Today, Gracyn finished lesson 1.1 which covered the concept of adding on. In this lesson, she counted different picture groups to complete addition problems. We worked on an addition 0-18 math drill worksheet to increase fluency and speed. Together we played a game of addition bingo. There were two draw piles in which we had to draw 1 card from each pile. The cards were added together. The first person to get 3 answers in a row won. Gracyn happily won both games that we played. We finished the lesson by reading Sea Sums by Joy Hulme.

Gracyn had fun in arts and crafts making a butterfly. She chose purple, turquoise, and pink to paint the wings that we cut out of paper plates. Gracyn liked swirling the turquoise and purple together to see how they blended. A large popsicle stick for the body was painted turquoise. She glued sparkle butterfly and heart spangles along with pink glitter onto the wings. Google eyes and silver pipe cleaners for antennae were also glued on. Gracyn did a wonderful job and it turned out to be adorable.

Gracyn and I began our session by playing a get-to-know-you board game called "My Favorites". We took turns rolling the dice and moving along the playing board. We then answered the question on the space, for items such as favorite color, candy, vegetable, book, etc. I learned that her favorite sport to play is softball, her favorite gymnast this year is Simone Biles, her favorite number is 7, and that strawberries are her favorite fruit. Gracyn then read through the pre-primer and primer Dolch word lists to determine her knowledge of these leveled sight words. We will perform some enrichment activities to strengthen knowledge of these lists.

We started the session with a get to know you activity. We began a chapter on plants and their needs. We reviewed vocabulary words, types of plants, plant environments, and what plants need to grow. Gracyn drew a picture and labeled the parts of a plant. She made a cutout book of how a plant grows from a seed.

Gracyn and I had a wonderful first day together. We took time getting to know each other while working on all about me and math about me worksheets. We also played detectives, filling in the missing numbers from a 100's chart. Gracyn said she was really hoping for homework and chose to finish the chart at home. We finished by playing a hand clapping game while practicing counting by 5's and 10's.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with Gracyn today, she is such a delighful child. We spent some time getting to know each other and sharing the book 'The Kissing Hand'. We reviewed letters, sounds and some sight words before reading 'Biscuit Goes to the Library'. Gracyn wrote a one sentence story about her special bear who shares her love for the color purple. She did not want to bring Biscuit home to read (too long) but she did ask to bring 'Mice on Ice' to read at home tonight. We did not read it together so it is an unknown book for her. We also read 'A Tiger Tail' in a shared reading format and practiced making predictions about what would happen next. I look forward to helping Gracyn continue to grow as a reader this year.

Today we planned to continue practicing money skills. We were to watch a Brain Pop Jr. learning video on “Equivalent Coins”. Annie and Moby explain how various combinations of coins are equivalent in value, such as two nickels are the same as one dime. The video shows multiple combinations to get to the fewest number of coins possible, such as one quarter instead of 5 nickels. They also explain various ways to make one dollar with coins. Additionally, we would have completed follow up worksheets to practice using these coin skills.

Today we planned to continue studying the courageous Harriet Tubman by watching an Animated Hero Classics video about her. The video primarily focuses on her time as a slave and her many journeys up and down the Underground Railroad freeing fellow slaves. A video presentation of this nature helps bring these historic heroes to life!

Today we planned to read a non-fiction text about “Harriet Tubman”. Additionally, we were to follow-up with the Brain Pop Jr. video of the same subject to further supplement the material presented in the text. We would learn about Harriet Tubman’s life with particular focus on the Underground Railroad and her successful work in helping to free numerous slaves.

Our plans today were to watch a Brain Pop Jr. learning video to review money with “Counting Coins”. This video walks us through all of the coins and their values. Additionally, the video explains skip counting to count coins, starting with the largest coin then counting on to find the total, sorting coins into like groups to count, and combining coins to make a value that is then easier to perform counting on. Next, we would have completed some money related worksheets involving identifying and counting coins to practice money skills. Our plans to close the session included completing the next page in her math drills workbook and puzzles nine and ten in her “Sudoku for Kids” workbook.