Today we continued studying timelines. We delved deeper into the subject with our FL Studies Weekly work packet. We learned that timelines show events in the order in which they occurred. We examined a four-picture timeline of the Pilgrims journey to America. We identified the pictures and then discussed them in various ways such asking Danny to find the picture of the event described or finding the picture in the ordinal position. Danny scored a 5/5 on the follow up assessment for our lesson. We then applied this knowledge in reading and answering questions in a simple 6-year timeline of a little boy. Danny helped me write (by copying) some of the words needed to complete the answers. In his Harcourt Social Studies workbook, we ordered events in a timeline, trying not to be tricked by extra pictures presented but not used. He did a good job sequencing the holidays shown. We reviewed his flip book we made yesterday, still heavily focusing on country and state. We watched an automated reader about Christmas. This shared the date, basic story, Santa, and Christmas today. We continued our discussion with a nonfiction selection, Christmas, by Trudi Strain Trueit. This book provided a picture key in which Danny could use to help me read the sentences. These sentences simply described how some people decorate for Christmas such as hanging stockings, putting up a tree, and putting up lights. Danny wanted to see Annie and Moby talk about Christmas again in the Brain Pop Jr video about winter holidays. We read a sweet story, Merry Christmas Ollie! by Olivier Dunrea. Ollie and his gosling friends are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Father Christmas Goose. Danny laughed at all the ways the little goslings were sitting in the snow! We finished the book, Tick Tock by James Dunbar. This section of the book discussed days, weeks, months, and years. We reviewed the days of the week and the months of the year. We talked about significant months such as Danny's birthday, my birthday, and various holidays. Finally, Danny worked a little more coloring his polar bear. Today he focused on some very thin lines and he colored in a pattern, leaving two spaces blank in between each colored line.

Today Danny and I continued with our study of where we live. We constructed a large poster flip book to provide a better visual aid for learning his planet, country, state, and town. We searched and printed pictures of each from the Internet. Using four poster circles in decreasing sizes, we glued one picture on each circle with Earth being on the largest circle and his town (North Palm Beach) on the smallest to represent their respective true order. We will review with our flip book until Danny is able to name each, in various ways, independently. In our Florida Studies Weekly (week 11), we learned more about Earth. We read about globes and maps, the green and blue on each, and that we live in the continent of North America. Additionally, we looked at four landforms: deserts, beaches, valleys, and mountains. Danny was later able to identify each picture when named. He then completed his follow up two choice question assessment, yielding a score of 8/9 on today's lesson. We also have been studying about the passage of time. In preparation for some more detailed timeline study, Danny completed a worksheet to sequence four pictures of a little girl making a gift for her Dad, boxing it, wrapping it, and giving it to him. Danny did a great job with this! Next, we read part of a book entitled, Tick Tock by James Dunbar. This book reminds us that time is something that we can sense but cannot see or touch. The author discussed our heartbeat as a way of measuring time as well as clocks. He shared estimates to better help with grasping the concept such as it takes an apple two seconds to fall from a tree, in 25 seconds an ant could run across two of the book pages, and a flying fish can stay in the air for up to 20 seconds. In continuing with time, we watched electronic readers on Pebble Go about food and also clothing comparing long ago and today. We watched a Brain Pop Jr. learning video about Winter Holidays. Danny enjoyed Annie and Moby giving us information about Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, and New Year's Eve. We then discussed and worked through the questions in the easy quiz together.
Finally, I will be incorporating a new component in little bits of our sessions. I gave Danny a winter themed detailed coloring book (often referred to as "adult coloring books"). He will utilize colored pencils to color more intricate and smaller spaces. This requires a great deal of attention and focus, while also providing very beneficial fine motor strengthening as needed in handwriting. We will use this for quick work breaks or the last few minutes of our sessions.

This afternoon, Danny completed a booklet entitled, Where is Turkey? He had to look at the picture and using a word bank, write where the turkey was standing. For example: The turkey is behind the pumpkins. He filled in the words "behind" and "pumpkins". Danny can name the relational words when offered two choices, but he does not verbalize them independently. This provided for a fun early map-reading activity. We completed another activity along the same theme, in which Danny had to follow directions to decorate a turkey. The directions involved relational words and multi-step tasks. He did a great job paying attention for complex directives such as: color three feathers red and two other feathers blue. We reviewed the Florida Studies Weekly lesson 7 that we began yesterday. We reviewed his planet, country, state, town, and discussed that cities are bigger than towns. He scored 4/5 on the follow up assessment. We will continue to practice so that Danny can independently name those four items without choices being presented. We enjoyed learning more about our state with a book entitled, 50 States to Celebrate- Celebrate Florida by Marion Dane Bauer. This text talked about various places in Florida such as The Everglades, The Keys, attractions in Orlando, as well as the Kennedy Space Center. We also learned about animals in Florida, such as alligators, manatee, and fish.

