Grace did not come for her session today - so I planned activities for us to do in future sessions.

Ashley began her session by learning the Healthy Owl/Sick Owl phonics trick for the "oo" combination. Using the white board, Ashley drew a healthy looking owl and a sick looking owl. We then discussed the different sounds that healthy owls make compared to sick owls. Healthy owls make the "hoo" sounds (like cool) while sick owls cough and make an "u" sound (like book). Ashley came up with a lengthy list of both healthy owl "oo" words and sick owl "oo" words. After our phonics work, we went to the computer lab and worked on the Raz Kids reading site. Ashley read a book called Fast and Faster and during the reading we worked on decoding skills to help her with the unfamiliar words. Upon completion, we discussed the main idea and supporting details and Ashley concluded by taking the comprehension quiz.

Grace began her session by sorting pictures using medial vowel sounds - a, e, i, o, and u. She worked very hard on discerning the difference between the short e and short i vowel sounds. Before we even began, she said, " the two sounds are very close." After completing the picture sort, we went through a bunch of more unfamiliar CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words and worked on sounding them out. To complete our word work for the day, Grace sorted through pictures to find matching pairs. Once she found rhyming words, she glued them onto paper and wrote the word next to the picture. We went through them several times as Grace needed some repetition. Next, we went on to the Raz Kids program and listened to the story, I Love the Earth. After listening to the story, Grace read it herself and then took the comprehension quiz. We went through some additional reading comprehension questions and used a hard copy of the book to answer them and give concrete details. During this activity, we touched on the difference between fact and opinion.

Before getting into our in-depth discussion, I asked Josh to recount the details of "The Ashen Guy," the story we read last week. I was pleasantly surprised by Josh's recall, and there were only small, minute details that needed to be clarified with Josh. Afterwards, we reviewed the definition of a Narrative, paying particular attention to how narratives are not just stories about events, but stories that use language to convey particular truths or beliefs about society, the world, etc. With this in mind, I had Josh give me a tentative definition of the word "theme." Josh answered that "theme" meant something along the lines of "genre," which was true in a sense, but not the definition used in literature. I clarified that "theme" is a prominent topic or idea of a story, and then I gave him example of themes like death, friendship, sadness, etc. Pushing Josh a bit out of his comfort zone, I asked him not only to define the theme of the story, but to give me specific, textual instances where this theme occurs and to articulate what "bigger message" the text is communicating about that theme. Josh and I were able to have a great discussion, and while not every piece of textual evidence fit his argument, Josh was able to articulate some really insightful arguments about this story.

Reading Comprehension Drills

Ben continues to improve and did an excellent job today. Now, if he misses a question, he has a solid reason for that choice. He needs to work on not projecting information into the text, and only reading what is there.

Read books together: Read books together, allowed short personal time between reading. Anna and Quinn were very cooperative and involved. They asked related questions and both were very respectful.

Ashley began her session looking at Heidi Hecklebeck chapter books and choosing one to borrow for the week. She was very excited to read a chapter book and it was a good fit for her reading level. Next, Ashley and I took turns reading a Kevin Henkes book called, Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse (level M). She was very engaged and added wonderful insights throughout the story. After reading the book, we played a Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse comprehension game. Ashley did extremely well recalling events and characters from the story as well as sequencing events. We discussed several "beyond the text" questions and Ashley did very well thinking outside of the box.

Grace played Sight Word Bingo during her session today. She successfully identified all of the sight words on her bingo card (as well as mine) and identified each word as she pulled it out of the bag. Grace shows considerable growth in retaining many sight words which is going to help her reading level advance.

Grace listened to a Kevin Henkes book called Lilly and the Purple Plastic Purse. She was very attentive and added wonderful insights throughout the story. After listening the the story, we played a Lilly and the Purple Plastic Purse comprehension game. Grace did extremely well recalling events and characters from the story as well as sequencing events. She really shined during this activity.

Read/Discuss Lord of the Flies

I decided to move on from short stories and start working with Dylan on a novel. We're going to read Lord of the Flies together and work on analysis and writing based on that. We read most of the 1st chapter, stopping to discuss setting/plot/characters. Dylan did a very good job.