MindWing Concepts Blog

While in NYC about a year ago providing a workshop, Maryellen displayed a group of books to use with the Story Grammar Marker^®. Three of the books were picture books and were written by Jacqueline Woodson. One of the participants came to Maryellen after the workshop to point out those books and especially the one entitled Each Kindness. The others on display were The Rope and The Other Side. Each Kindness is particularly well suited to this time of year with Valentine’s Day coming up and with the Celebration of Black History Month during February...

February 2nd was always a pleasant day when I taught kindergarten. After exploring groundhogs, we were ready for Groundhog Day! It was always an enjoyable break from our daily routine, especially during the long winter months here in New England. During a recent trip to our local library in Springfield, MA, I was reminded of this time and checked out a few books to share with you. We can always count on Gail Gibbon’s books to inform students in an entertaining way. So it is with Groundhog Day. The book gives information on the celebration itself, groundhogs, and includes additional “Groundhog Facts”...

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...

At November’s ASHA convention in Los Angeles, I had the opportunity to present several sessions that integrated Story Grammar Marker^® and Thememaker^® with technology resources for narrative development, and wanted to share some of those ideas across a couple of posts (too many for just one)! When preparing to present in the “city of stars,” I thought about incorporating the theme of storytelling and movie-making, which was a great fit. I considered Hollywood’s penchant for sequels, and how that sometimes ultimately goes quite wrong in execution. However, when it comes to picture books, sequels and series are often a hit within language interventions...

Below is one example of a collaborative effort that we used in January of first grade: a time when we were ready to begin more formal writing activities using SGM/Braidy. The SGM^® or Braidy^® Character Map is a wonderful scaffold for student use. The categories had already been introduced and were familiar to kindergarten and first grade students with the many activities/lessons we had previously done. January was our time to formally model how to use the complete map to write a basic character description in first grade...

Llama Llama Mad At Mama by Anna Dewdney is an early elementary favorite. The lesson below is geared to ending first grade/second, but of course, can be changed/modified to meet your student needs. The Critical Thinking Triangle^® In Action! tool has been a huge success with students in K-8. The Critical Thinking Triangle^® (CTT) is the crux of the Story Grammar Marker^® methodology for students when working through their problems, comprehending stories presented in academic settings, or when formulating and expressing personal narratives...