Christopher started his lesson today by doing analysis on his dictation. He underlined the v-e syllable and marked it. He put a long line over the vowel and crossed out the silent e. Christopher needed review in spelling the sight word, "does." We practiced this word on the whiteboard. Christopher also needed review on starting a sentence with a capital letter. It is a habit that he is still working on forming. Christopher did a great job spelling all his new words. He read the sentences and learned to put punctuation at the end of a sentence. Christopher then started a new lesson on nonsense words in 4.1. He began by reciting the vowels with their keywords and sounds. Christopher refers to a chart as he is new to these parts of the drill. Christopher reviewed the consonants and digraphs: sh, z, m, p, and g. He reviewed the welded sounds: ild, ost, ank, an, old, and ang. Christopher reviewed the closed vowel exception sounds by reading the words cold, child, and most. He practiced reading nonsense words; vime, hape, stipes, prumes, and chotes. Christopher is doing well getting the skills of this lesson. He played Ladder and read a large stack of nonsense words. We will continue this lesson next week.

Christopher started his lesson today learning the five of the sight words for 4.1. He practiced writing the words: move, remove, used, using, and taste. Christopher did a great job of this using colorful markers on the whiteboard. He then started the review of vowel sounds. We used the vowel sound chart with keywords and pictures. Christopher now recites two vowel sounds for each vowel along with two keywords. He is learning this well. Christopher practiced consonants and digraphs. He also rehearsed welded sounds. The lesson continued with playing the game of "ladder." Christopher read 24 words with long vowel sounds. He understands this lesson very well. Christopher learned to mark up the vowels by putting a long sign over the vowel, crossing out the silent e, and writing v-e under the vowel. Christopher then did charting using p. 2. He read all the words well and got 15/15. He then read ten sentences on p. 17 for phrasing and prosody. Christopher had some difficulty knowing where to phrase a sentence. We went over the good places to phrase being after the verb or before a preposition phrase. He does have a good sense of this. Christopher played Quick Drill in Reverse. He practiced his new vowel sounds as well as consonants, welded sounds and closed vowel exceptions. Christopher practiced writing the words grades, bones, case, trade, and whale. He used the whiteboard. In these words, Christopher had to mark up the vowels, find the digraph, and underline the base word and circle the suffix. Christopher practiced his sight words. We then began the dictation test. Christopher got all the sounds correct. He spelled five long vowel words correctly. He worked on the nonsense words and needed a reminder about the sound of /j./ Christopher wrote five sentences using some of the new words. We began the analysis and will pick it up again tomorrow.

Christopher spent the beginning of his lesson preparing for the Post Test for Book 3. He practiced marking up words for the spelling test such as: sandwich, plastic, dentists, and relish. In these mulitsyllabic words, Christopher scooped the words into syllables. He underlined the base word in "dentists" and circled the suffix. Christopher practiced finding the base word and suffix for the words infected, rented, publishing, and finishing. Christopher underlined the blend at the end of the word in "insect." He practiced finding the schwa sound in the word bucket. After practicing these words using the whiteboard, Christopher practiced spelling words using the magnetic tiles. We reviewed the ending sound of /k/ when there is a mulitsyllabic word, which is spelled with a "c" rather than the digraph "ck" which is only used in a one-syllable word. Christopher completed the lesson by taking the test demonstrating his skill in finding base words and suffixes, scooping the base word into syllables. Christopher marked up the schwas and found the word ending "ic" and "ct." This ended on the skills portion of the Post Test.

Christopher started his lesson by scooping a few words into syllables using the whiteboard and colorful markers. He underlined base words and circled suffixes. Christopher reviewed the rule about the mulitsyllabic word that ends with a /k/ sound as being spelled with a "c" and not the digraph "ck." Christopher took the test for the final testing of Book 3. He got 15/15 on the real words and 15/15 on the nonsense words. Christopher was then introduced to the long vowel sounds in Book 4. He learned that the silent e at the end of the word makes the vowel say its own name. Christopher read words like: cape, make, snake, hope, and tape. He learned to mark up the vowel consonant e words by putting a long line over the vowel, crossing off the silent e, and marking the syllable type as v-e. Christopher will learn more of these words in the next lesson.

Christopher started his lesson by reviewing the schwa sound and the symbol for schwa. He reviewed the use of schwa in an unaccented syllable as in the word "rocket." Christopher marked up five words from every substep in Book 3. He reviewed how to underline a base word and cirlce a suffix. Christopher reviewed the "ing" suffix and the "ed" suffix in words as "edited" and "punishing." Christopher scooped syllables on multisyllabic words and underlined digraphs and blends. He practiced underlining the blend "ct" and the word ending "ic." Christopher was then ready for the test. He read fifteen real words and got 15/15. He then read fifteen nonsense words and got 15/15. Christopher worked hard at following all the directions for markups on the test. He is doing well. On Monday, we will do the spelling test and then he will be able to move on to Book 4.

