Nicholas was excited when informed we would be moving to a new location and told that he could decorate his new "office" with the Thanksgiving stickers he received today. He then proceeded to get settled and reviewed the skills learned in Wednesday's session, with Nicholas identifying 4 different letters and the different stretch and bounce sounds they make when spoken. Nicholas required a few additional prompts during today's session to elicit and engage his attention; he shared that he had eaten a lot during the day and had two slices of pie at school - apple and pumpkin, which may have contributed to increased motoric activity, greater distractibility, and a bit of an upset stomach. Today's session focused on identifying the letter 't'. We first began by using green play dough to make the lower and upper case letter. Nicholas then completed an arts and crafts activity designed to reinforce and consolidate letter recognition, identification, and visual discrimination skills. Using varying materials including construction paper, googly eyes, assorted feathers, scissors, crayons and a glue stick, Nicholas cut out varying shapes resembling letters and created an artsy and colorful Thanksgiving turkey. He noted that when he made and cut out the feet to the turkey after writing the letter 'w,' it resembled the letter 'm' when viewed upside down - which was viewed from both below the table and by turning the paper around. Nicholas was able to discriminate between the two letters, but he required prompts to make the connection between the letter 'N' and the first letter of his first name. Nicholas ended the session by coloring upper and lower case 't's on his Thanksgiving turkey and identifying different foods that began with the letter when prompted. He was excited that he was going to see his dad who was home for this holiday and left in a spirited mood, clutching his Thanksgiving turkey, stickers, lollipop, and sporting a huge smile.

Nicholas began the session by identifying the letter and pictures on 4 alphabet cards, concentrating on the letters 'n', 's', 'l', and 'p' The letter 't'was introduced later on in the session. Nicholas was able to accurately identify the sound of each of the letters shown to him. We reinforced the stretch sound of the letters 'n', 's', and 'l' (i.e.; noisy noise) and practiced the 'p' as a bounce sound (i.e.; playful penguin). Nicholas then matched corresponding take-home cards to the alphabet cards and stated the name of the letter out loud. Environmental print pictures were used to stimulate his interest and consolidate gains. A bit later in the session, he reviewed the letter 't' and practiced the corresponding bounce sound it makes. Nicholas used a dry erase marker to write his name on the whiteboard. He did this with careful deliberation, prompting himself to recall each of the subsequent letters by recalling their visual shape to facilitate success. He also enjoyed the Teddy Bear poem, which we made into a sing-song verse. The poem was helpful in reinforcing the bounce 't' sound. Nicholas particularly enjoyed filling in the rhyming words at the end of each line. This activity engaged his attention and elicited sustained eye-contact and attention to the task at hand. Using the whiteboard to model the letter 's', Nicholas was able to print the letter after it was modeled by the tutor. He was encouraged to do likewise with the other letters that were reviewed during the session, and he enjoyed making pictures out of the letters (i.e.; he made a snake out of the letter 's', and added rattles for detail). Finally, we ended the session using green play dough to make lower and uppercase 't's. Nicholas initially had some difficulty accurately distinguishing between the upper and lower case letters, but his performance was facilitated after we placed the play dough at various parts of his body to reinforce the concept of upper and lower. Nicholas was in a spirited mood and responded favorably to the high-fives received for the productive work and successful outcomes that he demonstrated throughout the session.

Today I began with an alphabet identification assessment. Nicholas then reviewed the name and sound for Nn, Ss, Ll, Pp, and Aa. He "stretched" (s, n, l, a) or "bounced" (p), the word for the picture on each card, paying particular attention to the first sound. Nicholas then looked at the "environmental print" cards and I introduced the card for "Aa" /a/--- Aaaaapple Jacks Nicholas matched pictures beginning with each of the above mentioned letters to the correct printed letter. Focusing in on the first sound is "key." Sometimes assistance is needed to focus in on the very first sound of the word. Using the book "Clifford's ABC," Nicholas selected a picture on the "Aa" page as well as the "Nn," "Ll," "Pp," and "Ss" pages. We "stretched" or "bounced" the word for the selected pictures. I introduced the letter "Tt" and the "bounce sound" /t/. The alphabet card is "tttttelevision" and the take-home card is "tttttiny ttttturtle." Please make sure that Nicholas is not saying "tu" or "pu" when practicing these sounds. Nicholas drew a picture of an apple tree and together we sounded out the word. He printed the letter for each sound he heard.

