Today Yanuell and I started with his new “Encyclopedia Prehistorica Dinosaurs” pop-up book that Miss Judie gave him. She also gave him a secret journal in which we spent time throughout the day writing dinosaur names that he found from his new book. We also found two different dinosaur pictures on the computer that he wanted to add to his journal and we printed and labeled those. We played several games reinforcing Yanuell’s reading of his sight words. These games focused on CVCe words (long vowels with silent –e) and r-controlled -ar words. We reviewed how –ar makes the pirate sound in words. Additionally we discussed the use of “l” and “th” in words. We discussed how the “l” sound is made with the tongue pressed on the roof of the mouth behind the front teeth. We found times when Yanuell said a “y” sound instead of the “l” and he easily made corrections and could later correct himself with only a minimal cue from me in conversation. We also talked about “th” and how that sound is accomplished by placing the tongue through the teeth. We laughed that “free” isn’t a number, but an easy correction then gave us “three”. I wrote words on the white board and we discussed how these tricky sounds happen in the beginning (initial), end (final), and middle (medial) positions of words. We used his name to help with this example and Yanuell showed good understanding of the concept (looking at how in Yanuell, the l comes at the end of the word and in Molina it comes in the middle of the word). Yanuell displayed a joyful personality all day. He was engaged and interested in our activities and verbally expressed throughout the day how happy he was about his first day of school. I was delighted to be a part of it!