I reviewed Reid's folder; we went over his spelling words (including definitions) and made flashcards for review. Next, Reid completed reading comprehension questions for chapters 15-17 of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, requiring him to refer to the text. Reid also had unfinished work for the Louis Sachar book completed last week; I am unsure if he is supposed to finish this work in class. To conclude, we went outside to practice his spelling words and play Crazy Moose.

Pierce and I continued our Dr. Seuss theme. First, we co-read a chapter from "Who Was Dr. Seuss?" Pierce learned about his time in Oxford, England, where he met his future wife. She encouraged him to pursue his passion for illustration. Next, we read "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" We brainstormed all of the places in the world that interest him and located them on a globe. We then used these ideas to write a five sentence paragraph.

Reid wrote the spelling words three times as required for school. The words are challenging this week; I asked Reid to syllabicate each word on his flashcards so that he can more easily recognize the syllables. Next, we completed a science homework packet about earthquakes, which required reading comprehension strategies such as referring to the text. When answering comprehension questions, I encouraged Reid to use the writing strategies that I taught last week, using different sentence types to make his writing more attractive to the reader. To conclude, we practiced his spelling words outside.

I looked through Reid's folder and assessed his work for the week. We went over his spelling words, defined them, and made flashcards. Turning to reading comprehension, Reid read a passage from Daily Reading Ready, "A Short Two Weeks." He read with reasonable fluency and answered the multiple-choice questions. I taught Reid the suffix -ly and how it "turns an adjective into an adverb." He brainstormed examples. Next, I taught Reid the term antonym and again brainstormed examples. To conclude, we went outside to practice his spelling words while playing basketball.

Quinn was given 3 writing prompts and the opportunity to choose one about which to write. The three choices were as follows: If you could play with any famous person, who would it be? 2) The best gift I ever received was....3) What is the bravest thing you have ever done? Quinn was provided with a clear idea of what he was expected to do and the steps to follow to compose a complete response. He was encouraged to plan and structure his response to give the reader a clear understanding of the progression of events, and decide what details are most important within the writing and which might be distracting to the reader. Ten minutes was allotted for Quinn to plan out and write his response. He was encouraged to re-read his response before submitting it for review. He did not use the time allotted and wrote hastily. He was encouraged to reflect on the question and plan his responses before writing but required considerable supports to help guide his thoughts. He said he had done a lot of writing in school earlier and was reticent to write more. I began the topic sentence of his choice and Quinn was offered supports and encouragement to continue. He needed reminders to write in complete sentences. I explained that a sentence he wrote was called a sentence fragment and was not a complete thought. I pointed out that details could have been added to express his thoughts more clearly. He read me his responses as I had difficulty with his hand-writing. We had planned to finish up the session reading a chapter or two in the novel but Quinn accidentally opened a dry erase marker at the wrong end (the refill end) and it required some attention to clean.

While Sasha put up her animal posters in the tutoring room, I went through her school folder to assess her work for the week. This week's spelling word list includes words with the /oo/ sound: oo, UI, ew, ue, u. Sasha read the words, made flashcards, highlighted the /oo/ sound in each word, and sorted the words into categories by spelling. We completed the spelling worksheet from school, identifying the correct spelling of each word and writing two sentences using two of the words. We went online to Razz Kids, where Sasha chose two reading passages. She read each well and completed comprehension questions. Sasha was thrilled to move up a level in the program. To conclude, Sasha read a reading fluency passage with /oo/ words three times. She began the reading comprehension sentences, but we ran out of time.

Austin began with an introduction to Greek and Latin root words. We went through several examples and Austin was asked to add additional words given the prefix or suffix root word. He enjoyed the challenge and understood that knowing Greek and Latin roots strengthens vocabulary and can be used to help decipher unfamiliar words in reading passages, and that even if the precise meaning of the word is still a mystery, he can still make an educated guess on the meaning. Next, I tasked Austin with a ReadWorks passage of a Sci-Fi genre. He enjoyed the passage very much and caught on quickly to the strategies and techniques the author employed to lead the reader into believing one thing when it was something else altogether. He answered multiple choice questions with accuracy and then summarized an open-ended question succinctly after being reminded to write in complete sentences and use a noun before substituting its pronoun in the sentence. Austin asked me to continue our novel by Louis Sachar and reminded me that he is reading another book by the same author at School. Austin was queried on certain vocabulary and asked to make predictions. He was encouraged to reflect on some of the literary devices used and answered correctly when asked to identify them. I will be giving Austin writing prompts to further develop, enhance, and refine his writing abilities.

First, I reviewed Reid's school folder. He wrote his spelling words for practice. Next, I taught a brief lesson on the four sentence types: statement, question, exclamation, and command. Reid brainstormed examples with the prompt "Sentences about the Super Bowl." I explained that good writers vary their sentence types to make their writing more interesting. Reid read his new book from the Scholastic Book Fair for ten minutes, and we recorded the time in his reading log. To conclude, we went outside to practice his spelling words while playing basketball.

I showed Quinn a chart showing the Latin and Greek roots of words and explained that it's important and helpful to understand word origins, or roots, in order to better understand the meanings of words. We reviewed prefixes or suffixes and recalled that they are groups of letters that come before or after words that change the meaning of the words to which they're attached and that a root is a word part that provides the basic meaning of a word. I showed Quinn some root words and asked him to figure out the meaning of several words (e.g. bicycle). I also asked Quinn to name some words using the root word shown and to identify the words with common roots. For another exercise, Quinn was asked to pick the odd word out of a group of words and we made some words with common roots. We watched a short video to reinforce and consolidate gains. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWyX8vl6kMs).

Today we wrote a story from our workbook. The story was about Dr. Jason saving the day.
Arranging the story was an important part of today's class.

We told the story to Dr. Jordy and Miss Judie.