Pooh: What is a paragraph?
Narrator: It's a group of sentences that express a complete thought.
Hmm...maybe I need to assign my students to watch a clip of Winnie the Pooh. And maybe a few bits of School House Rock.
It certainly can't hurt.
12 minutes ago
I was re-reading one of my old Beatrix Potter books ("The Flopsy Bunnies") the other day and was struck by how complex some of the vocabulary (the term "improvident" is used to describe the family of bunnies) and syntax are.
ReplyDeleteI wonder, do parents read these books to their kids any more? And if so, when does all that vocabulary leak out of the kids' heads?
I read to my kids--when I can keep them from fighting over the books. I've found it's easier if it's a storybook without pictures, so I've read bits of The Hobbit, How to Train Your Dragon, and a few other things (usually while they're in the tub). Their vocabulary is impressive, if mispronounced.
DeleteI'm guessing your knucklehead students didn't have parents like you.
ReplyDeleteI'm guessing most of my students were latchkey kids whose parents were relieved to drop them off in day care/school, and washed their hands of the business.
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