Emilia arrived with homework from Kumon and asked me to help her complete several pages of math problems in addition and a few reading passages. We used hands-on techniques using physical objects for her to touch and count; word problems and scenarios (e.g.; you invited eight friends to your birthday party but now 4 more friends have asked to come. If you agree, how many friends could come to your party?); we also used an abacus and a number line; dice and cards to help her understand and have fun doing math. The last technique resonated with her the most, and she began to request the dice to try more problems. Emilia enjoyed rolling the dice to solve addition problems and giggled with delight when she got the sum before me. We even added a third die and cards on which numbers were written to expand, transfer, and consolidate her gains. This activity proved more rewarding, less frustrating, and sustained her attention longer. I promised we would continue the activity tomorrow, and she enthusiastically told Esha upon leaving that she did all her math homework today. We also worked on reading comprehension. Emilia was assisted in a guided reading exercise to answer comprehension questions. She was afforded prompts and strategies when uncertain of the answer to help figure it out by referring back to the sentence and making logical predictions based on textual evidence given in the passage. In between our work we took a few short breaks during which we collected coconut shells outdoors, played a quick game of Jenga, Headbanz, and played drums.

We worked n arithmetic skills, focusing on addition, and used activity sheets and hands-on materials to strengthen her number sense. Alexandra rolled two dice, added the two numbers together by counting the pips, and then matched the rolled number sum to numbers noted on an activity sheet. She worked correctly and efficiently, remaining focused - and offered to take turns with me rolling the dice. She then colored the matching numbers using like colors for each matching set.

Alexandra played a game of Math Bingo and used an abacus to assist her with addition and subtraction problems. She also participated in a guided reading and a cloze exercise and was being provided with modeling strategies and feedback. Alexandra demonstrated a good ability to make sense of the text and was able to fill in the missing and correct words that were deliberatively omitted in sentences to assess her attention and comprehension.

It was nice to see Emilia again and she told me about her fun trip to Disneyland. She also showed me the contents of her lunch, and we counted the items, including the blueberries. Next, we reviewed some basic arithmetic facts, including parts of a whole and 2 and 3-dimensional shapes. She was prompted to identify some shapes in the classroom using the correct terminology. We finished our session playing a game of Math Bingo for which Emilia had to perform basic addition and subtraction problems in order to cover a square. I introduced terms such as vertical, horizontal, and diagonal to explain how to win a Bingo game. Emilia was afforded strategies and prompting techniques to facilitate performance, including the use of an abacus to add and subtract.

We reinforced last week's lesson by reviewing 3-D shapes, their features, and related vocabulary, while introducing new terms. We covered cubes, pyramids, cylinders, cones, spheres, and cuboids. Alexandra identified real-life examples in the classroom—dice and blocks for cubes, books and tissue boxes for cuboids, the globe for a sphere, and a toilet paper roll that I had brought in for a cylinder. (She got a kick out of this last example)! Drawing and connecting these examples helped solidify and concretize her understanding of each shape.

This afternoon, I guided Alexandra through a hands-on activity to deepen her understanding of wholes and parts and to gain practice partitioning objects into parts. I introduced specific vocabulary to help Alexandra master identifying and describing "wholes" and "not wholes." I then began introducing the concept of partitioning objects where a whole can be split into parts. For hands-on work, we used organic crackers, which was easy for Alexandra to divide in two, and we used pictures of an apple and banana that we cut in different ways using scissors.

After practicing our skip counting, we got to work on a hands-on model of an eight-sided figure, using playdough and toothpicks. Alexandra practiced saying octagon while counting the sides, and we also reviewed prior two and three-dimensional shapes. I introduced prepositional and positional phrases to piggyback on and reinforce some skills Alexandra has been working on in her other class. Prompting methods as yet facilitate Alexandra's recall of the names of the different-sided figures, so we will continue to practice these to reinforce recent learning acquisition and consolidate gains. We also practiced simple addition and subtraction problems and patterns to end our session today and discussed parts of a whole by observing the components of various objects we had available.

We began today's session reviewing prior work on 2 and 3-dimensional shapes and Alexandra then completed a hands-on activity - assembling a 7-sided figure, known as a septagon or a heptagon. Alexandra enjoyed connecting the 7 round balls of Playdough with toothpicks - and then counting the sides. We then glued the figure onto a paper and labelled it appropriately. Next, we worked with the dollhouse in another classroom to reinforce our skillsets. Alexandra created her own scene using the figures to depict a growing family and was delighted to find 2 boxes of "casa Tena' - or tiny animals. She selected the sets with which she wished to work (swans and ducks) and was tasked to count the items. This activity enabled us to strengthen concepts of greater than and less than as well as presented several addition and subtraction problems to figure out. Alexandra used the animals in a row as a number line to help her solve the problems. She commented on how much fun she had today!

After working on a calendar talk and writing activity, we focused on identifying 2D and 3D shapes. Alexandra recalled the number of sides of various shapes and found them in her classroom. She made a playdough snake which she shaped into a circle, then built a hexagon from toothpicks and clay, practicing its name. She traced different-sized circles with objects, improving visual motor and bi-manual coordination. We finished by gluing and labeling the circle and hexagon on a sheet.

Mean, Median, and Mode. Review of Summer Math topics.