1. Happy Halloween.
2. Please label all jackets, coats, and even hats and gloves. We're getting into that season and unfortunately, our boys don't seem to be able to tell us which one of the jackets are theirs since we've been sending kids home with the wrong ones. If you don't label them, please don't be upset if we do. (i promise, i won't stitch on print orange or anything!)
3. Schedule for the next two weeks. Probably not what you want to hear (read) but unfortunately, this is how it is.
Starting November 5th:
Monday-Ms. Stern is out
Tuesday-no students
Wednesday-all here
Thursday-Mrs. Robertson out
Friday-Ms. Stern out
Monday-no students
Tuesday-Ms. Stern out
Wednesday-all here
Thursday-Mrs. Robertson out; field trip
Friday-all here
Monday, Tuesday, Early Dismissal Wednesday, THANKSGIVING BREAK!

All except the friday before Veteran's Day are due to trainings that we have no choice about given our positions in the building.

Report cards are coming home soon.

Thanks to everyone for everything you did for the Halloween festivities today. Pumpkins will go home tomorrow. We just plum ran out of time today to get it all done. But our scarecrow sure looks great!

We did it! Field trip #1 is COMPLETE and well, long but great. Everyone laughed (some cried) and we all have pumpkins!

A HUGE THANK YOU to:

Mr. Oshiki and his company for funding this trip. We truly appreciate it.
Mr. Oshiki, Mrs. Hobbs, and Mr. and Mrs. Welsh for spending the day with us and helping us have fun!
Cox Farms for granting us reduced rates for our adults and being generally awesome.
Blake for sharing his flashlight with friends in the morning.
Hayden for enjoying the hay as much as everyone else!


Everyone loved the trip. They were all pumped up for the "farm" this morning and couldn't wait to get there. Hendrick kept saying on the way out "bye farm. bye bye. bye farm. bye bye farm." Adorable.

We only lost one student for about a minute which I hear is considerably less than anyone else. Go team!

While I'm exhausted, I feel like I learned about more about the kids today and some of them, learned about themselves (especially when it comes to goats!)

Thanks again to everyone for making it possible. Our kids (and us) are so lucky to have families like all of you!

OKay, OKay!

A great day. We laughed, giggled and we actually learned!

There was inclusion (patrick and luis went to computer lab) and (grant, hendrick, and darius went to music).

We are almost finished with our halloween surprise. We counted, we built, we had a great day.

So, tomorrow. Be at school. 9am. Bring lunch.

Be ready for anything!

We're baaaaccccckkkk

Well, Mrs. Robertson and I should be back tomorrow. I'm still sniffly and she's completely mended according to her email but I'm coming back because I don't want the school calling me again.

Tomorrow we'll be finishing up our super secret halloween surprise. I can't tell you now but can inform you to check out everyone's bookbags on Wednesday night. Will it be a trick or treat....you'll never know until then!

Tuesday we'll spend the day at Cox Farms. Remember, bag lunches. Everything (including the bag) has to be able to be thrown out. No lunch boxes, glass bottles, or silverware that needs to be returned.

Wednesday, fun day of inclusion, speech, and then, halloween festivities! how fun!

We're also going to squeeze in time to make sure that everyone finishes their math tests and start on our next adventures!

Hope everyone comes back tomorrow!

Notes:

There will be no real update today because both Mrs. Robertson and myself are home. Needless to say, it should be an interesting day in that room. Oh, to be a fly.

There is a Halloween party tonight at the school from 6:30 to 8pm.

Don't forget, bag lunches are needed on Tuesday for our field trip. Chaperones need to be at the school by 9am.

Wednesday, Halloween Party, but NO COSTUMES (per administration).

Alright, I'm going back to bed. Have a good weekend.

MayDay!!!

Virusspread 2007 has now gotten all but one of us. Mrs. Robertson is sick as am I. There is a good chance that we'll both be out tomorrow.

A good day. Now, sleep.

Still spreading germs....

Today, only three friends came to school. We sure hope everyone is feeling better quickly because you're missing out on the fun!

Luis and Grant both finished their chapter in math and earned 100% on their test. Lefts, rights, insides, outsides, unders, overs, there sure was a lot!

Darius did great work with Mrs. Robertson for math today. Mrs. Cassarino came in and not only chatted with Darius for a while, but played with playdough and hung out with him. He sure was happy about that. Everyone chose a different activity for recess since it was raining. From the sound of it right now, we might have to do the same thing tomorrow!

