I began with visual, auditory, and blending exercises to strengthen Eliana's reading and spelling skills Next, we reviewed her spelling deck of -ari- words I dictated sentences with the words for Eliana to write and edit We reviewed all cursive letters, re-teaching as necessary We played a game of SLAP to reinforce the syllable types Eliana has learned (closed, open, silent-e, r-controlled). For oral reading fluency practice, Eliana read a decodable passage (Wilson book 3, p. 52) three times; her accuracy and speed improved with each reading. To conclude, Eliana practiced syllabication of unfamiliar three-syllable words.

I began with phonological awareness (Level L2#1, Kilpatrick, p 211). Colson has mastered this skill and we will move up next session. Next, Colson practiced syllabifying three-syllable words with the -sion final stable syllable (Angling for Words, p 236). We reviewed morphology and added example words for each morpheme. To conclude, we finished "Lamb to the Slaughter" by Roald Dahl. I modeled annotating text, highlighting themes, allusions, and figurative language. Colson answered the comprehension questions using his annotated text.

I began with phonological awareness, asking Libby to drop one syllable of a two-syllable word. Next, I conducted visual, auditory and blending drills to strengthen Libby's reading and spelling skills. Regular spelling work focused on CVC words with short -i- (ship, rip, chip, dip, sip, rip). Libby's ability to blend sounds is improving with every session. For irregular spelling I reviewed the following: has, and, the. Libby read a decodable reader from FlyLeaf Publishing. We played a game of Phonics Dice to practice all short vowels. I read several chapters of "Mercy Watson Goes for a Ride."

Colson left early today and missed our session.

I began with visual, auditory, and blending exercises to strengthen Eliana's reading and spelling skills Next, we reviewed her spelling deck of -ai- words I dictated sentences with the words for Eliana to write and edit We reviewed all cursive letters, re-teaching as necessary We played a game of SLAP to reinforce the syllable types Eliana has learned (closed, open, silent-e, r-controlled For oral reading fluency practice, Eliana read a decodable passage (Wilson book 3, p. 53) three times; with each reading, her accuracy and speed improved To conclude, Eliana syllabicated unfamiliar three-syllable words.

We continued comprehension work on the short story "Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury. I asked Colson to summarize the story, allowing him to use his annotated text from last session. He struggled with this task, but with prompting, he could relay the story's gist. Next, we finished the comprehension questions. Colson struggled to make inferences and find evidence from the text to answer the questions. I pointed out how vital his margin notes are for completing classwork. We will continue to practice these skills.

Colson did not remember finishing the short story assigned for Friday's session ("Sound of Thunder" by Ray Bradbury). I am unsure if the sub read it with him or did other work. We re-read the second half of the story together. I emphasized pausing to write notes in the margin and underline (with pencil) important themes and quotes. These strategies will be very helpful for Colson when he is in high school. Next we started the comprehension questions. We will finish the comprehension questions in the next session.

I began with phonological awareness, Level D1 (Kilpatrick, p. 132), followed by visual, auditory, and blending exercises. Libby blended CVC words more confidently (ship, tip, chip, dip, sip, rip). She was tired, so I took her outside to spell; she wrote the exact words with sidewalk chalk and did a terrific job. She confidently read the irregular words; next session, I will ask her to spell the words. She read a decodable reader tied to the above skills. We played a game of phonics dice to reinforce reading CVC words with all short vowels. To conclude, I read several chapters from Mercy Watson by Kate DiCamillo.

I began with phonological awareness, Level D1 (Kilpatrick, p. 132) followed by visual, auditory, and blending exercises. Libby blended CVC words with greater confidence (pet, let, mat, pat) and spelled the same words with assistance. Today she successfully read the irregular words and, the, has. She read a decodable reader tied to the above skills. To conclude, I read several chapters from Mercy Watson by Kate DiCamillo.

I began with phonological awareness (Kilpatrick, L1#5, p. 211). Colson syllabicated words with the V/V syllabication pattern such as oasis, fiesta, and museum (Angling for Words, p. 227). Spelling review included dictation of the -cian spelling pattern; Colson has mastered this skill. For morphology, I introduced two new Latin roots, ject and port. To conclude, we finished Roald Dahl's short story, "Lamb to the Slaughter" and discussed the themes.