Friends

by Crystal Bowman

A friend is someone who listens,
A friend is someone who cares.
A friend is someone who understands,
A friend is someone who shares.

It's nice to have a special friend
To tell all your secrets to.
It's nice to know that someone you like
Is someone who really likes you.

A friend is someone you can call on the phone
To talk about nothing at all.
A friend is someone who cheers you up
And makes you feel ten feet tall.

Everyone would like to have
A special friend, it's true.
But if you want a special friend,
You need to be one too.

To all my friends at Prairieview and Lakeview,
Have a wonderfully fun summer!
See you soon.

Mrs. DeYoung

May is Better Hearing and Speech Month!

May has been a busy month as speech and language classes are winding down for the school year. Many of the students at Lakeview have been working on research projects and oral presentations for various classes. Therapy sessions have focused on practicing oral communication skills including speaking slowly and clearly, using good eye contact, and organization skills. Students have been encouraged to check their speech production while practicing their speeches.

Mrs. DeYoung has been conducting end-of-the-year assessments at Prairieview. Fourth and fifth graders have been introduced to the" Repeated Words" strategy to identify main ideas. The students search for important words that are repeated in a reading passage and use the words to formulate a main idea sentence. This process helps the children to read carefully and recognize key ideas. They have done a great job expressing topic sentences in their own words!

Parents-
Some of you have received messages if your child is due for an annual review of speech therapy services. Please contact Mrs. DeYoung to schedule an appointment if you still need to meet with her this year. Thank you.

Therapy Activities

Students with language processing goals at Prairieview and Lakeview continue to practice applying comprehension strategies that have been introduced this month during therapy sessions. Third grade learners began listening lab activities on the computer to practice visualizing and following directions. They listened to instructions and drew pictures of what was described. Other students are reviewing grammar concepts and forming appropriate sentences with target sentence structtures. Fourth and fifth graders continue to utilize vocabulary strategies to infer meanings of unfamiliar words in reading passages. They use context cues to think of synonyms, apply the cloze (fill in the blank) strategy, analyze root words, and define new vocabulary.

Seventh graders at Lakeview were introduced to "Fix It" strategies to use when they do not comprehend what they are reading. They read an allegory related to the American Revolution and discussed the underlying meaning of the poem. These students continue to work on written language skills as they answer essay questions about the reading selection.

Finally, Mrs. DeYoung's articulation groups have reviewed story-telling skills and have been reading aloud from picture books to practice reading with expression and clear speech.

Strategic Learning

This week Prairieview speech/language students tried some different strategies for listening, reading, and comprehending. Third graders were introduced to visualization thru "picture stories." They listened to a short narrative read aloud to them and then helped Mrs. DeYoung to construct illustrations of the story. Students had to focus on descriptive details such as spatial words and size concepts to form accurate pictures and be able to draw conclusions. (This required some of the children to learn new vocabulary concepts.) Students were able to summarize the narrative, make predictions, and answer comprehension questions using this strategy. Next week they will continue to use the "picture story" strategy more independently.

Fourth and fifth grade students are reviewing ways to infer meaning of unfamiliar words while reading. They used context clues to understand vocabulary with multiple definitions and identified root words, prefixes, and suffixes to decifer unknown words. Students were also able to use their background knowledge of the topic to infer meaning. While Mrs. DeYoung focused on vocabulary comprehension, the children also were given practice in writing definitions in their own words. For future sessions, students will be encoouraged to explain meanings and to use new words appropriately.

Enjoy Spring Break!

Spring break is a great time to have fun and review speech and language skills. For links to online speech and language activities, go to Mrs. DeYoung's webpage (accessed thru the Prairieview homepage) or try these websites:

Listening activities: www.elllo.org/english/Games.htm

Whacky Web Tales (similar to Madlibs): www.eduplace.com/tales/

Games for vocabulary and grammar skills: www.quia.com/pages/havefun.html

More Strategies

Now that most students have completed the ISAT tests, Mrs. DeYoung has returned to teaching comprehension strategies to improve reading, listening, and thinking. Third grade students are reviewing summarizing and questioning. The fourth grade language group practiced using context cues to comprehend unfamiliar words. Fifth graders are completing listening labs on the computer to develop the ability to recall information and answer comprehension questions. Many of these students have recognized their need to have information repeated and to ask for clarification. Finally, students at Lakeview have been introduced to the INSERT strategy.

The INSERT strategy helps students to monitor their thinking as they read. Students use the following symbols to code the text:

check mark Author confirms what you already knew- "I knew that!"

- Contradicts what you thought- " I thought differently."

? Confuses you- "I don't understand this!"

+ New Information- "I didn't know that!"

Students can write the symbols in the margin of the reading passage (in pencil if it is a text book) or use the symbols while taking notes. This strategy will also help to prepare for class discussions and to check their own understanding of curricular content.

March 3-6

Conferences:
Parent teacher conferences will be next week, March 9-12. Conference notes have been sent to parents of students whose annual reviews for speech are due this trimester. If you did not receive an invitation for a conference and would like to meet with Mrs. DeYoung, please contact her by telephone (630)783-5157, or email mdeyoung@ccsd66.org

ISAT Testing
This week students at Prairieview and Lakeview are taking the ISATs. Mrs. DeYoung will not meet with students if they are testing at their regularly scheduled time for therapy.