And now, since I was a sub for bunco tonight (third time playing and second time winning!) I've got to get to bed.

Don't forget (for those healthy ones out there) that there is a Great Halloween Party at Weems on Friday night. Flyers went home today (or will go home when you come back!)

COME BACK!!!!!!

Okay, well, the bug has officially hit. By 2 o'clock today there were five of us in the classroom, and three of us were adults!

Warning: There is a bug going around. Sore RED throat, swollen lymph nodes (according to Nurse Parker), high fevers, and more. Please please PLEASE keep your child home if they are sick. Not that I don't love them, but really, they are miserable at school when they aren't well. There really isn't anything that I hate more than seeing sick kids.

Hendrick had a great day until he went home ill. He worked hard in inclusion despite his cough, loved going to computer lab and learning about his letters on the keyboard, and played outside like a champ. We were sorry that he felt so miserable though by the time we came back in and quickly went down hill from there. Good thing mom came to the rescue!

Luis had a STELLAR day. He finished his work, made a beaver, helped Mrs. Robertson make a Halloween Picture Frame, worked on his letters, building his house in Speech and practicing his cutting skills and more! He listened, worked well, and is showing signs of being in love for the first time!

Darius worked hard with Mrs. Robertson in the early morning while Ms. Stern was at the doctor. (Ms. Stern is fine, she was having blood taken for her annual, albiet late, physical....she promises, she won't come to school with a fever either!) He wanted to take care of Ms. Stern when she came back and saw her bandage. He worked well in computer lab and had a great time climbing with everyone during recess. He did a great job constructing his house in speech and decorating his person to go inside.

Aldair spent his first official day in full-time inclusion and told me that he learned about the letter S. Unfortunately blog readers, you'll be reading less and less about Aldair as he works his way well into Ms. Spencer's room. He still does get to see us for about 10 minutes every afternoon along with our friend Tiffany who spends her entire day in Ms. Kessler's room.

The pumpkin patch is less than a week away! Be sure to get well in time for it!!! It'll be a GRAND time!

Tonight, our own Mrs. Robertson was honored by the MCPS School Board for being the first quarter winner of the PEAR award. We are truly honored to have her on our team and what she does for the boys in our room, along with the children of Weems on a daily basis is truly amazing and priceless. If ever you swing by Weems at recess, you really may see her swinging right alongside one of the boys on the swing saying "straight, bend, straight, bend". It's a great time! Congratulations Mrs. Robertson!!!!

Halloween

So, I didn't decide it until the last conference of today (thanks to Melanie and Travis!) that we're going to have a Halloween party on...well....Halloween.

Time: 2:15pm
Where: The classroom
So, umm....I have crafts. Melanie offered cupcakes. Anyone else want to bring something? Pretzels? Juice? Come, hang out, watch a halloween (I'm thinking great pumpkin) movie, help with a craft, and feel free to take your child home!

It'll be great. Who's in?

Also, we're set with chaperones for this field trip, I'll be back to ask for volunteers for November 15th to go bowling....you know you wanna come!

As promised

We've had some great moments recently.

1. Patrick and I have had amazing conversations together. His vocabulary is expanding, as is his comprehension. His imaginative play is also widening which is great! He's also been doing a great job in Ms. Albert's room!

2. Aldair is going to full-time in Ms. Spencer's room as of Tuesday. He's been using his "big boy" voice all the time, initiating conversations, and meeting his goals left and right. We wish him the best of luck ever and will still be riding the bus with him every morning and afternoon.

3. David has had a cold the past two days and we sure hope that he's on his way to a full recovery!

4. I was able to be with Luis as he was being tested for PALS. I have to say, he did a great job. I'm sure everyone else has, I just haven't received the results back but the general education teachers should be able to at least tell you some of the scores for the test when you see them on Monday.

5. Darius has been having success with word sorts and discussing books with me. He is great at predicting what will come next.

6. Hendrick has done an amazing job at adjusting to centers, sharing, and paying attention in a larger group setting. He really is trying his hardest to do his best on almost all occasions.

7. Grant has been having success in working 1:1 on harder concepts. He's been a great friend to the others in the classroom and has been starting to engage others on the playground.

All in all, some great times!

Keep watching

this space for an update this weekend.

I just got home from bunco and I'm whipped tonight.

