Yanuell spent his morning analyzing the Presidential election results. He logged onto the 270 to win website and examined the US map and electoral college votes. Yanuell used his blank electoral college map and colored in the states red and blue depending on which candidate received the votes. After he had completed coloring the map, he filled in the electoral vote chart assigning the votes to Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, again depending on which states he/she won. Next, using a calculator, Yanuell added up the electoral college votes for each candidate and compared them. He did an excellent job analyzing the election results and creating scenarios that would have changed the outcome. Yanuell has an excellent understanding of the importance of winning battleground states.

Yanuell continued working on his election and electoral college studies from yesterday. He printed out maps with the electoral college numbers listed on each state and got them ready to color tomorrow. He also printed a chart to fill out the number of electoral college votes for each candidate so that tomorrow he can add up the totals. Yanuell decided that he would like to run for president and came up with the policies that are important to him. His list included: stop cutting down trees, work on ocean pollution, every child - black or white - will have a good school, and he plans to help the poor have more money, food, and clothes. His plan is to create a poster to show his schoolmates what he stands for and why he would make a great president.

It’s ballot counting day! We counted Danny’s ballots from yesterday to determine the school’s favorite ice cream flavor from the choices of vanilla, chocolate, and cookies and cream. We counted the ballots and completed a bar graph to count each vote. The votes were counted as follows: vanilla had 2 votes, chocolate had 9 votes, and cookies and cream received 5 votes. We wrote down which had the most, which had fewer, and which was the winner! We posted our results outside in the hallway for all to see. We completed week 4, "Responsibility" in our Florida Studies Weekly Social Studies program. We read the packet and discussed responsibilities at home and school. We also read about school long ago and about keeping our information, like address and phone number, private. Danny completed the follow up activities and assessment questions, scoring 6/8. We then read a fiction storybook, Dixie and the Good Deeds by Grace Gilman. In this cute story, Dixie the dog helps his owner Emma complete her community service projects. Next, we performed a picture sort of good and bad citizens. We reviewed that good citizens are honest, compassionate, respectful, responsible, and courageous. Danny sorted all of the good and bad citizens correctly. For pre-map reading skill building, we completed page 1 in his Harcourt Social Studies workbook in which he had to color named items based on relational terms such as in front of, behind, next to, to the right of, and to the left of. This task also serves to build skills in following directions. We ended the day with a video version of the book, Amelia Bedelia’s First Vote by Herman Parish. This was a delightful story about a young Amelia Bedelia casting her vote at school. The principal told the class they could vote on something and he'd grant their request. The class shared ideas and developed their own ballot. In the end, it came down to a tie between ice cream sandwiches at lunch or no homework Wednesdays, and the latter won.

This morning, Danny and I continued our study of elections. We reviewed the current presidential candidates and then read a little booklet that shows how people vote. We then assembled a ballot box and made ballots. We discussed different topics that we could ask our fellow schoolmates to vote for, and Danny decided it would be favorite ice cream flavor. We set-up our ballot with the choices: vanilla, chocolate, and cookies and cream. We set our ballot box outside of Danny’s door and slid the ballots under each student’s door. We will count the ballots in our next session, in order to make sure everyone has voted. Danny and I both made a prediction that cookies and cream will be the winner. We completed a worksheet to practice counting for votes with a bar graph of vegetables. We determined which had the most, had fewer, and which was the winner. We watched a video reading of the book, Grace for President by Kelly DiPucchio, in which a young girl participates in a school election and wins! Her goal is to become the first female president when she gets older. Next, we completed week 3 in our Florida Studies Weekly Social Studies program. This lesson was entitled “Follow the Rules”, which covers that good citizens follow rules in the home and school. We completed the follow-up activities in which Danny had to find the good citizens in the pictures and then classify items (find the one that doesn’t belong). He scored a 5/5 on the follow-up assessment. We read a non-fiction selection, Safety in My Neighborhood by Shelly Lyons to reinforce following rules to keep us safe. We wrapped up the day with a cute easy reader, Clifford and the Halloween Parade by Norman Bridwell, and some short e vowel practice on Starfall.

