I began with a sound deck review with auditory and blending drills. Phonemes included were /s/, /f/, /g/, /h/, /j/, /l/, /m/. We revisited closed, open, and silent E syllable types. The new concept was the grapheme er, an R-controlled syllable type. Using PowerPoint slides from the Univesity of Florida Literacy Institute, I introduced the grapheme and corresponding phoneme and indicated where in a word it is found. We read a list of example words. Using wheelofnames.com, Rhett read a list of words while listening to the music of his choice (a fun feature on the site.). The connected text was the decodable book "Meg and Jim's Sled Trip" by FlyLeaf Publishing. I dictated a sentence for Rhett to write and edit, "A sled trip is fun!"

I began with a review of the sound deck with auditory and blending drills. Graphemes included b,a,d,nd,nt,i,e,u,x,o,y,sh,wh,ck,pl,tr. I revisited the FFLLSSZZ spelling rule. The new concept for the session was the grapheme ar. Using PowerPoint slides, I explained the grapheme, its corresponding phoneme, and demonstrated where it could appear in a word. I dictated example words for Rhett to write on the dry erase board. To reinforce the idea, he read a list of words on wheelofnames.com. The connected text was the decodable book "Marvin's Trip to Mars."
To conclude, I dictated a sentence for Rhett to write and edit using the CAPS mnemonic. ("I am Zar from Mars. I will do you no harm.")

I began with a review of the sound deck with auditory and blending drills. The sound deck included the graphemes from the last session plus -nt and -nd. I revisited phonemic awareness with a syllable dropping exercise for concept review, using a PowerPoint slide with movable colored squares as a visual aid. For example, "say photograph; now say photograph but don't say photo." Dropping one syllable was a difficult concept for both boys; I will incorporate it every session until they achieve mastery. For the new idea, I introduced the signal vowel rule and the "soft" sound of c. When followed by the vowel e, i, and y, c makes its soft sound /s/. We read example words together )cent, race, ice, rice, cell) and reinforced with a wheelofnames.com list of words. The connected text was a decodable book, "It is Halloween." I dictated the sentence, "It is fun to pick hats and masks!" for the boys to write and edit using the CAPS mnemonic.

I began with a review of the sound deck with visual and blending exercises. Graphemes included b,a,d,i,e,u,x,o,sh,wh,ck,pl,sl,tr,fr. The blending board words included back, jack, tack, tang, band, sang, sing, ring, ding, dill, diss, diff. I revisited phonemic awareness with a syllable sort game. I introduced a new concept, the -nd and -nt ending blends. We read a word list together (went, pant, lint, hand, bland, rand), and I dictated several words to write on the dry-erase board. To reinforce the concepts, I created a "spinning wheel" on wheelofnames.com with more example words. The connected text was a decodable book from FlyLeaf Publishing entitled "I Can Plant a Seed." I dictated a sentence to write on the dry-erase board and edit using the CAPS mnemonic (capitalization, appearance, punctuation, and spelling.)

Rhett arrived near the end of Wyatt's session and was interested in reading the decodable book, so we read "Stink Bug" to begin, followed by sentence dictation and editing. Both exercises indicated that Rhett had mastered the -nk sound, so I presented him with a list of unfamiliar VCCV words to syllabicate and decode. Rhett did very well with this task. To conclude, we played several rounds of Phonics Dice with closed, open, and silent E syllable types.

I began with a review of the sound deck with visual and blending drills. I revisited closed, open, and silent E syllables and introduced the VC/CV syllable division pattern. Rhett picked it up quickly and practiced syllabication with two closed syllables (rabbit) and one closed, one silent E (compete.) I introduced a new syllable type, the R controlled syllable (er, ir, ur.) Rhett read a list of words on wheelofnames.com as a fun way to reinforce the concept. To conclude, he read aloud a decodable reader "Dogs" by FlyLeaf Publishing.

Rhett joined as I finished my session with Wyatt and helped him read a connected text, "Jen's Best Gift." I began his session with a review of the sound deck with visual and blending drills. Graphemes included the following: b, a, d, e, f, h, i, qu, r, s, t, u, v, y, z, tr, bl, st, sn, cr, ck, ch. For concept review, I revisited the ng digraph, showing example words to read and dictating example words for Rhett to write on the dry erase board. Today's new concept was suffix -ed (pronounced /ed/) added to a baseword to indicate past tense. I explained the idea and showed example words for him to read. To reinforce the concept, I created a "spinning wheel" of example words using wheelofnames.com. Rhett read a connected text, "A Cricket Sings," which provided a review of ng endings, R blends, and the FFLLSSZZ spelling rule. I dictated a sentence for Rhett to write ("I spot a cricket in the grass."), and I guided him in editing the sentence using the CAPS mnemonic (capitalization, appearance, punctuation, spelling.) To conclude, we played a game of Phonics Dice to practice reading closed, open, and vowel-consonant-E syllable types.

I prepared a 30 minute OG lesson for Rhett but he did not show up for the lesson. I stayed on the line for the duration of the session.

The late start necessitated a truncated session for both boys. I reviewed the sound deck with visual and blending drills. To practice phonemic awareness, Rhett identified the sounds in two and three phoneme words using Elkonin boxes. The new concept was adding an "s" to make a plural word. The idea was reinforced by reading "This and That," a decodable reader by FlyLeaf publishing. Rhett wrote a sentence from the book and edited it with my help.

I began the session with a review of the sound deck with visual and blending drills. The deck included S blends (which I taught yesterday). Today's new idea was the FFLLSSZZ spelling rule (in a single syllable word that ends in f, l, s, or z, double the final letter.) I introduced the concept, read, and dictated words for Rhett to write on the dry erase board. To reinforce the idea, Rhett read aloud the decodable book "Will Up at Bat." I dictated two sentences for Rhett to write. We worked together to edit the sentences for capitalization, appearance, punctuation, and spelling.