I will update this weekend though.

Don't forget, no school for students on Monday.

1. Sorry I didn't blog yesterday. I have no excuse, so I won't offer one. If I did have an excuse, it might involve a panda, a red shoe, and a hair brush.

2. I have to say, for the most part, we had a great day. Some of us more than others, but still, we're going overall here.

3. Field trip permission slips went home and reminder labels about conferences were stuck on your kids. Please send back the permission slips. They are good for the year but I really need them back. Please come for your conference, especially if you have to sign the forms for evaluations of APE because then I won't have to continually call you to ask you to come in. Don't misunderstand, I'll still call.

4. Field trips:
October 30th: Cox farms. BRING BAG LUNCH! NOT OPTIONAL!!!! Sneakers and clothes that you don't mind getting dirty.
November 15th: Bowling at Bowl America on Mathis Ave.
December 12th: Santa and IHOP at Manassas Mall.

Tuesday night Mrs. Robertson will be honored at the School Board meeting on Tuesday Night for being voted as our "Pear" of the quarter.

Don't forget, 10/22=NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS!!!

Tuesday

Well, my lucky week that I get to see many of you again on Thursday for APE quick meetings. Then again on Monday. Good times.

Just remember, there is no school on Monday for students. It is a parent teacher conference day. That being said, if you have no daycare, don't stress about bringing the kids.

The meeting for the faculty was postponed again on the 23rd because we have a meeting with the head of HR. I'm just going to go ahead and make my own handout and give it to those teachers now instead of waiting.

Field trip permission slips will go home tomorrow!

All in all a good day. Lots of conversations, a great job cutting as we are making houses in speech, and tons of fun as usual at recess.

We are still working on the concepts of inside and outside. We understand going outside or inside the classroom, but inside a basket/bucket/bottle, etc....we're still lost. It'll come.

14 more days until our field trip!

Monday

New bookorders went home today!

We had our adaptive PE observation today and the school will be following up on it.

Parent night was a lot of fun! Melanie, thanks so much for the cookies! They were delicious! Hopefully next time everyone can make it!

We really did have a great day. Everyone was very talkative and wanting to have conversations today. On the way back to the room, Tiffany and Aldair asked each other how their day was.

Patrick and I had a conversation about the tooth fairy today since he also lost a tooth.

Grant and I talked about the weather and leaves today while we were outside.

Darius had a great day with Ms. Mansfield in her reading group and read a book all about playful puppies.

Hendrick told me a story today about riding the bus and watching out the window.

Luis had a great day participating in speech and reading.

We're working on the concept "inside and outside." Such as, this apple is inside the basket and the flower is outside of the vase. So far, it's been difficult but we're still going to work on it!

And we are ON for the field trip on October 30th to Cox Farms! We're so excited!!!

Marvelous day!

A great day. We watched Chicka Chicka Boom Boom on DVD. It was fantastic and is still running on a continuous loop in my head. We also read "Don't let the pigeon stay up late!" It was HYSTERICAL!

Some of us are working on the phrase "I don't know" to provide a more accurate answer to questions when we don't know instead of repeating the question again.

We are also practicing counting to 30 everyday 1:1.

Alright, I really need to go and pack since I'm leaving and have yet to pack a suitcase.

Enjoy your weekends and I'll see you all Monday night!

Shoeboxes needed

If you have shoeboxes that you don't need, can you send them in? We need them with lids. They will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much.

Wednesday

Congratulations Patrick for writing your name entirely by yourself today with no prompting. It's something that we hadn't seen since he always wants help with it but today, he just went right on with it. FANTASTIC!

Four of our friends, Grant, Aldair, Luis, and David earned a trip to the prize box today due to their stellar behavior on the playground. Our other friends seemed to have difficulty with not pushing, throwing sticks, or hitting. We talked about these things and we've agreed to play differently tomorrow to try to earn our chance.

Luis and David had a great conversation today during computer time that ended with Luis saying "David, good job friend!" It was nice to hear them talking to each other and getting along so well.

One book order did indeed make it home today. If I find the other packet of them, they'll go home tomorrow. If not, hopefully on Monday when I come back.

Starting Monday, all of our kindergartners will be receving PALS instruction in their inclusion classes. This is the way that it is done at Weems and so they will be participating in the program.

In speech today, we started to get ready to build our houses to help us learn our addresses, phone numbers, and more!

