Hank watched a Khan Academy video teaching 4 more types of figurative language, metaphor, simile, hyperbole, and personification. We will look for examples of each in our reading. He read the last two chapters of 'Wonder' from Via's perspective and the first chapter from Summer's point of view. Summer's voice is the first we have heard from outside Auggie's family, we are anxious to hear from her.
Hank practiced identifying idioms by matching several common phrases with their meanings. After a brief review, we continued reading 'Wonder' from Via's point of view. We see her parents shift roles as Dad assures Mom that Via should be allowed more independence. We also see Via behave in an unexpected way toward Mom, and we looked for a cause. Hank pointed to several more idioms in today's reading. Good luck this weekend!
After a brief review, Ben read the last two chapters of 'My Father's Dragon.' We weren't surprised by Father successfully freeing the dragon because the early part of the story hinted that he would. We were surprised by the methods he used to achieve his goal. We defined the term 'theme,' and Ben gave his idea of the book's theme. He nailed it! He read another short passage and correctly identified its theme as well. Ben chose to do all the reading on his own today; no taking turns as we usually do. :-)
Ben read the next two chapters of 'My Father's Dragon,' making predictions and justifying them with evidence. He did an excellent job of reading the dialogue with expression and phrasing that reflects understanding. He also completed the next lesson on ReadingEggs, where he practiced the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.
Hank watched a BrainPop video teaching idioms and cliches. He passed a quiz with 80% accuracy. We continued reading Via's point of view in the story 'Wonder.' Hank does a good job monitoring his accuracy when reading, self-correcting when needed. In today's chapters, we learned that Via's first day of high school was less than she'd hoped, and her parents were so concerned about Auggie's experience that she didn't get the attention she really wanted. Once again, Auggie was the sun, and the family orbited around him. We looked for examples of figurative language and talked about how it added to the story's enjoyment.
Hank watched a video teaching the elements of a plot diagram. We discussed the plot's organization in 'Wonder,' noting that it is linear, although told from several different points of view. Hank read the first three of Via's chapters, where he learned much more about Auggie's physical appearance. Via compared Auggie to the sun with everyone in the family revolving around him. Her perspective on life with Auggie demonstrates an internal struggle.
Ben completed an activity matching character actions with character traits. He read the next chapter of 'My Father's Dragon' and pointed out some animal characters' traits. On Brain Pop Jr., he watched a video teaching the importance of setting to a story's plot.
Jayne summarized the impact of war on the lives of our characters before reading the next three chapters. Our reading mood switched back and forth several times, from Ada describing a beautiful day of riding to her discovery of a potential spy. From Ada not being taken seriously by a police officer to her being praised by the village as a heroine. Finally, from Ada expressing real happiness to returning home and finding her mam waiting for her. The worst has happened, mam has taken both children back to London with her, and life looks completely bleak for Ada once again.
Hank played a word-building and a memory game on the Lumosity site. We reviewed what we read in our last session and made some predictions about what may happen in today's chapter 'Halloween.' Surprisingly, our predictions proved inaccurate. Auggie's newfound ease with school life is turned upside down. Hank was able to put himself in Auggie's place to describe how he would feel if he'd been so hurtfully disappointed by his friend. Today's reading is the end of the story told from Auggie's point of view, next we will read about the same time period as seen from Via's point of view.
Ben practiced decoding and encoding words with inflected endings on the Reading Eggs site. He reviewed what was happening in our last reading of 'My Father's Dragon,' and we read chapter 5. Ben's grasp of the sequence of events is strong, and he converts new information into long term memory easily. He made some accurate predictions as he read and noticed when we had to disconfirm an idea.
