Elaborating

Making Your Writing More Interesting

Add Details
Use Describing Words
I wore my coat.
I wore my new red coat.

The girl ran.
The girl ran slowly.

Appeal to the Senses
Mom served brownies.
Mom served warm chewy brownies from the oven.

Tell Where
Tom left.
Tom left for his friend’s house.

Tell When
Tom left for his friend’s house.
Tom left for his friend’s house after dinner.

Identify the Characters
The boys played outside.
Steven and James played outside.

Mrs. Jones sang in the choir.
Our next door neighbor, Mrs. Jones, sang in the choir.

Describe Emotions
Susan went to the party.
Susan was thrilled to go to the party.

The firemen searched for the victim.
The firemen searched desperately for the victim.

Explain Cause and Effect
Charlie stayed home.
Charlie stayed home because he was sick.

It was snowing outside, so Charlie stayed home.
Our team had to forfeit the game when Charlie stayed home.

Include Dialogue
The umpire yelled.
The umpire yelled, "Strike three. You’re out!"

Mrs. Most told us to wait.
Mrs. Most told us, "Wait until the bell rings to go outside."

Focus on Learning Strategies

In Speech/language classes we are continuing to read and discuss various passages using the "think aloud" strategy. Students at Lakeview have read articles or web pages that relate to their Science or Social Studies curriculum. The sixth graders compared the lives of people from Athens and Sparta in ancient Greece, while seventh grade students reviewed vocabulary from an article on heredity and genetics. Next week they will draw conclusions and answer essay questions about what they have read. Prairieveiw students have read a modern version of the Three Little Pigs and discussed different characters' points of view. They inferred character traits and found details in the story to support their conclusions.

Third graders are learning to summarize using a "who, what, when, where" strategy. This is also a great strategy for sentence formation. They had fun describing pictures and asking WH questions! Children with articulation goals are focusing on evaluating their own speech while they make up silly sentences or answer questions. They are being encouraged to take responsibility for their communication.

Parent Conferences- Dec. 2-4

Conference notes for Speech/Language will be sent home on Monday Nov. 24. Please return the note by December 1, to schedule an appointment. If you are unavailable to meet in person you may contact Mrs. DeYoung to set up a telephone conference. (630)783-5157 mdeyoung@ccsd66.org

Better Than Google!

www.Internet4classrooms.com/k12links.htm

This is a terrific website for finding age appropriate internet activities for students at any grade level (K-12). The site lists links according to various subject areas and learning standards. Mrs. DeYoung uses this page constantly to search for online exercises for her students. It is a wonderful resource when searching for review material or practice activities for any concept or skill. Many of the sites feature interactive quizzes that students can complete online.

Encourage Critical Thinking

Some of Mrs. DeYoung's groups at Lakeview are answering essay questions about a passage they read. They are stating their key idea, giving evidence from the text for their opinion, and explaining the significance or interpreting the evidence. Students are focusing on critical thinking and use graphic organizers to express ideas and plan paragraphs. This is challenging for many students since writing essays involves comprehension, abstract reasoning, expression, organization, and composition.

Groups at Prairieview continue to practice using clear speech while playing games or discussing current events. Fourth and fifth graders talked about the voting process or answered questions about a reading selection. Like the older children, they are learning to give reasons for their answers and explain their ideas.

Happy Halloween

Many of Mrs. DeYoung's students played Spooky Bingo this week to practice their articulation and vocabulary skills. They had fun defining words like jack-o-lantern and masquerade. Some third graders were explaining similarities between common objects to develop expressive reasoning and vocabulary. Other students played articulation baseball or continued discussing stories that they had read last week. Fourth grade children used context clues to infer meanings of unknown words from the passage. Jr. high groups have begun to work on answering essay questions using supporting details from the text. All of the groups focus on improving vocabulary and thinking skills in oral and written language activities.

This Week's Highlights

Speech and language therapy students at Prairieview have been practicing their speech sounds and completing activities to develop vocabulary. Some of the fifth graders made a list of spooky verbs and adjectives to use writing a scary story. Next week many third, fourth, and fifth graders will play Halloween Bingo and monitor their speech while thinking of sentences with Halloween words.

Language therapy students at Lakeview are beginning to use the "Think Aloud" strategy to understand and discuss what they read. They are encouraged to ask questions about the text and increase abstract thinking skills. Next week they will write a response to Casey At The Bat,
which we read this week in group. Students working on articulation skills have been focused on monitoring their speech during conversation and small group activities.