Weekly Summary #11

Weekly Summary #11

April 2nd- 4th

Meghan Taylor

      Thankfully, my first graders were not occupied by the FSA this week so I was able to successfully complete lessons number eleven and twelve.  On Tuesday, since most of the school was taking the writing FSA, we were not allowed to transition between classrooms, so I spent all of my time with the first graders.  Had I known this prior to coming in, I would have planned a much longer lesson for the students.  But, everything worked out in the end.  As Aiden was not there the previous Thursday, I pulled him aside first to teach him the introduction to blend sounds and digraphs.  Aiden is very excited when he sees words with digraphs in them as he has referred to them as "di-a-graphs" since the beginning of my time working with him.
     It was much easier to introduce this lesson to both students at an individual level so I could really work one-on-one with them.  After working initially with Aiden, Kairi came back and we worked through the blend sounds they both had trouble with.  Both of them tend to mistake the "ch" and "sh" with each other, so we worked through spelling some words that began with both of these blends.  Afterward, we worked through a worksheet that made them sort through blends that either began or ended with a blend.  They both struggle with words that end in blends, as they forget that the two letters together create a blended sound.  I also want to find a way to encompass more of this into next weeks lessons, as this seems to be the biggest hindrance for them.
     We then worked on practicing their HFW and blend words through different flashcard games.  For next week, I want to make more copies of the cards with multiple words that begin with the same blend so they can both take turns.  Sometimes, they will grow frustrated with each other when one gets ("wins") too many of the cards in a row.
     In the CSS classroom, as I was only in there on Thursday, I worked with Zander trying to prepare him more for the FSA.  He is very unmotivated and "absolutely hates school!"  He grunts and moans the whole entire time, especially when we ask him to show his work, rather than just guessing.  He is very difficult to work with as he does not want to work.  Out of the time I have been there, there have only been a couple days when he is excited to work and then he will do everything without any complaints.  I wish I could find a way to make his i-Ready work more fun for him, as the motivation of candy and food from Ms. Price no longer entices him.  No sort of reward or token system seems to motivate him so I might have to find some sort of intrinsic motivation rather than extrinsic.