Frazer starting the day by practicing calendar notation.
We have learned that Frazer easily can follow a routine. Independently Frazer signed into his journal today. I am using the sign-in as a means to start the day and hold Frazer accountable. Thus far, he has responded exceptionally well. He uses the journal to write dictated sentences to practice language skills he is learning such as editing and spelling; he also is using it to keep notes. Today during our second math hour we started discussing odd and even numbers. At first he seemed very unclear about their meaning. So I wrote them on the wipe board and had him copy them intot he journal. At the end of the day he did a great job defining odd and even numbers. We will start our day tomorrow with them on the wipe board. The directions are already on it. I am curious to see if he is able to immediately dig in.
We have been concetrating on Frazer's understanding of time. He worked really hard today digging into to understnad that 7:30 is that same as half past 7. There are many ways to state time and face clocks are less prevalent these days. Digital time is easy but half past has surprisingly been accessible concept. I hope the knowledge has implanted; today he was quite facile independently going through clock after clock noting the half pasts. He was deliberate, beginning by saying aloud to himself (the hour hand is between the 7 and the 8 and the minute hand is on the 6. That's thiry minutes. That's 7:30. Okay, it's half past 7. " Frazer was able to internalize this after five intervals. He labelled abot 30 clocks. He continued -- or appeared to continue -- the process as he went but he internalized is which is one step closer to automacity.
We watched OBAMA's address and of course he was transfixed. I was disappointed that he did not want to discuss the talkspeech, but Porter jumped in and answered every probing question. Porter cracks me up. He just had lots to say about the speech. When Frazer was not able to answer, I wondered why. Then I asked if he would like to listen to speech again and then talk. He said looking straight at me, "Yes." So, I will be hitting the internet later this week to let him watch. Again, there is question of his process speed and what he takes in and how is able he is to articulate his views.
Porter is certainly a member of our classroom either by his willingness to work quietly or play or sometimes watch some PBS. Another way he participates is as someone Frazer can explain an idea or show how to do something. Frazer especially likes that Porter draws and colors beside him. Porter hung his picture on this towel rack we hung with shower clips attached. And then documented it.
The center pictureo fhorse is a horse Frazer drew in pencil for Porter to color in.
Frazer read for his Great Leaps and also did the drill deck. He was not as successful today. I wonder if it was the post lunch and post speech watching. However, he always has such a positive response. "Not so bad," he is fond of saying when he has a dip or decrease. The time factor is so helpful to him -- he likes the meter running to help him focus. But, he is resilient when he is not doing well. Love him!
He had more success with the alphabetizing his outlaw words. We practiced using a graphic organizer to help us as we read a passage. The work is grade appropriate. It was a challenging passage as it was out of his syllable patterns. But, got the Graphic Organizer and I reread the passage. He answered 5 questions that were multiple choice. It cracked me up how he liked to circle the correct answer which he got ever time. The long answer questions were direct but would have needed a lot of writing. So he dictated his answers to me. I was stunned at how thoroughly he answered each one. I should not be so surprised but his processing can be slow enough that I sometimes wonder if he gets the point. But, geez, he answered everything with examples and fully. I certianly think he would not have been able to answer had he been limited to what he could write.
He is also using a basal type reader with questions. So far the reader is very accesible for him. His work today introduced prepositions subtly through a story and pictures. The activities that came with it allowed him to do some drawing which he loves.
Frazer's love of games came in again and again as today with played go fish with various time expressions and then later another game of go fish in a variety of numerical expressions. We are using Miquon, Unifix and ultimately Base Ten to make sure Frazer has basic mathmatical concepts. The miquon is developmental math. Today he did a great job with patterns and addition blocks. That's when we realized the odd/even question. Math is not his favorite but his has not been remotely resistent. There have been a few moments when he asks for a break but comes back after some jumping jacks or a spin on his bike.
We ended the day with a review of the of what kinds of work we are doing. He articulated math and reading and math. I reminded him about writing and we discussed how important it is just to write about what interests us. I am using a simple series called Just Write since he seems to like the workbook thing. It follows the same guidelines as the writing process which I am using but he continues to surprise me. He liked the little bit about what brainstorming is and was happy to write three possible writing ideas. I have noticed a blank page makes he revert to horses or drawing. Maybe a workbook page has something on it and is bit less intimidating. Who knows?
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