Libby used the boogie board, rubber letters, and writing paper to practice short vowel words and sight words (the, and, on). I read a Christmas book and discussed it.

Kaitlin wrote spelling words in her journal. We discussed the use of charts and visuals to help remember information.

We discussed Ben’s homework assignment and what was required to do prior to end of holiday.

Ben and I discussed the politics of the early founders. We reviewed our federalist papers and discussed what an energetic government would be as Hamilton discussed it.

One-on-one basketball- Heavy ball handling and some drills- Spent time working on form jumpers-

Heavy footwork and agility today with come drills- Spent time shooting mid and short range jumpers-

Ben and I discussed American history and the politics of Thanksgiving now and then. We discussed the Mayflower Compact and how it differed from today’s government and how it was its foundation for America.

We focused on conversation and addressed topics such as what he did last weekend, his favorite colleges and his plans for the Thanksgiving week. We reviewed the perfect tense with the auxiliary verb ´sein´ and started watching an Easy German video on the topic of what Germans do on a Sunday.

I repeated the lesson plan from last week: phonological awareness, alphabetic awareness, and syllable identification. Repetition for mastery is an important component of Orton-Gillingham. We reviewed the cursive letters from last session (i, u) and I introduced w and t. Eliana enjoys cursive and I believe she will learn the alphabet quickly. For spelling, we reviewed the sight words from last week (does and said) and silent-E words with dictation of words and sentences. Eliana needed to be re-taught the word does. I taught the FLSZ spelling rule (single syllable words ending in FLSZ double the letter at the end of the word). I made a spelling deck with the following words: mess, stuff, smell, jazz, stove, cake. To conclude, I read a chapter of June B. Jones to Eliana. I could tell that her energy was waning and she didn't feel like reading.

I began with a one-minute phonological awareness exercise, followed by alphabetic awareness. Eliana correctly identified the number of letters, vowels, consonants and sequenced the letters in just over a minute (a big improvement over last session, four minutes). We discussed the concept of a syllable (a word or a part of a word with one vowel sound). Eliana correctly built closed, open, and silent-E syllables. This will be important when Eliana learns to syllabicate multi-syllable, unfamiliar words. I conducted visual, auditory, and blending drills with all letters and digraphs. I reviewed last session's new concept, silent-E, dictating example words and sentences. I introduced two "sight" words, does and said. We made a spelling deck for Eliana to review with Ms. Pat. Eliana began cursive, learning the letters i and u. I sent pages home for her to practice. To conclude, we co-read a chapter of a Junie B. Jones book which Eliana seemed to enjoy.