Friday, October 11, 2019

His Original Sentence


I was back in one of those very special ed. classes. These are the classes where the high school aged kiddos are doing first grade work.

First period. They did "calendar" where they colored in a calendar on that day's (and the weekend's as it was a Friday) date. Then they were to work on their News-2-You packets. (It's a very cool current events kind of assignment. Click on the link to learn a bit about it.)

The students I was working with were doing pretty well on their own. They didn't need me prompting them to do the work. And they didn't need a lot of help.

But when Adam had to write sentences, he did need help. He brought me a white board, dry erase marker, and eraser. Then he pulled out the sheet. The instructions said: Use one, two, or all of the following picture/word cards to write a sentence or story.

The words were: brown bears, fattest, vote, contest, and people.

Okay, so context... The week's story was on Fat Bear Week held in Alaska's Katmai National Park. (They declared a winner on Wednesday.) Did you know there's a live Brown Bear Cam? (They had the video feed on for three periods.) Anyway, the story was about how annually they have this contest to determine the fattest bear before they go into hibernation.

The activities for the kiddos were related to that, hence the word choices for the "story". I did not know any of this as Adam constructed his story, but his work page was pretty clear.

At times like these, I ask leading questions to get a sentence. Adam started with "brown bears". Okay. I asked, "Brown bears do what?"

His sentence was grammatically correct...

The brown bears ate the fattest people.
His sentence reads: The brown bears at the fattest people.
So it was a bit bloodthirsty... I suppose I probably should have talked him out of it. Yeah, I probably should have.

27 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. I think that's why I didn't prompt him to change it. I found it funny.

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  2. I checked out that news for you. Pretty cool learning site. I give Adam's sentence an A for creativity.

    Betty

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  3. Go, Adam! That was a great "story" and he kept to the brief!

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    Replies
    1. These kiddos don't really have the capability to write longer stories, so a sentence was good.

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  4. I love that sentence! It is direct and very visual.

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  5. Hah, great sentence. So the fattest bear has been declared this year? I guess their prize is hibernation.

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  6. Hi Liz - great fun to read ... how they come up with these topics defeats me (the examiners!) ... cheers Hilary

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  7. HAHA..you have to give credit for that one!! haha

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  8. I think you did right leaving his words be. ~nods~ That contest is news to me. Interesting!

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  9. Interesting web site - my autistic brother in law has a lot of interest in the news. It is a great way to connect special needs children - as for that sentence, it does make its own kind of logical sense - I like it. (What was the prize the fattest bear got, anyway? Now I have to know.)

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    Replies
    1. I think all Holly won was a title. And the knowledge that she'd make it through hibernation.

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  10. Gotta love the thought processes of kids - they will usually give it to you straight-up!

    Kim

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  11. Replies
    1. He had the words to choose from. I don't think he was thinking any more than that.

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  12. The fattest people would also be the slowest people so I think he is on to something.

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  13. Reality seen through the eyes of a special student.

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    Replies
    1. I don't know about reality. A student trying to make sense of the words, perhaps.

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  14. Seems like a pretty logical thing to me - I bet the bears do prefer the fattest people ;)

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