For Social Studies this afternoon, we began by discussing the upcoming election. We reviewed the candidates (with picture support) and then watched a short Berenstain Bears video about an election in which Papa Bear wants to be mayor. Danny was very interactive in discussing what was going on in the video regarding the problems, actions, and solutions the characters were facing. The video showed Papa Bear working as a candidate and the voting process. We read a non-fiction text, “Pledge of Allegiance” by Lloyd G. Douglas, which gave us a brief history and explanation of the Pledge. We practiced reciting the Pledge together. In continuing our discussions on being a good citizen, Danny completed a worksheet in which he had to sort the good citizen characteristics between home and school. We completed the information and work for Florida Studies Weekly - Week 2, "Where Are You?" This content identified locations in a school. It also provided the use of relational terms (precursor to map use) of finding things near and far. We also had to find Orlando on a map of Florida (“middle” of FL). Danny had to add drawings to a picture of a school by placing items “on one side”, “the other side”, and “above”. He did well, scoring 6/7 on this activity. We then assembled a simple 3-D paper model globe and discussed how it is a round map of the Earth and we found Florida. Next, we read, “Clifford Sees America” by Normal Bridwell, which showed us some of America’s key landmarks including Mount Rushmore, The Liberty Bell, The Statue of Liberty, and Old Faithful. To build language skills, Danny and I worked on an “I” vs. “my” language activity. We practiced phrases in which we’d use “I” and “my” using notecards and pictorial support. Danny responded well to the activity and with simple cueing, in spontaneous talk, began to correct his use of “my” instead of “I”. We will continue to work on “I” vs. “my” for functional communication skill building. Finally, Danny earned some time on the Starfall Learn to Read app. We worked on making -en and -et words by focusing on the beginning sounds. He remains in the early stages of learning these sounds and gets so excited when we work through them all and he makes the word!

This afternoon, we read “Duck for President” by Doreen Cronin. This delightful fiction picture book shows Duck contesting the leadership of Farmer Barn on the farm. He holds an election and beats out Farmer Brown. Then Duck realizes the job of leader isn’t so fun! Next, we watched a Brain Pop Jr. educational video about the office of "President". We learned what the President does, generally about elections, and where the President lives. Danny was hysterical as Moby the robot was envisioning himself performing the duties of the President. We reviewed the current candidates running for President and looked at their pictures. We completed an activity sheet called “Every Vote Counts” in which we counted votes of three different items, completed a bar graph of the counted votes, and found the fewest and most votes. We then determined the “winner”. We also completed the Florida Studies Weekly – Week One “Fun at School” packet. We talked about schools, teachers, we worked on the Pledge of Allegiance, and Danny completed a color-by-number flag. Danny performed 5/5 on the follow¬-up assessment. Finally, we talked about being a good citizen. We read a non-fiction selection, " I Am a Good Citizen” by Melissa Higgins. Then we cut and assembled a booklet entitled, "School Citizens”. In this book and booklet, it describes that a good student citizen shares, works, helps, and is polite. We decided that Danny exhibits these qualities so he earned a “Super School Citizen” medal to wear.

Today, we began an online program called “Studies Weekly”. Unit 1, “Fun at School”, explored basic concepts about school, citizens and the Pledge of Allegiance. The program uses child friendly pictures, short simple sentences and highlights the words as they are read by the computer aloud. We read a fiction text, “I Pledge Allegiance” by Pat Mora & Libby Martinez. This was a sweet story of a little girl and her great-aunt who is just becoming a U.S. Citizen. They both are practicing The Pledge of Allegiance in various ways. We then practiced saying the Pledge and hung a copy of it with a picture of the American flag in his room. We used a worksheet that helped breakdown the complex vocabulary of the Pledge for example a pledge is a promise, and undivided stands for that it cannot be broken apart. We completed a little booklet called “The American Flag” in which we had to write in the colors of the flag and the number of stars. Danny traced the letters for these responses. Additionally, we discussed the upcoming election. We first looked at pictures of President Obama and the White House. We looked at pictures of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and discussed they are the candidates that people will vote for. Danny reported that he has seen Donald Trump on t.v. We watched a brief Studies Weekly reader that explained that voting is a responsibility. Finally, we reviewed our lessons with readers on Pebble Go of “The Pledge of Allegiance” and the “American Flag”. For the end of our session, Danny practiced the L sound on the Starfall app and performed short e vowel activities on Starfall Learn to Read.

