MindWing Concepts Blog

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...

This month we will discuss the acclaimed Zones of Regulation^® program and dovetailing with narrative instruction through Story Grammar Marker^®. All students must develop self-regulation skills for living and learning, an area defined by author Leah Kuypers as “the best state of alertness of both the body and emotions for the specific situation” (Kuypers, 2011). However, students with language-learning disorders and autism spectrum and related disorders can exhibit more significant struggles with managing their mind and body given their communication needs, as well as other factors such as sensory processing...

We recently posted a blog using the SGM^® Setting Map with the four seasons:

• Winter’s Coming! Narrative/Expository Setting Lesson

With the official first day of the winter season right around the corner, check out some of these blogs and lessons that you may want to use with your students!

Read several poems or books of your choice about the four seasons to the children. After reading, hold a brief discussion with the students about what they like about a particular season.

Have the children break into four groups. Using chart paper, label one for each season next to the setting icon. Ask the groups to rotate from one “season” to another and brainstorm all the words that the particular season makes them think of. Have one student be the recorder for each group and have each group use a different color maker...

Miss Nelson Is Missing, written by Harry Allard and illustrated by James Marshall, is one of my favorites for comparing characters. It is a book that may be used at a variety of levels. Read the story for enjoyment. After, discuss the “two” characters, Miss Nelson and Miss Swamp.

Fill out individual character maps for each character or fill out one map for both characters as shown below which was done with a third grade class. Have children talk about the map(s) with one another.

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.