Danny began his lesson with a very positive approach. He wanted to go as fast as possible because he has a goal to finish Book 2. Danny started the lesson by doing analysis with a red pen on the dictation he did yesterday. Danny marked up blends at the beginning and the end of the words he was given. He boxed welded sounds where necessary. Danny spelled all of the sight words: comb, half, salt, wolf, and friend correctly. Danny continued the analysis by working on the sentences. I allowed Danny to find all of the markings he needed to make without too much prompting. Danny is beginning to know all of the Wilson Training markings and expectations without extra assistance. When he finished this activity, he wanted to begin lesson 2.5. We began the new lesson with a review of words with 5 sounds. Danny read the words squint, shrunk, and prank from the magnetic tiles. He recognized the digraph blend and remembered the welded sounds. The new lesson teaches three letter blends with six sounds. Danny read the words: scrap, sprint, sprang, struck, and strong. Danny practiced tapping these words and learned about a triple blend. Danny did mark ups on the white board with colorful markers on the words: struck, sprang, tempt, splint, and scrod. The word "scrod" became a vocabulary word. This word was entered into Danny's dictionary in his binder. A definition and a sentence were entered into the notebook as well as a diagram of a scrod. Danny read a stack of words form 2.5. He was charted using p. 74 and did very well in reading these words with 15/15. We ended the lesson with the reading of Chapter 14 out of Because of Winn Dixie. In this chapter, Opal meets Gloria Dump. They think about what is important in life. Gloria wanted to teach Opal about not judging someone by what they had done in the past, but what they are doing right now. She told Opal that she should not judge Otis even though he had been in jail. She also wanted Opal to know that even though she had a problem with drinking, it was over now and maybe that is the same with Opal's mother. I invited Danny to do much of the reading of this chapter and he did so with good fluency.
Danny has come a long way since I met him in February. I am thrilled with his progress. He is a very kind and gentle boy with a quick wit and charming personality. I wish him well as he moves to a new school.