Gracyn was excited to show me what she can do on the gymnastic apparatus and balance beam. We added core work (sit-ups, ball and boat pose) and yoga stretches (cobra, leg stretches). We read through "A Morning with Grandpa" book which introduces tai chi and also yoga (with grandpa). We talked about "family yoga and workouts." Gracyn really enjoys working out with her dad and mom.

Gracyn and I had lots of fun today getting back on the balance beam and using the spotting block to do front and back walkovers. We continued to work on her strength, flexibility and balance by combining the equipment with music and exercise.

Gracyn brought in a new Junie B. story for us to read, so we reviewed our expectations for Junie in this story and read the first two chapters. We worked on beginning blends and silent 'e' words and read a Raz Kids story at level E. She read 'I Spy Fly Guy' independently today.

Today we completed our Junie B. Jones book with a discussion of Junie B. and her character traits. We read Amelia Bedilia in a shared format and talked about multiple meaning words. We practiced beginning blend sounds for word work and wrote a new page for her family story. She read 'I Spy Fly Guy' for her guided/independent book.

Gracyn started Studies Weekly today. It is an interactive website with topics on civics, geography and history. I made a login for Gracyn and she watched the short intro which demonstrated how she can earn doubloons to decorate a rat cage after reading and answering questions. Today we learned about voting and elections, freedom, liberty, and the Statue of Liberty. She discovered that she will know who our next President will be on her Birthday! We discussed making an announcement of the birth of Ms. Susan's baby for the school newspaper. We also discussed how Gracyn might contribute to our school election wall. She made a poster with Donald Trump's body and Barbie's head which said "Vote for Barbie". We reviewed vocabulary words and directions - North, South, East and West. Finally, we completed a worksheet about time - past, present and future.

Today, Gracyn finished the final lesson in chapter 1. This lesson reviewed the concept that the sum remains the same whether you add across or down. We also reviewed vocabulary words, adding zero, and adding addends in any order. Gracyn, practiced her addition skills on a worksheet called flower power which had addition sentences with sums 4-10. Tomorrow, she will take the chapter 1 test for which I feel she is fully prepared. We ended the lesson by reading one of Gracyn's favorite books Amelia Bedelia and with a book called Animals 123.

Gracyn had fun today making a lion mask. She cut 1 inch wide strips of yellow, orange, and brown construction paper. Then, I showed her how to curl the strips by rubbing them down the edge of the table. We cut the center out of a paper plate and Gracyn glued the strips of paper all around the plate. She cut out brown and pink half circles to make ears for the lion and glued them on top. To finish, I glued on a wooden dowel for her to hold the mask up to her face. Gracyn was very excited over the finished lion mask and roared her way around school.

Today Gracyn read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by Eric Carle and Bill Martin Jr. with a little help. Gracyn was familiar with the story and used the picture clues to help her read most of the story. She then cut and assembled a bear craft following a template for a sight / observing the details task. Gracyn did a great job with her bear! Then, to reinforce reading of the Dolch pre-primer sight words, we played ZAP! This is a pull-the-sticks game in which if you read the word correctly, you keep the stick. If you pull a "zap!" stick, you return all of your sticks to the bucket. Gracyn did a great job and was only stuck on a few words. We will continue to practice these words until she knows them consistently.

We read two more chapters of Junie B. Jones with a strategy focus of predicting actions. We also did a shared reading of a picture book she selected at the library yesterday. Gracyn was able work out unfamiliar words by using context and illustrations. Her guided/independent reading was 'I Spy Fly Guy'. We are working toward reading independently for 10 minutes each day. Gracyn added a page to her My Family book. We practiced sight words and /sh/, /ch/.

Today, Gracyn's lesson 1.7, covered the idea that numbers can be put together in many different ways to achieve the same outcome. For practice, she colored blocks to show the ways to make 9 and then completed the corresponding addition sentence. Together, we played a new card game called Blink. As cards are turned face up on the table, you must try to get rid of the cards in your draw pile by matching at least one characteristic on the card (color, shape, or count). You can only have three cards in your hand at one time, but may continue to pick cards from your draw pile as soon as you discard. Gracyn had to think about the three attributes of her cards, color, shape, and count which is great for her working memory and hand-eye coordination. To finish the lesson, we read If you were a plus sign by Trisha Shaskan.