Jonathan learned facts about various presidents to facilitate his understanding of why President's Day is celebrated. He learned that the US has had 44 presidents and that George Washington was the 1st president who fought in the Revolutionary War which won our freedom from Great Britain. We went on to learn facts about Thomas Jefferson, our 3rd president and that he wrote the Declaration of Independence, which helped show England why we wanted to be our own country. Finally, he learned about Abraham Lincoln, our 16th president, and that he led our country during the Civil War and helped end slavery. We ended the session identifying the presidents on the penny, nickel and dime. (Lincoln, Jefferson, and Washington, respectively).

Jonathan's new learning target was to determine the unknown whole number in addition and subtraction equations relating 3 whole numbers. We began the session with a hands-on activity taking away counters, and Jonathan had to figure out the number of counters removed. He then gained practice finding the unknown number by working on problems in which he was tasked with finding the missing number in equations by applying strategies previously acquired. Jonathan did well on this skill and demonstrates a good ability to reason abstractly and quantitatively.

Jonathan was given his canvas and we placed a pool blue paint across the entire canvas. I had him print out the template for his canvas painting and we attached the four pages together with tape.

After working through his daily language review, we jumped into the IReady textbook to continue working on finding word meanings through context clues. We used his source text, Earthworms, to understand the meaning of “segments” as used in this material about earthworms. We completed a listening center activity in which Jonathan watched a read aloud of The Biggest Valentine Ever. After the story, Jonathan worked to answer questions about the characters, the setting, and the problem. He was asked to provide adjectives to describe the feelings of the characters based on the problem and solution. To wrap up this activity, he wrote three sentences to talk about ways friends should work together in class. He needed some prompting with this particular activity overall, and we will continue to work on these literacy skills. After lunch, we picked back up on Grammar with sentence types. Jonathan read sentences and determined if they were declarative, imperative, interrogative, or exclamatory. We also discussed adverbs. We read a fun story booklet entitled Addie’s Adverbs. In this story we read about the use of adverbs and found targeted adverbs as well as completed a fill in the blank with the proper adverb. For our next literature study, we began reading Magic Tree House book 2, The Knight at Dawn. We read the first chapter and completed follow up reader’s response questions, practicing writing in complete sentences. Jonathan wrapped up the day decoding some funny Valentine Jokes! Religion: Today we began lesson 22, which is entitled, Jesus Gives Us the Eucharist. We read about how Jesus shared a special meal with his Apostles. We discussed what Jesus said and did at the Last Supper. Our vocabulary today focused on the word eucharist, which means “to give thanks”. Jonathan finished a prayer by writing some things for which he is thankful.

Jonathan reviewed vocabulary terms, including distance, speed, and force. He was additionally introduced to the word gravity and learned that gravity is a force. Jonathan demonstrated his understanding of physical science concepts through demonstration using the swivel chair on wheels in his classroom. Jonathan moved it about the room with different speeds and force while explaining the concepts demonstrated. He had a lot of fun adding recently acquired vocabulary and illustrating by example.

Jonathan worked on subtracting one-digit numbers from teen numbers using the "make a 10" strategy. He demonstrated familiarity with counting on and making a ten to add, number partners for 10, and how to add and subtract in word problems. Furthermore, he now recognizes that teen numbers can be decomposed and composed to subtract, and that addition is a way to check subtraction, and vice versa. Jonathan was able to solve the problems individually. While encouraged to show his work, Jonathan was also advised that he is free to use whatever way helps with the problems.

We started with our daily language review which focused on capitalization, punctuation, abbreviations, proper spelling, and possessive nouns. We finished reading our novel, Dinosaurs Before Dark. Jonathan answered the final set of questions for his follow up assessment. He also completed activities related to the book such as putting words from the book in alphabetical order and writing a paragraph about having a pet dinosaur! Jonathan’s writing was a list of sentences that started with “I would...”. We worked together to rewrite the story to add more details and mix up the sentence structure to create a more interesting story. We continued on in his I-ready text with pages 101 and 102 focusing on finding word meanings in text. We discussed how you can ask questions about the words around the key word, look at the pictures, think about what you know, and determine if your thought on the meaning makes sense. We then practiced this skill to determine the meaning of “hurdles” in one of his literature source texts. Jonathan enjoyed reading the book, The Fox and the Wild by Clive McFarland. After the book, we used the text to go on a noun, verb, and adjective hunt! Finally, we wrapped up the day by decoding a message to reveal a Valentine’s joke!

Jonathan and I examined the results of the experiment we were doing using popcorn kernels, which had been soaking half-submerged in cups of water over the weekend. He was encouraged to pay close attention to changes he observed and document them, offering possible reasons for any differences noted. This experiment was designed to encourage critical thought regarding the focus and objective of scientific procedures. Jonathan correctly observed that the kernels coated with popcorn grew mold on them, whereas the microwaved kernels remained unchanged. We then moved onto his daily science practice book to explore the concept of force. Jonathan independently answered questions pertaining to material that was presented on a graph. Vocabulary words reviewed included 'distance,' or how far an object moves, and 'speed,' or how fast something moves.

We continued working on some basic strokes and overall technique. We worked on playing some different fill patterns around the drum set, and also on developing the 3 way coordination to play a basic rock beat.

Jonathan gained practice solving problems by subtracting to find sums - using the strategies of making a ten to subtract one-digit and two-digit numbers, using number bonds, and decomposing numbers. He refreshed his memory that writing numbers in a number bond is one way to show partners for 10, and adding counters of 2 different colors to a 10 frame is another way to show partners for 10. Jonathan was guided to recognize that breaking the teen number into a 10 and some ones helps him decide how to break apart the other number. Through practice using a variety of strategies, Jonathan has gained a more synthesized understanding of the relationship between addition and subtraction. Jonathan was encouraged to use number paths and number sentences to represent compositions when subtracting from a teen number; connecting the strategies helps Jonathan look for and make use of structure. For the last 15 minutes of class, Jonathan completed an assessment to evaluate his progress and understanding of prior material covered. He got 90% on the assessment, demonstrating his understanding that teen numbers can be decomposed and composed to subtract. Jonathan has been encouraged to check over his work. He required prompts to remind him to do so; the one error he made appeared to be due to his haste and not checking over his answers.