Okay, there are some things that I dog-earred.
1. Page 149.
"There was a study done in 2006 that showed the economic costs associated with autism were $35 billion a year. Treatment for a preschool child with autism typically cost over $50,000 a year. The New York Times has estimated that only 10 percent of afflicted children are getting those services, and as a nation, we're letting down twenty-five thousand more children every year.
Autism is not getting the financial support it needs. In 2005 the National Institutes of Health dedicated only .3 percent of its budget to autism. Though on 12/7 the Senate authorized $1 billion for autism research, autism is still very far behind in private funding. Leukemia affects one in every twenty-five thousand and has $310 million in private funding. Pediatric AIDS affects one in eight thousand and has $394 million in private funding. Autism affects one in hundred and fifty and has only $15 million in private funding."
2. Page 176
" Someone needs to figure out what the hell is going on, or we're going to have much bigger problems than global warming. In the seventies, it used to be one in ten thousand children were autistic. Now it's one in a hundred and fifty. What will it take for people the wake the hell up? One in five children will be autistic, and then what- we can't procreate anymore? ...."
Jenny also talks about the need to find the cause rather than the band-aid. If you constantly had heartburn, rather than taking the medication, you should find and change the cause. That is why she went with the diets. By changing what her son, Evan, ate, he was getting "opening the window."
I'm not a doctor, clearly. I don't advocate one way or another. It just makes me wonder as an educator about the causes of behavior because I'm charged with helping to fit the band-aid.
At the end of the book, she does go into what she's done. She lays out what she calls a "pamplet" which is worth looking at as well.
Alright, I feel like I've posted a lot about this.
Now, I should go and do my school work and research for the presentation at our next faculty meeting for other educators to learn about strategies to best help "my boys."
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Jenny McCarthy's Book
I finally started reading it this morning at about 10:45. Two hours later and I have about 30 pages or so left.
I couldn't pull myself away from it except that I called and scheduled to finally have my hair cut at 1:15.
It talks a lot about the programs that she put her son in, specific doctors, and she swears by vaccines and diets (both wheat and dairy free). It also talks a great deal about how many families become destroyed by having a child identified with autism.
If you would like to borrow it, just let me know. I'll be done with it by around dinner time tonight because it's on my A-list of priorities for today.
It doesn't really say much about what specifically they did because Jenny wasn't the one doing it but rather paying professionals. He was in a neuropsychiatric hospital for schooling, 1:1 teaching happened there (and here we're lucky if we can have 4:1 children:adults while there they had 1:1 student:teacher) and she paid for numerous doctors, B12 shots to boost immune systems, all the special diets, and he was going through seizures. However, it's honest, it talks about how you can sit down and take it or you can stand up and fight with your child.
What I really took away from it is turning off the mommy/daddy/family member/teacher instinct of knowing what a child wants and just giving it to them and rather, making them ask for it. Making them work for it no matter the cost. Jenny spoke a lot about it and said that it was worth it. And how giving wait time, she talks about asking her son a question, giving up on waiting a response from him figuring that it was never going to happen, and then getting one 45 minutes later because it took him that long to process the question being asked. That astounded me because I don't know of any teacher who provides 45 minute wait time for answers to questions and how when a child has a difference, that is how long it might take them. Being in the role that I'm in, I get to see a lot of teachers in various roles. Not even just at the school I'm in now but when I was still an IA back in NY. Some, have the same temperment no matter the child and the difference and expect question/answer to be that quick as you just read it. Others understand that we don't all process the same way. I know I don't process the same day to day. Ask me a question on a day that all 7 boys have had their own version of a fit and needed 1:1 redirection and if there is something going on in my personal life (or in my world, everything happens in threes) then I may not even realize someone is talking to me. In the world of these children, they hear every noise (the clicking of a clock, the leaky facet, the truck down the street for example) as if they were front row next to the speakers of an ACDC concert. Every little nuance of the light of the room that they are in makes them refocus. Every texture that they come into contact with needs to be explored and makes them feel a different way that they are constantly aware of. We take for granted how carpet feels against our feet and just go. Children who have differences like our boys, they can't. There are preferred textures, things, experiences. I see it daily in our room between oral fixations, preference over carpet/tiling, beanbag chairs/typical classroom chairs/rocking chairs. And no one is the same. 7 boys, 7 different preferences. 7 things that they work for. Stars, stickers, prizes, twizzlers, mints, praise, computer time, thomas the tank books, blue's clues, movie, 1:1 time, trips in the hall, all depending on the day and student.
I'll post more as I finish the book, but I should get moving because I have less than 20 minutes to get across town and I have yet to even brush my teeth today because of this book.
I couldn't pull myself away from it except that I called and scheduled to finally have my hair cut at 1:15.
It talks a lot about the programs that she put her son in, specific doctors, and she swears by vaccines and diets (both wheat and dairy free). It also talks a great deal about how many families become destroyed by having a child identified with autism.
If you would like to borrow it, just let me know. I'll be done with it by around dinner time tonight because it's on my A-list of priorities for today.
It doesn't really say much about what specifically they did because Jenny wasn't the one doing it but rather paying professionals. He was in a neuropsychiatric hospital for schooling, 1:1 teaching happened there (and here we're lucky if we can have 4:1 children:adults while there they had 1:1 student:teacher) and she paid for numerous doctors, B12 shots to boost immune systems, all the special diets, and he was going through seizures. However, it's honest, it talks about how you can sit down and take it or you can stand up and fight with your child.
What I really took away from it is turning off the mommy/daddy/family member/teacher instinct of knowing what a child wants and just giving it to them and rather, making them ask for it. Making them work for it no matter the cost. Jenny spoke a lot about it and said that it was worth it. And how giving wait time, she talks about asking her son a question, giving up on waiting a response from him figuring that it was never going to happen, and then getting one 45 minutes later because it took him that long to process the question being asked. That astounded me because I don't know of any teacher who provides 45 minute wait time for answers to questions and how when a child has a difference, that is how long it might take them. Being in the role that I'm in, I get to see a lot of teachers in various roles. Not even just at the school I'm in now but when I was still an IA back in NY. Some, have the same temperment no matter the child and the difference and expect question/answer to be that quick as you just read it. Others understand that we don't all process the same way. I know I don't process the same day to day. Ask me a question on a day that all 7 boys have had their own version of a fit and needed 1:1 redirection and if there is something going on in my personal life (or in my world, everything happens in threes) then I may not even realize someone is talking to me. In the world of these children, they hear every noise (the clicking of a clock, the leaky facet, the truck down the street for example) as if they were front row next to the speakers of an ACDC concert. Every little nuance of the light of the room that they are in makes them refocus. Every texture that they come into contact with needs to be explored and makes them feel a different way that they are constantly aware of. We take for granted how carpet feels against our feet and just go. Children who have differences like our boys, they can't. There are preferred textures, things, experiences. I see it daily in our room between oral fixations, preference over carpet/tiling, beanbag chairs/typical classroom chairs/rocking chairs. And no one is the same. 7 boys, 7 different preferences. 7 things that they work for. Stars, stickers, prizes, twizzlers, mints, praise, computer time, thomas the tank books, blue's clues, movie, 1:1 time, trips in the hall, all depending on the day and student.
I'll post more as I finish the book, but I should get moving because I have less than 20 minutes to get across town and I have yet to even brush my teeth today because of this book.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Finally Friday
Great day!
Grant got off the bus and came to me, looked straight into my eyes, and said "good morning Ms. Stern"
SCORE!
As of today, everyone was in inclusive settings.
GRAND SLAM!
We made a gluey scarecrow in speech by tracing shapes, glueing his pants with blue sparkle glue and then putting ripped up blue paper on the glue. If you want to work with your child on something, try ripping scrap paper. We ate a lot of apples today and then painted with apples. Basically we sliced up the apples with my new ikea slicer/corer and then painted with the slices and cores. Quite enjoyable. It also makes the apples themselves really interesting looking.
I hope everyone enjoys the cds that are in your child's backpack. They are one of the cds that we work with at school. I promise, number 15 will get your child jumping and jiving.
Everyone participated well in their enrichment rotations. (PE and Library)
Inclusive recess really is a great time. You'd all be amazed to hear your children screaming (including quiet Aldair!) and running with all the other kids. It's really great to watch.
October homework calendars on Monday!
Enjoy your weekend! I'm off to read the Jenny McCarthy book and create some math centers.
Grant got off the bus and came to me, looked straight into my eyes, and said "good morning Ms. Stern"
SCORE!
As of today, everyone was in inclusive settings.
GRAND SLAM!
We made a gluey scarecrow in speech by tracing shapes, glueing his pants with blue sparkle glue and then putting ripped up blue paper on the glue. If you want to work with your child on something, try ripping scrap paper. We ate a lot of apples today and then painted with apples. Basically we sliced up the apples with my new ikea slicer/corer and then painted with the slices and cores. Quite enjoyable. It also makes the apples themselves really interesting looking.
I hope everyone enjoys the cds that are in your child's backpack. They are one of the cds that we work with at school. I promise, number 15 will get your child jumping and jiving.
Everyone participated well in their enrichment rotations. (PE and Library)
Inclusive recess really is a great time. You'd all be amazed to hear your children screaming (including quiet Aldair!) and running with all the other kids. It's really great to watch.
October homework calendars on Monday!
Enjoy your weekend! I'm off to read the Jenny McCarthy book and create some math centers.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
We bumped up inclusion today to include inclusive recess.
