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Having just read the biography Who Was Rosa Parks? written by Yona Zeldis McDonough, I gathered five of my favorite SGM Mini-Posters and sat down to create some lessons based upon this wonderful book for elementary school students. The blending of both narrative and expository text structures in this book makes it especially valuable to teach and reinforce the differences in text structures. It would make a wonderful informative read aloud as well as for use with individual student for reports and sharing. The Lexile measure is 700. The author includes two timelines, one showing Rosa Park’s life and the other corresponding to world events of the same years. This is especially helpful to relate to the setting of the biography...

As we know, the Story Grammar Marker^®’s design reflects the research connecting language and literacy. The icons represent the components of narrative discourse, an underpinning of literacy. Teaching the SGM^® icons and their meanings will provide students with a scaffold to organize their thoughts in a meaningful way to communicate orally and in writing. Continuing with our setting ideas, today we offer one to reinforce the Star icon which represents the Setting, the where and when a story takes place. For those of you new to using SGM^®, the Star was chosen as the icon for the Setting because sailors...

Give each child a completed map identical to the one on your white board and on the reverse side have ready a map with just a blank template for drawing.

Ask the children to look at the side with the text and review the compare/contrast items they came up with in the previous lesson. Make, and have ready, several baggies containing the compare/contrast words presented yesterday and ask students to place them in front of them, as shown.

The Saggy Baggy Elephant, written by K. and V. Jackson, was first published in 1947 as part of many tales in the Little Golden Book series. I was recently reminded of this story when my neighbor’s grandson brought it to me to share. First published in 1942, Little Golden Books were created as an affordable choice of books that appealed to children. The books originally sold for 25 cents (www.randomhousekids.com/
goldenbooks) each. These books are still readily available to children, and, as of 2002, over 2 billion Little Golden Books were in print.

The following is The Saggy Baggy Elephant outlined as a basic complete episode...

We are often asked which books/materials to use with the SGM^® and ThemeMaker^® maps. Although there are many suggestions given in our manuals, the answer is: any selection that you are using will work! The strength of the SGM/ThemeMaker lies in the fact that it is a flexible approach that adds needed scaffolding to make text, whether narrative or expository, assessable to all students.

A recent post, Exploring Expository Text Using the SGM Descriptive Map (August 12, 2015), focused on transitioning from the Narrative Character Map to the Expository Character Descriptive Map.

It’s an Armadillo! written by Bianca Lavies was the text chosen for that first post. Today, we present an extension of this Descriptive Map activity with the topic of cheetahs, which we have presented whole group in grades 2-4. You may modify to meet your needs...

Creating foldables is one way to make reinforcing the SGM icons an enjoyable experience. Using a flipbook and our Icon STAMPede Stamp Activity Set is a versatile way to engage students. There are a variety of flip book ideas online which may be adapted to this activity and the stamps make it easy for students themselves to create their own booklets during centers.

The Basic Flip Book/STAMPede activity…

1. Decide which icons you would like students to work on… this will vary by what you want to reinforce with your students
2. Place as many sheets of paper as needed, one on top of the other...

Several lessons on characters and settings have been presented in past blog entries. Increasingly, children are asked to take informational selections and summarize what they have learned. There is a great need to help students find ways to organize and express expository texts. We have found it helpful to take the time to transition from the use of the Character Map—that the children are already familiar with—to the Descriptive Expository Map. Begin by showing your students the Character Map and the Descriptive Map.

A recent (February 20) MindWing blog contained a link to our Feelings Mini-Poster and a new feelings activity that included a partially completed template unique to The Snow Walker and a blank template for use with other stories of your choice.

The Snow Walker activity used the template with multiple Characters and their perspectives. Today, we will use this same template with a variation to the activity, using it with one Character and multiple Kick-Offs. This will reinforce the concept that a Character has a Feeling in response to a Kick-Off. Our ultimate goal is to lead students to an understanding of the Critical Thinking Triangle. Continuing today from the previous blog with the picturebook Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch we have provided the following partially completed template for today’s activity.

As you know, March 2nd is the birthday of Dr. Seuss. He was born right around the corner from our MIndWing office here in Springfield, MA. Yesterday, I visited the Springfield Library to get a copy of The Cat and The Hat so I could share a lesson suggestion related to feelings. Along with that book, I found a copy of Horton and the Kwuggerbugs and Other Lost Stories. These stories were originally published in Redbook magazine between 1950-1955. Charles Cohen, a collector of all things Seuss, put together four of these selections in this book. Following The Cat and The Hat activity is an SGM analysis of one of those stories: “Marco Comes Late”...

