Today I introduced Pierce to World War II in preparation for the novel "I Survived Pearl Harbor!" We watched a short YouTube video about the war, including actual footage of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Pierce had quite a bit of background knowledge. Next, we co-read two chapters of the novel, focusing on concepts such as setting, main character, and "in media res" (beginning the story in the middle of the action. Pierce wrote two paragraphs to summarize what he read. We edited his work together.

Given Pierce's enthusiasm for mathematics, I thought he might enjoy learning about pi on "Pi Day."We watched a brief "Brain Pop" video and discussed the derivation of this irregular number. Given the writing prompt, "Write a letter to your favorite teacher," Pierce outlined, wrote and edited a letter to his math teacher, Mr. Grassman.

Pierce and Quinn were early; I played a round of Phonics Dice until Dorothy was ready for Quinn. Pierce and I continued to co-read "Who Was Dr. Suess?" Pierce learned about the author's first children's book, "To Think I Saw It on Mulberry Street." Although the text seems simple, Dr. Suess often wrote up to 500 drafts per page! Next, we read one of Pierce's favorite Dr. Suess's books, "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" and observed the text taught counting, colors, rhyming, and emotions. Pierce and I agreed that the book was really a long poem, with one verse that repeats throughout, "From here to there, funny things are everywhere." With that rhyming couplet as a writing prompt, we brainstormed ideas for a poem. Pierce's ideas included: blue fish, singing annoying music, going into people's houses screaming. From these disparate phrases emerged the beginnings of a poem. We will finish writing and illustrate the poem next session.

To begin, we co-read a chapter from the book "Who Was Dr. Seuss?" Pierce learned that his first paying job was as an advertiser. He wrote advertisements and illustrated them. I challenged Pierce to pick a product (honest or imagined) and write an ad about it. He chose to write about a game called Geometry Dash World. We brainstormed why someone should play this game and wrote a paragraph outline. Pierce then independently wrote a paragraph. His details and use of transitional phrases were terrific. Great work, Pierce.

Pierce and I continued our Dr. Seuss theme. First, we co-read a chapter from "Who Was Dr. Seuss?" Pierce learned about his time in Oxford, England, where he met his future wife. She encouraged him to pursue his passion for illustration. Next, we read "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" We brainstormed all of the places in the world that interest him and located them on a globe. We then used these ideas to write a five sentence paragraph.

Pierce and I continued reading "Who Was Isaac Newton?" Pierce learned about Newton's work with the Royal Mint, specifically the "Great Recoinage." Newton was responsible for re-designing England's coins to prevent counterfeiting and stabilize England's monetary system. Newton finished his career as head of the Royal Society. He was buried at Westminster Abbey. His work changed the way we understand the world. Unfamiliar vocabulary from the text included divine, counterfeiter, and tyrant. After finishing the book, Pierce immediately wanted to choose another biography from the series. He chose Dr. Seuss, expressing that his favorite book is "Oh, the Places You Will Go." We purchased the book on my Kindle and found a related writing activity we will begin next week.

Pierce and I continued reading the book "Who Was Issac Newton?" and completed chapters 7-10. Pierce learned about Newton's collaborations with his peers, such as Robert Hooke, Christopher Wren, and Edmund Halley. We reviewed unfamiliar vocabulary in the text: scholar, minister, alchemy, ellipse, orbit, proof, Paliment, and principle. Pierce completed the following math activities: addition with four digits, word problems (what year will Halley's comet return? How old will you be when Halley's comet returns? How old will I be?), and multiplication tables. We will finish the book in the next session. I will find a novel with a math theme for our next co-read.

We continued our study of Sir Issac Newton (interspersed with math problems as incentive). We learned that Issac Newton improved the design of the telescope while teaching at Cambridge and his introduction to the Royal Society of London. To conclude, we review prefixes, root words, and suffix. I introduced the prefix dis-, the root word duct, and the suffix -est.

Pierce and I co-read two chapters of Who Was Isaac Newton. It was fascinating to learn what Newton accomplished during the plague of the mid-1600s, including the invention of calculus, the discovery of the light theory, and the laws of motion. Pierce reads with good fluency and demonstrates excellent retention of details. In between reading chapters, Pierce completed math problems on the white board. I am impressed with his enthusiasm for math. To conclude, we reviewed morphology learned and I taught the prefix mis, the root dict, and the suffix er.

Pierce was very interested in math today and immediately went to the board to practice. three-digit addition, subtraction, and multiplication. To lean into this interest, I found a book about Isaac Newton from the "Who Was..." series. We co-read several chapters, pausing to practice reading comprehension strategies and learn unfamiliar vocabulary. In between chapters, I put math problems on the board for Pierce to complete.