This means we are now up to 9am-11am inclusive instruction for language arts.
11am-11:45 inclusive enrichment rotation
12:20-12:50ish inclusive lunch
and 1pm-1:30 inclusive recess.
Three hours and 45 minutes of inclusion is WELL OVER what the IEPs outline, but they are being successful. We're social, learning, and making friends!
Tomorrow Darius starts in inclusion with Ms. Mansfield and then from 9-11, no one will be in our room because we'll all be out at our classes. I'm SO EXCITED!
We did have a little trouble today with keeping our hands to ourselves, but I think that we were able to address them.
I apologize for not giving out new enrichment rotations yet to those who need them with the new inclusion schedule, I'm not trying to avoid it, I just haven't received it yet to give to you. I've emailed and gone in person and I've been promised tomorrow. Thanks for your patience.
We had a special visitor in our class today. Blue, from Blue's Clues, travelled from the library to our classroom and all of our friends got a chance to visit with him (the stuffed animal) and to talk to him. We talked about his shirt (it's from chicka chicka boom boom), the way he dances, and we included him in our song time.
Speaking of songs, there will be a present for each of you and your families tomorrow in your child's backpack, please look for it. (I hopefully will remember to put it in as well!)
We're looking into buying a tent for our classroom. HOW FUN! I can't wait to be able to creatively address the needs of our students so that they can show us all that they are capable of.
Also, while I think about it, Kindergartener's don't receive interims for the first quarter. Please know that everyone is doing quite well.
With that, I'm off for tonight. I hope that everyone is doing well.
This means we are now up to 9am-11am inclusive instruction for language arts.
11am-11:45 inclusive enrichment rotation
12:20-12:50ish inclusive lunch
and 1pm-1:30 inclusive recess.
Three hours and 45 minutes of inclusion is WELL OVER what the IEPs outline, but they are being successful. We're social, learning, and making friends!
Tomorrow Darius starts in inclusion with Ms. Mansfield and then from 9-11, no one will be in our room because we'll all be out at our classes. I'm SO EXCITED!
We did have a little trouble today with keeping our hands to ourselves, but I think that we were able to address them.
I apologize for not giving out new enrichment rotations yet to those who need them with the new inclusion schedule, I'm not trying to avoid it, I just haven't received it yet to give to you. I've emailed and gone in person and I've been promised tomorrow. Thanks for your patience.
We had a special visitor in our class today. Blue, from Blue's Clues, travelled from the library to our classroom and all of our friends got a chance to visit with him (the stuffed animal) and to talk to him. We talked about his shirt (it's from chicka chicka boom boom), the way he dances, and we included him in our song time.
Speaking of songs, there will be a present for each of you and your families tomorrow in your child's backpack, please look for it. (I hopefully will remember to put it in as well!)
We're looking into buying a tent for our classroom. HOW FUN! I can't wait to be able to creatively address the needs of our students so that they can show us all that they are capable of.
Also, while I think about it, Kindergartener's don't receive interims for the first quarter. Please know that everyone is doing quite well.
With that, I'm off for tonight. I hope that everyone is doing well.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Exhausted, anyone?
Just so all of you know, any day without Mrs. Robertson is not as good. We sure hope that she feels better soon, along with David, because our day just wasn't the same at all!
Our transportation situation is more than great now! Everyone is getting to school around 8:40 and leaving right on time as well. A lot better than I can say for other buses!
Our new inclusion schedule with Ms. Albert's class was amazing! Ms. Spencer's class as always is fantastic as well. We really are lucky to have these two great teachers working with us along with Ms. Teller in Ms. Albert's room and Mrs. Dunavant in Ms. Spencer's room.
I handed in all the field trip forms today. If they are approved (and they should be) we'll be going to Cox Farms, Bowling and to Manassas Mall to see Santa and for IHOP! Hope you are ready to come and join the fun because we surely could use some help! The proposed dates are 10-9, 11-15, and 12-12 respectively. I need to wait to see if they'll be approved. especially the 10-9 with how close it is and that we need transportation to approve the date.
Our day honestly was quite silly which is what I told the boys. We pushed up inclusion time so it's now 9-11am and enrichment rotation is 11-11:45. We have choice time from 11:45-12:20 along with bathroom rotation. Lunchtime and recess follow. Then we had speech, a fire drill, and then we were spent! We had some pillow movie time, quiet time with Ms. Stern 1:1 to talk about things like our colors, shapes, and apples. Packed up and headed home.
For everyone, it was just an off day. To make sure everyone knows, there is strep and stomach bugs heading around school. Since we go everywhere, do everything, and all that, it may creep in home. For adults to build your immune system, there is something called airborne. I've not taken it and no one has tapped me to star in their commercial so I'm not getting paid to talk about them, however, I've met many adults who swear by it. It's not for children however. please also please avoid medicating your child with things like cough syrup BEFORE school. Really, if they take it, it might be worth keeping them home or sending them in late. All it does is make them groggy, mean, and tired. THen, I'm going to call you and say "hey, your child is acting different. is anything going on." I know that you all love talking to me on the phone, but i promise, i'll call anyway and would rather it be "hey, your child had a great day. i thought you should know about it."
And now, to admit defeat, i'm going to bed. yes, at 7:40. afterall, the last thing i really want to do is get sick.
Our transportation situation is more than great now! Everyone is getting to school around 8:40 and leaving right on time as well. A lot better than I can say for other buses!
Our new inclusion schedule with Ms. Albert's class was amazing! Ms. Spencer's class as always is fantastic as well. We really are lucky to have these two great teachers working with us along with Ms. Teller in Ms. Albert's room and Mrs. Dunavant in Ms. Spencer's room.
I handed in all the field trip forms today. If they are approved (and they should be) we'll be going to Cox Farms, Bowling and to Manassas Mall to see Santa and for IHOP! Hope you are ready to come and join the fun because we surely could use some help! The proposed dates are 10-9, 11-15, and 12-12 respectively. I need to wait to see if they'll be approved. especially the 10-9 with how close it is and that we need transportation to approve the date.
Our day honestly was quite silly which is what I told the boys. We pushed up inclusion time so it's now 9-11am and enrichment rotation is 11-11:45. We have choice time from 11:45-12:20 along with bathroom rotation. Lunchtime and recess follow. Then we had speech, a fire drill, and then we were spent! We had some pillow movie time, quiet time with Ms. Stern 1:1 to talk about things like our colors, shapes, and apples. Packed up and headed home.
For everyone, it was just an off day. To make sure everyone knows, there is strep and stomach bugs heading around school. Since we go everywhere, do everything, and all that, it may creep in home. For adults to build your immune system, there is something called airborne. I've not taken it and no one has tapped me to star in their commercial so I'm not getting paid to talk about them, however, I've met many adults who swear by it. It's not for children however. please also please avoid medicating your child with things like cough syrup BEFORE school. Really, if they take it, it might be worth keeping them home or sending them in late. All it does is make them groggy, mean, and tired. THen, I'm going to call you and say "hey, your child is acting different. is anything going on." I know that you all love talking to me on the phone, but i promise, i'll call anyway and would rather it be "hey, your child had a great day. i thought you should know about it."
And now, to admit defeat, i'm going to bed. yes, at 7:40. afterall, the last thing i really want to do is get sick.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
I forgot again
I met with Mrs. Cassarino today and we "lunched."
We are ON for parent support groups. Is this something that you're interested in? Kids can come because it'll be in our classroom and they can play. But it's a safe place to come and bring your questions, frustrations and be with people who are there and have been there. I can invite people that you may be interested in talking with (no guarantees that they'll come) but I'm thinking like 5:30 or 6 on nights that there is already a PTO meeting. Tell me the topics that you want to talk about. Potty training ideas, meltdown approaches, sensory ideas.....anything. It's your chance to talk with each other, exchange ideas, and more!
Let me know if you're interested/not (I promise I won't be offended).
Okay, now I'm really gonna go clean.
We are ON for parent support groups. Is this something that you're interested in? Kids can come because it'll be in our classroom and they can play. But it's a safe place to come and bring your questions, frustrations and be with people who are there and have been there. I can invite people that you may be interested in talking with (no guarantees that they'll come) but I'm thinking like 5:30 or 6 on nights that there is already a PTO meeting. Tell me the topics that you want to talk about. Potty training ideas, meltdown approaches, sensory ideas.....anything. It's your chance to talk with each other, exchange ideas, and more!
Let me know if you're interested/not (I promise I won't be offended).
Okay, now I'm really gonna go clean.
Best.Day.EVER!
We got our budget. We can now go and buy the things to help our boys adapt, adjust and accommodate in their surroundings and fulfill their needs. I can't wait!
I started to plan field trips. I appreciate everyone's input and we're waiting back to hear from administration for Cox Farms and if that is approved we will be going to Cox farms (oct), bowling (nov) and manassas mall for santa and ihop in december. More second semester as we come along.
We've been much more daring and talkative. Everyone has been approaching people and chatting with them. It's so exciting to see Grant greet people in the hallway. David stop Ms. Fisher today and chatted with her. Everyone except Aldair and Hendrick had their vision and hearing tested today. Ms. Parker, our school nurse LOVED spending time with them. They all did a fantastic job and Ms. Parker said that our friends did better than some of her fourth graders! Funny story: When David was finished listening to the birds in the hearing machine, Ms. Parker put it away. David went up to the machine and said "my turn" so Ms. Parker let him press the button to hear the birds.
