Today we will be having the Holiday celebration, so we took it easy. Aiden helped me for a little bit in the Cafeteria. Then we went back to his classroom and talked about like terms. Aiden made up an expression: 5x + 5x=10x. He put in x=2 and determined 5(2)+5(2)=10(2). Then he substituted in x=1500, and determined that the result still “makes sense” regardless of the x’s value.

Today Aiden and I worked on the concept of combining like terms. We started with an easy example of 3x+5x. I explained to Aiden that this is an expression, not an equation. So we aren’t actually solving for anything, just combining terms that are alike; x can represent anything. I tried to get Aiden to think, temporarily, as if he’s adding items. I asked, “if you have 3 x-rays and you add 5 x-rays, then how many x-rays will you have?” Aiden understood there would be 8 x-rays. Then we let the x equal a number. We started with 2, then tried 10. We showed that 3(2)+5(2)=8(2), and it would be true for any value of x. This was a good exercise for Aiden to see that the math will work regardless of x’s value.

Richard took his spelling test and wrote his spelling sentences. We played games together.

Kaitlin took her spelling test. We read The Witch of Blackbird Pond and discussed it.

Luke was seen in his room for a 45 minute occupational therapy treatment session. Focus of treatment was on improving his bilateral integration/hand usage, fine motor development, graphomotor skills, postural control and sensory processing/organization for improved general performance in various environments. Began session with reviewing learned uppercase letters in Print Island. Luke is able to recall and write most of the letters well but some of the letters he forms incorrectly. The letters he forms incorrectly are due to him wanting independence and thinking that he knows how to form them and resists cues and assistance. Continue treatment working on Zones of Regulation. Luke was given/read different scenarios in which he has to say which zone he thought he would be in or another child would be in. He did well with determining the appropriate zone. We also continue to go over strategies for zones. For one scenario - someone taking candy from his room - he said he would be in the red zone but did not have an appropriate strategy to handle this situation. We continue to work on strategies, problem size versus reaction size and appropriate responses/language to use. Improvements being observed. Great session.

Luke was seen in his room for a 45 minute occupational therapy treatment session. Focus of treatment was on improving his bilateral integration/hand usage, fine motor development, graphomotor skills, postural control and sensory processing/organization for improved general performance in various environments. Began session with Christmas craft OT brought in for Luke. OT brought a wooden Christmas mailbox for Luke to decorate using many fine motor and sensory motor skills. He was asked to paint, color within the lines of given designs, peel backs of stickers and visual scan appropriate placement. Luke was excited about mailbox and was asking for peers and teachers to leave him mail. He was engaged and focused for the entire session.

Richard was seen in his room for a 45 minute treatment session today. Focus of treatment was on improving fine motor skills (hand strength, grip strength, dexterity and manipulation), visual motor integration, ocular motor skills, and graphomotor skills/keyboarding as an alternate means to written communication. Richard was in good spirits today and happy for the holidays coming up. OT brought Christmas craft to complete which involved many fine motor skills. Richard painted and colored and peeled back of stickers to create a Christmas wooden house. The house was very detailed and wasn't completed by the end of session. Can complete at home. Lastly, we worked on the lowercase letter "e" in cursive. He was instructed on this letter yesterday and wrote it well today. Great fun session.

Richard was seen in his room for a 45 minute treatment session today. Focus of treatment was on improving fine motor skills (hand strength, grip strength, dexterity and manipulation), visual motor integration, ocular motor skills, and graphomotor skills/keyboarding as an alternate means to written communication. Began treatment with a hidden message Santa/Christmas activity. Richard had to track and scan vertically to find the letter corresponding to a number to solve the Christmas riddle. He was able to scan top to bottom adequately and was able to figure out the message. He tried reading and showed greater success today with figuring out words. Continue lesson with being introduced to a new group in Script Island called "The Monkeys Eat at the Island Grill". Richard was instructed on the terminology and movements used in this group. He began instruction on the first letter of this group which was lowercase "e". He needed reminders on the beginning movement of this letter because at times he reverts to the previous groups initial movement which is going up and around to Mikey's hut to form the "c" first cursive letters. For the most part, Richard was able to write lowercase letter "e" well in cursive.

Joshua and I spent the class reviewing the Calc Medic problems I assigned him yesterday for independent work. Joshua found this assignment to be challenging, as it recalled concepts from Algebra 2 that Josh hasn't seen in a while. I informed Josh that the College Board expects him to remember everything he's ever learned in math class ever before (true story!). So they will pull problem types that require "old" algebra concepts with the assumption that you recall what to do. So instead of testing students on the "new" preCalc topic they actually test both, old skills and newly learned skills. It adds an extra challenge, certainly. So Joshua and I used the class to go back and review some of those old topics, such as: graphing quadratic functions, properties of logarithms, and writing equations of functions.

Today Ben and I practiced a set of solving systems of equations. Ben had to determine which approach he would use to solve the system. He had difficulty with these problems today. He did seem a bit less interested today. He wanted to work on his digital designs, so I encouraged him to finish working with me and then I would give him time to do his work. He agreed. I helped Ben as he worked through the problems. He needed a lot of guidance in the right direction. But he pushed through it.