Weekly update 12-20-2012: Have a great Break!

Room 125 families–

Thank you for a great 2012. It has been wonderful to watch your children learn and grow while getting to know your families. I cannot express enough gratitude towards you for the support you give to your children and to me inside and outside of school. Thank you for trusting me and this school to keep your children safe as we help them to learn. Your children mean so much to me, and I am thankful to work with such amazing families.

Have a wonderful break. Feel free to e-mail or post on this blog over the holidays with any questions or ideas for 2013. Otherwise, see you in the new year!

-Ms. Wales

 

Weekly Update: 12-13-12

Literacy Night

Is tonight from 5:30-7:30 at Edison! This week we have been reading the Polar Express and making some connections to our own holiday traditions. We have continued working on meaningful drawing by creating santa and trains with simple shapes. For more information about Literacy Night, check out the Edison Website: http://edison.dpsk12.org/literacy-night-on-december-13/. This will be a great opportunity to meet other families from the Edison community, as well as some friends of Room 125. Hope to see you there!

Out Tomorrow

As a reminder, I will be at the Autism/Asperger’s Conference in Ft. Collins tomorrow so we will have a guest teacher. I have met with her to discuss the schedule and students and the paras will be here to support. Our schedule will continue as normal tomorrow.

Next Week

Is our last week before break. We will spend next week reviewing what we’ve learned as well as making cards for friends and celebrating. If you haven’t already shared your holiday traditions, please send me a note so that we can make connections to home!

Pictures With Santa

I got an e-mail about taking pictures with Santa in a sensory-friendly environment. See info below:

Back by popular demand…bring your child for pictures with a very special Santa at the sensory-friendly Autism Community Store!  A professional photographer will take pictures of your child with Santa and we will email them to you.

Weekly Update: 12-6-12

Good morning! Just a few updates from this week:

Rules and Relationships

This week we focused our time on continuing to build or  re-establish relationships between teachers and students and students and students. After a few months of increasing demands and higher and higher expectations, and now only a couple weeks until a long break, it is important to check in with students and make sure relationships and school experiences are positive. Likewise it is critical to maintain high expectations for behavior and following the rules, so we spent a lot of time reviewing these structures and offering reinforcement and praise for good behavior. Please continue to talk about the rules at home and offer praise or discussion for how your child’s day went.

Other News

This week we also celebrated Gianni’s birthday with games, pudding making, and special treats.  We continued to review push and pull, which are concepts being taught in 2nd grade science as well.  We continued to practice making eye contact when your name is called and maintaining that contact for at least 1-2 seconds.

Next Week

Next week is busy and exciting! Please join the Edison Community Thursday from 5:30-7:30 for  Literacy Night, an Edison holiday tradition. I will be a tiny bit late because of a presentation I have to make for a DPS class, but I hope to see you there!

We we have a substitute teacher next Friday as I will be in Ft. Collins for an Autism/Asperger’s Conference.  This conference is focused on sensory needs and modifications and I hope to take a lot back to our classroom. All of the paras will still be here to support students and the sub for a successful day.

Holiday Traditions

Please take a minute to post to this site, send me a note, or leave me a message about some of your holiday traditions. I’d like to learn about different traditions as a class as well as be able to share with friends and inclusive classes.

Thank you for all you do to support your child at home and at school!  As always, let me know any questions, ideas, or comments about what we’re doing here or what you’re doing at home. Have a great day!

-Ms. Wales