Tutoring sessions 1 and 2

Audio recording of first tutoring session on May 4, 2009:



Summary of first tutoring session (May 4, 2009):
READING
(1) Review of previously read booklet on giraffes. Concentrated on expressiveness, correct pronunciation, proper observance of punctuation, and comprehension of text.

(2) Review of previously read booklet with story of children finding a cave.
Reviewed difficult words that were mispronounced in the first reading:

• scrambling (looked up this word in dictionary, discussed strategy of how to find a word quickly in dictionary)
• exclaimed
• pine
• sloping
• plunging
• barrier

After student reread the entire story, he was asked to retell the story in his own words. Notably, in his retelling he made correct use of the new word "scrambling".

WRITING
Student wrote several sentences on the topic of "giraffes", including the new word "gallop".
[Note for future lesson: review difference between "then" and "than".]

MATH
We reviewed strategies for correctly telling the time in terms of "X minutes after Y o'clock" (e.g., 3:10 is "ten minutes after three o'clock") and "X minutes before Y o'clock".


Summary of second tutoring session (May 6, 2009):
MATH
Began with a different approach to telling time: Writing out digital representation of a time and showing specific strategy for converting that into a "minutes before" or "minutes after" statement.

READING
Then, for reading, used a book from the student's current reading level. This was easier text, so gave opportunity to focus on smoothness of reading, with proper expression and observance of punctuation.

WRITING
For writing and note-taking, continued with unit-based research on the moons of Jupiter. I showed student several websites that I had previously bookmarked which had specific sentences that (1) I knew student would likely be able to read and (2) had very interesting facts about the moons. The particular focus, which the student realized on his own, was the possible presence of water (and thus possibly life) on several of the moons of Jupiter. The student wrote notes in his own words, paraphrasing what I pointed out on the websites for him to read.

[Follow up, either in unit work in class or in tutoring sessions, on the moon Io, which we did not get to in this session.]