Shannon and Mary talk with guests Louise Hewitt and Meghan Hicks from The Sentence Studio about sentence structure. They discuss why many students who can decode still struggle with comprehension and writing because of sentence-level syntax challenges. Their approach uses “bubble maps” and a routine of sequenced questions to help students identify the subject–predicate “kernel” and understand how sentences are expanded with where/when/why/how details. This discussion shows how grammar, vocabulary, morphology, and comprehension intersect in students' reading and writing. Listeners will walk away with a fresh perspective and ideas for developing students' syntactic knowledge and awareness.

* Note: these times differ slightly in the AD FREE episode.

01:19 Meet Louise and Meghan

04:14 What Syntax Really Means

09:00 Bubble Map Breakthrough

11:41 Why Grammar Programs Fail

15:49 Syntax and Comprehension

17:44 Complex Sentence Examples

21:11 Misconceptions About Reading

23:06 SLPs and Language Clues

28:36 Tools and Teaching Routine

33:31 Function Over Form

35:16 Morphology Meets Syntax

51:35 Grammar for Multilingual Learners

53:51 Sentence Work Beats Worksheets

01:12:03 Teach Function Not Labels

01:15:27 Student Insights and Misconceptions

01:22:06 Assessment Built Into Mapping

01:23:17 Raise Rigor With Scaffolds

01:24:07 Wrap Up and Next Time

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES RELEVANT TO THE EPISODE:

1. Science of the Sentence website
2. Sentence Composing for Elementary School by Don and Jenny Killgallon *Amazon affiliate link
3. Massachusetts DOE Syntax resources
4. Bubble Map Challenges
5. The Sentence Studio
6. Science of the Sentence on YouTube
7. Science of the Sentence on Facebook

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