We started today’s lesson reviewing High Frequency words. Dillon identified 186 of the 200 words presented. This placed him above grade level for isolated word identification. After this quick assessment, he was able to go back and decode the missed words. He then practiced the high frequency words with the program Electronic SuperSpeed 1000. This program places the words in order of frequency; and projects them at rapid fire so that students can work on automaticity. We drilled with the first 100. This was a fun and engaging way to practice sight words on automatic recall, and we will make it part of our regular practice in building fluency.
Next, we moved on to fluency drills with phrases. Dillon had 1 minute to read 30 phrases. We practiced reading the drill a couple of times. He steadily improved while we practiced. Dillon enjoyed trying to improve his score and was happy to bring this home for further practice.
We reviewed assessment expectations and how to answer comprehension questions that are text dependent. I stressed the importance of making sure the answers are supported by the text that is read. We also reviewed the fact that sometimes the answers are implied in the text. He then revisited the reading he did on the first day and practiced finding the correct answers in the text. I reinforced writing complete sentences and using proper punctuation. Explicit – right there- answers were easily found by Dillon, however he had more difficulty when the answer was implied. We will continue to work on making text inferences.
We ended the session discussing nonfiction topics he might be interested in for future sessions. Dillon shared that he was interested in science, history, and civil rights. He also requested we read fiction as well and suggested books about football and sports!