Academic Game: using picture cards to determine the missing short vowel sounds...
Guided Reading: Orson Has A Tummy Ache... Good Readers run their fingers under each word as they say them. Good readers use the first letter of the unknown word and the illustrations to determine what that word is. Good readers use the first letter and the illustrations to decide what word would best make sense in the story. Sight words: big, little, and ate...

Connecting a story and character image to each vowel sound... Reading an emergent book for each vowel... Writing the title of each book on the white board and identifying the vowel sounds... Using reading strategies such as: Using the illustration and the first letter to help identify the unknown word; Running finger under each word; Recalling the character associated with each vowel sound to decode.

Reading Book: Hats
Short "a" sounds, sight word flash cards, put CVC sounds together to form words...
Used math manipulative connecting blocks & chain links to: add and subtract to "5", write addition and subtraction problems, write the inverse operation of the problems, created pattern with colored links then placed on piano keys to hear the pattern...

Focus: using the first letter of a word to decode; using illustrations to figure out unknown words; using the word patterns to identify sight words. Take home book with flashcards.
Used letter tiles on layers of "Personalized Birthday Cake Graphic" and added beginning consonants to "at" cat, bat, mat, fat, rat, sat, hat. Practiced writing new words.
Used a sticker chart as incentive.
Used 5 colored sticks to add and subtract; Wrote corresponding equations.
Made a birthday crown for Mila.

Identified all vowels and consonants and their sounds; Attempted Pre-K Dolch site word list- identified 5/42 words; Read book "Friends" and highlighted repeated sight words in the same colors: big, little, is, has.

Summary: Recalling story details; predicting events; highlighting vocabulary; Identifying patterns of shapes; Creating 2 patterns made up of 2 shapes; Used 2 shapes on piano keys to listen to the pattern.

Guided reading lesson: "Swirl by Swirl" .
Highlighted vocabulary words; Used context clues to determine meaning; Discussed habitat of animals with a swirling or curling quality; Used pipecleaners to create swirls; Wrote a summary of story in a swirl form.

When Mila first arrived we read the book she brought in. She was very excited about this book and enjoyed listening. I stopped and discussed what was occurring. I had a special project planned for Mila based on the other book she loved but she wasn't willing to start. We began to work with letters using letter stickers. She enjoyed this and proudly posted her work on the wall. We practiced spelling her name. She knows many sounds but is still working on letter identification. Mila and I worked on a number puzzle to work on building identification of numbers 0-9. Then, she jumped across the floor on numbers in order from 1-3. I encouraged her to say them as she jumped. But she would mix up "9" for the 1, etc. I'm not sure Following the game, I had her go on a hunt around the room to search for sticky notes with her numbers (1-3) for extra reinforcement. She is having difficulty retaining the information we work on.

We read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. We made predictions and discussed the main events as they occurred. Following the story we used letter magnets with matching beginning sound pictures. We played match as Mila chose a letter magnet, stated the letter and sound when she knew them and found a matching picture that began with that particular letter. She knew more sounds than the names of letters, interestingly. We used Froot Loops to glue onto her letters to build her name. We also practiced learning how to spell and write her name.

I read Pete the Cat and his Brand New White Shoes. Miles loved this story. As we read, Mila recognized the pattern and chimed in to sing the song that appeared each time the characters shoes became a new color. We stopped and discussed the events as we read. Following the activity, Mila drew a picture of the main character and colored a pair of her favorite colored shoes on him. We played the Elmo Letter puzzle to observe what letters and sounds she knows. She knows many letters and sounds but not all of them. we read Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons. We counted the Buttons as we read. Following the story, we worked on a number puzzle. Mila identified a couple of the numbers from 0-9. We had an awesome first day!