Margot Smethurst’s Experiential Project Journal

*For privacy reasons I am unable to disclose or take photos with my student. Additionally, the

Reading Partners Curriculum is trademarked, so I am unable to share images of those, instead I

will describe what materials I am using.*

2/18/2021

I attended Part 1 of my Reading Partners Connect Orientation. I learned about the non-profit,

their mission, and my role as a volunteer and the expectations. I am excited to begin volunteering

with this organization because I can see how dedicated they are to their mission and the impact

they have already made in the San Francisco Bay Area community.

3/4/2021

I attended the second half of my Reading Partners Connect Orientation today. This session was

focused on the tools that tutors will be using, how to conduct a session, and the different

curriculums that they have established for different reading levels. Now that I have completed

both orientations, I can be paired with a student. I’m excited to start tutoring!
3/8/2021

Today I observed a tutoring session with my student. It was helpful to see the materials used and

how the other tutor transitioned between the different aspects of the lesson. I will start tutoring

her next week. I am excited to start, and I can tell that she is an enthusiastic and quick learner.

She is an English language learner, so her lessons are focused on learning the alphabet and

phonological awareness. She did well with recognizing the letters and words that start with those

letters. At the end of each lesson, there is a tutor read-aloud and a student read-aloud. Today the

other tutor read a book about the moon, which she really enjoyed.

3/10/2021

Today was my first official tutoring

session. The substitute tutor and I

co-tutored the lesson: he did an

activity with her in the beginning and

then I instructed the rest of the lesson.

We talked about different emotions, when we would feel those emotions, and categorized them as

“comfortable” versus “uncomfortable” feelings. After that, we read a book about emotions and

talked about the concept of problem and solution. My student did a great job of identifying

emotions, facial expressions that match those emotions, and identifying the problem and solution

in the book. I felt good about the session and the other tutor told me I did well and gave me a

helpful tip for next time.

3/15/2021

Today my student learned two new letters: p

and o. We reviewed the other letters she has

learned so far and sang the ABCs. Then we

played a game where I broke up words into

their syllables and she guessed what word I

was saying, for example, /b/-/air/ is bear. She

did well on this activity and was happy to earn

stars for each correct answer. Then we read a

poem together and picked out the high

frequency words.

3/17/2021

Today my student and I went over two new letters, g and h, and reviewed the other letters she has

learned so far. Then we played a game where we looked at four different pictures and sounded

out each word to figure out which word didn’t belong based on the first sound. After that, we
read three short poems that we have been reading each session and she was able to read them on

her own without much help from me. Then I read her a book about ocean creatures and we talked

about the different images and facts on the pages. She is a great, hardworking student and I can

tell that she is learning and improving greatly.

3/22/2021

Today my student learned two new letters, b and i,

then we worked on breaking apart words by

sounding them out. After that we played the game

that we played in our last session where I showed her

four pictures and she picked out the word that didn’t

belong based on the first sound. Then I read her a

book about a chick hatching, which she liked and

said she had read before. Then she sang the ABC song, one of her favorites, and she identified

different letters she has learned. She has improved a lot and has already learned over half of the

alphabet! She is a great kid to tutor because she is very enthusiastic and eager to learn.

3/31/2021

Today my student learned the letters j and w, we reviewed all of the letters she has learned so far,

we played a game where we picked out and matched rhyming words, and then we reviewed high

frequency words. She has definitely improved at recognizing the letters and their sounds, without

much assistance from me. Also, she liked playing the game where we matched rhyming words
because she earned stars for each correct answer. She enjoyed reading out the sentences with

high frequency words and adding on to the sentences.

4/12/2021

Today I taught my student the letters l and w, then we reviewed all of the letters she has learned

so far and their sounds. She has learned 18 letters so far, which is amazing. She has done 10

sessions so far. After we reviewed letters, we played a bingo game where we matched rhyming

words. She enjoyed that game a lot. Then we started to practice a comprehension skill: retelling

events in a story, after reading a short paragraph. After that, she picked out a sticker, which we do

at the end of every lesson and then we said our goodbyes.

