Writing

It can be difficult to get your school-aged child to practice writing at home, because it may seem like a chore to her or appear irrelevant if it isn't assigned by her teach.  Thus, a fun way to practice writing skills for children is to write poetry.  This allows them to be creative and offers a snappy way to practice writing skills as poems are typically on the shorter side.  Encourage your child to write poetry, and she can practice printing, grammar, spelling, organization, vocabulary usage, etc.

It can be hard to get started.  So, I recommend reading some simple poetry and using that to inspire her.  The first type of poetry that children are exposed to is typically nursery rhymes.  Try re-visiting nursery rhymes with your child, and ask her to re-write the poem in a different way.  By referring to another poem, it will provide her with a good framework for writing.

For example, I quickly took the nursery rhyme "London Bridge" and made it Pittsburgh themed.  See below:

Smithfield Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
Smithfield Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady.

Patch it up with paste and glue,
Paste and glue, paste and glue.
Patch it up with paste and glue,
My fair lady.

Paste and glue will melt away,
Melt away, melt away.
Paste and glue will melt away,
My fair lady.

Patch it up with sticks and stones,
Sticks and stones, sticks and stones,
Patch it up with sticks and stones,
My fair lady.

Sticks and stones will wash away,
Wash away, wash away.
Sticks and stones will wash away,
My fair lady.

Patch it up with needle and thread.
Needle and thread, needle and thread.
Patch it up with needle and thread,
My fair lady.

Needle and thread will wear away,
Wear away, wear away.
Needle and thread will wear away,
My fair lady.

Patch it up with brass and bronze,
Brass and bronze, brass and bronze.
Patch it up with brass and bronze,
My fair lady.

Brass and bronze will be stolen away,
Stolen away, stolen away.
Brass and bronze will be stone away,
My fair lady.

Send a team to watch all night,
Watch all night, watch all night,
Send a team to watch all night,
My fair lady.

Suppose the team should fall asleep,
Fall asleep, fall asleep.
Suppose the team should fall asleep?
My fair lady.

Give them a TV to watch all night,
Watch all night, watch all night.
Give them a TV to watch all night,
My fair lady.

Tip: Using special paper or writing instruments can also encourage children to write.

Word List: Schenley Park

Word lists containing nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are useful for many goals.  They can be used to target reading, spelling, writing, stuttering, voice strategies, articulation, phonological processes, vocabulary building, sentence structure, etc.  Thus, I have decided to post word lists relating to Pittsburgh.  This one is centered on Schenley Park, which is a free alternative to going to Phipps (which my last post was about).  Obviously there are many, many words that pertain to this area so I have tried to limit my lists to 25-50 words.  If there is a word that you would like to be included, please post below!

 

Image retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schenley_Park.

I suggest referencing this list when walking through Schenley Park; you can even bring it with you when you go there or to other parks.

Berries

Bird

Bridge

Chipmunk
Creek

Deer

Dirt

Duck
Fish

Flowers

Frisbee

Golf

Grass
Lake

Leaf

Log

Map

Panther

Pond

Rock

Run

Snack

Spiders

Stairs

Stone

Track

Trail

Tree

Trunk

Turkey

Turtle

Walk
Water

Web

Weeds

Syllable Reduction; Bridges

Syllable reduction happens when a syllable in a word with two or more syllables is deleted.  The deletion usually happens in the unstressed syllable.  An example may be a child saying "med-cine" for "medicine" as my sister used to say, or "puter" for "computer."  It is important to note that a child can produce all the sounds in the word so this is not an articulation problem per se.  Rather, this what experts call a "phonological process" whereby a child produces a different "rule" when saying words; it is a pattern of errors.  In the case of syllable reduction, the "rule" the child is applying is to reduce the number of syllables in a word.

Since Pittsburgh has so many bridges, many with multiple syllables in their names, I thought it would be a good idea to have your child practice saying the names of the bridges.  To cue your child to stop using syllable reduction, cue her by telling her to "say all the sounds in the word."  If she is older, you may cue her more directly by telling her to "say all the syllables in the word."  It helps if you say the words first, being sure to emphasize all the syllables.  Tapping your hand along with the syllables helps.

Below are pictures of Pittsburgh bridges to practice.

"Smith-field Street Bridge"

"Pan-han-dle Bridge"

"Lib-er-ty Bridge"

 

 "Bir-ming-ham Bridge"

"Hot Met-al Bridge"

 

 "Home-stead Grays Bridge"

 

"Ro-ber-to Cle-men-te Bridge"

 

 "Fort Du-quesne Bridge"

 

 "An-dy War-hol Bridge"

 

 "Ra-chel Car-son Bridge"

"Vet-er-ans Bridge"

 

 "Da-vid Mc-Col-lough Bridge"

 "Thir-ti-eth Street Bridge"

 "Wash-ing-ton Cross-ing Bridge"

If syllable reduction persists, gently confront your child with the error.  For example, if she says "Wash-ton Bridge" for "Washington Bridge," tell her: "You said 'Wash-ton.  You need to say 'Wash-ing-ton.'"  Ask her to repeat the parts of the word after you slowly: "Wash.  Ing.  Ton."

Reference: All images were retrieved from the world wide web in 1/26/14 from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridges_of_Pittsburgh