Language arts: We kicked off our session with our daily language review which in addition to the capitalization and punctuation practice, he worked with contractions and pronouns. In his iReady textbook, Jonathan wrote a sentence to make connections about two events which described part of a food chain. Next, we continued on with our chapter book study, Stink The Incredible Shrinking Kid. Stink got to bring home the class pet, Newton (the newt) in this chapter! After reading, we had fun with a common noun and proper noun word hunt from the chapter. We found common nouns such as bus, newt, and joke. We found proper nouns such as Mrs. Dempster, Newton, and New Hampshire. As will be needed for his iReady textbook, we read the fiction book Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton. We made predictions and discussed the actions of the characters. We enjoyed a fun jungle themed learning game focusing on the main idea. Jonathan did a great job reading the cards and identifying the main idea for the short passage presented. For a contraction exercise, Jonathan practiced writing the two separated words to match the contraction. I presented this task without a word bank and he did a terrific job! We talked about I’d and let’s. We wrapped up the last few minutes of our session with a fun Blend Word Sounds game. We each drew a game piece and wrote two words with the starting blend. Jonathan did a great job only having a little difficulty with a second word for wh-. Religion: Today we completed lesson 15 in the We Believe textbook. Jonathan matched the definitions to the words for parish, pastor, and worship. He wrote about the people in his church who help him worship God and learn about God. Finally, he took a 5 question quiz to review what he’s learned this lesson and scored 5/5.

Jonathan was brought to the computer lab and instructed to fill out the “Get to know you” form on the student website. I gave Jonathan a piece of paper and instructed him to draw an image of Dumbo that was displayed on the computer. Once Jonathan finished the picture I had him sign it and follow the same process for making Mickey Mouse. I asked Jonathan what shapes that he was able to see within the Mickey Mouse image and he said circles and ovals. I showed Jonathan the silhouette method and he and I were able to recreate the Mickey Mouse image.

Language arts: In our daily language review today, Jonathan practiced correcting sentences for proper capitalization and punctuation, antonyms, phonics, and generating fictional ideas. We discussed there“air” that you feel when producing voiceless and voiced “th” as we were looking for words with the same th sound as in three. For Jonathan’s iReady textbook, again using the Elizabeth Cady Stanton biography, we made connections about her desire to go to school and what she did to make that happen. Next, Jonathan continued working on his IXL diagnostic to best determine his levels in grammar and mechanics, vocabulary, reading strategies, and reading foundations. We also practiced identifying antonyms and then finding antonyms vs. synonyms. For writing today, Jonathan continued working on his story about Christmas Day by adding two additional pages with illustrations. We talked about ways to sound out words for spelling and examining them after writing to see if we think they are correct. Jonathan used this strategy for the word “excited”. Finally, we focused on common and proper nouns. We first watched the Brain Pop Jr. learning video on the subject. Jonathan scored a 3/5 on the easy quiz. We then discussed the definitions further and read a fun short story called “The List”. In the story we saw how a couple has difficulties accomplishing their errands due to the lack of proper nouns on their list. Jonathan then practiced identifying target common and proper nouns. Religion: Continuing in We Believe, we discussed ways we can show we are thankful for our priest and the people who help in our parish. We talked about ways to help others in need. I shared ways my church helps by donating food the first Sunday of the month, donating money for hurricane relief, and about special women who knit blankets and pray over them while they are knitting. Jonathan was tasked with finding a way to help his parish this week, so we prayed for his parish.

Jonathan and I reviewed material in his daily Science Student Practice Book. We continued our discussion about the sun and reviewed prior knowledge. Today, we discussed how the sun helps plants make food and energy and how important it is in order to sustain plant and animal life on Earth. Jonathan expressed his knowledge in an articulate fashion and answered questions indicating that he comprehended the material well; he was additionally well able to transfer, or apply, recently acquired knowledge to new situations and examples.

After we reviewed his completed homework, Jonathan and I worked on material in his Ready Classroom book. Today, Jonathan was tasked with exercises to demonstrate his synthesis of mathematics vocabulary and prior knowledge. He drew and wrote examples illustrating terms including, but not limited to: addition equation, addend, doubles plus one, more than, sum, etc. Jonathan worked independently and demonstrated a good understanding of vocabulary terminology, mathematical concepts and symbols. We continued work on tween numbers, and Jonathan has a homework assignment to complete, which we began in the classroom so that I could assure he understood the work we reviewed.