Also, I don't know if Mrs. Robertson will get a chance to post about it, but our friend Patrick has been really working hard on being able to swing on the playground by himself without needing pushing. Some of our other friends have been encouraging him along the way.

Aldair is getting ready for almost full day inclusion. In fact, besides lunch and speech, he's already there! Great work!

We're working hard on those IEP goals. Practice counting to 30, knowing all the letters of the ABCs (in and out of order) and their sounds.

Don't forget tonight (sorry for my late reminder) tonight is the Special Education Advisory Meeting at 7pm in the trailer behind Central Office for parents of students with special needs.

Also, I will update (sometime) tomorrow but then I'm out of town for the weekend.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Monday night!

Enjoy!

Phew....

Well, okay!

1. If anyone is looking for a general practioner who is great with everyone and anyone ( I know that a friend of mine takes her child who has Autism to see him and I just saw him myself today), I can highly recommend Dr. Chambers in the Bull Run practice by the hospital. They take all different kinds of insurance (my friend has Kaiser and I have Anthem)....almost the entire staff of Weems goes there. Our school nurse's husband is also a doctor there. Anyway, he's my top pick of doctors ever, and I'm really picky about doctors!

That being said and out of the way, conferences are coming up. Do you have a time already? If you do and need reminding, just me let know.

I had the conversation yesterday and now I need to know as parents where it rates on your scale. Many of the goals in the IEPs of the boys talks about making them use eye contact to have a conversation. I argued yesterday that some times, you don't have to use eye contact to show that you are indeed paying attention. Most people that I know with some degree of Autism in fact don't look at whatever it is that is the focal point for most other people but can tell you exactly what you're talking about. I didn't know if eye contact is something that you expect from your children. Do they show you that they are listening without it?

I filled out the referrals for APE today. If you didn't hear about it, your child doesn't need it.

Try fitting the word "above" in at home. It's something that we're focusing on at school and it's quite a difficult word for them to understand because typically, it's not something that we use everyday.

We talked about Christopher Columbus today. I believe that it went over most of their heads. It was the end of the day (our first with our new schedule) and I tried teaching until almost 3 o'clock and they were fried.

Darius lost another tooth today! Two in two weeks! We can now see straight into his belly when he smiles!

During PE today (we're walking "to China" to help the homeless) Grant walked and ran the entire time. He was one of the only kindergarteners to do it. He stopped for a moment because it appeared that he walked funny on his ankle, but then he "shook it out" and kept right on going. I was so impressed that he kept his own pace no matter what other kids tried to get him to do. He did exactly what he was told to do by the teacher and he did it well!

We started our fire-education-week. In speech, we discussed what firefighters wear and what is on their truck. Then we added a new poem to our personal readers.

David, Patrick and Luis had a fantastic time in Ms. Albert's room today and just as they started to get fidgety, it was time for specials. A huge improvement from last week where they needed a break a half hour and sometimes forty five minutes beforehand!

We put the marble racer together again (and followed the directions this time instead of trying our own way) and had a great time with that as a class downtime.

Book orders should be going home, I'm hoping tomorrow if everyone shows up. I really do recommend them compared to Barnes and Noble which is where I was tonight. However, if you enjoy Barnes and Noble and have a membership card, there are great books in their kids bargain section with letters, numbers, colors, and more that have magic pictures. Also, in their main section of bargin there is another section of bargin books with holiday books for kids. I know, it's hard to think of the holidays when Halloween isn't even here, but they are there.

Should we have a Halloween party in the class? We haven't heard yet about the approval of the field trip which should be on the 30th. Then we'd have a party on the 31st. Is it too much? What are your thoughts?

Alright, I should go find my suitcase and contemplate packing....enjoy your night!

9-1-1

We're starting fire prevention teaching. In the song (on your cd) there is a song "firestation pete"....it talks about 9-1-1.

We will talk in our class about dialing 9-1-1 for an emergency but I'm asking that you do some teaching at home for this concept. The last thing that I want is for our boys to go and pick up the phone and dial and cause a ruckus. Believe me, I'm not a ruckus maker (usually).

So, go over why they might. To help you with this and your entire family, we'll be sending home a HUGE poster, thanks to Ms. Lunsford, all about safety and there is a place to put the numbers on them.

