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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Shannon and Mary meet up to start Season 9 of the podcast. They catch up on their summer activities and share their busy back-to-school schedules. They discuss their favorite games and instructional methods from their tutoring practices and review professional learning opportunities they're currently taking.

00:00 Season Catch Up
00:54 Escaping Overscheduling
02:17 Middle School Rhythm
03:40 Home Study Systems
04:22 Resetting With New Students
05:52 Structured Literacy Routines
06:54 Automaticity And Handwriting
11:44 Spell It Out Strategy
15:35 Executive Functioning Course
18:08 Summer Recap And Trips
19:04 Sentence Composing Tools
21:45 Color Coding Grammar
22:24 Weaning Off Supports
22:55 Word Origins Arrives
23:34 First Morphology Lesson
25:02 Scripted Yet Flexible
25:55 Morphology With Younger Kids
26:26 Program Pacing Tips
27:45 Building Teacher Confidence
29:07 Levels And Rollout Plan
29:46 Gamifying With SquishyLAND
31:07 New Game Tweezer
32:51 Executive Function Skills
35:13 Balance Health And Finch
36:44 CERI Class Progress
37:27 Favorite Free Resources
39:07 Season Wrap And Teasers

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES RELEVANT TO THE EPISODE:

1. Spelling Out Orthography
2. Cox Campus Structured Literacy Course
3. Executive Functioning trainings from Sarah Ward
4. Bubble map (Science of the Science)
5. Word Origins
6. SquishyLand *Amazon affiliate link
7. Tweezer game
8. Finch self-care app
9. Reading Universe

Support the show

• Get Literacy Support through our Patreon
• Bonus Episodes access through your podcast app
• Bonus episodes access through Patreon
• Buy us a coffee
• Get a FREE Green Chef box using our link

Shannon and Mary record their Season 8 finale, catching up on what they've been doing during the school year. They've both been busy with balancing personal and professional responsibilities, with work hours increasing for Shannon in tutoring and for Mary in advocacy work and supporting parents in IEP meetings. In their tutoring practices, they're both advancing beyond decoding work with many of their students, and during the discussion, they both realized they had adopted sentence-composing activities, inspired by 8.8's guest, Sara Lee. During the discussion, they detail how their students use literature-based model sentences and scaffolded imitation to build sentence skills, comprehension, and vocabulary. Shannon describes how she adds language support using English Linking Blocks and word lists. The discussion then highlights their excitement about UFLI's upcoming structured morphology curriculum, Word Origins (adapted from Australia). In the episode chat, they also touch on the AMIRA screener, Mary's recent SWI professional learning through Word Torque, and how they're both supporting students' math knowledge and skills in their tutoring. Listen in to catch up with these reading teachers and find out how their literacy instruction continues to evolve.

00:38 Life as Busy Parents
02:30 Tutoring and Advocacy Load
04:29 Discovering Sentence Composing
07:37 Harry Potter Hook
09:17 Linking Blocks Breakthrough
13:18 From Sentences to Writing
19:43 Structured Morphology Word Origins
22:58 Structured Morphology Wins
23:48 Curriculum Fidelity First
27:06 Word Origins Details
28:41 Australia Connections
31:17 Getting It Into Schools
32:15 Georgia Reading Screening
37:59 Math Fluency Intervention
40:22 Subitizing And Word Problems
47:12 Wrap Up Season Notes

RECOMMENDED RESOURCES RELEVANT TO THE EPISODE:

1. UFLI Word Origins news updates form
2. UFLI Word Origins Information
3. Hands-On English Linking Blocks
4. Word Torque website
5. Word Inquiry In Action
6. Reviews of Curriculum - The Reading League
7. GA Dyslexia Handbook related to updated laws for HS 307
8. Math Their Way
9. Aubree Teaches - conceptual, visual math
10. Aubree Teaches - store (this is not an affiliated link)

Support the show

• Get Literacy Support through our Patreon
• Bonus Episodes access through your podcast app
• Bonus episodes access through Patreon
• Buy us a coffee
• Get a FREE Green Chef box using our link