Last year, we got a lot of great feedback on our Groundhog Day blog, “6 Books and Activity for Groundhog Day.” Teachers seemed to especially like the last idea included in the blog, describing the groundhog’s burrow (from a List Map to a setting project, to sharing aloud). Check out last year’s blog if you haven’t seen it already! I came across another book presented in rhyme for Groundhog Day, Grumpy Groundhog written by Maureen Wright and illustrated by Amanda Haley. Below are a few ideas to use with this selection...

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...

If you are looking for a delightful book to go along with cold, snowy weather, check out one I came across the other day, Snowmen at Night, written by Caralyn Buehner and illustrated by Mark Buehner. After a little boy notices that the snowman he built the day before looks a bit different, he begins to wonder what snowmen actually do at night. That is the kick-off of this rhyming story. The story is presented as a series of actions of the many activities of snowmen at night! It would be an ideal selection to use with Braidy the StoryBraid Doll...

“In the Jingle Jangle Jungle on a cold and rainy day, four little friends found a perfect place to stay.” Thus begins our journey with Zebra, Moose, Lion, Sheep and Bear! The Very Cranky Bear by Nick Bland is a delightful presentation in rhyme which will surely entertain Pre-K–Grade 1 students. I am reminded of my teaching mentor, Gail O’Connor. She was so skilled at taking stories and adding simple props, then letting students add their own touches to characters! Following are a few activities that may be presented; modify to meet the needs of your students...

Maryellen recently received a very special package at her MindWing office in Springfield, MA. Inside was a lovely note along with a recently published children’s book, Narwhal Makes a Sandwich. This book is written by Laura Addington, a Speech Language Pathologist, and Aryn Franklin, an Occupational Therapist, and illustrated by Tara Put, also a Speech Language Pathologist. As written in the note, they used the Story Grammar Marker^® to scaffold their story! We thought you would enjoy this selection outlined as a Complete Episode...

When my children were young, one of our favorite summer pastimes was a weekly trip to our local library here in Springfield, Massachusetts. A recent visit reminded me to check out the many interesting programs available for children as well as adults. We are so fortunate! I remember teaching in the classroom and having a much anticipated visit from our city’s librarian who went over the many options for summertime fun. During my days as camp counselor, a walk with the campers to our local library was always on the agenda! A friend of mine who will be teaching elementary school this summer and I visited our local branch library to check out books for her to use to review SGM components with her students. The following are a few of the choices we made...

During Maryellen’s last two webinars, Story Grammar Marker: 2 Key Things That Set It Apart and 5 Elements of the Critical Thinking Triangle in Action!, she used a feeling-frame with the boys who participated in the lesson to highlight how characters were feeling and what they were thinking in the story, Those Shoes by Maribeth Boltz. The frames have been particularly motivating with students. They can be easily made using tongue depressors and popsicle sticks. Craft stores carry colorful ones in various sizes. We have found the easiest way to hold them together is with glue dots, also available in craft stores. These activities would go nicely with our new product, The Critical Thinking Triangle in Action! and are very adaptable to students and materials!

One of my favorite series of lessons which I taught at the former Juniper Park School in Westfield, Massachusetts, involved the folktale The Little Red Hen. I used three versions of this folktale; one retold by Paul Galdone, one by Margot Zemach and the third by Alan Garner. The use of these books supports the six CCSS standards listed in this blog...

I hope you have been able to browse through our recent blogs: SGM Summer Reading List, Part 1 (Complete Episode) and Part 2 (Character). We have received several comments from people who thought both were so beneficial in demonstrating the depth of the Story Grammar Marker^®. The SGM^® is based upon research showing that strengthening oral narrative discourse skills improves comprehension and writing competency. Today’s blog features past selections with the focus on the SETTING...

This time of the school year always reminds me of the many field trips I chaperoned while teaching kindergarten. The Zoo in Forest Park, Springfield, MA, was always a favorite, with a train ride around the park as our closing activity. We were fortunate to also have a beautiful park close by to our school, Stanley Park in Westfield, MA; a popular mini-trip within walking distance. The activity I am sharing today is one of 70 mini-lessons presented in the Braidy the StoryBraid^® manual that we used when preparing for a farm trip to The Gran-Val Scoop in Granville, MA. As the name implies, the children were able to have a special treat of dairy-farm-made ice cream! Also included is a follow-up activity that we did on our return and a suggested extension activity...

