8/5/25
We played Pictionary as a vehicle to discuss the names of different animals and people in English and Spanish. We read choice books in Spanish and discussed the words and their meaning.
Assignment
n/a
Session Minutes
30
Minutes Student Attended
30
Lesson Comments
Alexandra was very engaged and seems to be progressing well in Spanish.
Alexandra completed her calendar talk and calendar writing activity, put together her daily sentence puzzle, read three books in her reading series, listened to Arnold Lobel's "Frog and Toad are Friends" book discussing story details and discovering that Toad always had a problem that Frog had to help him solve, and finished her Kuman reading activities.
Cats, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and ABC patterns in Color with Musical Choice
Lesson Outline
Project Initiating Activity:
Since today, 08/08/2025, is International Cat Day, I read The Cat in the Hat to Alexandra. Alexandra loved the rhyming passages and asked me to read a few of them again. Then Alexandra completed a cat with whiskers activity. Alexandra randomly selected six color markers by closing her eyes and reaching into the marker bag. Then she organized them into two groups of three to create an ABC color pattern for the two sets of three whiskers. She colored each whisker, cut them out, arranged them, and then glued them onto the cat’s face into an ABC pattern: A for one color, B for another, and C for the third. Alexandra also completed two activities: one was discerning patterns of same or different. Then to review our primary and secondary colors from earlier this week, Alexandra completed a mouse color mixing equation activity: red mouse + yellow mouse = orange mouse.
While she worked, I played soft classical music. Then I read The Very Hungry Caterpillar book to her. Alexandra completed a very hungry caterpillar artwork by selecting and coloring an ABC color pattern for the nine pieces of the caterpillar's body, arranging them in an ABC pattern, and gluing them on the paper behind the caterpillar’s head to create the caterpillar’s body. Then she counted the number of feet the caterpillar from the book had and drew those on the caterpillar's body. Next, Alexandra looked at an activity of sequential images from the story and colored them using markers. She made color choices based on preference.
Alexandra requested to hear songs that she heard this week. She enjoys hearing Pizza Puppy by Parry Gripp. By expressing her personal preference for some songs over other songs aligns with the National Core Arts Standards.
It was an honor and privilege to teach Alexandra this summer!
National Core Arts Standards Pre K:
MU:Pr4.3.PK
With substantial guidance, explore music’s expressive qualities (such as voice quality, dynamics, and tempo).
MU:Re7.1.PK
With substantial guidance, state personal interests and demonstrate why they prefer some music selections over others.
VA:Cr1.2.PKa
Engage in self-directed, creative making.
VA:Cr2.1.PKa
Use a variety of artmaking tools.
VA:Cr2.3.PKa
Create and tell about art that communicates a story about a familiar place or object.
VA:Cr3.1.PKa
Share and talk about personal artwork.
Book Refence:
Dr. Seuss (1957). The cat in the hat. Random House.
Carle, E. (1969). The very hungry caterpillar. Penguin Random House.
Number sense/sequencing/penmanship/Parts of a Whole
Lesson Outline
Alexandra completed all of her Kumon math homework. She counted items up to 90 correctly and wrote the sum of one picture in the appropriate box. She also correctly identified and wrote numbers in their correct order of sequence figuring out which numbers were omitted. Alexandra completed exercises 4A172a - 4A190b; (note that exercise 4A176 a and b were missing from her Kumon packet). We also worked with a hands-on pizza puzzle to understand parts of a whole. Alexandra stated that she likes cheese and pepperoni but does not like the pepperoni ON the cheese. She was able to connect words and concepts using positional terms. I explained that the pizza represents "one whole," (explaining the difference between a hole in the ground and a whole object). After removing a slice, I stated that this is one part of the whole pizza. Vocabulary was also introduced (e.g., partition) to increase exposure and familiarity to subject-specific terminology Alexandra 'served' slices and counted how many made up the whole. She knew to answer correctly when asked, "if you have 2 slices, do you have the whole?" We enjoyed a fun, interactive, and engaging last session in our math class today.
Songs with Stories, Repeating Patterns, and Movement
Lesson Outline
Project Initiating Activity:
We listened to several kids’ songs that tell a story with repeating patterns and rhyming that we could sing along to, move along with, and act out the story along with the song. These songs have a rhythm, beat, and pattern that are easy for young learners to identify. Alexandra created a watercolor of a unicorn and sang along to some unicorn songs I played for her. She selected the paper to glue it on that matched best her unicorn design. Without any guidance, she colored her unicorn to look exactly like one of her stuffed animals. Her coloring skills are improving, as she is taking great care with her marking tools.
