TP #5: How Our Bodies Work

September 11, 2013

            I met PJ for another tutoring session of reading and vocabulary. This time, he chose to read Inside Your Busy Body, a book I had as a child. PJ was surprised to hear that, but my name is inside as proof! I like this book a lot. It’s able to explain pretty scientific concepts (that bones provide protection for organs, or that we inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide) in very accessible vocabulary. Best of all, the book generated a lot of conversation about body processes. We clarified a couple misconceptions (“Is your brain hard?” I asked. “Yes,” PJ replied. “Actually…”) and learned about lungs, bones, and muscles. We only got through partway before we had to switch gears to vocabulary. Each week, PJ’s teacher gives her students 10 vocabulary words that they see in exercises and two stories. We were able to cover half, words like feathers (which I asked PJ to draw for me), commotion (tricky!), and predict. I made sure to praise PJ when he came up with a good sentence and when he paused after periods. He still doesn’t have a lot of inflection when he reads, but he is doing much better pausing after commas and periods. It was a good session!