The Doorbell Rang by Pat Hutchins has been a popular book used to teach sharing and fractions in elementary school. If you are not familiar with the story, Ma bakes a batch of a dozen cookies to be shared by her two children. However, as they sit down to enjoy the treat, the doorbell begins to ring with friends dropping by. Each time, the cookies must be divided up to share! The ending is quite a surprise! We have found this book to be an excellent way to reinforce the Initiating Event or “Kick-Off” icon of a story, especially in first grade. All you will need is the book and a “Kick-Off” icon taped to the end of a Popsicle stick, one for each participant...

A previous blog (“Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss Lesson,” 2/29/16) focused on the biography about Dr. Seuss. One of his selections mentioned was The Sneetches, published in 1961. Written during the 1960s during the civil rights struggle, this book demonstrates conflict between star-bellied Sneetches and those Sneetches who did not have stars. In a biography, it was stated that Ted Geisel showed through this story how he thought it was silly for people “to hate one another because they looked different” (p. 81, Who Was Dr. Seuss? by Janet Pascal). Below find The Sneetches outlined using five of the seven SGM Developmental Stages...

The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton was first published in 1942 but remains a favorite of many. It tells the story of a Little House — from the house’s perspective — that is located in the country, is lived in, and surrounded by beauty.

As the Little House sees the distant lights of the city, she wonders what it would be like to live in the city, and as time goes on, she finds the city growing until she is surrounded by it and no one lives in her anymore...

These lessons would occur over a period of several days. I usually begin with Hilda Must Be Dancing, but it doesn’t matter which story you choose to work on first.

Read the story to the children. Present a map to the children of a complete episode with the icons going down the center. You may use either chart paper or use the magnets on a white board, as shown.

After reading one of the stories, map it out, icon by icon, engaging the children in the process. After reading one of the stories, map it out, icon by icon, engaging the children in the process. Keep the chart up and model retelling the story using your SGM^® Teacher Marker…

The “Core” of The Core manual contains many hands-on materials for student use. One of my favorites is the Expository “My Research” Cut–and-Fold Booklet. I have used this in many settings and grade levels, including centers and with intervention groups. Instructions are included in the manual.

Sea Turtles by Gail Gibbons is one book that works very well with this activity since it includes all expository text structures. As an added resource, Maryellen recently did a section of a webinar on the topic of sea turtles that you might be interested in viewing. (Click here to view Sea Turtles expository analysis excerpt.)...

Today, we will look at some writing samples using the topic of Koalas and ideas to scaffold the process from using the Character Descriptive Map to paragraphs. As stated previously, any book/resource that you use may be adapted to these activities.

We used several resources including:

• Zoobooks: Koalas & Other Australian Animals
• Koala by Caroline Arnold, Photography by Richard Hewett

We followed the same procedure as in the Armadillo and Cheetah lessons: reading short segments, making a list of facts, and placing each fact in the correct category (physical appearance, habitat, food and eating, young, special characteristics)...

Our recent blog, The Snow Walker, concluded our three-part winter-themed blogs (for this year!). We are hopefully moving towards warmer temperatures, as we begin April. April also begins National Autism Awareness Month. In light of that, throughout the month, our blogs will focus on the development of feelings, perspective taking, theory of mind, and empathy. The Story Grammar Marker^® provides a visual, explicit way of analyzing the motivations, feelings, thoughts/mental states and plans of characters (and of people in real life situations).

Picture books are excellent resources for helping to develop children’s emotional literacy. As educators, we know that combining visual images and text plays a significant role in working with our students. In an article in The Reading Teacher (Vol. 67, Issue 4, December 2013/2014), Maria Nikolajeva writes that “picturebooks are perfect training fields for young people’s theory of mind and empathy.” In this blog, we are going to use the book Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch written by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by Paul Yalowitz to begin to demonstrate feelings, theory of mind, perspective taking and empathy.

Earth Day is honored around the world on April 22 for the purpose of shining a light on environmental programs and fostering community activism through a variety of different events and activities. Earth Day is the largest civic event in the world! It is celebrated around the globe by people of all cultures, backgrounds, and nationalities. More than a billion people participate in Earth Day Festivities each year. Up here in New England, it is 70 degrees today (although we still have patches of snow on the ground!!) but the warm weather reminded us that Earth Day will be here before we know it!

