Introduction to new teacher; review of Revolutionary War. Ayden's class went well. My primary goal as the new Social Studies teacher was to begin the process of developing trust and rapport. Ayden is affable and sweet. We reviewed the number and names of the American colonies, the person who led the Colonial army, and the first President. When discussing George Washington, Ayden pointed out Washington state on the map. We discussed the fact that our nation's capital is a different Washington, namely, Washington, DC. Seeing "Washington, DC" written on the board, Ayden asked a good question: what does "DC" stand for? We then discussed the District of Columbia as a special area, though not a state, where the White House, Capitol, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and other monuments and government buildings are located.

Ayden did great on his 3X table drill. He has decreased his time dramatically since he began. He completed his Daily Spiral Review and then engaged in lesson 3-5. In this lesson, Ayden continued to practice breaking apart factors. He learned about the Distributive Property which involves both, addition and multiplication. He appears to be quite comfortable with this new skill. In Fast ForWord he read stories for comprehension and learned new vocabulary. In Hog Hat Zone he worked on grammar skills and reading for context. Great job today, Ayden!

In math class today, Ayden did a 5x table drill. We reviewed material from last week (properties of multiplication, multiples and their patterns. Then Ayden used the Distributive Property to simplify multiplication problems by rewriting one of the factors as a sum of two numbers. He learned to break apart an unknown fact into known facts. This was lesson 3-4. In Fast ForWord, Ayden continued his program.

Discuss:
Features of the Sun,arched prominences, sunspots, solar flares. The size of the Sun. Explosions on the Sun.
Activity: practicing for the solar system show/movement of the rotation.

Worked on expanding his vocabulary. Group lesson - coming up with fancy words to describe different emotions. Took pictures of the kids acting out each emotion.

v-e nonsense words - reading and spelling Ayden did awesome!

Grammar verbs be, do and have test- Ayden did not have any trouble with this concept. Worked with his spelling words- identified the vowel combinations making the /ow/ sound( ou, ow)

Reading and spelling v-e syllable type words. Ayden did a great job spelling today!

We had a shortened class today due to special school activity for students and staff training. Ayden and I read through "The Yoga Game" book and did the poses along with the book. We also did shoulder stand and fish pose today, with the help of a stuffed animal fish. Class ended with a relaxation with our yoga blanket and belly breathers (little rubber animals we balance on our bellies while laying still).

Ayden went over his hw from last night. He did very well except for the last question as the day before. This last question is a problem where he needs to explain how to solve the problem. We will continue to work on strategies in order to make it easier for him to write out an explanation. We discussed using sequencing words such as first, next, and last. Then he completed today's daily spiral review. We reviewed concepts from topic 3 and then he was engaged in lesson 3-3, where he recalled the properties of multiplication. Ayden was able to solve problems independently and identify which property was being used. Ayden did not complete his FF program as he participated in a social activity with his peers. Have a great weekend!