Patrick and I spent the majority of or last day together reading. We read an entire Henry and Mudge book. We talked a lot about our time together and his future. Lastly, we went out to play basketball the last 15 minutes.

Patrick read for 40 minutes and finished all 62 pages of level k Scruffy!!! We continue to practice applying decoding skills throughout the text, focusing on finding small parts within a word to determine the word. Then we played a fun game building words with the new long a word stems. Patrick did well and was motivated to win! Lastly we continued with the story he started on Wednesday. Patrick did well formulating complete sentences but struggled to write them down.

Patrick and I started with reading Level K Scruffy. Patrick read for almost an hour. After that Patrick built an 8 rung word ladder using -ast, -est, -ist & -ust. Patrick struggled more than usual with these stems. Lastly we worked on developing a new story. Patrick thought through topic ideas and discussed the story outline. I transcribed his details guiding him through the main story elements. Then Patrick used the pre writing list to begin writing. He needed a lot of coaching and guidance to get started, formulate sentences and spell words.

We started our session with a new K Level book called Scruffy. I chose this book for Patrick because I knew he would identify with the character and enjoy the book. Patrick was very successful reading this book. Even though K is not his independent level, it is a great instructional level for us to work on. It allows us to work on decoding and to become more fluent and familiar with phrasing. Patrick is continuing to look for small word parts while recognizing initial and ending sounds to decode words correctly. Patrick read for 40 minutes & was reluctant to find a stopping place!!!! Then we worked on our new word stems for the week playing a version of connect four. Lastly Patrick requested to play sight word bingo. I chose only the most challenging words for us. Patrick created his own game board and called each word. He really enjoyed the game!

Patrick had an absolutely amazing day! I have never seen him more motivated and focused. We started out completing a word ladder building 12 words with the short u word stems. Patrick was successful spelling 10/12 words correctly independently. After that I gave him a sight word sentence dictation. Patrick worked hard on the sentences spelling 10/12 words correctly. He still struggles with said and were. I did not point out his mistakes. I simply rewrote the sentences directly below his and let Patrick evaluate his work and identify any errors. This helps him tremendously. Me not pointing out his errors allows us to focus on all of the things he does right, while still acknowledging mistakes. After that I had Patrick read a Level F benchmark passage. He read fluently and flawlessly. He has moved up to instructional Level G. Then I chose a book for him Addie's Bad Day. Again he was reading fluently with minimal errors and then an amazing thing happened...he started enjoying the book. He actually asked if he could read a few more pages! HUGE!!! I leveled the book on Scholastic's Book Wizard. It is a Level J! Lastly, Patrick finished his story. He was motivated and wanted to tackle a lot of the spelling independently. Two wonderful things happened today...Patrick wanted to read and write:)

Today we started Step 4.2, mixed syllable types. We started with the sound drill. Patrick did a great job of keeping the balance board steady. Then we worked on two syllable words that had a closed syllable and a v-e syllable and talked about compound words. We scooped and marked the vowel sounds. He then read 4.2 word cards and word lists. He seemed tired and made some mistakes but was able to self correct, reading flagpole as frogpole and classmate as classmate. Lastly he chose a story in the Wilson student reader. He picked the shortest story but it had more difficult words. He read the entire story and worked hard on his inflection.

Today Patrick started with the sound card quick drill on the balance board. Then he read and sorted 20 word cards, some real words, some nonsense. He categorized the words by rules: magic E, digraphs, multi syllabic. Next he charted, reading 14 of 15 nonsense words correctly. Patrick continues to mix b and d so we will do some drills next time. Lastly, I read to him about penguins and wolverines from a book on arctic animals. He recalled facts and we wrote a paragraph on the white board on each animal. Patrick liked the non-fiction reading and was able to recall the information easily.

Patrick and I worked on 4 new short u word stems. Using a word splash of 8 words I asked Patrick to review the words and determine 4 possible word stems. With help, Patrick was able to determine the stems. Next we played a game using and sorting the new stems. After that we read two instructional level texts. Then we tackled writing. As expected Patrick was very resistant, but with encouragement he was successful at formulating a short story. To get started he made a silly sentences about a dog and a man. From there he narrated the story and I wrote his ideas down in list form (prewriting/listing). After that Patrick began working on writing his story. With help and encouragement he finished the first part (4 sentences).

Patrick and I finished his book The Case of the Missing Monkey. He wasn't eager to read more so we moved onto writing. He had shown interest in a book about America's National Parks, so we starting browsing the book through a picture walk. The pictures were various photos of nature that reminded me of home, which lead to me sharing facts or anecdotal stories relating to to the pictures. This also encouraged Patrick to discuss the pictures, which was a great scaffold for writing about the pictures. I modeled with one picture and Patrick chose a picture of a grizzly bear fishing for salmon. Patrick really enjoyed the book until I asked him to write. With a lot of encouragement Patrick developed and completed 2 sentences about the picture. Next Patrick completed his -op, -ock, -or word ladder with 100% accuracy. Lastly, Patrick completed one game of FastForWord.

Today we started with the quick drill in reverse which Patrick did standing on the balance board. Afterwards, he orally spelled several two syllable words including suffix ing. Then he spelled five magic E words including blends and suffix s. Lastly he read a 4.1 Wilson story called A Fine Time on the Slopes. He read it silently first and then retold me the story in his own words. Next he read the story out loud. He did a fantastic job!