Christopher started his lesson writing sight words: about, over, give, come, and she using colorful markers and a whiteboard. He continued preparation for his dictation test by marking up the words swinging and invented. Christopher underlined the base word and circled the suffix. He then proceeded to mark up the vowels, digraphs, and blends. Christopher did his dictation by writing five sounds. He wrote five real words and five sight words. Christopher wrote three sentences using the words from lesson 3.5. At the end, Christopher used a red pen to do the analysis of his paper. He did a great job on the sight words and got them all correct. He underlined the base word of the words from 3.5 and circled the suffix. Christopher scooped the syllables correctly on the nonsense words. He read the sentences back to me and spelled words orally that I asked him. Christopher needed review today on capitalizing the first word of a sentence and remembering to end the sentence with a period. Christopher ended the session by starting a reading titled: An Investment Plan. One of the vocabulary words was "solvent." In order to explain this word, we discussed the running of a lemonade stand. I explained the words revenue, cost, and profit to Christopher using simple math. Christopher understood the concept. We then discussed the second part of the reading which used the word "bankrupt." In very simple terms, we discussed what would happen if the cost of the lemonade stand was greater than the money that was made from selling the lemonade. Christopher is ready for the test on book 3 tomorrow. He has made very good progress.

Christopher started his lesson reviewing all of the vowel sounds: a,e,i,o,u, and schwa. Christopher needs review on schwa because he thinks it makes a /w/ sound because the keyword is wagon. Today I pointed out that it is the unstressed syllable "on" that has the schwa sound. Christopher practiced the consonants and digraphs: sh, g, r, and z. He practiced the welded sounds: olt, ind, ong, ung, all, and am. Today I introduced the suffixes "ed" and "ing" to Christopher. He read the words twisted,, twisting, rented, renting, folded, and folding. Christopher identified the base word and the suffix. The information about suffixes was added in the spelling section of the notebook. Christopher practiced marking up the words rented and folding. He learned to underline the base words and circle the suffix using colorful markers on the whiteboard. Christopher also marked up the vowels and underlined blends. We played the game that Christopher designed to practice a word stack from 3.5. For authentic reading, we read three paragraphs from the New York Times about tic tocs. Christopher finds this subject interesting and this helps Christoper find value in a newspaper to read about something that interests him.

Christopher started his lesson today by doing Quick Drill in Reverse. He practiced all the vowels and the schwa sound. Christopher continued the drill by practicing the consonants g, f, b, z, and l. He practiced the sounds and named the letters for the welded sounds: old, ank, onk, ink, ost, and all. Christopher practiced spelling by using the spelling cards with three syllables. Christopher taps on each syllable card and spells that portion only, then he turns the card over and spells the next part. Christopher did this activity with the words: establish, inhabit, Wisconsin, snapdragon, misconduct, penmanship, Atlantic, and fantastic. Christopher then took the dictation test for 3.4. He spelled five real words and five nonsense words. He wrote five sight words correctly. Christopher took dictation on three sentences. After the dictation, Christopher engaged in the analysis portion of the Wilson training. He scooped three syllable words; he marked up the vowels; he put two lines under the first letter of a sentence; he circled the punctuation at the end and all the sight words. Christopher scooped the three syllable words. He read each sentence back to me and spelled the multisyllabic words without looking at the text. We concluded the lesson with a short reading from Because of Winn Dixie. Christopher is about to start chapter 18 soon. He had a good lesson.

Christopher started the lesson by reading a short paragraph titled, Mr. Dunlop Helps. Christopher read smoothly and retained the details in order to understand the problem of the story. We discussed the problem that can happen when a person does not do their accounting and they spend more than they have. In this story, Mr. Dunlop organizes the checks and adds them up to find out how much money was spent. Christopher continued the lesson with a review of all the vowel sounds and their key words. He also practiced digraphs and consonants. Christopher reviewed welded sounds and the vowel team chart with key words. Christopher used the colorful markers to practice writing the sight words: way, away, day, today, says, always, and our. Christopher needed extra practice for the words "our" and "always." Christopher then read words on p. 62 for charting and got 15/15. He read sentences on p. 65 and did a good job scooping the phrases with a vis-a-vis pen. The lesson was finished by going back to reading Because of Winn Dixie. Christopher read aloud the part about Ms. Block's famous littmus losenges. Christopher alternated reading with me. He did a nice job.

Christopher started the lesson reciting the vowel team and their sounds. He did Quick Drill in Reverse and practiced ung, ost, and ing. Christopher practiced the two sounds for /uh/ both "u" and schwa. He also practiced /s/ and /z/, reviewing that "s" can sound like /z/ in the words "bugs." Christopher completed his dictation test. He wrote five nonsense words, five sight words, and three sentences. Christopher remembered to capitalize the first word of a sentence. He worked on the analysis of his page by scooping syllables. Christopher underlined the "ct" blends. He marked up the vowels and underlined blends including triple letter blends as in the word, "instruct." Christopher marked up all the dictation sentences. He circled punctuation. He circled sight words. Christopher scooped all the two syllable words and underlined the blends, taking special note of the blend "ct." Christopher did a great job on the dictation. He was then introduced to the new substep 3.4 which is multisyllabic words. Christopher read the word: fantastic from the magnetic tiles. He broke the word into three syllables, recognizing that you divide between consonants. Christopher read the words: snapdragon, and basketball. He understood how to divide these words into three syllables. Christopher then devised a board game. He did a very creative job of this and volunteered to read up to six new words. He read, Wisconsin and did not know this word. We looked on the map of the United States and I showed him Wisconsin being west of Lake Michigan. Christopher read establish, fantastic, and basketball for the game he made. He had a very successful day.