Earth Day is a great occasion to introduce the book entitled Winston of Churchill: One Bear's Battle Against Global Warming by Jean Davies Okimoto (Author) and Jeremiah Trammell (Illustrator). This picture book is a combination of narrative and expository text structures. The narrative, or story, is about polar bears planning a protest against environmental factors negatively affecting their habitat in Churchill, Canada. It contains all narrative elements of story grammar as well as perspective taking.

Here in Western Massachusetts, we just had a Thanksgiving weekend storm that dropped 2 FEET of snow in our backyards! It reminded us to share with you links to our past blog posts that contain winter-themed lessons and downloads. Also, we included a comprehensive list of favorite winter-themed books. At left is Maryellen and granddaughter Casey (aged 5) with their snowman.

Today, I came across a book with a Thanksgiving theme that I would like to share with you. Also, at the end of this blog, you will find a list of additional resources for Thanksgiving that may be of interest to you. This book would be ideal to use with the setting icon as we follow the firefighters throughout their Thanksgiving Day. The book is presented in rhyme and the acrylic painting illustrations enhance the story of being thankful and joining together to show appreciation. After reading the selection, I reviewed the firefighters' day with my small group of students with my magnetic whiteboard and Story Grammar Marker Icon Magnets. I used the setting icon to emphasize that a setting is not only a place, but also time as well as the action icons for the sequence of events...

The Day You Begin, by Jacqueline Woodson and illustrated by Rafael Lopez, is a beautiful, nonlinear story to share with children, especially at the beginning of the school year. It encourages children to think about their feelings when entering new situations and creates an opportunity for teachers to provide a discussion with and to show support of children in such situations. Before sharing the selection, take a look at the following links for background information. This book is actually a story of a girl named Angelina, included with examples and guiding suggestions for fitting in, with which all of us can identify. Included below is also a link to the illustrator’s website, Rafael Lopez, discussing the development of the artwork for this book, which older students would find interesting...

Today I visited the Sixteen Acres Library in Springfield, MA. As I was browsing in the children’s section, I turned to find three youngsters reading a big book, “Big Red Barn,” written by Margaret Wise Brown. We have a farm-related blog on our website using this book that you can find here. The blog includes a wonderful downloadable activity you may be interested in sharing with your students about the farm. On a table of featured books, I then found “The Cow Who Climbed A Tree” by Gemma Merino. To continue with the farm theme, I checked out this book and thought you may enjoy sharing it with your students...

If you are looking for a lively read for Halloween, check out Room on the Broom, written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Alex Scheffler. This book is presented in delightful rhyme, making it an ideal book for the younger set (Pre-K—Gr 2). It is a perfect selection to map out two Complete Episodes emphasizing a new Kick-Off. Below is the story mapped out from the witch’s perspective. Use Braidy the StoryBraid^® or the Story Grammar Marker^® to retell it to the students. At the end of this blog, we have also included a downloadable “Retelling Wheel” to be used by students to retell the story to one another...

Maryellen recommended this book at a workshop I attended many years ago, and I found so many uses for it when our second, third, fourth, and fifth graders began to explore narrative and expository text structures. Using the picture book Alaska’s Three Bears shows the flexibility of the SGM^® for both narrative and expository texts. She shared lessons and activities for use with grades K-5 and noted that this book could be used with a variety of grade levels (2-5) as it helped to support a number of her goals and objectives as a Language Arts Teacher. There is both a story and expository information presented. The book is one that can be used with a variety of goals/objectives in mind, during whole-group and/or small-group instruction, and with a wide span of grade levels...

Who doesn’t love chameleons? I remember when I saw this book in our school library many years ago! I couldn’t wait to use it with our second grade students featuring the SGM List Map and Descriptive Map. At the time, I travelled from class to class, K-2, and brought SGM Marker and Braidy the StoryBraid, narrative and expository elements, into the classrooms. This time around, I created an informational sheet for grade 2 from various sources to begin our lessons. Notice how the information could be easily entered on an SGM Descriptive Map using the categories Physical Appearance, Habitat, Food and Eating, Young, and Special Characteristics. We completed the project in three sessions...

After facing 27 heart breaking rejections, Dr. Seuss was heading back to his apartment to burn his first book. It was on his journey back that a chance encounter changed his future forever. As he was walking to his apartment along Madison Avenue he bumped into an old Dartmouth College friend, Mike McClintock. McClintock, by chance, had just started working that very morning at Vanguard Press children’s section as editor. A few hours later the two had signed a contract to publish Dr. Seuss’s first book, “And to Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” after it had been rejected 27 times...

