at home reading tutoring part 18

This Monday SJ had his weekly tutoring session with Mrs. Banks.  He was in a great mood at the end of his school day.  No normal Monday tears, so I was very pleased at his mood.  We got home and I got the kids that I watch off of the bus. 

It was fairly nice out, so Bob wanted to play outside.  He was going to play soccer with the second grader.  He wanted SJ to play, but he was more interested in using his scooter.  I could feel that Bob was sad that SJ didn't want to join in with him.  I told him it was time for "Brother Time".  He was a little resistant at first and then he complained A LOT.  After a few minutes, I was glad to see him having fun outside. 

Mrs. Banks arrived fifteen minutes later.  They started off their session with SJ looking at two pictures to see if he could find the differences.  SJ was supposed to find 10, but he was only able to find 9.  (I looked myself and couldn't find the tenth difference.) 

They then did a Reader's Theater called "The Kites Fly High" by Brenda B. Covert.  There were six characters.  SJ asked Mrs. Banks if the characters were boys or girls.  She explained that they were different kinds of kites.  He looked through the play again and picked his character according to how big their parts were.  The play was about a reporter interviewing different kinds of kites (delta, sled, diamond and box kites) and what is special about them. 

After they finished the play, SJ told her that we have a few kites.  Bob has a delta kite that is designed after the Space Shuttle.  He told her that he had a diamond kite with a Toy Story design.  He said he wasn't going to use it anymore, since it is for babies.

Next, they read a short paragraph on kites called "Out of the Box Kites" by Jody Williams.  He started to complain about the length of the paragraph and it literally was 13 sentences.  The story was about the inventor of the box kite.  SJ had to answer a few questions about the story.  Mrs. Banks said that SJ did very well with this activity.  After he answered the questions, he had to design his own kite and write directions on how to make it.  These were his directions.

My kite is made gold and tire marks.  1. Draw the shape to make a kite.  2. Put gold on it.  3. Run over it with a car.  4. Put a string on it and put ribbons on it.

Then Mrs. Banks had SJ fill in words for a Mad Lib style story.  She thought maybe he snuck a peek at the story, since some of his word choices were working a little too nicely.  This is his story.

The Kite-eating Tree

There is a tree in New York City that snatches kites right out of the sky.  It does not matter how soft the kite is.  The kite-eating tree will strike!
Yesterday I went out to fly a delta kite.  The playful wind picked it up as I flew.  It soared high in the sky.  I stayed away from that happy tree.  It was no use.  Before I could stop it, my boring kite blew into the tree's greedy branches.  I wrote on the string, and it snapped!  My kite was gone. 
Today I will teach that tree a lesson.  I have a new kite.  I will sprinkle hot chili pepper on it.  Then I'll let it soar into the sky.  When the tree tries to eat it, it will spit it out.  That tree will never eat another kite again!

The last thing they did was a glyph on kites.  SJ had to chose the color of the dog (light brown-he has flown a kite), color of the kid's outfit (blue-kites should not be flown near trees), color of the kid's hair (blonde-he never made a kite), color of the grass (dark green-he's a boy) and the color of the kite (blue-I have not had his string get tangled).  He had to write on the line something else that has a tail (dog) and he had to draw a kite that he would design.  See the following finished glyph.

after school speech part 47

Last Tuesday, SJ had a rough day. He was once again upset at the end of the day.  I asked him what was bothering him and he said he was upset with his assistant.  He had gotten upset over a reading assignment and was crying during class.  His assistant sent home the reading passage with a note about his behavior. 

I read the note and looked at the reading assignment.  It was only one page and maybe 12 paragraphs.  I asked why he got so upset over such a small assignment.  He kept saying his assistant wouldn't help him.  I told him that is absolutely not true.  I know his assistant.  She is very similar to the way I work with students.  She pushes him to make him try his hardest.  My husband and I are quite fine with that. 

I got him calmed down and we completed the reading assignment together.  After it was finished, I asked him why he thought it was going to be so difficult.  I reminded him that he is smart.  I told him there may not be words that he knows, but he is lucky enough to have an assistant that he can ask what unfamiliar words mean.  I told him his assistant is helping him even if it doesn't seem that way to him. 