Aldair has been chatting with everyone all over and Mrs. Cassarino said that everytime she passes him in the hallway, he waves. Now she's gonna start make him use his big voice that we all know he has!
Darius has done a great job on all of his first grade testing which is great. He's been reading, singing along, and doing a fantastic first grade job during circle time. I couldn't be prouder!
Patrick got to spend time climbing with the second graders for recess today. He's also been approaching people and asking them questions. He really enjoys recess, the transformer book, and math carnival on the computer.
Hendrick loves to help whenever he can. He's taken over being chair helper and reminds friends to push their chairs in and put them up at the end of the day. He always reminds Ms. Stern to take the lunch cards and to pick Aldair up before we get to the cafeteria. The classroom just wouldn't be well managed without him around!
Grant has been all over! We went into the nurse's office to have our vision and hearing tested and then ran some errands. We've been working on greeting with eye contact a great deal.
Luis loves going to the listening center and spending time right next to Ms. Stern. We've been working a great deal on listening and following the rules.
Alright, I have to go and clean and fill out paperwork.
Enjoy your night!
I started to plan field trips. I appreciate everyone's input and we're waiting back to hear from administration for Cox Farms and if that is approved we will be going to Cox farms (oct), bowling (nov) and manassas mall for santa and ihop in december. More second semester as we come along.
We've been much more daring and talkative. Everyone has been approaching people and chatting with them. It's so exciting to see Grant greet people in the hallway. David stop Ms. Fisher today and chatted with her. Everyone except Aldair and Hendrick had their vision and hearing tested today. Ms. Parker, our school nurse LOVED spending time with them. They all did a fantastic job and Ms. Parker said that our friends did better than some of her fourth graders! Funny story: When David was finished listening to the birds in the hearing machine, Ms. Parker put it away. David went up to the machine and said "my turn" so Ms. Parker let him press the button to hear the birds.
Aldair has been chatting with everyone all over and Mrs. Cassarino said that everytime she passes him in the hallway, he waves. Now she's gonna start make him use his big voice that we all know he has!
Darius has done a great job on all of his first grade testing which is great. He's been reading, singing along, and doing a fantastic first grade job during circle time. I couldn't be prouder!
Patrick got to spend time climbing with the second graders for recess today. He's also been approaching people and asking them questions. He really enjoys recess, the transformer book, and math carnival on the computer.
Hendrick loves to help whenever he can. He's taken over being chair helper and reminds friends to push their chairs in and put them up at the end of the day. He always reminds Ms. Stern to take the lunch cards and to pick Aldair up before we get to the cafeteria. The classroom just wouldn't be well managed without him around!
Grant has been all over! We went into the nurse's office to have our vision and hearing tested and then ran some errands. We've been working on greeting with eye contact a great deal.
Luis loves going to the listening center and spending time right next to Ms. Stern. We've been working a great deal on listening and following the rules.
Alright, I have to go and clean and fill out paperwork.
Enjoy your night!
Monday, September 24, 2007
Again, I forgot.
David today was in the hall with Mrs. Robertson. On his way back to the classroom, he saw Mrs. Cassarino who asked him how he was today. David's response was "Fine. And you?"
FANTASTIC RESPONSE FRIEND!!!!!!!
Absolutely worth stickers. (-:
We continued our tag-fest outside and I must say, it doesn't get any less funny as the days go on.
FANTASTIC RESPONSE FRIEND!!!!!!!
Absolutely worth stickers. (-:
We continued our tag-fest outside and I must say, it doesn't get any less funny as the days go on.
Does anyone else need another weekend?
I do.
Today went well. I chatted with Darius about his train filled weekend with Thomas and Grant about the baseball game. Grant got all shy but later in the day when we were talking to Ms. Lunsford, he announced that he took the train!
We had Library (Grant, Aldair, Hendrick and Darius) and Art (Luis, Patrick and David).
Note: No one likes Pasta Primavera. I promise, they don't like the school version of it so if you think you're child will eat it, I promise, they won't. However, those who ordered hotdogs were happy.
Tomorrow, if Ms. Stern motivates herself tonight and goes to the store to buy them, we'll be painting with apples. In addition, we'll be doing the song of "there was an old woman who swallowed a fly."
Today, we hung out with Dora, did an obstacle course in speech that went with the Berenstain Bears book that we read.
PTO meeting tonight if you're interested and the fundraisers went home today.
Let me know if you need anything. (-:
Today went well. I chatted with Darius about his train filled weekend with Thomas and Grant about the baseball game. Grant got all shy but later in the day when we were talking to Ms. Lunsford, he announced that he took the train!
We had Library (Grant, Aldair, Hendrick and Darius) and Art (Luis, Patrick and David).
Note: No one likes Pasta Primavera. I promise, they don't like the school version of it so if you think you're child will eat it, I promise, they won't. However, those who ordered hotdogs were happy.
Tomorrow, if Ms. Stern motivates herself tonight and goes to the store to buy them, we'll be painting with apples. In addition, we'll be doing the song of "there was an old woman who swallowed a fly."
Today, we hung out with Dora, did an obstacle course in speech that went with the Berenstain Bears book that we read.
PTO meeting tonight if you're interested and the fundraisers went home today.
Let me know if you need anything. (-:
Meetings galore
Today's meeting after school is with Ms. Burnett and Tony Lodovico with the rest of the special education staff. I'll be learning about testing for those students who aren't considered to be SOL students (the boys are considered to be SOL students).
Tomorrow during lunch I'm scheduled to meet with Mrs. Cassarino regarding inclusion.
And now, I should stop procrastinating and go to work. I had planned to be there at 7am and couldn't pull myself out of bed until 45 minutes after I sent the original alarm clock. Story of my life.
Tomorrow during lunch I'm scheduled to meet with Mrs. Cassarino regarding inclusion.
And now, I should stop procrastinating and go to work. I had planned to be there at 7am and couldn't pull myself out of bed until 45 minutes after I sent the original alarm clock. Story of my life.
Friday, September 21, 2007
two things i already forgot to post about
1. I was able to transfer Oprah from DVR to tape. I know that Patrick's family wanted to watch it. If you're also interested, just send me an email and I'll circulate the tape around.
2. I bought the book about Jenny McCarthy and her son. If I should A. learn anything useful or B. you'd like to borrow it when I'm done, just let me know!
I should mention though, I'm in the middle of a book right now so it might not be for another week depending on the time I can spend reading.
(-:
2. I bought the book about Jenny McCarthy and her son. If I should A. learn anything useful or B. you'd like to borrow it when I'm done, just let me know!
I should mention though, I'm in the middle of a book right now so it might not be for another week depending on the time I can spend reading.
(-:
Fantastic Friday
We started out only 6 strong since our friend David was home ill. We hope that he gets better quickly because our friends surely noticed many times that he wasn't here!
We danced, sang, talked about the calendar and had a fire drill all before 9:30 this morning!!!
Ms. Stern showed our friends one of her leap-pads and we read a spider man story and same of the games. Ms. Stern read "How do dinosaurs get well soon?" We talked about the importance of listening.
Most of our friends went to music class (Hendrick, Grant, Darius and Aldair) while Luis, Patrick and Ms. Stern played candyland.
We hung out, played in the classroom, read and colored until we were ready for lunch.
During recess, Ms. Stern learned all about Patrick's "sack the quarterback" and Ms. Stern wound up in the bottom of a massive pile up when everyone joined in. It was hysterical and no one could stop laughing!
During speech, we played "hide the scarecrow," learned a new scarecrow song, and heard a story about scarecrows.
After speech, we had some time with Blue's Clues and Ms. Stern had to take care of something and Mrs. Robertson was finishing up hanging up the months of the year on the wall for us. Once we were all back together, we danced the afternoon away! We freeze danced, did the chicken dance, YMCA, and then played twister! A great time!
Buses were here early and away everyone went!
Enjoy your weekend friends!
We danced, sang, talked about the calendar and had a fire drill all before 9:30 this morning!!!
Ms. Stern showed our friends one of her leap-pads and we read a spider man story and same of the games. Ms. Stern read "How do dinosaurs get well soon?" We talked about the importance of listening.
Most of our friends went to music class (Hendrick, Grant, Darius and Aldair) while Luis, Patrick and Ms. Stern played candyland.
We hung out, played in the classroom, read and colored until we were ready for lunch.
During recess, Ms. Stern learned all about Patrick's "sack the quarterback" and Ms. Stern wound up in the bottom of a massive pile up when everyone joined in. It was hysterical and no one could stop laughing!
During speech, we played "hide the scarecrow," learned a new scarecrow song, and heard a story about scarecrows.
After speech, we had some time with Blue's Clues and Ms. Stern had to take care of something and Mrs. Robertson was finishing up hanging up the months of the year on the wall for us. Once we were all back together, we danced the afternoon away! We freeze danced, did the chicken dance, YMCA, and then played twister! A great time!
Buses were here early and away everyone went!
Enjoy your weekend friends!
Thursday, September 20, 2007
A long, long, long, day
And yet, it was no longer than any other in real time.
Today was just a day....
We did have some highlites, Grant went to engage David in morning songs and they danced together for a bit.
EVERYONE excelled in sorting and we've already completed the assessment for it. I was so excited to see that we could ace this!
We worked on our cutting skills by cutting into playdough.
Mrs. Robertson had these great independent games with file folders and everyone worked on pairing capital letters with lowercase, numbers with pictures of corresponding items.
