We concluded our study of the novel today by examining Buck's character as an uber being,neither dog nor wolf. Physically he is larger and mentally more cunning and strategic. Only by learning love and loss does Buck evolve. We noted how in this way the novel ends on an optimistic note suggesting that human society can and will also evolve. Colson discussed how Buck returns each year to the site of Thornton's murder and at the end of the novel is the leader of the wolf pack. He then completed comprehension questions in writing . HIs sentence structure has shown significant improvement .

Colson reviewed the lesson People and the Environment. He completed the SmartBook questions on Earth and Human Activity, which used the textbook as a reference for questions he got wrong and had to correct.

I began with reviewing words with the suffixes -ture and -sure, as well as words with the middle syllable -tu (adventure, actual, composure, censure). Colson read example words (Megawords 4, List 24, p. 69). He read a timed oral reading fluency passage with example words (Megawords 4, p. 80) in just over one minute with one error. He did well answering the reading comprehension questions. I am pleased with his improvement; he refers to the text to find his answers. We reviewed morphology (prefixes, suffixes, root words) and played two rounds of Crazy Moose to reinforce the concepts. This strategy is building Colson's vocabulary and spelling. To conclude, we finished co-reading the short story, "The Most Dangerous Game," by Richard Connell. Colson was confused by the ending, so I summarized the last page until he drew the correct conclusions.

Colson did very well today in tracing how Buck's chasing and killing larger and larger prey , each kill a step higher up on the food chain, foreshadows the ending of the novel wherein Buck kills the men who murder his beloved master, John Thornton. We noted that since the novel's thematic elements move Buck from domestic dog to mythic wolf-dog, inevitably Buck can not and does not die at the novel's conclusion. Colson further drafted two sentences in response to comprehension questions. We worked on the need for tense consistency in his responses and revised his work accordingly.

Today, I reviewed multi-syllable words ending in -ous and -age (Megawords 4, List 23, p. 68). Colson read a timed oral reading fluency passage in one minute with no errors (Megawords 4, p. 68). We reviewed his morphology list of prefixes, root words, and suffixes, and played a game of Crazy Moose to build his vocabulary with example words. We co-read several pages of the short story, "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell, pausing to practice reading comprehension strategies and discuss figurative language. We will finish the story next session.

Colson read the scientific text "Should Environmental Scientists be Advocates for Environmental Policy?". We discussed the main idea. He completed the People and the Environment lesson review and we went over the correct answers.

Finish test on finding the volume and surface area of various 3-dimensional shapes.

Review for Civics Final Exam: Review of key topics and types of questions that are likely to appear on the Civics E.O.C. Final Exam. Use of online "Mr. Raymond Civics E.O.C Final Exam Practice" videos to highlight/identify key topics and concepts covered on the Civics Final Exam.

Colson learned about ecological footprints, The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and used an ecological footprint calculator to estimate how many Earths it takes to support his lifestyle. He recorded his information and we discussed.

Quiz on finding the volume and surface area of various 3-dimensional shapes.