After we got through that trauma, we drove to SJ's speech appointment.  While we were en route, I called his assistant to talk to her about today's fit.  She wasn't home, so I left her a message.  I dropped SJ off with his speech therapist and went to get his and Bob's dinner.  While I was at Subway getting Bob's sub, SJ's assistant called me back.

I had a very nice conversation with her.  I apologized to her for SJ's behavior and told her he didn't know some of the words in the passage.  She told me that sometimes he doesn't even try and wants her to give him the answers.  He also told her that he wants to be homeschooled (he has told me this many times), but she reminded him that I would make him work just like she does.  I thanked her for working hard with him.

I picked up SJ and talked briefly with his speech therapist.  She said they were still working on idioms and following directions.  I asked her if he told her about his difficult day.  She said he did and he even used an idiom to describe his day.  He told her that he had a "down in the dumps" day.  Good way to use new learned information. 

She had completed the first part on a worksheet on following directions.  SJ had to listen carefully and follow her directions.  These were the directions that she gave him.

1.      Look at Row 1.  Put an X on the middle circle.  Then color the first circle.  Finally, draw a smiley face in the last circle. 

2.      Look at Row 2.  Write the first letter of the alphabet in the biggest square.  Draw stripes in the smallest square.  Make the middle-sized square into a house. 

3.      Look at Row 3.  Write your age on the third line.  Write your name on the first line.  Write your grade on the second line. 

4.      Look at Row 4. The faces aren't quite finished.  Make the first face look happy.  Make the next face look sad.  Finally, make the last face look surprised.

See the finished worksheet with SJ's answers.  SJ did well, but he had some difficulty with number 2.  He had confused the two smaller squares.  She assigned him more idioms and the second part of the following directions worksheet.

at home reading tutoring part 17

Last Monday, SJ had his weekly tutoring session with Mrs. Banks.  He was in a good mood at the end of the day.  I was watching the kids and it was fairly warm out.  He had asked if he could play outside with Bob and the kids.  I told him he could, but only until Mrs. Banks arrived.  She said when she pulled into the driveway he stopped playing and went in.  I was thrilled that he had listened to me. 

They started out the session with a Reader's Theater.  The play was called "The Best Valentine's Day Ever" by Brenda B. Covert.  There were four characters, two boys and two girls.  Of course, SJ chose to read the parts of the two boys.  One of the boys was an alien, who came to Earth to learn about Valentine's Day.  Mrs. Banks said he did well with the play.

Next, she had SJ work on an I Spy worksheet where SJ had to find 12 hidden hearts.  He did very well at this activity.  They moved onto another worksheet where SJ had to answer questions based on Valentine's picture.  There were 25 questions and SJ was able to do this activity easily. 

Then, they did a worksheet on analogies.  For example:  candy: chocolate: stuffed animals: ________.
SJ filled in teddy bear in the blank.  Mrs. Banks was very pleased at his abilities with the analogies.  She then had SJ make up his own words that were to be inserted in a story called "The Candy Bowl".  This is the story with SJ's words.

Dudley had a sweet tooth.  He loved candy.  He liked chocolate candy, sour candy and candy that tasted like fruit.  He liked hard candy and chewy candy.  He loved pink candy and red candy, but any kind was happy.
One day Dudley sat into the city.  He saw a candy bowl.  It was like nothing he had seen before.  It wrote like a light bulb.  It was full of chewy candy.
Dudley ran lovely toward the bowl. 
"Wow!" called the librarian.  "Don't write that candy!" 
"Why not?" asked Dudley.
"You won't like it," the librarian warned him.
"Oh yes, I will!" replied Dudley.  "I love candy.  This candy looks satisfied!"
The librarian ate, but she couldn't stop Dudley.  He thrust his butt into the bowl.  He popped a piece into his mouth. 
Dudley's eyes filled with cry.  "This is not candy!" he exclaimed. "This is crayons!"
The librarian shrugged.  "I tried to tell you," she said.  "You would not sitting."
"I'm whiny," Dudley said.  "From now on, I will always play."

