Ayden continued on his second body paragraph, I scaffolded back the level of support I provided to him, only scribing the sentences he wanted to include for each supporting idea. He got through 2/5 supporting ideas this session.
Ayden finished up his first body paragraph outline this class. It took longer than expected because he needed to go back and do some extra research due to a lack of proper references for the part he was working on. He will start body paragraph 2 tomorrow with scaffolded supports from me.
We analyzed research articles to explicitly find information that would connect to his supporting details for each of his main points in the body paragraphs of his essay. He looked at each article through the frame: "How does this demonstrate how _______ changed in F1 AND improved the sport?"
Encoding lesson for ou and ow using sand tray; determining when it is spelled correctly/when it is not - 7/10 correct. Spencer did a great job repeating the visual drill in the sand as well (say the sound, write in the sand).
We reviewed topic sentences and theses; then, Ayden created a permanent product paragraph to demonstrate his knowledge about creating a strong paragraph with a topic sentence and details to back it up. He did an excellent job on this, it was an opinion-based assignment but he still managed to fit in numerous, factual details to support that opinion.
Next we reviewed thesis writing. We looked at theses and analyzed mistakes and discussed ways to make them better.
We discussed topic sentences, how to write one, common errors, and then worked through practice writing topic sentences, editting them, and identifying the topic/keywords.
We wrapped up our lesson on thesis writing errors, and continued spotting errors in example theses. Ayden has improved his understanding between yesterday and today's practice. We used the majority of our time to analyze theses about a number of topics. Ayden used a key to determine which type of error(s) were present in the thesis, then with support, he supported his selection with details on how/why they made the error. Lastly, he corrected and created a new thesis for them.
Today we did an interactive lesson/discussion on thesis statements, including common errors when writing thesis statements in the context of a research paper. We talked about and worked through examples/edits for theses that are: too broad, too specific, too detailed, and that are fragmented. Ayden did a great job participating and coming up with new ways to write the incorrect thesis examples. Next, Ayden was given thesis statements and had to indicate the topic, opinion/main idea, and supporting details for each. This was more challenging for him on the first 3 attempts, but he was able to independently identify the final 3.
