This week, we had a lot of fun! We began by the reveal of the children's 5 point scales with their faces on them! They really enjoyed seeing how they looked at each level of the scale! We read a book called Sometimes I Feel Like a Stormcloud and discussed how different feelings could rank on the scale as well. Then, we compared that to "carrying our weather", a 7 Habit's notion. The children equated a weather pattern to each level of the five point scale as well. This was mostly review from last year but they still did very well! Then, on Tuesday, we read Moody Cow Meditates and talked about different calming strategies. On Thursday, we made the fall tress that you see pictured at the top. We read the book Fall Leaves Fall and talked about the changing of the season. Then, children dotted glue on their paper and used their fine motor skills to decorate the tree. Each child got a turn with the hole punch (though most were cut out prior to the activity). I learned that almost every child did not have the hand strength to squeeze the hole puncher through a piece of construction paper! I encourage everyone to spend some time this weekend doing a hand muscle strengthening activity--play with some playdough, write or color, use a tool (like raking leaves), etc. I will be stepping up the hand activities in the sensory room as well! Today, we enjoyed game day and the children navigated the social art of choosing, playing and cleaning up games. All in all, we had a great week! Enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend!
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Thank you to everyone who came out to Curriculum Night! It was great to see you and share about our program with you! We had an exciting week, with Curriculum Night, Picture Day and a fire drill (my favorite), we were on our toes! This week, in group, we imagined ourselves as superheros and wrote down our super qualities. We also spent a lot of time talking about goal setting and actually setting our own goals. Each child set one for school and one for outside of school. It was interesting to see how children attacked this task! It was difficult, but I was proud of their final product! This week, we also used a five point scale to rank different stressors. Some of their answers were exactly as I expected, but others really surprised me! I love it when they do that--I learn so much about them! We also took some time to sharpen the saw and color our school mission statement; "Everyone Learning, Everyone Growing, Everyone Leading". Throughout the year, as in the past, students will be marking their progress on their IEP goals as well. I have typed up child-friendly wording for each of the kids' IEP goals and objectives so that they can monitor how they are doing on their goals. I think this is really important because if the children don't know their goals, they cannot work on them. My goal is to try to have the children reflect on their goals every other week. Ask them how they're doing! I hope you had a great weekend! We made it through our first week of "scheduled" groups! Note the use of quotation marks--there's always a learning curve to scheduling multiple grades, groups and people! The kids were troopers and were very patient as we worked out some of the kinks! This week, in social skills groups, we covered a couple of topics. We discussed the 5 Point Scale and refamiliarized ourselves with the different levels. Then, we did one of my favorite activities of the year--each of the children made their own stress scale. They had to rate 1-3 items that made them feel at each of the 5 levels on the scale. I do this every year because for many children, it changes from year to year. I love to read their results and see their thinking. I learn a lot about them and the emotions that they don't always share. I sent home the original, and I kept a copy for my own reference. I hope this is helpful to your family as well. This week, we also did some reading assessments and some work in our data notebooks. The children graphed their reading level in the spring and then where they scored coming back to school. We also learned how to accept a compliment, did some painting and read a book called Words Are Not For Hurting. We had some great discussions and some fun along the way! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Welcome back to school! We are in the home stretch of the first week of the school year and it's great to have everyone back! The kids have done really well this week, especially with all of the ambiguity that comes with the beginning of the year. I will spend the weekend constructing a detailed schedule based on the schedules of all of the teachers, specials schedules and lunches. Hopefully next week, we'll have a bit more consistency and launch our new routines. I am planning on starting social skills groups next week, as this week has been a giant social skills experience! I'm so proud of the great start we've had--you all should be very proud of your children! Be sure to check the calendar closely this weekend! We've added some dates and times--including picture day and Curriculum Night.
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June 2017
Ann Reece
Ann Reece is the upper elementary teacher in the ASD program. Categories |