Today Danny and I discussed Christopher Columbus in honor of upcoming Columbus Day. First, we read a nonfiction text entitled “Christopher Columbus” by Mary Dodson Wade. Next, we watched a Brain Pop Jr. learning video and a PebbleGo electronic reader about Columbus Day. Additionally, we cut and assembled a small booklet highlighting simple Columbus facts. These three sources provided general information about Columbus such as: he was a sailor, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain gave him the money for his journey, he sailed with three ships, it was a long journey and sometimes it rained, he was looking for India and mistakenly called the native people he found “Indians”, and he found a New World. We completed two worksheets to review the concepts in follow-up. We also looked at pictures of the map to see where we live and where Columbus traveled to and from. We labeled a simple map with the relevant locations: North America, South America, Africa, Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Europe. Finally, we looked at pictures and words associated with our topic (Christopher Columbus, King Ferdinand, Queen Isabella, compass, and telescope). We talked about each and Danny traced the dotted letters to write each word.

In Social Studies, we concluded our discussion on community helpers. I asked Danny if he studied the booklet I sent home yesterday and he said, “yes.” He must have, because he did a fantastic job on our follow up assessments today! He completed two different activities in which he had to name the community helper pictured and provide a very brief, but concrete description of their basic functions. He scored 10/10 and 11.5/12 on each. I was so proud of him! Additionally, he completed tasks in the Social Studies workbook in which he scored 3/3. He was able to find the two people that work at a school, which individual was not a community helper (astronaut), and which item pictured makes furniture (truck carrying logs). We reviewed goods and services today with a visual computerized reader on PebbleGo as well as a Brain Pop Jr. learning video. We then completed a follow up worksheet together, determining which is a good and which is a service. Danny has shown some understanding of the concept, but it is quite tricky to grasp at this age. We will readdress more on the topic of goods and services with money and economy based concepts later in the year. To wrap up today’s discussions about goods and services, we finished off with some practical examples in simple books. We read “Curious George Visits the Library” by Margaret & H.A. Rey, in which George interacts with a librarian at story time and getting a library card. We also read “Otter – The Best Job Ever!” by Sam Garton, which has Otter searching for a job. Next, we read “Maisy Drives the Bus” by Lucy Cousins, in which Maisy is a bus driver. Finally, we read “Pete the Cat’s Train Trip” by James Dean and we learned about the conductor and engineer. Danny earned a few extra minutes at the end of our session practicing short a word families on Starfall Learn to Read.

For Social Studies today, Danny and I discussed neighborhoods. We watched a Brain Pop Jr. learning video about homes we find in neighborhoods. This video described various places where people live (houses, apartments, mobile homes, cabins, and houseboats, etc.) as well as defining a neighborhood as a place where people live, work and play together. We read “Clifford and the Grouchy Neighbors” by Norman Bridwell, which told a cute story about getting along with the people in our community.
Additionally, I introduced the concept of goods vs. services at a very simple level. We watched a PebbleGo informational video reader called “In My Neighborhood” and read a related nonfiction book, “Places in My Neighborhood” by Shelly Lyons to see more about neighborhoods. These showed us goods-based places in our neighborhood such as the grocery store as well as service-based places including the medical clinic, parks, and the library. I identified these concepts as a “good” being something we can buy with money and hold in our hand, while a “service” is something that just helps us. We completed a worksheet in which I described someone’s role and Danny had to find the community worker and then we discussed if they were providing a good or a service. These included a baker, hairdresser, seamstress, police officer, and teacher. Today I had planned to assess Danny's ability to verbally recall basic community helper positions and tasks we have discussed over the past month. I asked him to tell me what specific helpers do. In many cases, he just said, “they help.” However, I had hoped he would be able to tell me more specifically that they help us ______ (learn, feel better, put out fires, etc.). We took a step back and completed a review booklet in which he was given 5 pictures of community helpers and he had to place them in the appropriate scene showing their role. Danny completed this cut and paste activity without any difficulties. This booklet was sent home for further review. I will attempt to assess Danny’s ability to name more specifically the role of these helpers tomorrow. We will continue to practice the language needed for these descriptions until he is able to show mastery. This unit also briefly focuses on natural resources. We watched a Brain Pop Jr. video about natural resources, particularly focusing on all of the items made from trees and rocks. We then completed a worksheet in which we discussed three pictures and the natural resources they come from (fish – lake, desk – tree, and the more abstract t-shirt – cotton).
Finally, we finished the day with several simple books highlighting service based jobs including “Max Goes to the Barber” by Adria F. Klein and “Biscuit Feeds the Pets” by Alyssa Satin Capucilli.