BACK TO SCHOOL!

I am so excited to welcome students back to school tomorrow!  

A few notes:

Homework will probably not begin until August 24.  

As soon as we have therapy schedules we will send them home!

If you are having any difficulty with bus schedules etc please let us know.

Check back soon for some pictures from our first day!!

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!!

Up and running!

October and things are running smooth!  Miss Brown (student teacher)  and I are working well together and the kids are making great progress!

This year the students are rotating between seven areas of the room.
 Group-small group instruction three times a day, reading, math, and functional daily calendar group.  Teacher time-individual iep based instruction
workstation-independent iep related activities
 table time-individual or small group writing/language activities
Centers-fun learning games based on spelling, math or science/social studies
Technology time-computer it iPad use
Break time

This rotation is working wonderfully to ensure each student is making the individual progress they need!  In the photos below you can see the workstations and the rotation boards.

All students are also being included as much as is appropriate for them.  Special classes, read aloud ans science and social studies are modified as appropriate for each student.

Information for home use:

You should have received a username and password for reading eggs.com I taped it into your take home folders as well.  This is a fun reading website for your students to use at home and school!  I am then able to check their progress.

Dr. Fry's high frequency words are what we are using for reading and writing/spelling this year.  There are many links online.

For group instruction we are using funnix math and reading supplemented with engaging, hands on activities.


Here are some photos from the room.  As always email or call with questions.

WELCOME BACK!

Thank you for taking the time to visit the site. The more I know you are visiting, the more I will update.

I like to post pictures of our recent creations or activities on this site as well as update you with any school happenings.

Please keep checking back.

Zoo!

We had a wonderful time at the zoo even with the rain. We lucked out with only a small amount of rain and no huge thunderstorms! We got to see a little of everything, ate lunch with the tigers, and everyone behaved beautifully! Here are a couple of picture from the day.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Using pictures as models is a great visual perceptual activity that can be done at home. We read the book, 'My heart is like a zoo'. It is a wonderful book that takes hearts of different sizes and colors to make different animals. Each animal has it's own description, 'as cool as a penguin', etc, etc. It is a fun book. I gave the students various sizes and colors of hearts and used the book as a model. They made these wonderful creations. It is interesting to watch their minds work as they turn them and fit them together to make their animal creation.

Enjoy!

Tis the Season!

We've been busy at school celebrating the holidays! I've been so proud of all of our students. They have displayed wonderful behavior and have been fully included in all that is going on.

The trip to the Nutcracker was a tremendous success. I was fascinated with how interested the students were. They all set appropriately and attentively for the performance and we very excited to find their very own nutcracker upon our return. :)

Old Frost for the second grade was fun and exciting. Some of them sang, some of them swayed along and smiled, but they all enjoyed it. I was very proud of them all!

Chorale visit, again lots of smiles and enjoyment.

Carol on the round, a wonderful celebration of holiday music. The students stood up and sat down when they were supposed to and sang and participated in all of the movements.

I hope your family has a wonderful holiday together! Enjoy the moments!

Special Art

Did you know that we go to a 'special' art class twice a month? On Fridays we have been so lucky to be going to see Mrs. Fish just as our small group. Mrs. Potts class (3rd and 4th grade) and my class (K-2) get to go in and do some really neat projects. We've made quilts, beautiful red, white and blue paintings and most recently our wonderful ornaments. Thank you Mrs. Fish!!

We're up and running!

Today was the first day of kindergarten, so no we are going full throttle. We have a wonderful group this year and we are off to a great start.

**Our annual fishing trip with Mr. B will be on Tuesday September 14. We will be leaving around 9:30 and returning around 1:30.**

I'm going to try posting more pictures this year. However, not including anyone's faces...so we'll see how that goes.

One piece of our classroom is the use of technology to engage the students. Here is a picture of one example. This is 'The Phonics Dance' powerpoint that I have created so that we can do the chant everyday with the use of visuals. It is projected onto the white board and the audio runs over the classroom speakers. Once they get it down we'll be dancing our way through the alphabet.

Summer is coming to an end....sadly enough. :)

The Gueth kids...Emarie and Preston :)

I hope you have had a fun summer. I've spent my time camping, and going to dance class, music class, and library story time. I'm looking forward to coming back though.

Hopefully you have received your 'back 2 school' letter from me, or will soon. Please note about the supply money. $30 sent to me. If you have any questions let me know. I'm attaching the letter to this blog as well.

Happy Mother's Day!

Given a step by step how to draw flowers this is what they came up with, INDEPENDENTLY!

Our trip to the zoo!

The kids loved the zoo! Thank you all so much for letting them come on the trip.
We had absolutely NO behavior problems. It was a wonderful day. The highlights were the aquarium, elephants, and the penguins. In the manatee exhibit there are 4 baby manatees that are worth the drive to see. The zoo has also opened the polar bear exhibit this week. I can't wait to see that. Here are some pictures from our trip.

One of the baby manatees.

Apparently, he's the king of the zoo. :)

The flamingos were very active that day.

Snow, snow, go away!

A snow day here and there is always a pleasant surprise, but this is getting a bit extreme. It looks like our 'normal' routine will have to wait until March to resume.

With all of the snow days and long weekends, it's important to keep your student's routine consistent. Bedtime, wake time, etc all should remain somewhat the same. This makes their transitions back to school much better. Keep a close watch of their diets and activity, as well as necessary medications, etc. All of these factors make them feel much better and function much better at home and at school.

Thank you for your help in this matter! I hope you are all enjoying the snow as much as you can. It's always nice to get notes of what the students do at home, in the snow, etc.. We often ask them questions and that helps a lot!

February, all ready!?!

Soon and very soon all of your IEPs will be due. Three of which we already have in process.... keep your eyes on your home to school logs for reminders of due dates, and meeting date conversation. If I have met with you for an IEP I do not need to see you at conferences.

Third and fourth graders are currently involved in wrapping up alternate assessments. This is a way for them to be assessed by the state in lieu of taking the sit down pencil and paper test. Alternate assessments are made up of more hands on student specific tasks monitored and made by myself. Each year when the assessment page states alternate assessment this is what it is referring to.

Coughing, sneezing, yucks...

Each year at this time I send a reminder about illnesses at school. Please bare in mind how dependent your student is on the staff when you are deciding whether or not to send them to school. We work very hard trying to teach them to get a tissue independently when needed and use it correctly. Also, covering mouths and washing hands. Many of the students are very resistant to a lot of this which tells us that aren't expected to do it as often at home. Please help us in these matters to keep all of the students and staff healthy.
Remember school policy is to keep students home 24 hrs AFTER the break of a fever.

Because we have seen a lot of the coughs and sneezes, we're once again running low on tissues, clorox wipes, wet wipes, etc. Please donate what you can.