We continued to discuss Thanksgiving. Now that Danny has just celebrated the holiday, it offers him a better time referent as it is short term memory vs. long term. He sorted eight pictures to compare Thanksgiving from long ago and today. We also went through ten facts describing Thanksgiving from long ago, today, or both. He did a great job with these activities! Danny then completed a handwriting practice activity in which he traced words associated with Thanksgiving such as Mayflower, Pilgrim, and turkey. Next, we compared Pilgrim and Native American clothing. Using a word bank, Danny copied the words associated with each. These included items such as boots, feathers, hat, and headband. We began a new FL Studies Weekly packet entitled Where Do You Live? This lesson focuses on our planet, country, state, and town. We also briefly discussed area code, phone number, and mailing address. It would be great practice for Danny to learn his phone number and address at home. We then looked at the map and labeled his country and state in his Harcourt Social Studies book.

Today we worked in Danny's part of our school community, his classroom. We rearranged some of his hanging elements and added a few curriculum based items such as a new alphabet chart, months of the year poster, color word poster, and an interchangeable calendar. This calendar will help promote continued learning and understanding of our past and present Social Studies concepts. Danny was pleased at being included in adding these elements to his room. Next, we continued our studies of Thanksgiving by reading a book entitled, The Story of the Pilgrims by Katharine Ross. This gave us a good reminder of the Pilgrims' journey. We then read a book using real photo reenacted pictures called, Samuel Eaton's Day - A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Boy by Kate Waters. This book shows the life of a Pilgrim boy getting dressed, completing his chores, and eating with his family. The real photos provided an excellent representation of their lives long ago. To honor the Pilgrim, Danny then used templates to cut and assemble his own Pilgrim hat. We also studied the other group involved with the first Thanksgiving, the Native Americans. We read portions of the book, The Very First Americans by Cara Ashrose which went through the various tribes of Native Americans. We looked at their homes and clothes. Danny then enjoyed a fun foam craft. He decorated a cut-out Native American boy figure. The stickers helped us see the types of clothes the Native Americans wore. We reviewed, The First Thanksgiving, information from Danny's Florida Studies Weekly- Week 10 packet. We reviewed brief elements of the Pilgrim's journey, where they landed, and the feast. Danny then completed his five-question follow-up assessment. On these FL Studies Weekly assessments, I read Danny the question and then I present the two choices listed with A and B. He then bubbles in his choice. At times, he is a little apprehensive about making a choice but I encourage him through the process and then we review the work together. He's doing a great job with the assessments and they cover information we have just discussed, serving for a very appropriate level of challenge. We then completed page 53 about Colonial Life in Danny's Harcourt Social Studies workbook. Danny examined the picture and found items that would not be part of life long ago, such as an airplane, computer, and truck. We had a lot of laughs reading, 'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving by Dav Pilkey. In this funny story, a group of school children visit Farmer Nugget. When they realize his 8 turkeys will be the Thanksgiving dinner, the children hide them under their shirts and sneak them off to safety! We completed a worksheet in which he chose pictures of items the Pilgrims would need to bring on their trip. He did a great job choosing the correct items and eliminating the nonsense pictures. Danny chose a fun book called, The Thanksgiving Monster by Alison Inches. This cute book featured some of The Muppets characters and reminded us that even though the feast may not work out as planned, just being together is the most important part. Finally, we finished off the day with another funny book, A Plump and Perky Turkey by Teresa Bateman in which the turkeys take off in hot air balloons to avoid becoming the main course on Thanksgiving! Danny really enjoyed this book and had fun finding the various turkeys throughout the pages.

We began our session with a focus on communication skills. We practiced with our I vs. my flash cards. Danny is doing a great job with this correction. We also discussed that it’s “I” not “ight”. He was easily able to drop the ending when made aware of the error. We continued talking about the past and Thanksgiving with a picture sorting activity for “Long Ago” and “Present Times”. We made a large poster with these headings. We then examined photos in these categories: clothing, travel, houses, food, and feast. We sorted them on to the poster in the correct time frame. We then made notes as to what we see in the pictures. For example, for travel, we had a picture of a plane and the Mayflower ship. We noted that the plane has a motor, goes fast, and flies while the ship takes a long time, does not have a motor, and uses sails. We continued our Florida Studies Weekly – Week 10, The First Thanksgiving. This packet briefly covered the Pilgrims voyage to Plymouth on the Mayflower. It discussed that the Pilgrims invited the American Indians to a feast and they ate deer, geese, duck, and turkey as well as fruits and vegetables. We cut and assembled an easy reader booklet to review this material in simple terms. Danny had to draw or choose the correct item on the page to complete the story. This was sent home in his backpack for review. We will assess his knowledge of Thanksgiving next week. Then we read a sweet non-fiction story, A Turkey for Thanksgiving by Eve Bunting. In this story, Mr. and Mrs. Moose invite all their animal friends for Thanksgiving dinner and the only one missing is Turkey. When they set out to find him, Turkey is quite afraid thinking they want him ON their table, not at it. We completed a writing activity in which Danny labeled the parts of a turkey using a word bank (feathers, wing, beak, wattle, and leg). We discussed the parts and then he was directed to the correct word in the word bank so that he could copy it. We ended the day with a funny Thanksgiving themed book entitled, Turkey Trouble. In this fiction story by Wendi Silvano, Turkey finds various ways to disguise himself in order to avoid becoming the Thanksgiving main course. We laughed at the whimsical turkey and all of his funny disguises! We made predictions as to what silly thing he’d do next!
Planning note: I spoke with Danny’s mom briefly after school to assist with an in-class project for Danny. I have asked her to send approximately 5 – 6 pictures to reflect events in Danny’s life as we will be creating a timeline. The dates and events can just be written on a piece of paper and sent along with the pictures. These can capture anything significant that has occurred in his life, particularly including his birth and something recent, such as his most recent birthday or something that happened this year. Other events could include the birth of siblings, a big trip, getting a pet, moving into a new home, the first-time meeting someone special, or seeing his first snowfall. We hope to begin this project after the Thanksgiving break.

