Trenton shared a book that he brought to our session titled, "National Geographic's Kids First Big Book of Why". We read the section on animals and discussed the information. Next, he read a selection on lions and underlined the key ideas as he responded to comprehension questions. He is very interested in reading and improving his science knowledge. Trenton is working hard and doing a great job!

Trenton shared that he was doing well in all of his subjects with the exception of science. He wanted to learn more about life cycles since that was what he was struggling with in school. Fortunately, we were able to go to the Batt School Library and find an informational text called, "Butterflies and Moths". Trenton read the book orally, and then we discussed the main ideas and key details. Then, he reviewed the information and completed a chart about the life cycle of a butterfly. He was able to draw pictures and label the parts of the life cycle. Next, he filled in a Venn Diagram comparing and contrasting a moth and a butterfly. Trenton had great recall of the facts that he read in the text! In the future, Trenton can bring a list of topics they will be covering in science, and we will use those topics for reading materials. He is doing a super job and is very motivated.

Trenton worked hard in today's session. First, he read a passage about the seasons. Trenton read the passage at a rate of 69 words per minute with few miscues. He was able to retell the passage with ease. Then, he answered comprehension questions on the topic with 93% accuracy. Next, he read an informational text on bats. After reading, he completed an outline with the main ideas and key details found in the text. He did an excellent job on this task, and he was able to find all the main ideas and key details.

Trenton did a great job today! He began with a progress monitoring passage for fluency. Trenton scored 83 words correct per minute which is a good rate for the last quarter of 2nd grade. He then did a sequencing activity with a passage on how to build an ant farm. Trenton was able to write a procedure using sequence words first, next, then, and finally. He ended the session with a first read of a short story called, "An Earful". He underlined sound words as he read. We will work on the comprehension questions at our next session. Trenton worked very hard today, and I am so pleased that he made the honor roll at school. He was so pleased to tell us about this accomplishment and we are so very happy for him.

Trenton began today's session by reading a Newsela" article titled, "The Yin and Yang of Basketball". This article was about the origins of the game of basketball. He answered comprehension questions on the article which required him to go back to the text and underline evidence to support his answers. We discussed close reading of text and how to read for evidence. Next, he began to transfer this same strategy to fictional text. We talked about the story elements of character, setting, and events in a story. Trenton then practiced asking questions while reading a narrative and finding text evidence to support his answers. Trenton did an excellent job today and was very focused!

Trenton began today's session with a review of the science article he read last week about the Praying Mantis. Next, he worked on various questions that required him to return to the text and find sentences that supported his answer. He practiced using text features to help him find answers in the text. Trenton also drafted a well written extended response to a question about the author's point of view. He worked very hard to explain his reasoning and to use text evidence.

Trenton began today's session with a review of some mathematics problems he was assigned for homework. He did several problems on regrouping with hundreds for addition and subtraction. He did very well and only had a few corrections for computational errors. Next, he read a book on Mammals. As he read, he identified main ideas and key details found under each main heading. He was able to identify several text features and tell why they were important to readers. He next continued his reading of the paired passages on Big Bugs and read the informational passage, "The Praying Mantis". Trenton will continue working with this passage at our next session.

We began today's session by reviewing Trenton's math homework. He requested assistance with math models of operations. He did very well on the problems that he was assigned. Next, we went on to his reading work. We began with a fluency progress monitoring passage. Trenton read at a rate of 69 wcpm. Then, he read paired passages on bugs. The first passage was called, "Big Bugs". He read this article paying careful attention to the section headings. He then was asked to go back and determine the main idea of each of the passage sections. Next, he used context clues to determine word meaning. He did very well on both of these activities. Trenton did not have time to complete the second article, so we will continue this at our next session. Trenton continues to work hard in our sessions and is a joy to have as a student!

Today, we began our session with a short fluency session. Trenton read and reread a short passage. He was encouraged to read with accuracy, proper pausing at punctuation and at a smooth rate. We then read a Read Works passage about African American Heroes and Black History Month. Trenton has been studying this topic at school and had a great deal of prior knowledge about the topic. He read the passage and answered comprehension questions about the main idea and key details in the passage. He was reminded to read all possible answers before selecting his answer. He did a good job answering the questions and enjoyed the lesson.

We began the session with a fluency practice. Trenton has been doing repeated readings of a passage to practice reading with expression and appropriate pausing. I am also encouraging him to reread a passage if he has had to decode a sticky word in it. Rereading after decoding the word helps build comprehension. Next, Trenton did a close reading of a text on Olympic speed skaters and then answered some comprehension questions on the main idea of different sections of the article. In answering the question, I found that Trenton would pick the first or second response and did not read all 4 possible answers in order to determine which would be the "best" answer. When I asked him to go back and look at all the possible answers for a question he got wrong, he was always able to find the correct answer. I will be reviewing test taking strategies with him and encouraging him to make it his practice to review all possible responses before picking his answer. He is very serious about his work in our sessions and is a pleasure to have as a student.