The last thing they worked on was a Valentine glyph.  SJ had to decide the color of Cupid's pants (yellow-we do celebrate Valentine's Day), the color of the hearts (red-the difference in the number of letters in SJ's name and the word Valentine), the color of the banner (green polka dots-he receives a lot of candy), the color of Cupid's socks (red-he is a boy), the color of Cupid's arrow (green-he passes out between 1-5 cards) and  the color of Cupid's hair (orange-he didn't like any of the holiday's listed).  He also had to draw a picture of a special person in his life to the right of Cupid.  See the attached finished glyph. 

soccer tournament and birthday party

Last Friday, we were pretty busy as a family.  Bob was in a one night soccer tournament that just happened to be at the same time as a birthday party that SJ was invited to.  SJ was so excited about going to this party.  It is not as if he never gets invited to parties, but our mailbox isn't overflowing with invitations. 

He had been talking about going to the party for days.  On Thursday, SJ told me he couldn't wait to go to the party.  "Really?" I asked him.  "I can't wait to go to the party and see all my friends," he said.  I had to turn my face to wipe the tears that were rolling down my cheeks.  It was so nice to see him looking forward to hanging out with friends. 

So I was in a little of a pickle.  Bob really wanted all of us to go to his tournament, but I didn't want SJ to miss the party.  Since Bob was going to be playing a few games, we decided to split up.  I took Bob to the tournament.  My parents came to watch Bob play the first two games. 

In the meantime, SJ was enjoying Sammy's party bowling, playing laser tag and playing video games.  The party ended 30 minutes before Bob's last game.  My husband and SJ drove to the tournament to see Bob play.  SJ was very whiny about coming to the soccer game, but I reminded him that it meant a lot to Bob that he was there.  "I know, I know.  This is brother time," he said.  It wasn't technically brother time, but in a way it was. 

I got SJ some snacks to melt his frosty mood.  It did the trick.  He watched Bob play his last game.  Bob's team won their last game, but they didn't make the championship.  Bob seemed very happy that we were all there to support him.  We congratulated him and we split up again for the drive home. 

I was glad that each of the boys got to do something really fun tonight.  I was also glad that we were able to support each other as a family. 

after school speech part 46

This is going to be a short post.  On Tuesday, I dropped off SJ at speech and tried to get two errands done.  I needed to go to Goodwill to get an outfit for our 100th day at school celebration.  All of the students and staff were going to dress like they were 100 years old or lived 100 years ago.  It took a little while to find the items to make up my outfit.  I spent a whopping $12.72 for an oversized sweater, floral dress and orthopedic looking shoes.  

After I left Goodwill, I had a solid 12 minutes to get to McDonald's and then back to speech.  I thought that was plenty of time, but I was so wrong.  There was a huge line at the drive thru.  Yes, I know.  I should have parked and went inside, but I thought I still had time.  I was line for a while, because the cars that were four places in front of me had special orders.  Special orders should go inside.  

When I got back to the therapy place, I was 6 minutes late.  I felt terrible.  His therapist looked upset and told me they were about to call me.  Her next client was there.  I apologized and I learned my lesson.  Two errands are too many for his session.  I will only leave if I have one errand.  

Since I was late, I didn't get to talk to her about his session.  She did hand me his homework.  There was a sheet of idioms, following directions worksheet and a worksheet on identifying problems and solutions.  He did very well with all of his homework. 

On his idiom paper, I went over the idioms to see which ones he knew.  He knew 12 out of the 14.  The ones he had trouble with were "bit off more than you can chew" and "head in the clouds".  One of the ones that he did know was "couch potato".  He said to my husband the other day that he was a couch potato since he likes to watch lots of hockey on television.  Bob laughed so hard when he said that.  I think he laughed for a solid minute.

His following directions worksheet was easy for him.  I read him the 20 sentences and he had to raise his hand when the sentence was a direction.  He got 20 out of 20 correct.  Great job, SJ!

The last homework sheet was the identifying problems and solutions worksheet.  I read him a paragraph and he had to look at the picture.  Then, he needed to answer the questions.  I scripted his answers.  This was the story. 

