Today's lesson with Kelcy began with a brief introduction in which he shared his unique spelling for his name. I allowed this to drive our lesson as the questions Kelcy asked continue to flow with the themes and concepts of this language development lesson. I introduced how the letters of words are ultimately composed of basic sounds. The sounds were made into letters; Letters into words; Words into sentences; Sentences into Stories; and, Stories into History. I was able to show him how people can use many different variations of letters to make the same sound. Various instruments such as sounds, numbers, or objects to represent the same concepts or ideas. I was impressed with Kelcy's ability to interact, ask questions, pose answers, and he had a keen perception and awareness to him for such a young age. It is obvious that he is paying much attention to the world around him, and showed a huge interest in wanting to know how things came to be as they are now, asking "how did all the things on Earth get here?" We had a fun and interesting lesson, and he was able to accurately review the order of language: 1) sounds, 2)letters, 3) words, 4) sentences, 5) stories, and, 6) History.

Charlie was tasked with filling in the branches of the US government on an activity and wrote the key roles they play in the bubbles provided. He successfully retrieved information from his textbook and reviewed the three parts, or branches of the federal government - the Executive, (President); Legislative (Senate and House of Representatives); and Judicial (Supreme Court and lower Courts). Charlie understood that this separation was to make sure that no individual or group will have too much power. He then began working on a word search sheet which incorporated key terms relating to the US constitution. While Charlie began the word search with a degree of enthusiasm, he grew frustrated when unable to find some words and requested assistance. This tutor reviewed tools and strategies to employ when challenged or frustrated when doing word searches, and we finished the session testing out alternative approaches to find that successful outcomes could be achieved when tackling a task with patience, perseverance, and strategic thinking.

Yanuell watched BrainPOP videos on a few presidents of his choosing. He began with the 40th president Ronald Reagan, learning that he was in office from 1981-1989, ended the cold war, and a conservative. We moved on to the controversial president Richard Nixon who was in office from 1969-1974 and the only presidential resignation due to the Watergate scandal. Finally, Yanuell chose Franklin D. Roosevelt the only president to be elected for four terms from 1933-1945 and implemented the new deal programs.

Today Dylan learned about President Lincoln - from his humble beginnings in Illinois and Indiana to teaching himself to read and to become a lawyer. We focused on some examples of why he was known as "honest Abe" and why he was such a popular president who did so much good for our country. Dylan likes to learn about heroic people in history.

We looked at a map of the United States and identified it as such. We then found the state of Florida, discussed that there are 50 states, and 50 stars on the flag...one for each state. We then used the Studies Weekly Magazine and the accompanying poster to take a closer look at the meaning behind the Pledge of Allegiance. Interpreting the meaning involved figuring out, through examples, the meaning of "pledge," "republic," "indivisible," "liberty," and "justice." We watched a short video and read about the proper care of an American flag.

We looked at a map of the United States of America and identified it as such. We then found the state of Florida, discussed that there are 50 states, and 50 stars on the flag...one for each state. We then used the Studies Weekly magazine and the accompanying poster to take a closer look at the meaning behind the Pledge of Allegiance. Interpreting the meaning, involved figuring out, through examples, the meaning of "pledge," "republic," "indivisible," "liberty," and "justice." We watched a short video and read about the proper care of an American flag.

Charlie did an excellent job on the two activities I assigned as homework. We then proceeded to review the weaknesses of The Articles of Confederation and the need for the colonists to create a new Constitution. Charlie made notes on these two subjects.Last, we reviewed the conflict between the populated states and the less populated states in determining representatives to the legislature and why that lead to the Great Compromise and the creation of a bicameral legislative body. I also had Charlie make notes on the 3/5 Compromise. Charlie indicated a preference for working on activity sheets as homework rather than reading the textbook for homework . I let Charlie know we have ordered the workbook , and I will try to use the textbook mostly in class once the activity sheets arrive. Until then, I assigned as reading pgs 86-88 in the text.

Today Henry and I continued his language arts lesson during social studies because his social studies teacher was out today. We played a rousing game of Scrabble for spelling practice. He has gotten much better and he beat me!

Arianna completed the think and review of the chapter on types of sources. We began reading chapter 3 and had a discussion about the pirate, Anne Bonny.

Charlie did a good job interpreting a graphic map reflecting the differing economies within the original 13 colonies, and we defined "economy" and "economics" in Charlie's notebook. We then read a chart in the text outlining the numerous tax bills that the King imposed on the colonists leading up to the writing of the Declaration and to the Revolution. Charlie made notes on these causes and asked about the Boston Tea Party. We then took turns reading the portion of the text that explained the contents of the Declaration and also read a few of the well known passages from the document. For homework, I distributed a two-page review activity.