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MindWing Concepts provides highly interactive professional development workshops and multi-sensory materials for public school districts, private schools, early childhood settings and parents.
Video is 55 minutes long, but well worth viewing, with lots of tips for teaching. Along with Cindy Milner of Pathways for Parents, Maryellen Moreau explains the Story Grammar Marker icons using Braidy the StoryBraid. Clicking on the video will open another browser window to watch on YouTube.
$ 44.95 $ 50.00
Set includes a 2-sided 11x17 Discourse and Thought Development Chart with DoK/Bloom’s Taxonomy Wheel
Guide Book is Also Available By Itself Item No. 07 020
This Guide gets in-depth how to analyze text complexity using the Model of Text Complexity Triangle; Quantitative Measures, Qualitative Analysis and Reader and Task Considerations. Close Reading, SGM®/ThemeMaker®-style is also explained for helping students access complex text. Since their inception in the early ’90s, Story Grammar Marker® and ThemeMaker® have been used to tackle the case of complex text, as is evident in the included Discourse and Thought Development Chart that delves into content complexity for both narrative and expository text, as well.
Item No. 07 200
$ 39.95
The Critical Thinking Triangle® In Action! Thought Process Manipulative has been created because the Critical Thinking Triangle® is the crux of the Story Grammar Marker®, our tool for narrative development, story-telling, personal narratives, comprehension, writing and social communication.
This Manipulative is a enhancement to Story Grammar Marker® and contains 5 elements that connect and interact among each other to enable students to think about their thinking: to infer, solve problems, resolve conflicts, take perspective and more!
Thinking deserves its own hands-on tool. This new tool makes it possible for children to actually manipulate, talk about and comprehend the elements of the Critical Thinking Triangle® including:
Watch a Webinar Using The CTT in Action!
Extended Demo Lesson Video with Three Second Graders
Prod. No. 07 100
$ 174.95
Deepening student knowledge through discourse language development is a key to student engagement. Our latest product is chock full of hands-on materials and activities that are explained, laminated, and ready to use! Based upon reciprocal teaching and learning strategies, you will be able to guide students as they engage in complex projects and academic tasks through explicit instruction in the structure and use of discourse processes. The kit also includes our innovative Discourse and Thought Development Chart which graphically demonstrates the process of deepening knowledge through oral discourse development.
This Kit contains:
This new cutting-edge Kit applies a macro-strategy approach to narrative and expository text selections. Pulling together discourse level language development and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge, this Kit shows students how to use text structure as a guide to create text dependent questions and answers and encourages the development of self-teaching procedures.
Facilitate the modeling of strategies to increase comprehension and encourage academic discussion using included pragmatics chart and conversation moves cards. Also, use this Kit to help children develop complex sentence structure using cohesive ties and other academic vocabulary.
Prod. No. 03 095
$ 0.99
Lyrics Below!
What do you get when a teacher—Dita Rose—who is also a singer/songwriter collaborates with a speech language pathologist—Maryellen Rooney Moreau—who created the Story Grammar Marker®?
You get to bring to life a magical tune to help children learn the parts of a story for telling personal narratives, comprehension and writing. Musician and educator, Dita Rose, was inspired to write lyrics and music to teach her students the story elements of Braidy the StoryBraid® and Story Grammar Marker®. After working with Maryellen Rooney Moreau, creator of the SGM®, and making a few tweaks, the amazing THE BRAIDY SONG is now available on multiple digital platforms for only $0.99.
Also Available On:
For teaching purposes, here are the lyrics. This song can be used as a companion to the Story Grammar Marker® and Braidy the StoryBraid® by MindWing Concepts, Inc.
THE BRAIDY® SONG© by Dita Rose
Lalalala… Lalalala…. Lalalala. Lalalala…
Chorus:
I’m talking about Braidy and I’m steppin’ out
To tell you about something that will make you shout.
You need to tell a story and you don’t know how.
Just listen to me baby, and I’ll show you now.
Verse 1:
I’m asking who (Who) is this all about?
A girl, a boy, a character, and what they’re like
And tell me when (When) did it all go down?
Where did the setting happen? Just look around.
Hmmm…. Hmmmm…
Verse 2
Now tell me what (What) the kick-off is.
What set events in motion... make your story spin?
And say goodbye, (BYE) to the ho-hum day
‘Cause something made the story go another way.
Hmmm….. Hmmm…… Hmmmm… Hmmmm…
Lalalala…. Lalalala…. lalalala….. Lalalala
Braidy Song
Verse 3
I’m talking about feelings like happy and sad.
Cranky, aggravated... now just relax.
What’s your plan (plan), to make it right.
Tell me all about the story line.
We’re counting 1 (one) 2 (two) 3 (three) 4 (four)
Review the story actions and tell me more.
Chorus
I’m talking about Braidy and I’m steppin’ out
To tell you about something that will make you shout.
You need to tell a story and you don’t know how.