Danny was not feeling well during our Social Studies session and was waiting for his mom to pick him up; therefore, we kept our activities simple. We read a story called, It is Fall by Ty Allison on RAZ Kids. Danny helped read the book with pictorial support. The pages each started with the word "The" and the pictured item (leaf, pumpkin, rake, etc.). Next, we continued our studies on Thanksgiving. We watched the video, "This is America, Charlie Brown: The Mayflower Voyagers" by Charles Schulz. This video offers an excellent visual, age appropriate representation of what the Pilgrims endured on their journey and in their start of a new life. We saw the Peanuts characters take on the roles of the Pilgrims. Danny expressed that the voyage on the Mayflower was "scary" and that he wouldn't want to do that! We discussed how many were sick and some died in the rough travels and once they landed. However, we talked about how important it was for these people to start their new lives and that this importance made them determined to try even though it was difficult. We repeatedly talked about that this is in the past and the roles of the children. We saw the children helped with chores such as cleaning the ship deck, sewing clothes, and farming.

Thursday, November 10, 2016
60 min.
History:
China -
I substituted for Miss Christine. Aubrey and I watched a video about the first emperor of China and how he unified the country.

This afternoon, we continued with our FL Studies Weekly Series with week 6, focusing on the topic “What is History?” We discussed past, present, and future. We also learned that Christopher Columbus was an explorer from Italy. Danny then sequenced four pictures about going on a trip in terms of what order the events would occur. He scored a 5/5 on the follow-up assessment of the material presented. We continued to reinforce the concepts of past, present, and future throughout all of our learning activities today. We headed into the past by watching a Brain Pop Jr. video about Thanksgiving. Annie and Moby were dressed as Pilgrims as they explained about the Mayflower’s journey in 1620, how they landed in Plymouth, and how they suffered a hard winter. We also learned that despite being skeptical of people from England, the Wampanoag people and their leader Squanto helped the Pilgrims build their homes and plant crops. They all celebrated the harvest together with a big feast, which became a tradition celebrated from year to year. We continued our studies with a book entitled, The Very First Thanksgiving Day, by Rhonda Gowler Greene. The use of books helps provide nice visuals for the abstract concepts of history and long ago. Danny then was able to sequence four pictures to show the events of The First Thanksgiving. As we have been discussing time concepts, we looked at the season of Fall with When Autumn Falls, a colorful book by Kelly Nidey. This book describes leaves falling, cooler weather, holidays in Fall, and how the days get shorter. For the last few minutes of our session, we practiced the letter d on Starfall (recognition and its sound) and short e word building to focus on letter sounds. We also read the story, Big, on RAZ Kids.

This afternoon, we began with a review of the election. We discussed election elements by looking at child-friendly pictures of a ballot box, a voting booth, a girl putting her ballot in the box, etc. We continued with our Florida Weekly Studies – Week 5 which focused on time. We talked about the days of the week and the months of the year. We also talked about events that occur at the beginning, middle, and end of the day. Danny sequenced pictures reviewing these events. Danny scored a 5/5 on his assessment of the material presented in the packet. The reader also told the story of Johnny Appleseed as a famous person in the past. We learned that he bartered and gave apple seeds for clothes and things he needed. He traveled the country helping crops grow. We watched Annie and Moby talk about Johnny Appleseed in a Brain Pop Jr. video as well. We concluded our discussions on being a good citizen in which Danny completed a sorting activity on if the behavior described is that of a good citizen or not. We then completed the Unit 1 Review in his Harcourt Social Studies workbook which tasked Danny with finding the correct pictures that showed children following the rules, being safe, and being responsible. Next, we began our study of Thanksgiving. We cut and assembled a mini-book which gave us a good introduction as to the basics of Thanksgiving, with the Pilgrims traveling on the Mayflower in 1620, arriving at Plymouth, and receiving help from the Native Americans. We then read a book by Harriet Ziefert entitled, What is Thanksgiving? In this cute story, Little Mouse and her family prepare for a special Thanksgiving feast. We also read, Thanksgiving Is…, by Louse Borden which showed a family and how they celebrate Thanksgiving as well as how the Pilgrims celebrated. Finally, we wrapped up with an activity to practice using the pronouns my and I correctly as is needed for effective communication. Danny also earned a few minutes on the Starfall app to practice the short o vowel sound and letter sounds.