I began with a phonological awareness exercise (Kilpatrick, L1#4, p. 211). Next, we reviewed spelling; I dictated the words ending in—cian on Colson's spelling deck. For morphology, I reviewed the roots taught so far and introduced the prefixes re and mis. To conclude, we co-read the first half of Roald Dahl's short story "Lamb to the Slaughter." As we read, we paused to practice reading comprehension strategies.

I began with a phonological awareness exercise (Kilpatrick, D2#4, p. 132) followed by visual, auditory, and blending drills. I dictated words from the blending drill for Libby to write (nonsense CVC words with /û/. We revisited the following for irregular spelling: his, and, the. Libby read a decodable text from FlyLeaf Publishing, "Ann Can." We played a game of Phonics Dice to practice letter sounds. To conclude, I read a chapter from "Mercy Watson."

I began with a phonological awareness exercise (Kilpatrick, D2#3, p. 132) followed by visual, auditory, and blending drills. I dictated the words from the blending drill for Libby to write: sit, fit, chit, kit, pit. We revisited the following for irregular spelling: his, and, the. Libby read a decodable text from FlyLeaf Publishing, "On a Log." To conclude, I read a chapter from "Mercy Watson."

I began with visual, auditory, and blending drills. We reviewed the r-controlled syllable type (er, ir, ur, ar, or). Eliana read multiple word lists to practice (Recipe for Reading, pp. 135, 137, 139). Eliana's spelling deck from last session included -ar words; I dictated these words and Eliana has near-mastery of the spelling pattern. I introduced the vowel team -ai, and created a spelling deck of example words. Eliana loves practicing cursive; we reviewed all letters, and I introduced f, m, and n. Eliana is eager to connect letters and attempted a page of two and three connected letters. To conclude, Eliana read several oral passages from Wilson, book 3.

I began with phonological awareness (Kilpatrick, p. 211). This skill continues to challenge Colson. For spelling, I re-taught the least common spelling of /shun/, -cian, used with a "person who does something." I made a spelling deck for Colson to review: musician, electrician, etc. I continued with morphology, adding several new Greek and Latin roots to Colson's morphology deck.
To conclude, Colson read aloud an article from the Palm Beach Post. We paused as necessary to syllabicate words that Colson could not read. I am encouraging Colson to use strategies to read words, not to skim over them as this affects his reading comprehension.

I began with phonological awareness followed by visual, auditory, and blending drills. I dictated the words from the blending drill for regular spelling practice: cut, shut, nut). Irregular words included and, the, has. Libby struggles to retain irregular ("sight" or "red") words that do not follow phonetic rules and must be memorized. I am trying various multi-sensory strategies. Next, Libby read a decodable book from FlyLeaf Publishing, "Cam and Sam." To conclude, I read two chapters from "Mercy Watson Escapes."

I began with a one-minute phonological awareness exercise, asking Libby to drop one syllable from a two-syllable word, "say candy, but don't say can." (Kilpatrick, D2#1, p. 132). Libby struggles with this skill. Next, I conducted visual, auditory, and blending drills with the letters and digraphs learned so far. Libby is not automatic with her letter sounds and blending is an emerging skill. For regular spelling, I dictated words from the blending drill: pet, met, set, wet. Irregular words: and, the, has. Libby read two decodable books from FlyLeaf publishing, "C or K" and "I am Sam." To conclude, I read aloud two chapters from the Kate DiCamillo book, "Mercy Watson Escapes," which was a big hit!

I began with a review of the syllable types learned so far (closed, open, silent-e, er/ir/ur). I introduced a new r-controlled syllable, -ar. Eliana read a list of example words. I created a spelling deck of -ar words for Eliana to work on with Ms. Pat. We reviewed all cursive learned so far: i, u, w, r, s, j, p, y, c, o, a, d, g, q, e, h. I introduced a new letter, k. Eliana is enjoying learning cursive and is doing well! I concluded with an oral reading passage from Wilson book 3, "Fun Until Sunset." Eliana read the passage twice to improve her fluency (rate + accuracy).

began with phonological awareness (Kilpatrick, Level D1 #9, p. 130). Libby has mastered dropping one word of a compound word! We will move to the syllable level next session. Next, I conducted visual, auditory, and blending exercises. With support, Libby successfully blending CVC words with /ô/ such as pot, sot, dot, not, cot). Regular spelling including dictation of the above words; with support, Libby was able to spell (and write) the regular words pot, dot, not, cot. We reviewed the irregular words learned so far: and, the. I introduced a new irregular word: has. To conclude, Libby read two decodable books from the FlyLeaf series: "I am Sam" and "C or K".

Today we finished reading "The Lottery." To incorporate Orton-Gillingham strategies, we paused when Colson encountered an unfamiliar word. Rather than skimming over it or guessing, I forced him to stop, syllabicate the word, and then dictate it into his phone to learn its meaning (if he didn't know it). He practiced text annotation and reading comprehension strategies. To conclude, we discussed the themes of this iconic story, and how it has implications for today's political landscape.