Language arts: We kicked off our session with the daily language review activity. Jonathan laughed at the vocabulary word examined for today, “pokey”! We then moved onto a reading of the book, Elizabeth Leads the Way: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Right to Vote by Tanya Lee Stone. This inspiring biography told of Cady Stanton’s frustrations with the way women were treated during her time and her charges to make change. In Jonathan’s iReady textbook, we then discussed describing connections between an idea and event provided. Jonathan wrote about what this event led Elizabeth to do. “Shrink, Shrank, Shrunk” was the title of chapter 2 in our novel study, Stink the Incredible Shrinking Kid. Jonathan did a nice job reading and we focused on fluency particularly with heavy dialogue mixed with periods and question marks. We discussed the minuscule amount that Stink is shrinking and examined it on a ruler (1/4 inch). Next, Jonathan completed some diagnostic work on the IXL program. This included grammar and mechanics, vocabulary, reading foundations, and reading strategies.

We wrapped up the day with a fun activity to review contractions. Jonathan was given 16 word pairs (with “not” as the second word) and he matched the contraction. He then created a sentence using each contraction. We focused on generating more detailed sentences. Writing: Today Jonathan was tasked with writing a story about something he did with his family recently. He chose to write about Christmas Day and completed his first page along with an illustration. We will continue on this piece. Religion: We continued in Jonathan’s We Believe textbook. We reviewed the meaning of parish and discussed members of Jonathan’s home parish. Next, we learned about the meaning of worship and discussed ways we worship by giving thanks and praise to God. Finally, we learned that the pastor, who is the leader of our parish is a priest.

In Science, Jonathan read about the properties of the stars, planets, and the sun. He reviewed vocabulary pertaining to these topics and answered questions based on material reviewed. Jonathan demonstrated good comprehension and answered all but one of several questions correctly. He occasionally selected an incorrect answer as a joke, and would laugh at it, how inappropriate and funny it was to even offer as an option. Jonathan read well orally and was able to refer back to the content if unsure of an answer. While confident in his answers, he is amenable and responsive to re-direction if necessary.

We began by reviewing math facts, completing work in Jonathan's Ready classroom math workbook. Jonathan applied strategies for addition and subtraction facts, finding number partners completing number bonds, and adding in any order (cumulative property). Jonathan required some additional practice solving addition and subtraction word problems, but was receptive to instruction. Jonathan was given the front and back side of a page to complete for homework after I spoke with his teacher to manage expectations.

Language arts: This morning we began with a My Favorites game to get to know each other. For example, I learned that Jonathan likes the color turquoise, enjoys swimming in the ocean better than a pool, his favorite number is 6, and he likes to vacation in The Bahamas. We performed a quick assessment of the upper Dolch word lists to ensure that Jonathan knows his sight words, which he does! Next, Jonathan read, The Biggest Snowman by Steven Krol. Throughout the story we discussed the problem and solution, actions of the characters, and made predictions. For a writing exercise, Jonathan’s recall of the story was assessed by him writing the beginning, middle, and end of the story. We then began a chapter book study with, Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid by Megan McDonald. We worked on fluency with his reading aloud, particularly focusing on pausing with periods and commas. We made predictions and discussed the characters. Finally, we completed our daily language review. We will perform this quick five question activity daily to practice editing sentences for proper word form, capitalization, punctuation and other grammar and language tasks.
Religion: This afternoon we began chapter 15 in Jonathan’s We Believe textbook. This chapter is entitled, We Belong to a Parish. We read about gathering in prayer and read the Our Father prayer. We discussed ways that families spend time together. Finally, we discussed that a parish is a group of Catholics who join together to share God’s love and we discussed things people do in a parish.

We spent the first hour becoming familiar with the program, environs, and the students. Jonathan was receptive when being introduced to the other students and teachers at Batt and was respectful and well-mannered answering questions and interacting. We then worked on subject matter in English, Science, and Math, using materials that were sent by his teacher, who I subsequently contacted and who welcomed further contacts and inquiries. Jonathan read fluently and was an active and enthusiastic learnier. He demonstrated higher-level thinking in his responses and very good comprehension of textual material. In Science, Jonathan demonstrated good understanding of the sun as a star and answered all questions correctly. He was amused at our collaborative efforts to create a rhyme for the last question. In Math, Jonathan demonstrated good understanding of equations and easily figured out the answers to several questions which required him to determine the unknown variable in equations. He was a bit challenged with two of the questions, but quickly understood the rationale once the two sides were isolated and he could determine whether they were equal and the validity of the equation. Jonathan showed a propensity to understand the work shown to him and did not hesitate to work on assignments. He is a talented artist and demonstrated his skills on the whiteboard several times throughout our session. In his last hour, he worked with another student with whom he got along famously; the two even made tentative plans to get together outside of school, pending parental approval. It appears that Jonathan has made a terrific adjustment to the Batt School on Day 1 and is projected to remain a welcome addition, moving forward!