We needed some reminders that it's okay to play tag but not okay to push people or "tag" them if they aren't playing.
Thanks for everyone for sending in jackets for the windy weather! It sure is appreciated during recess.
Enjoy your night! (-:
Today was just a day....
We did have some highlites, Grant went to engage David in morning songs and they danced together for a bit.
EVERYONE excelled in sorting and we've already completed the assessment for it. I was so excited to see that we could ace this!
We worked on our cutting skills by cutting into playdough.
Mrs. Robertson had these great independent games with file folders and everyone worked on pairing capital letters with lowercase, numbers with pictures of corresponding items.
We needed some reminders that it's okay to play tag but not okay to push people or "tag" them if they aren't playing.
Thanks for everyone for sending in jackets for the windy weather! It sure is appreciated during recess.
Enjoy your night! (-:
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Sorting
We're going to be working on sorting in math. Big/little, colors, shapes, two legs and four legs, etc. Want more practice at home? Breads/fruits, morning things/nighttime things, mommy/daddy, etc. Everything can be made into a sorting activity.
Back to school night was great fun. I'm working on field trip set-ups. Also, on parent forums. I don't know if the same night as PTO will work/won't work. The logistics of it all. Do parents even still want it? I know it is nice to know that you're not alone. Share what has/hasn't worked for you and your adventure. Would you be interested in having each other's phone numbers or email addresses so that you could talk to each other? I should set up a poll on here.
We started characterland today. I'm not sure that they fully understand it, but we'll get there.
Today in speech, some of our friends earned an amazing amount of stickers for doing the roll that Ms. Lunsford was trying to teach us.
Everyone had a great day. They really did today. I learned of some new quirks that our friends have but nothing terrible.
Again, the game of tag continued. We had some parallel play between Grant and Darius on the climbing mountain. David being the line leader is fantastic because no matter where in the school we are coming back from, he knows where our classroom is.
Alright, I'd update more, and I'm sorry for all the new readers out in Indiana, Illinois, Connecticut, New York, California, Idaho, Utah, and every other place who didn't get to come to back to school night, but I'm beat!
More tomorrow because I go to pick up Mike from the airport.
Back to school night was great fun. I'm working on field trip set-ups. Also, on parent forums. I don't know if the same night as PTO will work/won't work. The logistics of it all. Do parents even still want it? I know it is nice to know that you're not alone. Share what has/hasn't worked for you and your adventure. Would you be interested in having each other's phone numbers or email addresses so that you could talk to each other? I should set up a poll on here.
We started characterland today. I'm not sure that they fully understand it, but we'll get there.
Today in speech, some of our friends earned an amazing amount of stickers for doing the roll that Ms. Lunsford was trying to teach us.
Everyone had a great day. They really did today. I learned of some new quirks that our friends have but nothing terrible.
Again, the game of tag continued. We had some parallel play between Grant and Darius on the climbing mountain. David being the line leader is fantastic because no matter where in the school we are coming back from, he knows where our classroom is.
Alright, I'd update more, and I'm sorry for all the new readers out in Indiana, Illinois, Connecticut, New York, California, Idaho, Utah, and every other place who didn't get to come to back to school night, but I'm beat!
More tomorrow because I go to pick up Mike from the airport.
I completely forgot!!!
During recess (now yesterday as it is Wednesday), the boys played a hysterical game of tag. All of them were running all over the playground chasing each other, tagging someone else, and then running some more. They were shouting, laughing and giggling so hard that it was contagious!
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Again, on tv
Oprah had Jenny McCarthy on, whose son was diagnosed with Autism and claims that all these diets and such are "curing" Autism. She claims that a good diet will help do it. She said that within two weeks her son's language doubled. She said that it won't work for everyone but it might work.
She claims that video modeling is huge. She says that play therapy is key to help kids how to "properly" play with toys.
I can't help but wondering if she didn't have all the money in the world, would she be able to claim all of these things.
She follows the vaccination rule of "I vaccinated my baby and something happened."
The center for disease control states that the vast majority of research doesn't support the vaccinations but rather that they save lives.
Now they (Holly something or other came on as well and Jenny) claim that there is a period of time that you can cure your child and put them on the road to recovery.
Now Holly is talking about how the "women" do what they have to do but it's the men who have a hard time because it's "the men and their boys."
Holly's son was kicked out of the school and they told her that her son was "unteachable."
Even Holly said that getting her son tested and found him to be "allergic to wheat."
They talk about the "mommy instinct" and how doctors may have not listened but they knew.
It was Holly Robinson.
Well, Oprah is over. I'm interested to hear what all of you have to say. Do you agree/disagree with the diets, vaccines, etc. Do dads take this harder than moms? Do you believe that autism can be cured?
Sorry, I know that this is off topic, but every once in a while, a show hits me and I need to know from people who are there. I hope that's okay.
(also, I saved this on my dvr and I can ask Mike while he is here to make a copy of it if anyone didn't see it and is interested....I think I also have an episode of Oprah from over the summer all about Autism as well).
She claims that video modeling is huge. She says that play therapy is key to help kids how to "properly" play with toys.
I can't help but wondering if she didn't have all the money in the world, would she be able to claim all of these things.
She follows the vaccination rule of "I vaccinated my baby and something happened."
The center for disease control states that the vast majority of research doesn't support the vaccinations but rather that they save lives.
Now they (Holly something or other came on as well and Jenny) claim that there is a period of time that you can cure your child and put them on the road to recovery.
Now Holly is talking about how the "women" do what they have to do but it's the men who have a hard time because it's "the men and their boys."
Holly's son was kicked out of the school and they told her that her son was "unteachable."
Even Holly said that getting her son tested and found him to be "allergic to wheat."
They talk about the "mommy instinct" and how doctors may have not listened but they knew.
It was Holly Robinson.
Well, Oprah is over. I'm interested to hear what all of you have to say. Do you agree/disagree with the diets, vaccines, etc. Do dads take this harder than moms? Do you believe that autism can be cured?
Sorry, I know that this is off topic, but every once in a while, a show hits me and I need to know from people who are there. I hope that's okay.
(also, I saved this on my dvr and I can ask Mike while he is here to make a copy of it if anyone didn't see it and is interested....I think I also have an episode of Oprah from over the summer all about Autism as well).
I get distracted by tv
I update this on my couch on my laptop watching DVR'ed tv that is almost a year old because that's how behind I am (except on the shows that I deem to be must see!)
Anyway, we have life size posters of our friends in our classroom. We have one more to get finished tomorrow. They crack me up. Next update to them, speech bubbles! They're quite cute. Ms. Lunsford started us and Mrs. Robertson and Ms. Stern finished them up today except for one.
Darius and Ms. Stern got to play candyland today while everyone else was out of the room. Grant, Aldair and Hendrick stayed in Ms. Spencer's room for an extended time today and did so many activities about apples. Luis completed at 63 piece puzzle almost entirely by himself! David and Patrick enjoyed themselves in music class today.
Pizza wheels was the choice of the day for lunch.
We read stories, danced our dances and sang our songs (cd will be sent home so you can have them at home too....I warn you though, they are addicting and easily get stuck in your head....trust me, I've embarassed many people by dancing and singing in the car to these songs), headed off to inclusion. After specials, we did some painting, coloring, and decorating.
We've been on an expedition to take pictures of our VIPs in our school. Have you seen those pictures that have Kermit the frog randomly someplace in the photo of great places? Well, our pictures randomly have people posed with our boys. It's great! We're expanding it daily to include more people that we see and interact with.
I'm going to work on field trips. Stay tuned for more information.
Ellen just announced that September is crepe month at Ihop....I should go eat dinner before I actually consider this as an option.
Can't wait to see everyone tomorrow! Great times to be had....All encore rotation teachers should be in attendance so you can go and meet with them as well (after all, there's only so much that I can really tell you that you don't know already!)
Anyway, we have life size posters of our friends in our classroom. We have one more to get finished tomorrow. They crack me up. Next update to them, speech bubbles! They're quite cute. Ms. Lunsford started us and Mrs. Robertson and Ms. Stern finished them up today except for one.
Darius and Ms. Stern got to play candyland today while everyone else was out of the room. Grant, Aldair and Hendrick stayed in Ms. Spencer's room for an extended time today and did so many activities about apples. Luis completed at 63 piece puzzle almost entirely by himself! David and Patrick enjoyed themselves in music class today.
Pizza wheels was the choice of the day for lunch.
We read stories, danced our dances and sang our songs (cd will be sent home so you can have them at home too....I warn you though, they are addicting and easily get stuck in your head....trust me, I've embarassed many people by dancing and singing in the car to these songs), headed off to inclusion. After specials, we did some painting, coloring, and decorating.
We've been on an expedition to take pictures of our VIPs in our school. Have you seen those pictures that have Kermit the frog randomly someplace in the photo of great places? Well, our pictures randomly have people posed with our boys. It's great! We're expanding it daily to include more people that we see and interact with.
I'm going to work on field trips. Stay tuned for more information.
Ellen just announced that September is crepe month at Ihop....I should go eat dinner before I actually consider this as an option.
Can't wait to see everyone tomorrow! Great times to be had....All encore rotation teachers should be in attendance so you can go and meet with them as well (after all, there's only so much that I can really tell you that you don't know already!)
Monday, September 17, 2007
Character land.....<3
Trees, mud, mountains, duck pond, smiley face ending! Rainbow pieces with pictures....<3 <3 <3
"Ms. Stern, you're home"
I was late to school today and that is what I was greeted with when I walked in at 9:30. How refreshing!