Then Alexandra did the following art activities to these songs:
1. The Lady With the Alligator Purse by David Landau. Alexandra completed a story songbook to go along with the song that incorporated listening, observation, coloring, and cutting and pasting. She requested to hear the song over and over, and we read along with the book she created while we listened to the song.
2. We’re Going on a Lion Hunt by The Kiboomers. Alexandra made and decorated binoculars to act along with the song.
3. The Party Freeze Dance Song by The Kiboomers. Alexandra used good listening skills to know when to move and when to freeze. While she was painting, she would stop when the music stopped. We listened to this song several times and acted out the movements of dancing, hopping, skipping, and twirling. Alexandra is a natural dancer. I recommend enrolling her in a dance class!
4. Freeze Dance by CoComelon. Alexandra danced and sang along to the music, and then froze when the music stopped.
5. Pig on Her Head by The Laurie Berkner Band.
We also read one of her favorite dinosaur books and did some pizza addition and subtraction using the wooden pizza manipulative toy.
National Core Arts Standards Pre K:
MU:Pr4.3.PK
With substantial guidance, explore music’s expressive qualities (such as voice quality, dynamics, and tempo).
MU:Re7.1.PK
With substantial guidance, state personal interests and demonstrate why they prefer some music selections over others.
VA:Cr1.2.PKa
Engage in self-directed, creative making.
VA:Cr2.1.PKa
Use a variety of artmaking tools.
VA:Cr2.3.PKa
Create and tell about art that communicates a story about a familiar place or object.
VA:Cr3.1.PKa
Share and talk about personal artwork.
Alexandra completed her interactive calendar, finished her calendar talk and calendar writing, put together several sentence scramble activities, worked on her phonics activities, and played a board game spelling CVC words with short vowel sounds.
Number sense/sequencing/Skip counting by 10's/Addition practice
Lesson Outline
Alexandra practiced her number sequencing on various differentiated activity sheets. She skip counted by tens to 100 and ordered the numbers in sequence. She then traced the numbers and glued them onto a paper. Alexandra later used dice to to add two number integers together and then colored the resulting sum on the scales of a fish. These activities afford her practice strengthening her number sense. We also reviewed 3-D shapes, and Alexandra went home with an ice cream CONE on which she wants to add sparkles. She noted that "it's also a triangle with a circle on top." I'm delighted with the facility with which Alexandra can envision and correctly identify parts of a whole.
Session Minutes
180
Minutes Student Attended
180
Lesson Comments
Alexandra wanted to stay with me first class of the morning and Emilia wanted to go to art so we switched. Hours remained the same.
Alexandra completed her interactive calendar exploring the different aspects for the month of August. She finished her calendar talk and her calendar writing. She read and discussed a book about the weather. She read 3 new readers in her reading series which focused on the short vowel sounds, put together her daily sentence puzzle, and worked on an activity enabling her to recognize coins and their value.
Two and 3 Dimensional objects/Geometry/Addition Practice
Lesson Outline
Alexandra reviewed 2 and 3-dimensional shapes and objects.
Assignment
Alexandra began by reviewing two and three-dimensional shapes. I explained the difference between 2D and 3D shapes by using simple language and noting 3-D shapes have three dimensions: length, width, and depth, while 2D shapes are flat. She was encouraged to use subject-specific language such as "faces" and "edges." Alexandra used Magna Tiles and Jenga blocks to build shapes and to towers, and we went on a scavenger hunt to find objects around the school that matched the shapes described. This activity helps to facilitate a connection to Alexandra's surroundings and the world around her. Use blocks or other 3D shape manipulatives to have students build towers. These activities help create a dynamic learning environment to help concretize concepts and learning Alexandra has recently acquired. She also completed a 2D and 3D shape sorting activity requiring her to identify and color the 2D shapes blue and the 3D shapes yellow. We got stuck on one and had to research the answer - and by doing so we learned that even when the curved edge of a cone is not drawn in the picture, it's still classified as a 3-D shape. We finished up the session playing a game of Math Bingo and an activity called "Roll a Pumpkin," in which she rolled dice and colored pumpkins showing the correct sums rolled. Alexandra appears to have benefited from exposure and practice using several different activities to reinforce and consolidate her understanding and familiarity with number sense and concepts.