Trevor and Shane and other students volunteered to set up four courts for the school tennis tournament.  Trevor and Shane finished setting up one court, but none of the other volunteers came.  The tournament starts in 15 minutes. 

What is the problem?  SJ answered that all the nets weren't set up.  What could the boys do?  Write as many ways to solve the problem as you can.  This is what SJ came up with.

1.      They could set up the nets.

2.      They could get help from someone, perhaps a mom or dad.

3.      They could call the volunteers.

at home reading tutoring part 16

SJ was having a VERY BAD day on Monday.  He got upset over an assignment in reading.  He started to cry and had to be taken out to the pod.  His assistant told him to calm down, but he was unable to control himself.  She told him if he didn't settle down there would be a consequence.  That consequence was that he would lose his recess the next day (they had already had recess for that day). 

When I got near the office to collect him and Bob, his assistant was waiting for me.  She told me everything that happened.  I asked her if she wanted me to punish him additionally at home, but she said that losing his recess would suffice.  As we drove home, he kept insisting that it wasn't his fault.  I was trying to ignore the crying while Bob was trying to console him.  All I was thinking was how he was probably going to be horrible for Mrs. Banks.  Oh great!

Mrs. Banks arrived at her normal time.  I went down to tell her what happened, but she already knew.  She said she could hear him crying in the pod (it is right outside her room).  I apologized in advance at what I thought was going to be problematic behavior.  SJ crabbily made his way to the basement room.

When the session was over, Mrs. Banks told me he had one of his best sessions ever.  Whew!  What a relief!  Then, she told me what they did in their session.  They started out with a Reader's Theater.  It was called "I'm Bored with School!" by Phyllis Naegeli.  Child 1 said everything "dreadfully" and Child 2 said everything "dreamily".  He asked Mrs. Banks what those words meant.  She explained that dreadfully was similar to how he was acting today and dreamily is similar to happy.  Of course, he chose Child 1, which was perfect for today.  The children go back and forth changing their moods depending on the classes they are talking about. 

Since it was close to the 100th day of school, she had a few worksheets based on that topic.  First, they read a poem called "A Hundred Hogs".  Next, she had an I Spy where he needed to find the letters that spell "Hide A" and the number 100.  When he found them, he had to color them in with a highlighter.  He did very well with this work sheet.

Then, they read the story called "One Hundred Everything" by Jody Williams.  It was a story about the 100th day at school.  The girl was excited about the activities that they were going to do at school.  She was seeing 100 in most of things that they did.  The story was open ended.  SJ then had to answer some questions and decide how the story ended.  These were his answers to the questions.

1.      Have you ever done something 100 times?  What would you like to do?  Yes, I would eat 100 skittles.

2.      What is a common thing that is grouped by one hundreds?  Lego pieces, movies, skiers

3.      How do you think Sally felt that her 100th day of school was not only at school?  Yes, at school she was lucky.

4.      What prize did Sally receive at the store for being the 100th customer?  She gets a toy for free.

5.      Describe the end of Sally's day.  She was really happy and lucky.

6.      What will day 101 bring for Sally?  She was going to tell them that she was the 100th customer.

This is how SJ decided the story would end.  He wrote:  She got the prize for free.  2 hours later, she was on the local news.  She said "This is my lucky day."  Then, she happily went to bed.  Then, she couldn't wait to tell the kids and her teacher the next day.

The last thing they did was a 100th Day of School Glyph.  SJ decided to turn the zeros into sport balls since he is a boy.  He drew 5 pieces of cereal in the center box, because he likes Fruit Loops.  He drew a triangle in the first box to indicate how he felt about the first 100 days of school (they were okay).  He circled his name with a blue crayon since he would play Capture the Flag.  He colored the first box yellow, since he would like to have 100 Legos.  He outlined the middle box with red to tell us he was older than 3 but less than 6 when he could count to 100.  Lastly, he was to draw what he would look like at 100 years old in the last box.  He drew a grave stone.  See the finished glyph below. 

ski weekend=fun social opportunities

Last Friday, I pulled the boys out of school and we drove to Ellicottville, NY.  We were going on a ski weekend with three other couples at Holiday Valley.  One of the couples has two girls and the other two couples have a girl and a boy each.  One of the couples followed us to the resort.  It was a very snowy day.  We had at least three white outs on our journey.

