We played with some of the percussion instruments, and played on the electric keyboard.

Read intro to Chapter 4 lesson 2 in workbook. Read 140 - 141 and talk about how life is different now from the past. Talk about which seems like it is easier and why.

Practice the letter sounds matched to their symbols. Next, work on decoding CVC words with reminders of the sounds and blending them together. Draw a picture and help write what is in it. Read a sight word book with me, too, & I.

Show pictures in the textbook and decide which are past and present. Give reasons why. Tell how they are different and alike. Draw an example of what we learned in the workbook.

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."

Practice the letter sounds and symbols. Work on decoding short CVC words using the sounds of the letters and then blending. Read the sight words the & a in a short story. Practice writing the letters on white board.

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!

This morning, Libby began the unit assessment on understanding subtraction. Questions will assess her understanding of how to show numbers in different ways, represent subtraction as taking apart or taking away from the whole, write equations to show subtraction, and find the difference of two numbers. She will continue to work on this assessment over the next few days.

Since we had a fire drill today, I read a few books regarding fire drills and the rules that go along with them. Libby enjoyed pointing out the stickers that were placed over certain words throughout the stories. Then, we discussed red/rojo and that fires are red, as well as fire trucks and fire hats. Lastly, Libby began creating a red/rojo mosaic of a heart.

We looked at maps and globes and compared the two. Libby told me she lives in Florida but also has a house in Utah. We identified these states on a map and compared their sizes. We then worked on letter recognition and beginning sounds. Libby achieved 8 out of 8 correct on an activity sheet. We finished the day visiting Teddy in the art room where they both worked on bead art. Their pieces will be ironed next week. Libby created a colorful pattern and made popcorn and French fries. It was a fun way to end a fun Froday.