Nicholas was able to tell the name and sound for "Nn," "Ss," "Ll," and "Pp." We began our study of "Aa" and /a/ during our last session. We continued by reviewing "Aa" and /a/. Nicholas matched his small take-home cards to the larger alphabet cards. This gave Nicholas another opportunity to identify the letters and sounds and to "stretch" or "bounce" the word for the picture on each card. Nicholas located the uppercase "A" and the lowercase "a" on my foam strips of letters. He "punched out" each letter and reviewed the name of "A" and the sound /a/. Nicholas then took all the foam letters we have studied and matched the capital to the lowercase. Nicholas used play-doh to make an uppercase "A." He printed the uppercase letters we have studied. Nicholas should continue to print his name and identify the letters. Our next activity involved 10 paper apples with a number on each one (1-10). There were 10 pictures with objects on them. Nicholas counted the objects and matched it to the correct apple. Each set of pictures had objects beginning with /a/. (Example: ax, ambulance, acrobat, apple, alligator, astronaut, apricot..) I then gave him the word to glue next to the numbered apple and matching picture. Nicholas stretched each word (Example: aaaaastronaut) Nicholas tasted a red delicious apple, a golden delicious apple, and a Granny Smith apple. Nicholas' favorite was the Granny Smith.

Nicholas was able to tell the name of the four letters he has studied: "Nn," "Ss," "Ll," and "Pp." He knew the sounds /n/, /s/, and /p/. Nicholas reviewed the environmental print pictures associated with each letter, "stretching" each word associated with the picture. I then introduced the environmental print picture associated with "Pp" -- /p/--"Pppppizza Hut." Nicholas matched pictures to the first letter sound heard in each. He matched pictures of pear, pizza, pumpkin, pencil, pan, seal, sink, letter, log, necklace, and net to "Ll," "Ss," "Nn," and "Pp." Nicholas and I reread the poem, "Pumpkin Happy." He completed the last page of the poem, matching the correct pumpkin face to the line of the poem. Nicholas then "bounced" all the words in the poem beginning with "Pp." I then introduced the letter "Aa" and the sound /a/. I used the alphabet card with "Aa" and a picture of an "apple" and his take-home picture card of an "alligator." Nicholas then watched a short video on Youtube, focusing on the letter "Aa." We then sang the song, "A is for Ants." It is sung to the tune of "When the Saints Go Marching In." The letter "Aa" in each word was highlighted and all words beginning with "Aa" were stretched (Example: "aaaaant)

Nicholas was able to tell me the name and sound for "Nn," /n/, "Ss," /s/, and "Ll." He needed assistance with the sound /l/ as in "lllllion." During our last session, we began to look at the letter "Pp" and the sound /p/. Nicholas recognized the letter "Pp" when shown on our picture cards. We bounced the words on the cards to help with recalling the sound /p/. ("pppppanda" "ppppplayful pppppenguin") Nicholas located the uppercase "P" and the lowercase "p" on my foam strips of letters. He identified the letter and sound. He then took all the foam letters we have studied and matched the capital to the lowercase. This gave Nicholas another opportunity to identify letters and sounds. I reread the poem "Five Little Pumpkins," focusing on the words Nicholas highlighted that begin with /p/. We "bounced" each word. We then had fun creating our own fence with five pumpkins to go along with the poem. We used pretzels to represent the fence, round crackers for the pumpkins and the skin of a green apple for the pumpkin stems. We then read another poem, "Pumpkin Happy." Nicholas matched the correct pumpkin face to each line of the poem. He then highlighted all the words with "Pp." He practiced printing "N," "n," "S," "s," "L," "l," "P," and "p." He was able to print his first and last name with no assistance. We are working on identifying the name of all the letters in his first name.