4/14/2021

In our lesson today, we focused on reviewing high

frequency words and then she learned two new words: me

& and. After that she read aloud sentences that combined

several high frequency words to practice. Then I read her

a book called The Fox and Grapes, which is one of

Aesop’s fables. We talked about the moral of the story,

the fox’s emotions, and then I had her retell me the events

of the story to practice that comprehension skill. She

really enjoyed this story because she thought it was

funny. Then we reviewed letters by playing a game and she sang the ABC song, her favorite.

After we finished our lesson she picked out a sticker.

4/21/2021

Today my student and I talked about and practiced two mindfulness activities. In the first one, we

envisioned a cookie in our hand that we were

breathing in the scent of, and then breathing

out to cool it off after a few seconds. My

student really liked this one because I told

her to imagine her favorite kind of cookie:

chocolate chip. Then we moved on to talking

about what characters and events were, before reading a book called When I Feel Worried. This

book was about a character who felt worried in several situations but practiced mindfulness and

participated in activities to relieve their feelings of worry. Throughout reading the book, we

talked about the events and the character’s feelings. Then we practiced one more mindfulness

activity where we listed 5 things we saw, 4 things we heard, 3 things we could feel, 2 things we

could smell, and 1 thing we could taste. This mindfulness activity has you focus on your senses

to slow down and take deep breaths. Then she picked out a sticker and we finished our session.

4/26/2021

Today my student learned the letters v and k. Then we reviewed all of the letters she has learned

so far and the sounds they make. She has learned 20 letters, so she is almost done learning the

entire alphabet. Then we practiced finding rhyming words. On screen a picture would pop up and

I would ask her to tell me a word that rhymes with the picture on screen: cat and hat, train and

rain, etc. She struggled with this task a little bit, I think that she was confused when I asked her

about the ending sound of the word, she would either reply with the first sound or the last letter.
After a few rounds, I think that the task became more clear to her. Then she picked out a sticker

and we logged off.

4/28/2021

In our session today, my student and I talked about identifying the setting of a story by either

looking at the illustrations or the words written on the page. We looked at several examples from

books we had already read or new ones, and she identified the settings of each one. Then we

reviewed all of the high frequency words she has learned so far and learned two new ones: can

and go. Then she read out sentences on screen using the high frequency words. Finally, I read her

a book called My Food, Your Food, Our Food which talked about different types of food, places

people eat, things they eat with or on, around the world. She enjoyed that book and said that her

teacher had read it to their class recently.

4/30/2021

Today my student learned the letters r and y, then

we reviewed all of the letters she has learned so

far and the sound they make. I can definitely see a

difference in her recognition of the letters and

their sounds. She has learned almost the whole

alphabet so far and each week when we do this

activity, her speed and recognition has improved.

Then we played a game where we blended sounds

together to form words. After that, we reviewed the high frequency words she has learned and
then learned a new one: play. She then read several sentences on screen to practice, before we

moved to the tutor-read aloud. We read Do NOT Bring Your Dragon to the Library which she

enjoyed and thought was a funny book. Then she picked out her sticker and we signed off.

5/3/2021

Today my student learned the letters e and x, then we reviewed the rest of the alphabet. Then we

played a game where we blended sounds together to form words. After that, we talked about

characters in a story and identified the characters in a few books we have read. Then we reviewed

all of the high frequency words she has learned before signing off.

5/5/2021

Today my student learned the letters z and q, I think that she has learned the whole alphabet by

now. After learning those letters, we played a game where we sounded out the sounds in a word

on screen, and for each sound, a frog on screen would jump. Then we reviewed high frequency

words before learning a new one: here. After that, she read out sentences using high frequency

words before moving on to the tutor read aloud. We read a book called Drat That Fat Cat, which

she thought was funny. On Monday, the site coordinator told me that she is going to assess my

student to see her progress. The end of the tutoring year is the second to last week of May, so

they’ll assess her to see her progress from her start with their program in early March.