August 26, 2015
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.
May 18, 2015
May 16, 2015
Over the years I have developed a special interest in collecting and using picture books that are tangential to the classroom curriculum. It’s wonderful to find books that contain touches of our content areas but aren’t “in your face” about it! These books can engage students in a story (and thus help them develop narrative language) while also providing a context to access abstract curriculum areas.
Although many schools cover this topic at different times of year, Spring is a great time for a science unit on the five senses. For younger students, this is a basic overview on how we experience the world though hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch. For older students, these simpler concepts can serve as an entry point to the more difficult intricacies of how the sensory system works. Additionally, May is Better Hearing and Speech Month in the USA and May Month in Canada, so what better time to talk about the sense of hearing, and maybe sync with some lessons about hearing and speech?...
May 01, 2015
Read the book to the students. Review the character map and the categories with the children. Reread Flossie to the children having them listen to details to use on the Character Map. Pair the children and give them the Character Map to complete. Have them write the character’s name under the character icon.
With the students participating, complete the Character Map with the class showing the pictures and/or reading the text that relate to the each section of the map. This book lends itself very well to this activity as the text is simple and illustrations are wonderful. We have used this activity with students in K-3, modified according to the needs of the grade level.
Below are two samples from second grade students.
March 16, 2015
The MindWing Narrative and Expository Maps are to me an invaluable part of the visual language tools within the Braidy the StoryBraid®, Story Grammar Marker®, and ThemeMaker® programs. Of course the SGM iPad App gives you one option to work with the icons in these programs digitally while scaffolding language development--but it’s not the only way!
Google Apps for Education is a resource that is now implemented in many public school districts, allowing for digital creation, storage, sharing, and collaboration on word processing and other types of documents. The power of Google Apps (a.k.a. “Drive” or “Docs” — they all pretty much mean the same thing) is that it gives you access to your files from any computer or device, and allows you to share important information between key staff members without handing off any paper! If your district has not implemented Google’s tools, you can also access all of them for free with a Google account (i.e. if you have a Gmail, you can just navigate to your Google Drive). Click on the “matrix” of squares in any Google account to navigate between apps, including Google Drive...
February 20, 2015
Our winter theme is expanding in literature as well as in real life here in New England. From blogs containing twelve episodes of Frozen to Owl Moon to the recent Blizzards of 2015, we have chosen two versions of the same story reflecting a winter theme.
By Margaret K. Wetterer and Charles M. Wetterer (Authors)
Mary O'Keefe Young (Illustrator)
Carolrhoda Books (Lerner)
Minneapolis, MN: 1996
ISBN: 978-0876149591
By Margaret K. Wetterer and Charles M. Wetterer (Authors)
Emma Carlson Berne (Adapter), Zachary Trover (Illustrator)
Graphic Universe (Lerner)
Minneapolis, MN: 2010
ISBN: 978-0761361947