A Poem

by Nol K. Martin-tungpalan
When you speak your mind
From genuineness and integrity
Acid tongues matter little
When you speak your mind
From your truth
Respect is earned
When you speak your mind
Without venom
You inspire conversation
When you speak
It reveals some truth about you
Speak your mind from who you are
And not from who you would like
To be perceived
And speaking your mind
Will always be your
Homage to the real self

Rolling Right Along...

This week articulation groups monitored their speech and practiced fluency/automaticity while playing games. As the competition mounted, they needed to listen to themselves and focus on target sounds. Even though they were excited, they still had to speak clearly.

The third and fourth grade language group reviewed the True Story of the 3 Pigs by sequencing events from the story. Then they listened to the traditional version of the fairy tale and compared the two versions using a large Venn diagram. The students wrote sentences describing events from the stories to explain how the versions are the same and different.

Fifth and sixth grade students continued the debate; Books vs. Movies. They completed graphic organizers listing their preference and explaining their reasons. The students continue to focus on providing valid support and elaborating on their responses. They are developing critical thinking skills as well as written expression. Each week they need fewer prompts from the teacher. Mrs. DeYoung is very proud of their progress.

Spotlight on Language Groups

After Thanksgiving break the third and fourth grade language group enjoyed listening to The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka. They drew portraits of A. Wolf and then composed character descriptions on the computer. The students were developing details in their sentences.

Fifth graders continue to learn about expository structure in writing. They read an article about Hawaii to practice using context to infer meaning of unknown words and used a graphic organizer to identify key ideas, supporting details, and elaboration in the passage.

Students at the junior high practiced stating an opinion, providing support or reasons, giving examples, and making a personal connection to the topic. They were challenged to not only express a viewpoint, but to justify their response.

All of these activities encouraged students to elaborate! We will continue to focus on support and elaboration in the coming weeks.