of colors...

At MindWing Concepts, we are very excited to be celebrating the release of the official Story Grammar Marker app! Our goal in developing this app was to create a digital version of the SGM manipulative in order to take advantage of the iPad’s multifunction capabilities: students can touch the icons, add text, draw or import pictures, and record oral language in the process of story mapping. The app will complement MindWing’s tools for existing users of our methodology and also welcomes those who are just discovering our visual, tactile and kinesthetic approach to narrative language!...

For our last 😢entry in our “Summer Study Series” for 2020, we look at a perspective on social cognition with a twist: how are children with significant speech sound disorders, such as apraxia of speech, impacted within the sequence of developing social competencies? This article, What Does It Mean to Be Social? Defining the Social Landscape for Children With Childhood Apraxia of Speech, is provided by Nancy Tarshis, Michelle Garcia Winner, and Pamela Crooke (2020) and was released within ASHA’s Perspectives (Special Interest Group 2) journal available to anyone with a SIG membership in any specialty. For others, the article is behind a paywall, so I hope this review at least will be helpful...

As so often happens when I see a certain book or project, it reminds me of particular lessons that I taught while teaching at the former Juniper Park School in Westfield, MA. A recent display of books on spiders at our local library did just that. Below are some ideas on spider-related books that you may want to try this summer or tuck them away in your files for future use. In addition to other resources, several of the selections below are Anansi trickster tales which were first told by the Ashanti people in Ghana. We begin our lesson suggestions with one of the Anansi stories adapted and retold by Eric A. Kimmel and illustrated by Janet Stevens. These were always popular with second and third graders. I liked to use them to reinforce the SGM^® complete and interactive episodes and character traits...