Conference Sign-Up

Dear Parents,

I will be happy to speak with you during spring conferences to discuss your child’s progress in Speech therapy or RTI Vocabulary group. My conference times are on Wednesday March 7th, or Thursday March 8th between 3:00-6:00pm. To sign up for a conference go online to
http://www.SignUpGenius.com/go/20F044DA5A723A64-spring
You will need to click “sign up” on the desired time slot, enter your information, and enter your child’s name in the Comments box.

You may contact me by phone (630) 783-5157 or email mdeyoung@ccsd66.org if you need to schedule a different day or prefer to talk over the telephone.

Sincerely,
Mrs. DeYoung

Spotlight on Storytelling

This week students in some of Mrs. DeYoung's language groups have practiced storytelling skills to describe personal experiences and develop narratives. Students have used the "5 W's," graphic organizers, and the internet to organize a story. Other children have identified words that can substitute for proper nouns and discovered how use of "vague" terms like "thing," "stuff," or even overusing common pronouns (he, her, it, etc.) can confuse the reader or listener. Groups are encouraged to use precise language and to sequence events in cause-effect order. These skills will help students to be better understood when speaking or writing.

The 5 "W's"

This week some of Mrs. DeYoung's students with language goals used the "Who, What, When, Where, and Why?" strategy to remember details from stories. They recalled information by asking themselves: Who are the characters? Where does the story take place? When does it occur? What happened? and Why? Mrs. DeYoung would hold up five fingers as a cue for the " Five W's."

This is also a great method for following directions and formulating sentences or narratives. Students can check their own stories to see if they have explained who, what happened, where, when, and why. The strategy works well for relating personal events or writing narratives. Students expand their oral and written expression by including details about the chracters, setting, and reasons for events. Children can also remember instructions by thinking Who is the direction for? What should they do? Where and when should they do it? Parents can utilize this questioning technique to help their children describe activities or to remember what they've been told.