We had our pictures and our friends had to say "pickles!" Fantastically funny!
We painted today (it's washable if clothes are wearing paint....we tried to be clean about it!). We will continue tomorrow on our way to making our own color and shape posters.
Speech started today. We drew Darius and colored him in. Tomorrow, we'll draw another friend...this was hysterically funny!
We had some other issues today that will be addressed ASAP. Until then, we're switching some things up and adapting as we go. Smooth sailing for us, just learning as we go.
Alright, as much as I enjoy blogging, it's bedtime for teacher.
Don't forget, Back to School Night, 7pm, Wednesday night. Get there early to get parking!
I'll be there, Robyn will be there, will you be there? Good times, had by all!
(-:
We had our pictures and our friends had to say "pickles!" Fantastically funny!
We painted today (it's washable if clothes are wearing paint....we tried to be clean about it!). We will continue tomorrow on our way to making our own color and shape posters.
Speech started today. We drew Darius and colored him in. Tomorrow, we'll draw another friend...this was hysterically funny!
We had some other issues today that will be addressed ASAP. Until then, we're switching some things up and adapting as we go. Smooth sailing for us, just learning as we go.
Alright, as much as I enjoy blogging, it's bedtime for teacher.
Don't forget, Back to School Night, 7pm, Wednesday night. Get there early to get parking!
I'll be there, Robyn will be there, will you be there? Good times, had by all!
(-:
Friday, September 14, 2007
A Fantastic Day!
Today, on all accounts, was a fantastic day!
We set up our schedules for OT and Speech beginning next week. Speech will be everyday except for Thursday from 1:30-2pm. OT will be on Wednesday in the middle of the day.
EVERYONE had a great day. The buses showed up, we headed in. Mrs. Cassarino and Ms. Niles came in to teach us about the golden rule (We're gonna teach our friends, the way they want to be treated). We headed to inclusion, specials were Art and Library today. (cruz-art and spencer-library)
Lunch was hotdogs, everyone headed out for recess (it was a little rainy after a bit). We all had computer time and went on our picture mission to take pictures with us and some of the best people in our school who help us! By the time we were done with that and our wrap up meeting for the week, it was time to get our backpacks and head to our buses! There were actually regular buses that showed up after our friends left for the day!
Picture Day-MONDAY!
Back to school night-Wednesday! (7pm)
Oh, if you don't own one, a magnadoodle would be a great thing for your child. We used them today and they loved them! I recommend the ones from target (when they go on sale, the large ones are around 10 dollars) and have a drawer with shapes and a writing instrument. A fantastic tool for OT, writing, spelling, drawing and more!
Enjoy your weekend! (-:
We set up our schedules for OT and Speech beginning next week. Speech will be everyday except for Thursday from 1:30-2pm. OT will be on Wednesday in the middle of the day.
EVERYONE had a great day. The buses showed up, we headed in. Mrs. Cassarino and Ms. Niles came in to teach us about the golden rule (We're gonna teach our friends, the way they want to be treated). We headed to inclusion, specials were Art and Library today. (cruz-art and spencer-library)
Lunch was hotdogs, everyone headed out for recess (it was a little rainy after a bit). We all had computer time and went on our picture mission to take pictures with us and some of the best people in our school who help us! By the time we were done with that and our wrap up meeting for the week, it was time to get our backpacks and head to our buses! There were actually regular buses that showed up after our friends left for the day!
Picture Day-MONDAY!
Back to school night-Wednesday! (7pm)
Oh, if you don't own one, a magnadoodle would be a great thing for your child. We used them today and they loved them! I recommend the ones from target (when they go on sale, the large ones are around 10 dollars) and have a drawer with shapes and a writing instrument. A fantastic tool for OT, writing, spelling, drawing and more!
Enjoy your weekend! (-:
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Great Day
It's late and it'll be brief.
Great day. Bus 43 was there about 8:47ish and Bus 51 got a little lost but made it to school. They couldn't find a street and now know. The director of transportation waiting for Bus 43 with me.
Inclusion was great in every area. We eat lunch with our friend Tommy from Pre-school and his class! Ms. Teller loves hanging out with us!
We talked about our colors today and will be painting tomorrow our shapes and colors combined.
Please make sure to clean out the notebooks with notes and things that can stay at home. I'd hate for the boys to have to carry around more than they have to.
More probably on Saturday. Email if you need anything! (-:
Great day. Bus 43 was there about 8:47ish and Bus 51 got a little lost but made it to school. They couldn't find a street and now know. The director of transportation waiting for Bus 43 with me.
Inclusion was great in every area. We eat lunch with our friend Tommy from Pre-school and his class! Ms. Teller loves hanging out with us!
We talked about our colors today and will be painting tomorrow our shapes and colors combined.
Please make sure to clean out the notebooks with notes and things that can stay at home. I'd hate for the boys to have to carry around more than they have to.
More probably on Saturday. Email if you need anything! (-:
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
More Inclusion!
Fantastic news on all fronts!
1. I remembered the second rule that I couldn't yesterday. It is "We will use our walking feet while inside of the school." No, we aren't that cool where we can pull off our walking feet and put on our running feet like robots and have spares, but we are learning about where and when we run. As soon as we walk down the steps outside, we run to the playground. No exceptions (except Ms. Stern and Mrs. Robertson) Even David said today "Can I run to the playground?" They have to walk all day so I fully support running as much as possible outside. Boys will be boys.
2. As the title states, we are starting our second phase of inclusion tomorrow. Our boys will be sitting with inclusion classes during lunch. It serves two purposes. A) We can work on our appropriate social skills in a great environment. B) Ms. Stern and Mrs. Robertson get to now have their own lunch times apart from children for 20 minutes (at different times, so that one of us is always there)
3. We have two buses starting tomorrow!!! No more late start for us. We're all going to be on board starting at approximately 8:45 which is huge. We can do the pledge of allegiance together, moment of silence and hear all of the announcements. WAHOO!!! Thanks to all of you who helped to make this happen for our kids!
4. We walked in the hallway quietly today while we were on a "Blue's Clues Mission" (read: walking to the recess door). I seriously contemplated putting the blue pawprints around the school to help us, but then I figured that we'd get too excited in the hallway when we find them.
5. We started counting the days of school today. We are using buses on our door (it seemed appropriate!). They are yellow, blue or red depending on the day. Red is for our five days. Blue is for our days that end in zero. Yellow is for every other day. So, we're working on counting, identifying groups of fives and tens.
6. DTK-Teach.com is a website that was given to be today. If ever you're looking for activities to do at home, it's given me some great ideas.
7. Mrs. Robertson has almost finished characterland and I have to be honest, it's amazing. I'm in awe of her talents and I can't wait for the kids to start being able to move their pieces towards the happy rainbow at the end. I promise, we'll post pictures soon. The player pieces look like the pieces in the game of sorry with their pictures on the bottom. They are precious!
8. Grant became the co-teacher of PE today. He helped to lead the stretching for the class. He also made new hair for himself using playdough today. I packed the camera so I don't have to miss another opportunity to take pictures of it!
9. Darius outran everyone that was in PE. Anytime Ms. West had a question, she informed me that Darius was right on top with the answer. Impressive!
10. Aldair made a new friend today in Ms. Spencer's room. We initiated conversations on his own and is showing great progress in his self-confidence.
11. Luis found that school spaghetti and spaghetti at home are not the same. We were able to adapt though and eat other things. He had a great day writing his letters, reading, and sorting objects.
12. Hendrick was a great helper today going and helping to deliver letters. He's also been a great friend to those who need a hug. He's been inviting others to play with him and to read when we go into the class library.
13. David is working on his puzzles of 25 pieces even though it's challenging for him. He loves going to Ms. Cruz's room and requests the Freeze Dance at all opportunities. He got to go on the computer today to do some sorting in math carnival and aced it!
14. Patrick is our line leader and loves being able to do everything associated with it including opening the door, turning the lights on when we come back and holding Ms. Stern's hand. He was very patient today when waiting for his other friends to finish their math so that we could go to playdough and sat at his desk informing us that "I'll wait" and didn't fuss. He's taken to hiding in the pillows as a choice when in the library and today announced "Houston, we have a problem" when other friends wanted to use the pillows. We talked about it and agreed that we could share.
All in all, a fantastic Wednesday! yes, I don't want parents to think that there are no mishaps. We did have some upset children at points as we do almost everyday, but Mrs. Robertson and myself address them as they arise and make parents contact as appropriate when needed.
Reminders:
Picture day: Monday. Remember to smile!
Back to School Night: Wednesday, 7pm. Room 77 as well as inclusion teachers!
Starting tomorrow: phone contact will be limited as my parents will be here but I'm still accessible if you need me (probably severely limited on Friday as I'll be in Woodbridge until late) Email is best until Sunday. In addition, next week Thursday-Sunday I won't be phoning and such as much either as my Fiance (I'm still confused on how I'm supposed to spell it and how he's supposed to spell it but regardless) Mike will be here for his birthday. I might even take him to DC (I've not been there in almost 10 years and I've lived her for over a year now!). Email is best.