Just listen to me baby, and I’ll show you now.
Verse 4
It’s time to see (see) how the story ends.
What is the resolution and the consequence.
How did it feel (feel) when the story stops?
Use some inspiration, make the story POP.
Hmmm….. Hmmm….. Hmmm….. Hmmm…..
Tag: Now wait! (WAIT!) and take a break.
All this thinking is making me stretch my brain...(AHHHHH)
because I’m…. talking about Braidy… (to end)
Maryellen Rooney Moreau, creator of Story Grammar Marker® and Braidy the StoryBraid®, is a Speech Language Pathologist. One day, in 1991, while co-teaching a writing lesson with third grade children at the Curtis Blake Day School where she directed the curriculum, an eight-year-old boy approached her with his conventional “beginning, middle and end” graphic organizer. He had tears in his eyes and said, “I don’t know what to put in my boxes—I never know what to do with my boxes!”
Inspired by this interaction and cognizant of research and experience in language development and early literacy, Moreau designed a hands-on, multi-sensory tool to assist this boy to tell his story. She assigned a colorful, meaningful icon to represent each part of the story! To create the Story Grammar Marker® Maryellen took the icons and placed them on braided yarn to symbolize the strands of oral language that are woven together to make up the backbone of the story or the information being communicated. Her intention was for children to use it to “mark” the part of the story as they told/write it. The icons were grouped into Beginning, Middle and End: the beginning (character, setting, kick-off, feeling, thinking verbs and plan), the middle (the actions the character took to carry out the plan) and the end (the direct consequence or tie up, and then resolution or moral/lesson). With colleagues Carolyn West, Ph.D., and Holly Fidrych, M.S., CCC-SLP, Moreau field-tested the tool at the day school and other local public schools – both children and teachers LOVED it!
About 20 years later, Maryellen introduced Story Grammar Marker® and Braidy the StoryBraid®, for young children, to the teachers at Currey Ingram Academy in the Nashville area, which is a school for students with learning differences and unique learning styles.
Dita Rose, a teacher there as well as singer/songwriter began to use SGM® and Braidy® tools. Dita Rose is the artist who wrote the music and lyrics for “The Braidy® Song,” based on the Story Grammar Marker® narrative (story) icons. As a teacher, Dita tries to make learning fun and engaging for her students with music. She makes up little melodies sometimes on the spot just to get their attention or make a new concept stick. When she started using the Story Grammar Marker® puppet, Braidy the StoryBraid®, she started brainstorming ways she could use Braidy® elements in a song.
One night, Dita couldn’t get to sleep and her brain was overflowing with thoughts. The song melody and words just came to her and Dita started recording the song on her phone in the dark, trying not to wake her husband! It took a few tries to get all the Braidy® elements in, but she managed to get the song finished and her students loved it! She played and sang it together with students in her classes many times over the next few years.
Upon hearing the song, the Assistant Head of School, Dr. Hannah, encouraged Dita to send the song to the folks at MindWing Concepts to see if they liked the song and might want to publish it. Maryellen Moreau and Sheila Moreau LOVED the catchy tune and colorful lyrics. After collaboration and a couple of tweaks, it was ready to be released for educators to use and inspire students in their classrooms.
Maryellen Moreau has played the piano and organ for 60 years, so she was thrilled to see her professional life’s work put to music! She and her husband Gerry, who also played the organ and sings have three children and five grandchildren—all of whom love to sing and tell stories, so they absolutely love “The Braidy® Song!”
In addition to teaching for the last 17 years, Dita and her husband have been doing music together as “The Rose Factor” for many years and they have three beautiful children. Dita is so thankful for the opportunity to share this song with others. Maryellen and Sheila are thrilled that Dita shared her talents with them in order to make this song a reality! Dita hopes “The Braidy® Song” brings joy to many students and makes reading and writing comprehension engaging and fun.
MindWing Concepts, Inc. is the owner of U.S. Patent 5,658,150 and Pending Application Number 29/284061. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
MindWing Concepts Icons are Protected Under "Portfolio of MindWing Images" U.S. Copyright Office Registration Number VAu 1-300-209
In this Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month, we turn our attention more specifically on our students and clients with unique social learning and language characteristics. A recent (2017) study by Westerveld and Roberts, The Oral Narrative Comprehension and Production Abilities of Verbal Preschoolers on the Autism Spectrum, has a number of implications that I would like to interpret in the context of tools available for narrative intervention. The study involved assessment of preschoolers’ narratives (notably an uninvestigated area for preschool students with autism, according to the article) via presentation of a fictional narrative and administration of comprehension questions and a retelling task. A large grouping within the sample did not produce a retelling that could be analyzed, but the 19 that did were assessed for length, semantic diversity, grammatical complexity and accuracy, intelligibility, inclusion of critical events, and narrative stage. The article notes that most of the research on spontaneous language of preschoolers with autism has focused on free play, rather than the ability to pull language together into narratives...
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...
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