at home reading tutoring part 23

On Monday, SJ had his weekly reading tutoring session with Mrs. Banks.  He was extremely adamant about not wanting to be tutored anymore.  He said repeatedly, "Mom, PSSA's are over.  I don't need tutored anymore.  Give me a break!"  He must think we were having him tutored just for the PSSA.  We weren't.  We are more concerned about his overall reading comprehension abilities. 

After some reminders of what the consequence would be if he didn't come downstairs, he started his way downstairs.  I told him that he would lose all electronics for two day if he wasn't in the chair by the time I counted backwards from five.  He was in the chair by two. 

Mrs. Banks said he was much more difficult in the second half of the session.  They began with a Reader's Theater.  It was called "The Classroom Mystery" by Colleen Messina.  She said SJ again didn't want to be the Narrator.  He felt the lines were too long for that character.  She said that is fine, but then he would have to read Ms. Frazzle.  Since he doesn't want to read a girl's part, he chose to read the Narrator, as well as Student 1, 2 and 4.  The play was about a teacher who was trying to get her students to act out a historical figure.  Instead, they decided to act out Ms. Frazzle, who is famous to them.

Next, SJ had to look at these pictures and answer the questions. These are the pictures. 

Here are some of the questions he had to answer.

1. The lizards went to Mario's grocery to buy the ingredients for their dinner.  Can you figure out what they made?  pizza
2. How many lizards sat at the table for dinner?  6
3. What holiday are the lizards celebrating?  Cinco De Mayo
4. How many tomatoes can you find in the picture? 7
5. In what country do the lizards live? Mexico, Arizona

At this point of the session, SJ began to be very difficult.  Mrs. Banks said he started fidgeting while they were working on a "What Is It?" activity.  He had to read the page and decide what animal it is by the clues that were given.  She thought he would have a tantrum when he didn't answer the correct animals.  Thankfully, he didn't have a tantrum over not knowing a bat or a walking stick.  He did complain when she asked him to draw an animal he knew.  He wanted to draw a dog, but she wanted him to draw another kind of animal.  She drew a bird and he eventually drew a worm.  He had to then answer some comprehension questions.  He had a lot of trouble with this. She reminded him that if he hadn't been fidgeting and paid attention he would have been able to answer the questions correctly. 

The real fit came next.  She asked him to read a very small passage.  It was story describing a straw.  SJ had to answer a few questions about the passage.  He simply didn't want to do it, so he threw himself on the ground.  She reminded him that she would not be leaving until his work was done.  After a few minutes, he pulled himself together.  He read the passage and answered the questions. 

She moved on to analogies.  SJ loves analogies.  Here are a few of them. 

1. comedian : tells jokes :: magician : performs magic tricks
2. run : flee :: take cover : hide
3. decoy : look alike :: disguise : costume

Next, they did a Mad Lib type story.  SJ had to come up with words, which she inserted into the story.  Here are his words and the completed story. 

adjective-funny

adjective-happy

noun-temple

adjective-mysterious

adjective-bold

noun-Egypt

verb-past tense-wrote

adverb-hardly

color-yellow

adverb-easily

verb-search

noun-body part- brain

noun-body part-heart

verb-past tense-erased

adjective-glad

adjective-mad

adverb-normally

adverb-expertly

adjective-sad

noun-magnify glass

verb-past tense-ate

adjective-confused

 

It was just another day.  Mac led a funny life.  Nothing happy ever happened to him.  He told all his friends that it would always be that way.  What was that sitting on Mac's kitchen table?  It was the size of a temple.  It was wrapped in mysterious bold paper with a yellow Egypt on top.  Mac wrote hardly toward the table.  His gaze never left the box.  Who had left a gift there?  Mac saw a small yellow tag on the box.  He lifted it easily and read it.  "Surprise!" it said.  He lifted the box and gave it a search.  He heard a few faint bumps, yet the box felt empty.  "What is as light as air but can bump the six walls of a box?" Mac asked.  He sat the box on the table.  He scratched his brain.  He rubbed his heart.  He erased at the mystery box.  He did not know who gave him this glad gift.  He did not know why anyone would do something as mad as this.  The only way to find out was to open the box.  Mac reached for the box.  He normally tore the paper off.  He expertly lifted the lid.  Out of the box floated a sad magnify glass!  A note was attached to the ribbon that dangled from it.  Mac read it and ate.  The gift had come from his friend Bree!  He could no longer say that nothing ever happened to him.  Today he had received a confused surprise.  The mystery was solved!

The last thing they worked on was a Mystery May Glyph.  He decided on the color of the detective's hat (blue-he has lost something before, but he found it), the color of the detective's jacket (black-he thinks mystery books are okay), color of the word "Mystery" (orange-he knows a real detective), color of magnifying glass handle (purple-he enjoys watching mystery cartoons), color of the magnifying glass lens (yellow-he likes to solve puzzles), color of the word "It's a" (silver-he would require a notebook and pencil if he was a detective) and what to draw under the word mystery (a 3DS-something he lost in the past but he found it).  Here is his completed glyph.