Disclaimer regarding photos: I won't post photos of children on this blog. It's not in anyone's best interest in terms of privacy laws and the like. However, I'm more than willing to email what I take of your child to you if you'd like. Just let me know by email! (-:
1. I remembered the second rule that I couldn't yesterday. It is "We will use our walking feet while inside of the school." No, we aren't that cool where we can pull off our walking feet and put on our running feet like robots and have spares, but we are learning about where and when we run. As soon as we walk down the steps outside, we run to the playground. No exceptions (except Ms. Stern and Mrs. Robertson) Even David said today "Can I run to the playground?" They have to walk all day so I fully support running as much as possible outside. Boys will be boys.
2. As the title states, we are starting our second phase of inclusion tomorrow. Our boys will be sitting with inclusion classes during lunch. It serves two purposes. A) We can work on our appropriate social skills in a great environment. B) Ms. Stern and Mrs. Robertson get to now have their own lunch times apart from children for 20 minutes (at different times, so that one of us is always there)
3. We have two buses starting tomorrow!!! No more late start for us. We're all going to be on board starting at approximately 8:45 which is huge. We can do the pledge of allegiance together, moment of silence and hear all of the announcements. WAHOO!!! Thanks to all of you who helped to make this happen for our kids!
4. We walked in the hallway quietly today while we were on a "Blue's Clues Mission" (read: walking to the recess door). I seriously contemplated putting the blue pawprints around the school to help us, but then I figured that we'd get too excited in the hallway when we find them.
5. We started counting the days of school today. We are using buses on our door (it seemed appropriate!). They are yellow, blue or red depending on the day. Red is for our five days. Blue is for our days that end in zero. Yellow is for every other day. So, we're working on counting, identifying groups of fives and tens.
6. DTK-Teach.com is a website that was given to be today. If ever you're looking for activities to do at home, it's given me some great ideas.
7. Mrs. Robertson has almost finished characterland and I have to be honest, it's amazing. I'm in awe of her talents and I can't wait for the kids to start being able to move their pieces towards the happy rainbow at the end. I promise, we'll post pictures soon. The player pieces look like the pieces in the game of sorry with their pictures on the bottom. They are precious!
8. Grant became the co-teacher of PE today. He helped to lead the stretching for the class. He also made new hair for himself using playdough today. I packed the camera so I don't have to miss another opportunity to take pictures of it!
9. Darius outran everyone that was in PE. Anytime Ms. West had a question, she informed me that Darius was right on top with the answer. Impressive!
10. Aldair made a new friend today in Ms. Spencer's room. We initiated conversations on his own and is showing great progress in his self-confidence.
11. Luis found that school spaghetti and spaghetti at home are not the same. We were able to adapt though and eat other things. He had a great day writing his letters, reading, and sorting objects.
12. Hendrick was a great helper today going and helping to deliver letters. He's also been a great friend to those who need a hug. He's been inviting others to play with him and to read when we go into the class library.
13. David is working on his puzzles of 25 pieces even though it's challenging for him. He loves going to Ms. Cruz's room and requests the Freeze Dance at all opportunities. He got to go on the computer today to do some sorting in math carnival and aced it!
14. Patrick is our line leader and loves being able to do everything associated with it including opening the door, turning the lights on when we come back and holding Ms. Stern's hand. He was very patient today when waiting for his other friends to finish their math so that we could go to playdough and sat at his desk informing us that "I'll wait" and didn't fuss. He's taken to hiding in the pillows as a choice when in the library and today announced "Houston, we have a problem" when other friends wanted to use the pillows. We talked about it and agreed that we could share.
All in all, a fantastic Wednesday! yes, I don't want parents to think that there are no mishaps. We did have some upset children at points as we do almost everyday, but Mrs. Robertson and myself address them as they arise and make parents contact as appropriate when needed.
Reminders:
Picture day: Monday. Remember to smile!
Back to School Night: Wednesday, 7pm. Room 77 as well as inclusion teachers!
Starting tomorrow: phone contact will be limited as my parents will be here but I'm still accessible if you need me (probably severely limited on Friday as I'll be in Woodbridge until late) Email is best until Sunday. In addition, next week Thursday-Sunday I won't be phoning and such as much either as my Fiance (I'm still confused on how I'm supposed to spell it and how he's supposed to spell it but regardless) Mike will be here for his birthday. I might even take him to DC (I've not been there in almost 10 years and I've lived her for over a year now!). Email is best.
Disclaimer regarding photos: I won't post photos of children on this blog. It's not in anyone's best interest in terms of privacy laws and the like. However, I'm more than willing to email what I take of your child to you if you'd like. Just let me know by email! (-:
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Tuesday, 9/11/07
We created our classroom rules today. They are three-fold.
1. We will raise our hand when we want to talk (this is mostly enforced in the morning, inclusion, and specials). In the afternoon, it's not really an atmosphere set up for hand raising.
2. We will show respect by keeping our bodies to ourselves, taking turns, sharing, etc.
3. I'm completely blanking. I apologize as I know most of you read this to see what we do everyday. I'll be sure to update this and properly fill it in.
We followed our calendar routine, sang songs, and talked about the rainy weather. Imagine how silly it was that Ms. Stern thought that the picture of the snowy bear was the rainy bear. Thank goodness for such smart friends who could help me figure it out!
We all got turns at the computer today playing either Math Carnival or with Clifford the Big Red Dog.
Darius, Aldair, Grant and Luis went to art today and met Mrs. Brannon. We had fun learning about the art room and participating in getting to know Mrs. Brannon.
Patrick, David and Hendrick headed to library to hear all about our brand new library and meet with Mrs. Kirkland.
We started our book math curriculum today versus getting to know our math manipulatives. Today for our kindergarten friends we completed our first math worksheet on 1:1 correspondance and What Doesn't Belong? Any at home practice, especially with what doesn't belong would be great. Try taking one pair of socks and another sock without a match or something else. Ask your child what doesn't have a match?
Chicken Nuggets and Corn Dogs for lunch today!
We had inside recess today due to the rain on and off and wet recess equipment. Let's hope for better weather tomorrow.
Tomorrow we go back to ER-1 on our schedules.
Picture Day, Monday September 17th (our picture time is 11:50am)
Back to School Night, Wednesday September 19th at 7pm.
Starting tomorrow, we're adding a new element to our calendar time. We're going to start counting the days that we've been in school. We've been working on our counting until 20 and now we're going to continue to add on one more to our count everyday until the end in June!
Characterland is almost entirely complete! It looks fantastic on our board and we're going to talk to our friends about how to earn spaces.
Speaking of rewards and incentives, many of our friends got to visit the prize box today because of stellar behavior for the first six days. Those who didn't get to go today will have a chance tomorrow hopefully!
Enjoy your night! (-:
1. We will raise our hand when we want to talk (this is mostly enforced in the morning, inclusion, and specials). In the afternoon, it's not really an atmosphere set up for hand raising.
2. We will show respect by keeping our bodies to ourselves, taking turns, sharing, etc.
3. I'm completely blanking. I apologize as I know most of you read this to see what we do everyday. I'll be sure to update this and properly fill it in.
We followed our calendar routine, sang songs, and talked about the rainy weather. Imagine how silly it was that Ms. Stern thought that the picture of the snowy bear was the rainy bear. Thank goodness for such smart friends who could help me figure it out!
We all got turns at the computer today playing either Math Carnival or with Clifford the Big Red Dog.
Darius, Aldair, Grant and Luis went to art today and met Mrs. Brannon. We had fun learning about the art room and participating in getting to know Mrs. Brannon.
Patrick, David and Hendrick headed to library to hear all about our brand new library and meet with Mrs. Kirkland.
We started our book math curriculum today versus getting to know our math manipulatives. Today for our kindergarten friends we completed our first math worksheet on 1:1 correspondance and What Doesn't Belong? Any at home practice, especially with what doesn't belong would be great. Try taking one pair of socks and another sock without a match or something else. Ask your child what doesn't have a match?
Chicken Nuggets and Corn Dogs for lunch today!
We had inside recess today due to the rain on and off and wet recess equipment. Let's hope for better weather tomorrow.
Tomorrow we go back to ER-1 on our schedules.
Picture Day, Monday September 17th (our picture time is 11:50am)
Back to School Night, Wednesday September 19th at 7pm.
Starting tomorrow, we're adding a new element to our calendar time. We're going to start counting the days that we've been in school. We've been working on our counting until 20 and now we're going to continue to add on one more to our count everyday until the end in June!
Characterland is almost entirely complete! It looks fantastic on our board and we're going to talk to our friends about how to earn spaces.
Speaking of rewards and incentives, many of our friends got to visit the prize box today because of stellar behavior for the first six days. Those who didn't get to go today will have a chance tomorrow hopefully!
Enjoy your night! (-:
Monday, September 10, 2007
Scheduled outage at 11pm PDT
Good thing that I'm updating now!
Week two started off well.
We did puzzles (we are almost all masters of the realm of 25 pieces!)
We did out calendar routine (still no snow....ask your child if it is snowing outside, you'll get the best laugh out of them!)
By this time, it was time for our songs and then inclusion time. For our friends in Ms. Spencer's inclusion class, while today was an "off" day for enrichment rotation, they went to the math lab. What a fantastic time playing with shapes.
We followed all three rules in the lunch room today, have become masters of how to get our lunch trays to the table.
We played on the big playground, some of us were learning how to swing (up and down are the key words we are using for learning how to pump our legs) We don't allow climbing up the slides as it can be dangerous if no one is watching as they come down.
Once back in the classroom, we read, colored, and chose classroom jobs. The following jobs are for this week:
Patrick: Line Leader
David: Line Caboose
Grant: Chair Helper
Luis: Trash Picker-Upper
Hendrick: Library Cleaner
Aldair: Special Helper
Darius: Animal Checker
These roles will rotate and change as the year goes on. We talked about responsibilities, the fact that we all have to do our jobs so that our class can be great....