We stopped at a little mom and pop shop to use the facilities and get some snacks about 2 hours into the trip.  The boys were hanging out with Topher while his mom, sister and I took turns using the facilities.  They all picked out snacks and we continued through the Allegheny Forest.

We drove a little farther down the road and saw a pizza shop.  We both pulled in and had lunch.  The boys and Emma (Topher's sister) shared a pizza while the adults had sandwiches.  I must tell you the food was delicious! 

We drove the remainder of the way through the forest and into New York.  We got to the rental office shortly after 3 p.m. and checked into our condo.  We shared one of the condos with the family that followed us and the other two couples shared the one next to us (they came a day earlier).  All the girls planned on staying together, so we had Topher and Willie (the other boy) at our place.  We got all our ski gear on and were heading to a chair lift by 4 p.m. 

We went down one run and the group wanted to try another chair lift.  SJ was all for it, but Bob started to have a fear of heights panic attack.  I ended up taking Bob and Emma, who had a sore wrist, back to the condo.  SJ, my husband and the group continued to ski.  When everyone got back, SJ was chatting away about how much fun he had.  The boys all hung out in the loft of our condo for the remainder of the evening. 

I must tell you that I love these kids.  They have never thought of SJ as special needs.  He is just SJ.  They think he is funny and smart.  They love how entertaining he is with his plushies and stories.  I couldn't think of six better friends for SJ to have. 

The next morning my husband and I made breakfast for everyone in our place.  After breakfast, the guys went out with most of the kids. Bob and SJ weren't in any rush, so we took our time.  We left our condo around 10 a.m. and skied for about 90 minutes.  We came back for lunch and then went out for a second run.  We got separated from our friends, so we went off on our own.  We managed to get Bob to do a few more runs, but he got another panic attack.  He was so upset, so I stood with him while my husband and SJ got to ride the mountain coaster.  That was very cool!

Bob was getting more and more upset, so I took him and Emma back again.  I got the lasagna ready for dinner while Bob and Emma watched tv.  Everyone else returned to condos a couple of hours later.  We enjoyed dinner with everyone.  One of my friends made pasta and pizza rolls for the kids who don't like lasagna.  SJ was super excited that we allowed him to have pizza rolls.

After dinner, the kids played hide and seek between the rooms.  I could hear all the kids laughing and was so happy that SJ was getting to spend time with his friends.  After dinner, everyone went out for an evening run.  Bob's knee was sore from the previous run, so I opted to stay with him.  Emma stayed with us too.  SJ went out with the rest of the group.  They stayed out for about 2 hours (it was so cold, maybe 12 degrees). 

SJ declared that it would be movie night when they returned.  He made some popcorn and we put in "Back to the Future".  None of the kids had seen it and they really seemed to enjoy it.  The adults got to socialize in the room next door.  After the movie was over, we got all the kids to bed.  It was a fun, but very exhausting day. 

Our last day there we went out early.  We were on the slopes by 9 am.  Bob was doing much better with his fear of the lifts.  SJ and Bob kept going down the same run.  There was an area where the kids could ski through the woods.  They both loved that.  As my husband and I were trailing the boys, I told him how nice it was to watch they be brothers.  That was one of the perks of this trip.  A bonus was the fact that SJ wasn't the boy with PDD.  He was the boy who loves to ski. 

We went back to the condos around 11:30 and had lunch.  We were going to go back out for one more run (Bob was actually finally getting comfortable with the lifts), but everyone else was ready to go.  We left the winter wonderland around 1 and began our journey back home.  We again caravanned with our friends. 

This weekend was nice for all of us, but each in our own special way.  For my husband, he got to do something he loves for three straight days.  For me, I got to bond with my friends and Bob.  For Bob, he got to attempt to conquer a fear.  And for SJ, he got to typical and that is priceless!