Thursday, September 29, 2011
Coming Soon!
It was wonderful to see all of you on Back-To-School Night! It was difficult to fit everything in, so I have posted some salient, time-sensitive information below. Monday is our 5 senses field trip to Land's Sake Farm! Remember to send your child to school in comfortable shoes and weather-appropriate outdoor "gear." It is always a wonderful trip!
Thursday Afternoons: Untangling Confusions
Assessment Sessions
September/October
January
May/June
During this time and during some time during the typical class time, your child will participate in the following: math assessments, alphabet recognition and letter/sound automaticity (rapid, automatic naming); writing the alphabet; writing numbers; reading sight words: DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills); and phonemic awareness. Additional assessments may be used to establish your child's skill level and her/his application of those skills to classwork. This data allows us to engage and challenge students at the "edge," or most appropriate level, of their development in each given area. Please note that we do not assess all of these areas at once. We do certain assessments at certain times during the year with goal of guiding all children to meet kindergarten benchmarks by the end of the school year. It is important to note that "assessment" and analysis of your child's skills occurs anecdotally and informally all the time as your child engages in the curriculum.
4-6 Week Afternoon Sessions
These sessions will be scheduled for logical periods of time during the calendar year so as to provide as much consistency as possible for the students in the group. Each group will have no more than 4-6 students at at time. The district's intention behind this unique, enviable program design is to provide targeted, well-informed early intervention for students during this critical period of language and literacy development and mathematical understanding. Additionally, there may be opportunities to provide enrichment for students displaying advanced skills. If I feel your child would benefit from the focus area of a given session, I will extend an invitation for your child to attend at least one week in advance.
The Social Curriculum
As you know from the letter I sent home last Friday, Open Circle has begun! This year, I am co-teaching the lessons with Dr. Mary Schaefer, the school psychologist. Mary and I have been working together for years, and we often consult around the topic of establishing a positive, productive and caring classroom culture. We are currently on Lesson #4, nonnegotiable rules. The class established the following "nonnegotiables" or rules that never change: Raise your hand~one voice at a time; don't talk when others are talking; Safe bodies. Impressively, the children have already begun using this language with each other and applying it to all class meetings. If you ever happen by during an Open Circle lesson, you are more than welcome to join us. There is always an "open chair" waiting to be filled!
Monday, September 26, 2011
Monday, September 19, 2011
Back-To-School Night!
Hello everyone and welcome to the start of the 2011-2012 school year! I hope to see everyone on Wednesday evening, September 21st at 6:30. Kindly refer to Mrs. Clough's agenda for more specific information. It will be a wonderful evening!
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