Jayne was working online but we were unable to connect until 5 minutes to the hour. I sent her the first chapter of her creative writing story, ‘A Box in the Garden,’ and she will review and make the edits suggested. We will review those tomorrow together online. I also sent her a sheet of commonly confused words, tasking Jayne with writing the correct word to complete each of the practice sentences on the sheet. We will go over her work tomorrow and I will address and clarify any questions that she might have concerning the suggested edits/revisions.

Given sentences, Spencer was tasked with proofreading and correcting for punctuation and capitalization. He also read a series of sentences and determined the appropriate end punctuation. After reviewing contractions, we play eda game that involved reading contractions and using them in sentences.

Jayne was absent for class this morning.

Richard had fun playing a phonics game that involved reading one syllable words that contained the consonant digraphs th, sh and ng. He enjoyed listening to, 'Come Back, Amelia Bedelia'. Richard was amused by the mistakes and literal meaning behaviors the main character made. Print and plot elements were identified and discussed.

Kaitlin explained her experience at the horse competition in Tampa. I asked her for detail in explaining the event for an audience who did not know anything about reining. Kaitlin showed me 2 videos of her equine performance, which was quite impressive. It seems that reining requires a horse and rider to effectively work together to complete patterns and Kaitlin explained how she performs a series of patterns that is judged. The patterns include small slow circles, large fast circles, switching hands, and sliding. As she narrated, I wrote down her words and then together we checked for accuracy. Kaitlin amended a few sentences to communicate her thoughts more clearly. Kaitlin expressed that she does not much care for Language Arts but I suggested she give it a try and that I would make every effort to integrate her preferences, such as art into the Language Arts discipline. I wrote down everything Kaitlin told me about her competition and occasionally suggested minor changes to improve clarity. I informed her I would type it and give her a copy to review tomorrow to insure it did not compromise the integrity of her content.

Jayne writes beautifully. I made a hard copy of her story to check her usage of the Standard conventions of English and made few edits. Content was untouched, but there were some minor revisions regarding commas and omitted periods, capitalization of the next letter as a result, end quotation marks, and apostrophes using the possessive forms of words like common and proper nouns. Jayne used exceptional analogies and word choices to capture and emphasize meaning. Jayne reviewed my edits and made the appropriate changes. She understood them and did not require any clarification, although it was offered, should she need it. I commended Jayne for the originality of her work and her use of analogies, metaphors, and overall creativity, hooking the reader.

Lucas was presented with a critical thinking exercise in which he was to review the meaning of logos, try to identify some of the more famous/well known ones – and explain what message he felt they represented or expressed. After we discussed some of the more readily identifiable logos, Lucas was shown the Batt School logo; I showed it to him on one of the Batt School mouse pads. This is a more complex task/assignment requiring one to be able to abstract or infer meaning from not readily identifiable cues. Once Lucas was given some information and understood what logos represented, he applied his understanding to the Batt School logo. Lucas interpreted the books as the reading books at school and he even suggested that it looked a little like a bat, “if one squints a little.” He also saw the flame as a candle providing light so that one can better see in the dark. We discussed its spark as a connection to knowledge and lighting up learning. Lucas saw how the
logo could make people want to come to the school to see more light –and he touched upon many abstract concepts describing them in more tangible, concrete forms. We finished up the session doing research on puffin birds. Lucas researched on the computer in the library, typing in the words puffin bird to access the information. He learned some new facts about puffins and confirmed some facts he had shared, such as the puffin fish can catch as many as 60 fish in its beak. Lucas said he guessed that amount. He enjoyed learning more facts about the bird and was able to recall the most important facts when subsequently queried.

Jayne submitted the paragraph she had written about the Batt School logo. She had done it for homework, typed it up in Pages and shared it with me. It was succinct, well written and expressed her interpretation of the symbols well. Jayne followed the parameters of the assignment and addressed requirements effectively. She modestly accepted compliments and was receptive to her submission being considered for inclusion in the yearbook, thanking me very much for the meritorious recognition awarded for her efforts.

Jayne shared her most recent and up-to-date version of her creative writing story, "The Box in the Garden" to be checked for editing and proper applications of the standards and conventions of grammar. She is receptive to suggestions and edits and revised as necessary. We review rules of grammar if there is evidence that practice in a specific area may be beneficial regarding her ability to apply accepted standards of conventional language. Jayne uses precise word choice in her writing and writes with confidence and clarity.

Richard really enjoyed making guacamole! Descriptive and comparative words were utilized when Richard was making the guacamole and deciding how much of each ingredient he wanted to add. He was tasked with describing the process using time order words. Richard enjoyed having people taste and compare his guacamole and other guacamole made today.