In regards to transportation, the bus has been consistently coming to the school at 9:15am. Ms. Burnett said that she'll be talking to the director of transportation about this and seeing what can be done to remedy this situation.
More to come, probably tomorrow night.(-:
Week two started off well.
We did puzzles (we are almost all masters of the realm of 25 pieces!)
We did out calendar routine (still no snow....ask your child if it is snowing outside, you'll get the best laugh out of them!)
By this time, it was time for our songs and then inclusion time. For our friends in Ms. Spencer's inclusion class, while today was an "off" day for enrichment rotation, they went to the math lab. What a fantastic time playing with shapes.
We followed all three rules in the lunch room today, have become masters of how to get our lunch trays to the table.
We played on the big playground, some of us were learning how to swing (up and down are the key words we are using for learning how to pump our legs) We don't allow climbing up the slides as it can be dangerous if no one is watching as they come down.
Once back in the classroom, we read, colored, and chose classroom jobs. The following jobs are for this week:
Patrick: Line Leader
David: Line Caboose
Grant: Chair Helper
Luis: Trash Picker-Upper
Hendrick: Library Cleaner
Aldair: Special Helper
Darius: Animal Checker
These roles will rotate and change as the year goes on. We talked about responsibilities, the fact that we all have to do our jobs so that our class can be great....
In regards to transportation, the bus has been consistently coming to the school at 9:15am. Ms. Burnett said that she'll be talking to the director of transportation about this and seeing what can be done to remedy this situation.
More to come, probably tomorrow night.(-:
Friday, September 7, 2007
Houston, we've completed week one of our mission
Week one over with. I must admit, I'm exhausted. I know Robyn is exhausted as well. However, I must say, we had a HUGE day today.
1. We ACED our first fire drill. We lined up, followed Ms. Stern, and were almost entirely quiet the whole time! Patrick told us that the whole school was going to blow up, so we had to remind our friends that it was only practice and nothing was actually on fire.
2. We played with playdough when Ms. Stern had a meeting. At first, we did a great job. It did become messier as we continued and Ms. Stern came back to a very colorful, but fun, room.
3. We had calendar time today. While it was hard, we tried to turn it around. Guess what, we got x's to sit on now so that we can remember where we should be. Ms. Stern is thinking about using chairs so that we can remember that we have to sit instead of sprawl all over!
4. Ms. Lunsford helped us write a poem about our color words. Purple is Barney, Blue is a shirt (almost everyone was wearing blue today!), Yellow is a school bus, and more. Ms. Stern's memory sure is fading that she can't remember all of it.
5. Ms. Smith came in to watch us when we were cutting, coloring and writing. She said that she is going to be with us a lot and help us to learn to ace those things before you know it!
6. Ms. Stern talked with some of us about not giving our parents a hard time about doing our homework. She said that it's not a good idea to be mean and whiny. Some of us were wondering how she found out what we do at home!
7. One of our friends tried to use our electric pencil sharpener to help his crayons. It was a learning experience for all of us!
8. Mrs. Robertson went to PE with Hendrick, Patrick and David today. Everyone said that they had so much fun running up and down and all around the brand new gym!
9. Mrs. Robertson has been working so hard on creating what we are going to be calling "CharacterLand." We're going to be learning about it soon, but think Candyland but on a bulletin board. We're going to learn about being good citizens, making great choices, and earning chances to move our "players piece" to the finish line. There are going to be obstacles and friends to meet along the way like Respect Rhino, Trustworthy Tiger, and more. Ms. Stern is really excited for the pieces that look like sorry pieces with each players pictures on it!
10. Invite your family to view the blog and keep up on our adventures. While I will never post photos, know that we are taking plenty and will be glad to share them with you individually through email! (Mrs. Robertson got a great shot of all the boys together in the lounging area yesterday...it's already my desktop photo!)
**Picture day will be on September 17th. Please look for more information when it gets sent home.
I believe that back to school night is September 19th. Please come, Mrs. Robertson and I will make it a great time. We already see a great deal of each other, so adding other fun people to the mix will be good for us!
All of our friends picked their very own desks today and put their names on it. We had so much fun at them. Almost all of us can find our names located around the room and we can help those who can't! How much fun!
Mrs. Cassarino came and sat with us during lunch today. Hendrick and Patrick loved her so much that they wanted to go with her when she had to leave. Grant greeted her and showed her all of his cookies and banana! David bought lunch for the first time and while at first he wasn't quite sure about this fish that he ordered, he grew to be fond of it!
Aldair got to spend some more time with Ms. Spencer today in the afternoon. He made a beautiful garden picture to take home. He was a little scared to go in by himself, but when Ms. Stern came to pick him up, he wasn't sure he was ready to leave!
Luis and Darius learned a great deal in computers. Darius waited so patiently when Ms. Stern realized that she forgot to bring his lunch and Mrs. Robertson went back to get it. Luis read Hop on Pop to Ms. Stern when they got some 1:1 time together and chose to do some puzzles as a choice activity that his friends hadn't had time to finish the other day.
Tiffany spent almost the entire week in Ms. Kessler's room and did a great job. Way to go!
Next week, we're going to get class jobs, begin with a social skills program Ms. Stern is working on, and begin speech and occupational therapy. It's going to be a HUGE second week so I hope everyone rests up this weekend! I know I will!!!
Also, beginning next Thursday through Saturday, I may be harder to get a hold of by phone at home. My parents will be visiting and we'll be doing things like picking out a wedding dress and wandering around Manassas together. Email is probably best although if you leave messages on my voicemail, I will respond!
Enjoy your weekend!
1. We ACED our first fire drill. We lined up, followed Ms. Stern, and were almost entirely quiet the whole time! Patrick told us that the whole school was going to blow up, so we had to remind our friends that it was only practice and nothing was actually on fire.
2. We played with playdough when Ms. Stern had a meeting. At first, we did a great job. It did become messier as we continued and Ms. Stern came back to a very colorful, but fun, room.
3. We had calendar time today. While it was hard, we tried to turn it around. Guess what, we got x's to sit on now so that we can remember where we should be. Ms. Stern is thinking about using chairs so that we can remember that we have to sit instead of sprawl all over!
4. Ms. Lunsford helped us write a poem about our color words. Purple is Barney, Blue is a shirt (almost everyone was wearing blue today!), Yellow is a school bus, and more. Ms. Stern's memory sure is fading that she can't remember all of it.
5. Ms. Smith came in to watch us when we were cutting, coloring and writing. She said that she is going to be with us a lot and help us to learn to ace those things before you know it!
6. Ms. Stern talked with some of us about not giving our parents a hard time about doing our homework. She said that it's not a good idea to be mean and whiny. Some of us were wondering how she found out what we do at home!
7. One of our friends tried to use our electric pencil sharpener to help his crayons. It was a learning experience for all of us!
8. Mrs. Robertson went to PE with Hendrick, Patrick and David today. Everyone said that they had so much fun running up and down and all around the brand new gym!
9. Mrs. Robertson has been working so hard on creating what we are going to be calling "CharacterLand." We're going to be learning about it soon, but think Candyland but on a bulletin board. We're going to learn about being good citizens, making great choices, and earning chances to move our "players piece" to the finish line. There are going to be obstacles and friends to meet along the way like Respect Rhino, Trustworthy Tiger, and more. Ms. Stern is really excited for the pieces that look like sorry pieces with each players pictures on it!
10. Invite your family to view the blog and keep up on our adventures. While I will never post photos, know that we are taking plenty and will be glad to share them with you individually through email! (Mrs. Robertson got a great shot of all the boys together in the lounging area yesterday...it's already my desktop photo!)
**Picture day will be on September 17th. Please look for more information when it gets sent home.
I believe that back to school night is September 19th. Please come, Mrs. Robertson and I will make it a great time. We already see a great deal of each other, so adding other fun people to the mix will be good for us!
All of our friends picked their very own desks today and put their names on it. We had so much fun at them. Almost all of us can find our names located around the room and we can help those who can't! How much fun!
Mrs. Cassarino came and sat with us during lunch today. Hendrick and Patrick loved her so much that they wanted to go with her when she had to leave. Grant greeted her and showed her all of his cookies and banana! David bought lunch for the first time and while at first he wasn't quite sure about this fish that he ordered, he grew to be fond of it!
Aldair got to spend some more time with Ms. Spencer today in the afternoon. He made a beautiful garden picture to take home. He was a little scared to go in by himself, but when Ms. Stern came to pick him up, he wasn't sure he was ready to leave!
Luis and Darius learned a great deal in computers. Darius waited so patiently when Ms. Stern realized that she forgot to bring his lunch and Mrs. Robertson went back to get it. Luis read Hop on Pop to Ms. Stern when they got some 1:1 time together and chose to do some puzzles as a choice activity that his friends hadn't had time to finish the other day.
Tiffany spent almost the entire week in Ms. Kessler's room and did a great job. Way to go!
Next week, we're going to get class jobs, begin with a social skills program Ms. Stern is working on, and begin speech and occupational therapy. It's going to be a HUGE second week so I hope everyone rests up this weekend! I know I will!!!
Also, beginning next Thursday through Saturday, I may be harder to get a hold of by phone at home. My parents will be visiting and we'll be doing things like picking out a wedding dress and wandering around Manassas together. Email is probably best although if you leave messages on my voicemail, I will respond!
