Snowmen at Night!

After reading the book Snowmen at Night by Caralyn Buehner we made our own
snowmen.  This was a design challenge!!  The finished products were awesome! 

They got to make a scene for their snowmen and will be writing about what their snowman does at night this week. 

This week they wrote a descriptive paragraph about their snowman using Expanded Expression beads. 

We measured our snowmen using standard (ruler) and non-standard (cubes) measurement.  We put our snowmen in order from tallest to shortest too. 

Come by to see the finished hallway display.  Your students' snowman will be coming home very soon! 

Thank you to Miss Brown and Mrs. Gray for coming to help us complete these!!  :) 

Welcome Miss Brown!

I am so excited to be working with Miss Brown!  We are working separately in two differentiated groups... and it is working wonderfully. 

We are excited to be together for conferences next week and the first week of October.  I have all but one student signed up.  :)    If you have questions you'd like to discuss please feel free to email ahead of time and I will tailor our time to your questions.  I will also go over progress thus far. 

Fishing NEXT Tuesday!  Have them dressed for the weather.  No worries about lunch unless you think they will not eat it. 

Until next time!

Up and Running!

Week one is in the books!  We are getting schedules set and routines oriented.  All is going very well! 

Morning Meeting: 

Our building wide morning meeting started Monday August 18, 2014.  We all come into the cafeteria and sit with our homeroom classes while we read silently.  Then the announcements are done live as a whole building!  It's a fun, community way to start the day.  

Please send a book (with a name in/on it) in your child's backpack each day.  This will be the book they read silently when they arrive each morning.  

School Wide Design Challenge:

A portrait of a leader:  a 12x12 (scrapbook size) page with pictures, words, etc.  Whatever you would like.  Each student in the building will have one of these hanging in the halls.  Please send it in as soon as possible.  I have only received 2 out of 8 so far.  

Here are Mrs. Malone, Mrs. Weals and I's as examples.  

Homework/ Parent Communication:

Please check your students daily communication sheet daily.  This has information about their day, this week as well as homework and behavior.  There is a spot to initial each night so that we know you saw it.  Especially with students with communication delays it is imperative to keep the lines of communication open between us.   

Thank you in advance!

Happy Summer!

I sincerely hope you are all able to enjoy your summer.  I spend my summer soaking up my children and loving the weather.  I have been reading, working in the room and preparing myself for the year to come.

Save the dates:

Meet the Teacher
6:30-7:30 August 11, 2014!  :)
First Day of School
August 13!

Back to school letters will be coming home the first week of August.  Please go ahead and shop for the supply list for your grade level.  We will share those supplies.  I do ask for you to purchase baby wipes, tissues, hand sanitizer, clorox wipes, and glue sticks for our classroom in addition to those on the supply lists.

See you all soon!

You are appreciated!!

Please take some time to read this article.  It hit home even for me as my daughter has Tourette's Syndrome.  

http://www.themobilityresource.com/20-things-parents-of-kids-with-special-needs-should-hear/

Ohio Academic Content Standards Extended

Ohio Academic Content Standards Extended

Did you know that we are now teaching to the Ohio Academic Content Standards Extended?  The Department of Education has came up with a modified curriculum for students with disabilities to follow.  This lines up directly with the regular education Common Core.  It takes each regular standard and gives three tiered standards underneath.

The standards are set up in grade bands.  I am teaching to the K-2 grade band, there is also a 3-5, 6-9 and 10-12 band.  All of these standards are available for your reading pleasure on the ODE's website.  

How this is presented in the classroom: 

-The "I can" statements hanging in the classroom are made from these extended content standards.  

-Each student's IEP goals are based upon the extended standards.  You will see these stated at the top of each goal page.

-Your student's grade cards will reflect that they are progressing towards grade level standards, which they are.  Each at their own pace.  For their individual progress you will refer to their IEP progress report which will come home with the regular grade card.  Use the grade card as a reference to what the same age peers are working on and what we are working towards. 

-The Alternate Assessment to the OAA given in third and fourth grades is directly based from these content standards. 

Example from the first grade Math Common Core Curriculum:

Standard

1.OA.1 Use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve word problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart and comparing with unknowns in all positions.

Extended Standards linked to the above (most to least complex)

OA.K2.1a Solve +/- word problems within 20, involving situations where one is 'adding to', 'taking from', 'putting together' and 'taking apart' using models or objects. 
OA.K2.1b Solve +/- word problems within 10, involving situations where one is 'adding to', 'taking from', 'putting together' and 'taking apart' using models or objects. 

OA.K2.1c Solve +/- word problems within 5, involving situations where one is ‘adding to’ ‘taking from’ ‘putting together’ and ‘taking apart’  using models or objects. 

I have added a website to the links listed on this page that has amazing activities that follow the math common core.  You may choose whichever grade level, it will give you what standards that grade is working on and give you great games that are online to play to practice those standards.  This website is made by a different school district and therefore the pacing guides (what is reported on each quarter) may vary from ours.    https://smart.wikispaces.hcpss.org  

More and more information will be coming about this. Look for information at parent teacher conferences as well as with your student's grade card when they come home. 

Welcome to my website!

  I am hopeful that this will be a place that you can get more details about what is going on here at school as well as links to valuable information for you to use at home.

Room Setup:
Did you know that our classroom runs on a STACK (structured teaching for autism and communication delayed kids) approach?  This is a valuable asset to our learning environment as it allows for independence and differentiation to be imbedded into every activity.   In our room there is a rotation board.  This has every area of the room and every student's name on it.  As I need them to move I move their names around and they are able to know exactly where to go and what to do just by that.  The areas and activities are directly taught before hand and then they quickly are able to navigate the classroom independently with that one little cue.

Pictures are used throughout the room to help the students better communicate with us and us with them.

Here students use magnets to select what they would like to want given picture and written choices.

Curriculum:  The State of Ohio has come up with an Extended version of the Common Core for students with disabilities that are participating in the alternate assessment instead of the state OAA tests. These standards directly link to the regular standards and are made in grade bands.  K-2 and 3-5.  

To make my lesson plans I am following the regular education pacing guides (what needs taught each semester) and have linked these to the extended standards.   'I can' statements hang on the board each week to give a visual cue to the kids and to myself to our learning targets for the week.  

Behavior and Social Growth:
Our building is adopting the Seven Habits of Happy Kids for our overall core values.  This is very exciting!  Many other schools around the country are using this program and have had great success.  I'm so excited about it I'm even using it with my own children at home.  On our behavior board the Seven Habits are there along with our 'Ready to Learn' chart and our sticker charts.  Students earn stickers based on good choices and can turn in a completed sticker chart for a prize in the prize box. :)

Please let me hear from you if you enjoy using and will frequently check this website.  In the past there has be little to no traffic and therefore it wasn't updated.  Send me an email or write me a note if you have seen this. :) Thanks!!