I recently have read several articles in our local papers describing encounters between residents and wild turkeys within our state (Massachusetts). I was surprised to learn that wild turkeys once were extinct in our area. Not knowing many facts about wild turkeys, my nephew and I came across a book at our local library here in Springfield, Massachusetts, written and illustrated by Jim Arnosky, All About Turkeys. This book and the companion fact sheets referenced above would be ideal to use with the Expository “My Research” Cut–and-Fold Booklet found in our “Core” of the Core manual. After reading both, invite students to fill in the booklet with a partner and share their results...

It’s amazing how quickly summer flies by! I have mentioned many times that throughout my 38 years of teaching, I always appreciated the fact that each school year brought about new opportunities to improve my teaching techniques. Not all occupations offer one a chance to reflect on what worked and what could be refined, both in materials and delivery, with the overall goal of building upon children’s strengths. From our group at MindWing, we wish you a successful school year and hope you enjoy the following blog to help with ideas to “KICK-OFF” your school year!...

I recently came across a book, Fireflies! written and illustrated by Jule Brinkloe, that I had used to demonstrate the concept of two episodes in a story: the first episode leading to a new Kick-Off, creating a second episode. Told in the first person, the beautiful pencil drawings compliment and enhance the story of a young boy learning a valuable lesson of letting go and doing the right thing. Following, we have analyzed the book in two episodes...

Our baby cousin Avery
celebrating Dr. Seuss!

This week brings us to an exciting yearly event…

Read Across America Day, March 2nd, created in honor of Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Dr. Seuss—Theodor Seuss Geisel—was born here in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1904 and grew up on Mulberry Street, just a short walk from our MindWing office. We are looking forward to the completion and opening of the Dr. Seuss Museum here in Springfield! It will be such an exciting destination for children as well as adults who grew up loving Dr. Seuss stories! “The more that you read the more things you will know. the more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” With this quote in mind, please enjoy reading and sharing the following links to Seuss-related information!...

After receiving many positive comments regarding a recent post, Using Data Collection and Collaboration to Enhance Instruction, I wanted to share two other ideas that you may find helpful when first using the SGM^® in your school. If you are not using the SGM^® school-wide, then try working with a colleague as the SGM^® is the perfect vehicle to establish collaboration and a common language around student comprehension questions and the thought processes involved in answering those questions...

It’s never too early to begin planning for a new school year. I know that my colleagues and I were always preparing our classrooms and sharing ideas all summer long! Here is a simple idea for the first day of school to use with students. This activity may be modified to meet the needs of your students. You can use MindWing’s Icon STAMPede Stamp Activity Set to print the paper. (You can use the other stamps for activities to reinforce the Setting, Kick-Off, Feelings, etc.) 1. Review the SGM icons. Talk about the Character icon. 2. Print as many character icons as needed, two of each color. 3. Laminate and cut the icons out. (These may be used all year to group students for other activities as well and are easily stored to be used with your groups!)...

We received many positive comments about our blog last week, Story Grammar Marker Summer Reading List, which featured ten resources focusing on the Complete Episode. This week, we have included eight previous blogs that focus on the concept of Character. Please review them all, as they span across multiple grade levels. This sampling of Character blogs demonstrates the versatility of the SGM! There are many more resources to support the use of our SGM tools available free of charge on our MindWing website...

As another school year winds down, I am reminded of what I always loved about teaching: There was always another year to plan to engage children, change approaches, learn new techniques, and grow as a professional!

As you pack up supplies and begin a few weeks of rest, file this idea away with your materials to consider implementing next year. This picture is an idea that Natalia Kofman, a colleague of mine in Westfield, MA, used to organize her SGM^® materials in her fourth grade classroom...

Big Al, written by Andrew Clements and illustrated by Yoshi, was always one of my key books when working collaboratively with teachers as we implemented the SGM in classroom settings. There was so much to do with this picture book including mapping the story out as a Complete Episode using the SGM^® map, retelling the story with partners, doing a written retelling using the completed map, working on character description using the SGM^® Character Map, sequencing of events in the story, and using sequence words for story cohesion. Students and teachers alike were delighted to learn that Clements and Yoshi had teamed up in 2002 for another book featuring Big Al…Big Al and Shrimpy. Both stories begin with the same wording which created a natural segue to compare/contrast activities...