Enjoy your weekend!
It's Friday!
Yesterday went well. Grilled cheese for lunch, birthday party for Weems, cube counting, independent reading, and yet more inclusion!
Today, we're having an afternoon OT observation for the class, continue on our reading crusade about being in school, keep on practicing being able to walk as a class in the hallway and more!
I don't know about all of you, but ever since school began, I've had absolutely no problem being able to fall asleep at night. Last night, I went to bed at 8:30, before all the reported bed times in the class!
Today, we're having an afternoon OT observation for the class, continue on our reading crusade about being in school, keep on practicing being able to walk as a class in the hallway and more!
I don't know about all of you, but ever since school began, I've had absolutely no problem being able to fall asleep at night. Last night, I went to bed at 8:30, before all the reported bed times in the class!
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Day 2
Tomorrow, Weems turns 30! We're celebrating by learning the hand-jive in the gymnasium with all of kindergarten through second grade. It sure will be noisy, but we'll still enjoy ourselves, I'm sure!
Today, we became the only kindergarteners (along with our first grade friend) to use the other playgrounds. WE LOVED climbing all over everything. Miss Stern even climbed with us in her sandals!
We read, colored, worked on our grips of pencils/crayons, went to inclusion, specials, and more today!
There were these delicious apple turnovers for lunch today and I'll tell you, they were a HUGE HIT!
Calendar time was so much fun. Almost all of our friends were able to say that yesterday was Tuesday and tomorrow will be Thursday. We decided that it wasn't snowing and rather, the weather today was hot and sunny. We were happy about that because we could go outside for recess. Some of our friends don't like to talk about the season still being summer because they don't like some summer activities (namely swimming) so we quickly kept going.
Mrs. Walsh, our permanent substitute came in to read a Thomas the Tank story to us. Mrs. Robertson did an activity with numbers and cards and read us a story before our song time. It was great to be able to be with so many friends, and our inclusion teachers. We are the celebrities of the building!
I do know that they are trying to do something in regards to the bus situation. I don't know what it is, but I know that something should be happening. Think of how I feel, I'm standing outside Weems beginning at 8:30 every morning waiting for all my friends to come to school. Today, our friends arrived at 9:15. It'll get better, it's only day 2.
Let me know if there is anything that I can assist with or that you want to read here! (-:
Today, we became the only kindergarteners (along with our first grade friend) to use the other playgrounds. WE LOVED climbing all over everything. Miss Stern even climbed with us in her sandals!
We read, colored, worked on our grips of pencils/crayons, went to inclusion, specials, and more today!
There were these delicious apple turnovers for lunch today and I'll tell you, they were a HUGE HIT!
Calendar time was so much fun. Almost all of our friends were able to say that yesterday was Tuesday and tomorrow will be Thursday. We decided that it wasn't snowing and rather, the weather today was hot and sunny. We were happy about that because we could go outside for recess. Some of our friends don't like to talk about the season still being summer because they don't like some summer activities (namely swimming) so we quickly kept going.
Mrs. Walsh, our permanent substitute came in to read a Thomas the Tank story to us. Mrs. Robertson did an activity with numbers and cards and read us a story before our song time. It was great to be able to be with so many friends, and our inclusion teachers. We are the celebrities of the building!
I do know that they are trying to do something in regards to the bus situation. I don't know what it is, but I know that something should be happening. Think of how I feel, I'm standing outside Weems beginning at 8:30 every morning waiting for all my friends to come to school. Today, our friends arrived at 9:15. It'll get better, it's only day 2.
Let me know if there is anything that I can assist with or that you want to read here! (-:
First day....take them two at a time!
Our first day went fairly well. There were some glitches, nothing major, and everyone appeared to enjoy themselves.
We started out with puzzles, did some singing, toured the school (ran all over Ms. West's new gym! and explored every aisle of Mrs. Kirkland's new library!), went to enrichments, met all our new friends, ate lunch, read some stories together, went to recess, played with math manipulatives, and watched a movie together.
Today, we're starting our full day routine of calendar, inclusion in our classes, double recess (we're going to split up the 20 minutes and have two different recesses a day at two different playgrounds!), and more!
Alright, I should probably get to work if we're going to do all of this. Hope everyone is enjoying themselves. Feel free to leave comments or email me if there is something in particular you'd like to know about in regards to the day.
(-:
ps. as soon as we start writing about our days together as a class, I'll update this journal with the messages that we create together in a separate post each day so you can know specifically what is going on each day in the eyes of your child.
We started out with puzzles, did some singing, toured the school (ran all over Ms. West's new gym! and explored every aisle of Mrs. Kirkland's new library!), went to enrichments, met all our new friends, ate lunch, read some stories together, went to recess, played with math manipulatives, and watched a movie together.
Today, we're starting our full day routine of calendar, inclusion in our classes, double recess (we're going to split up the 20 minutes and have two different recesses a day at two different playgrounds!), and more!
Alright, I should probably get to work if we're going to do all of this. Hope everyone is enjoying themselves. Feel free to leave comments or email me if there is something in particular you'd like to know about in regards to the day.
(-:
ps. as soon as we start writing about our days together as a class, I'll update this journal with the messages that we create together in a separate post each day so you can know specifically what is going on each day in the eyes of your child.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
It's 3am, I sure hope you are sleeping
I woke up wanting to re-work the inclusion schedule. Yes, at 3am. I sit here yawning and knowing better than to be up this early on my first day and yet, if I stayed "asleep" I would have just been thinking about it in bed rather than being able to do something about it.
Today I have planned a great deal of "play" time in different areas of the classroom. We're going to take a school tour, figure out the best time for us to have recess as a class, and get to know our environment. We'll read "First Day Jitters" and probably one other book from the book bin about school. In addition, we'll explore our math manipulatives and will start in our inclusion rooms. We don't want to wait until tomorrow that which we can start today!
Enrichment rotations (which I'm still unclear if we start today or tomorrow) are typed up and list everyone. I couldn't decide if that was a good idea or bad idea, but for this case, I figured it would be okay.
I will say that my personal goal for the year for the overall class is to be included and accepted. When choosing a place for the students, other teachers now look at this as an opportunity for themselves and their students to work with the students in my class. I'm working with our inclusion teachers to help their class understand more about our friends on their own level. I've studied this area known as disability awareness, given presentations about it during my master's program, and have built up a rather substantial library geared for children and families regarding children with differences. Are all of us (including myself) nervous about this? Of course we are. Just as I imagine the parents of my students are everytime someone comes near their child fearing that they might do something to embarass their parents. I'd like to think that we'll work together, parents and educators, to ease everyone's nerves, to strive to surpass obstacles, achieve what was once thought to be impossible, and provide ourselves a community that truly accepts, accommodates, and welcomes diversity and everything that we each have to offer, especially that of our students.
Today I have planned a great deal of "play" time in different areas of the classroom. We're going to take a school tour, figure out the best time for us to have recess as a class, and get to know our environment. We'll read "First Day Jitters" and probably one other book from the book bin about school. In addition, we'll explore our math manipulatives and will start in our inclusion rooms. We don't want to wait until tomorrow that which we can start today!
Enrichment rotations (which I'm still unclear if we start today or tomorrow) are typed up and list everyone. I couldn't decide if that was a good idea or bad idea, but for this case, I figured it would be okay.
I will say that my personal goal for the year for the overall class is to be included and accepted. When choosing a place for the students, other teachers now look at this as an opportunity for themselves and their students to work with the students in my class. I'm working with our inclusion teachers to help their class understand more about our friends on their own level. I've studied this area known as disability awareness, given presentations about it during my master's program, and have built up a rather substantial library geared for children and families regarding children with differences. Are all of us (including myself) nervous about this? Of course we are. Just as I imagine the parents of my students are everytime someone comes near their child fearing that they might do something to embarass their parents. I'd like to think that we'll work together, parents and educators, to ease everyone's nerves, to strive to surpass obstacles, achieve what was once thought to be impossible, and provide ourselves a community that truly accepts, accommodates, and welcomes diversity and everything that we each have to offer, especially that of our students.
Monday, September 3, 2007
Twas the night before school
I have already had one night of sleeplessness (last night) and predict another for tonight.
I feel like there is so much going on. We have four different schedules with eight different children. Not impossible, just challenging for only two adults.
I finished all the BEE Books and realized that I forgot to type up the enrichment rotation schedule for parents so I should go and finish that.
The classroom is for the most part unpacked. I say for the most part because there are still boxes around, but for now, we have everything we need.
I hope that all of you out in blog land sleep well tonight, and if you have as many jitters as I do about tomorrow, post something for me to read!
(I should note, this is not new for me....every since I can remember, I've never been able to sleep the night before school starts)
After I finish typing up the Enrichment Rotation, I may come back and post more. You never can tell!
I feel like there is so much going on. We have four different schedules with eight different children. Not impossible, just challenging for only two adults.
I finished all the BEE Books and realized that I forgot to type up the enrichment rotation schedule for parents so I should go and finish that.
The classroom is for the most part unpacked. I say for the most part because there are still boxes around, but for now, we have everything we need.
I hope that all of you out in blog land sleep well tonight, and if you have as many jitters as I do about tomorrow, post something for me to read!
(I should note, this is not new for me....every since I can remember, I've never been able to sleep the night before school starts)
After I finish typing up the Enrichment Rotation, I may come back and post more. You never can tell!
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