Danny read the meaning of "income" that is in his vocabulary log. He then read page 2 of his Studies Weekly magazine to learn what "taxes" are. Danny added the following to his vocabulary log: When you get paid (income) you must pay money (taxes) to the government. Taxes help pay for roads, parks, schools, libraries, fire stations, and police stations.

Danny reviewed the unit vocabulary and high frequency words today. He blended and read words and sentences with long and short o. He did a spelling exercise where I read him words and he spelled it on his whiteboard. He read a story in his reading book called "Sled Dogs Run" and answered comprehension questions during and after the story.

Today Danny played sight word "BAM" with Dylan to practice and reinforce his sight words.

Danny continued the lesson on long and short o today. He blended and read words and sentences with these sounds. He did a word sort where he was given words with long and short o sounds. He had to sort the words by their sounds and glue them under the correct heading. He also wrote each word in the correct column after he finished the sort. He did an exercise adding -ed and -ing to verbs and he worked on his current unit vocabulary words by putting the correct words in sentences.

Danny did a lesson on prefixes today. We discussed how prefixes come at the beginning of a word and can change the meaning. He worked on the prefixes dis, un, and re. We went over the meaning of each prefix and did examples together of adding a prefix to a base word. I gave him a base word and a prefix and he made the new word and then gave me the meaning of the new word.

Danny continued the lesson on habitats today. We read about and discussed the ocean and desert habitats and what type of animals and plants live in these. We also discussed how animals are adapted to their own habitat and would have difficulty surviving in a different habitat. He drew a picture of an animal that lives in the ocean and a plant that lives in the desert.

We had a short session today, and Danny spent half of the time playing with the other kids as part of recess. For the other half of our time, we did an exercise in mindfulness using a jar with water and food coloring to depict how our brain looks when it's calm (clear) versus when all our thoughts and emotions come into play.

After a review of goods, services, needs, and wants, Danny moved on to "consumers" and "producers." We had just started to talk about "consumers" on Monday. Danny read from his Studies Weekly magazine to form definitions of both. "Consumers" do the buying of goods and "producers" make the goods for you to buy. I gave "clues" and Danny told me whether I was referring to a "consumer" or a "producer." Danny read the portion of his Studies weekly magazine that focused on "income." Danny added this word to his vocabulary log. (Income is money you get when you work. You can buy what you need and want.)

Danny began his lesson reciting the vowel team. The new sounds of oi, oy, au, and aw with their guide words were added to the notebook. Danny practiced the sight words: when, which, where, there, and here on the whiteboard with the colorful markers. He needed more rehearsal so we added practice on the gel pad with the stylus. Danny then got back to the dictation he had started . He spelled all of his sight words correctly but with some difficulty on the word "there." I kept telling Danny that it started with the sound "th." He just kept saying "h?" and then went back to daydreaming. Soon Danny was able to spell "there" with no problem. Danny then worked on the sentences that are dictated to him. First he must repeat the sentence back and then begin to write the words. Danny remembered to capitalize the first word of a sentence without reminding or correcting. This is very good progress. Danny analyzed the sentence structure and word parts using a red pen. He circled sight words; circled punctuation; underlined blends; marked up vowels; starred bonus letters and underlined base word and suffix. Danny completed the lesson by reading Ted's Bump. We discussed and entered the following words into Danny's notebook dictionary with a definition, a sentence, and a drawing: grin, limp, and welt. Danny could paraphrase the story and he could picture in his mind how Ted got a welt on his leg from his fall. At the end of the session, we had a little time to read Because of Winn Dixie. Danny is on p. 74 when Winn Dixie was panicked about the thunder and lightning. Good effort today...

Danny completed part one of the activity he began on Friday. He cut out the pictures he drew of four "wants." He glued them on to a sheet labeled "WANTS" and then labeled each one. He followed the same procedure for four "needs." Danny was introduced to the term "consumer" by reading the cover of his Studies Weekly magazine.