Nicholas was able to identify the letters "Nn," "Ss," and "Ll." He knew the sound /s/. He was able to tell the sound /n/ if he stretched "Nicholas" and zeroed in on the first sound. The same held true for /l/. He was able to tell the sound if he stretched "lion" and listened to the first sound. We reviewed the three letters and sounds once again, using environmental print and pairing the uppercase and lowercase foam letters. Nicholas and I then took a look at the "Letter L Song." First, I read it. Then, we sang the song to the tune of "John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt." Nicholas then highlighted the letter "Ll" in words in the song. I introduced the letter "Pp" and the sound /p/. I explained to Nicholas that "Pp" is a bounce sound as opposed to a stretch sound. As we "bounced" the /p/ sound we pretended to bounce a ball. The /p/ sound is a "breath" sound---no voice is used. We practiced identifying "Pp" and the sound /p/ as we looked at our alphabet card, "panda" and Nicholas' take-home card "playful panda." Nicholas then found "Pp" on the alphabet chart on the wall. Nicholas and I read the poem "Five Little Pumpkins." He made a booklet out of the poem and highlighted the letters "Pp" as we read.

Nicholas reviewed the name and sound for "Nn," /n/, "Ss," /s/, and "Ll," /l/." He was able to tell me the name of all the letters and the sound for /s/. When I produce the sound, he is able to identify the correct letter. Environmental print is a "fun" way to invite a child to read. At home you can take labels off of cans or boxes and place each one on an index card. Nicholas can then "read" the labels. Today we reviewed the "No smoking" picture for "Nn" and stretched the word "Nnnnno." We then reviewed the picture of a stop sign for "Stop," and stretched "Ssssstop." We looked at a picture of "Lucky Charms," and stretched Lllllucky." Next time Nicholas is in the supermarket, perhaps he can find a box of Lucky Charms and read the label. Nicholas found the "L" and the "l" on my foam strips of letters. He "punched out" each letter and told me the name and the sound. The next activity involved matching pictures to the first letter sound heard in each. Nicholas matched pictures of lettuce, leaf, lemon, log, sun, sock, sink, net, nail, and necklace to "Ll," "Ss," and "Nn." Nicholas is successful when we stretch the first letter of the word as opposed to just saying the word without stretching. We looked at the "Ll,' "Ss," and "Nn" pages in "Clifford's ABC" book. Nicholas selected one picture on each page to identify and stretch. Nicholas printed his first name without assistance. He was able to identify the "N," "l," and "s." Nicholas printed "N," "n," "S," "s," "L," and "l."

Nicholas reviewed the name for "Nn" and "Ss" as well as the sound for both. He then looked at the environmental print pictures for "Nn" and "Ss" and stretched the words on his own (Nnnnno smoking Ssssstop). We looked back at "The Nn Song," which I printed out for him. We sang the song and then Nicholas highlighted the words beginning with "Nn" /n/. I introduced the song "Sing, Sing, Sing." Nicholas sang it and then highlighted the words beginning with "Ss." He then began his study of the letter "Ll" and the sound /l/. We added "lazy lion" to his take-home cards, stretched "lllllazy lllllion" and watched a short video about the letter "Ll." Nicholas drew a capital "L" and a small "l" in the air and then made each letter out of play-doh. Nicholas put together an "Ll" puzzle made out of paper and identified all the words in the puzzle beginning with /l/. His last activity was to print his first name and find the "N," the "l," and the "s."

Today, Nicholas reviewed the name for "Nn" and "Ss" and the sound for each, using our letter cards. Nicholas practiced printing his first and last name. He then worked on naming the letters in his first name. Nicholas found the foam "S" and "s" and punched them out of the foam board. He then played a "memory game" with the foam "S,' "s," "N," and "n." Cardboard letters (Nn Ss) were placed on the table as well as cardboard cutout pictures. Nicholas selected a picture of his choice and matched it to the correct letter. He matched "seal," "nail," and "saw" to the correct letter. We then stretched each word (Example: nnnnnail). I showed Nicholas a "nickel." We stretched "nickel" and identified the sound and letter at the start of this word. Nicholas then worked on some "nickel rubbings" with his crayons. We sang "The N Song," which I typed for us to use. Next to each verse, Nicholas drew a picture representing what we sung about in the verse. We then took a look at the book "Clifford's ABC." For each letter, Nicholas selected a picture on the page and we identified the letter and the picture.