Just curious

As I was looking at the analytics of this blog, who is everyone who reads this? It's been read in 16 states so far! I can claim some of the NY readers (I think) but not all of them. I know that Grant's Grandparents and "favorite" aunt are reading from out west. You'd be happy to know that you are in second place in terms of readers with Virginia being in first. However, there is a huge group in PA, NY, Connecticut, Georgia and more!

It's impressive I must say. I'm half tempted to link it up to my other blogs (not that I really ever update those!) And I say link it up, I mean have my fiance do it...he's the one responsible for all my technology including building my websites (so far, I only have one but I'm out to conquer the web someday).

Okay, so that's my question today. Who are you? Is there something that you'd like to be reading here that I'm not posting? (My readers that I know are reading are also more than welcome to respond.)

Enjoy your day off tomorrow. I miss NY for the fact that they give their teachers the long weekend as well!

Our own Mrs. Robertson won the "Pear" award from Weems today. What it means is that she was nominated and voted by the faculty and staff as the IA who does a great deal for the Weems family. We all appreciate and know that we are the most fortunate to work with her.


Other than that excitement, it was a fairly non-descript day.

We had no Mrs. Robertson, Darius or Luis. Good times in inclusion for everyone. Music for Albert's class and Art for Ms. Spencer's students.

We worked on putting together marble racers in our class. Lunch and recess were pretty lovely. There was a lot of duck duck goose during recess and playing in dirt. Two distinct groups, but still exciting that everyone was with at least one other person playing.

In speech we talked about out a poem regarding our feet. Then we took our shoes and socks off and talked about different descriptors about our shoes.

Then, Ms. Stern had us PAINT WITH OUR FEET!!!!!! We painted leaves with our feet and then did something that we can't post here and used our hands to paint.

We took out our trains and marble racers again. We reviewed over, under, and on some more.

We're going to talk about fire safety next week and start talking about pumpkins!

Don't forget, NO SCHOOL FOR KIDS ON MONDAY!

Thursday

We moved the furniture around yesterday after work. Sorry for not posting last night...

We worked on over, under, and on today in math. Difficult but we had fun climbing on our desks and under them.

also, we played with trains today!

Some of us got really dirty playing at recess today. It really was hysterical and goes to show how much fun they are having!

Tomorrow we'll be finger painting so I hope you're feeling my excitement!

October 15th at 6pm. Parent night, bring a baby photo! We'll be talking about our roads to here...

Next Thursday after school I'll be leaving for NY for the weekend. If you need something, send an email.

Enjoy your Thursday.

Best bulletin board....

Robyn created a bulletin board with the boys pictures on pumpkins looking like jack-o-lanterns in a pumpkin patch!

We played football in speech today and spoke about top, middle, and bottom. The scarecrow that we had made was wearing a football helmet and when we threw, we were trying to identify if we hit him on the top, middle, or bottom.

Library for Spencer and Music for Albert today.

We explored magnets, did songs in the afternoon.

Still working on eye contact and looking at the people that you are speaking to.

We're doing a fantastic time in inclusion! I'm hearing great reports from everyone!

Tomorrow, we're starting math centers in the afternoon after speech. They will have 2:1 instruction from me, a small group of 3 with Robyn and then a choice activity independently. We're excited!

Next week is Fire Prevention Week.

Also, in terms of life skills, we're going to start out by remembering when our birthday is. After that, our phone number and then our address.

In terms of social skills, we're still working on greetings, closings, and eye contact.

Disney Sing Along Videos seem to be a great hit if you're looking for something new at home. They have different songs from different movies and the kids love to hear the songs and watch the characters dance.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

Happy October!

I'm under an allergy attack right now so I'm going to keep this brief.

We worked on eye contact again today. When talking with your child, please ask them "where are my eyes....talk to my eyes" It seems to be working. Hopefully, one day we won't have to ask.

We had music (spencer) and computer lab (albert) today.

In speech we worked on finishing our scarecrow.

WE ARE ON for our PARENT night. October 15th is the same night as the PTO meeting. The PTO meeting is at 7pm, would you prefer our time to be 6 or 6:30. I'm hoping that we can do a rotating thing of providing a light refreshment. Also, is there a particular topic that you'd like to talk about or focus on? Kids are welcome.

We talked about shapes today. We're going into unit four for math starting tomorrow because we're beyond where we need to be. (Gen Ed kindergarten is in unit 2).

Alright, the tissues and I have a date. Have a great night!