Starting off the year....

The 2013-2014 school year has already started off to be an exciting yet busy time. Since the first day of school we have added 2 new assistants , 4 new students , and 1 student teacher to our classroom family. Mrs. Brooke Capps and Mrs. Melissa Christy will be helping your child make progress on their academic goals, as well as, helping them participate during related arts with their general education class. Gabriel (3rd grade) and Thomas (4th grade) joined us at the beginning of the school year. Isela (5th grade) and Cayden (Kindergartner) will be joining our class this week. Miss Casey Ball, a teacher candidate from Austin Peay State University, will be with our classroom until mid- October. We are super excited to have these students, teachers, and their families as part of our group.

We have already been working hard on our goals for the year.  I can see progress being made. Students have really enjoyed having classroom jobs. Jobs for the classroom include: attendance helper, story helper, fish feeder, table cleaner, gardener, dishes washer, line leader, calendar helper, classroom assistant, and snack helper.
As attendance helper, students go from room to room and ask the teacher or students for their attendance please. Non-verbal students use a large red recorded button to make the same request. By doing this job, we are working on making eye contact, appropriate mannerisms, and completing a task. Students also love watering the garden. At the beginning of the school year we had one bed of pumpkins and gourds and another bed of flowers. We have sadly lost the pumpkins and gourds but the flowers are blooming and doing great! Students are so excited when they learn what their job is for the day.

Each month we have a different theme. Then on Friday we complete an activity about the theme. Last month our theme was fruits.  We made fruit dip, smoothies, apples with caramel, and strawberry shortcake.  This month our theme is vegetables. We have already made mashed potatoes and green bean casserole.  When we do these activities we talk about the appropriate way to cook. (i.e. washing hands, getting ingredients out,  having adult supervision and help, reading and following directions, etc.) Students like being able to pour and mix ingredients.

I cannot wait to see what this school year holds. I am very sorry that I have not updated our website in almost a year. I will try to be better at this. Please let me know if you have any ideas for our monthly theme or if you would like to come volunteer (i.e. read a story or lead group activity). Our door is always open! :)