Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

With this month being the last month of 2010, I'd like to say that this past semester has been very rewarding for Mrs. Beaumont and myself. We have seen many students take giant steps in their academic skills and I am looking forward to seeing many goals reached this coming year for all of our students.

This January I am starting a Materials Resource Center campaign for our EC students who come to "the Cave" for instruction, as well as, for the students we serve in the classrooms. The Materials Resource Center will be for each class where our students are instructed so that they can go to it to get paper and pencils when they don't have any in class. Instead of making an issue of them not having materials, I believe it is better to help them get right on task as soon as possible. By providing a center where they know they can get a pencil instead of spending 10 minutes looking for one in their backpacks, they will be saving time and get to their task quickly and without pressure. The less pressure on them for something as small as a pencil the better.

I know they need to learn to be responsible but I believe they are learning that in other ways and appreciate the help to make school a more desirable place to be. If you would like to donate to EC Materials Resource Center please bring any pencils, pens, pencil grips, or lined paper to "The Cave" at the Media Center and mark it Materials Resource Center or put them in my mailbox in the office. Thank you so much.

Mrs. Beaumont and I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. We look forward to an excellent New Year full of students making great strides forward.

Mrs. Peele

Thanksgiving Soon!

Soon it will be Thanksgiving.

My fourth graders have started the week writing their spelling words on turkey feathers and gluing them on to their turkeys. They did a great job. Needless to say, I did not. As I squeezed the glue container, the plastic cracked, and glue went everywhere! They will be working on writing and reading sentences in preparation for writing a story this week in Ms. Sumner's class.

The colors around us are so gorgeous today- Monday. What a way to start the week!

The students have also become more creative after having gone through their routines of the first semester.

One Assistive-Technology tool that is easily accessible is a pencil grip. These slide easily onto the pencil and give the student that may struggle with writing better control over their pencil and writing in general. If your child is having trouble holding his or her pencil, try a pencil grip!

Mrs. Beaumont and I have been enjoying seeing our students use our new Reading Rulers.

They are about 6 inches in length and have different colored clear plastic for the students to hold over the pages and read through. They are so helpful and cut down on glare and help the students focus on the words.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Mrs. Peele

November 1, 2010

Monday, 11/1, there will be picture retakes in the Media Center.

Tuesday is Election Day. I will be helping my students understand voting and the election on Monday and Tuesday and sharing with them what I do when I go to vote.

The Fourth Grade is reading Coyote School News. My students and I will be having fun with vocabulary, reading, and writing as it relates to this story.

The 9th graders just finished their Definition Essays and they worked so hard on these. Mrs. Sweat is great about explaining every part of the essay and how each part relates to the other.
The students thought of so many amazing ideas for their essays.

Have a great week!

Mrs. Peele

October 18, 2010

A few pics from the NC State Fair this weekend :) My husband showed one of his pigs on Saturday and won the Grand Champion prize for that show! There is a great Wildlife exhibit if you go this weekend.

This Friday and following Monday are teacher workdays.

The last day of this quarter is October 21st so please have your students check with their teachers this week about any grades the teacher is missing. There are several that I know of.

Report cards and also EC Report Cards go out on October 28th.

With vocabulary being so vitally important to reading for our students, it may be necessary to isolate the words the student is studying from the list and have your student:

1. Cut out a picture out of a magazine to paste next to the word.

2. Draw a picture to help remember the meaning of the word.

3. See the word used in print in several forms of text- newspaper, book, magazine.

When a student is a visual learner, just hearing or reading the text is not enough to remember it.

A visual reference may be needed in order for the student to gradually remember the word.

The MAIN IDEA of a text can be tricky. I am seeing ways of teaching this element of reading through Teaching Reading by Laura Robb in a new way. She presents steps that lead up to the student arriving at the main idea in any text. This involves recognizing details and summarizing what has just happened in the text whether it is a short paragraph or an entire story. As a student verbalizes what is taking place in what they are reading, it helps them to then see the whole picture instead of a small part.

Mrs. Beaumont will be in our office Tuesday through Thursday and I will be in Monday through Friday. Please feel free to email us at npeele@neusecharterschool.org or cbeaumont@neusecharterschool.org

Have an awesome autumn week:)

Mrs. Peele and Mrs. Beaumont

October 10, 2010

A new product called Intel Reader is out! Wow! I'm sure this is very expensive but it is a wonderful Assistive Technology tool for students who have difficulty reading and writing.

Go to http://www.intel.reader.com/ for more information.

This device looks like a camera and takes pictures of text then converts the text to speech.

A head-set is included. This would be great for students who have difficulty taking notes, as well.

Mrs. Beaumont will be at school Tuesday through Thursday and I will be in Monday through Thursday of this week.

There will be an Exceptional Children's Improvement Team meeting this Wednesday in the Technology Lab at 4:00.

The Book Fair will be this week- come by the Media Center and check out the books, etc !

The State Fair starts Thursday in Raleigh- Mr. Peele and I will be showing pigs this Saturday, October 16, at 12:30 in the Kelly Building which right next to the Jim Graham building.

Week of October 3rd

Isn't it great to have had the rain and now cool weather?
This week is Picture Day on Wednesday!

I will be focusing on "Fast Writes" in my Language Arts lessons with some of my students. This is a term used in Laura Robb's , Teaching Reading. I will model this strategy for the students where we will focus what the students already know about a subject that they will be studying.
In fourth grade we are studying snakes. The students will take a few minutes and write everything they can think of about snakes. It will help me learn what they already know and help themselves discover what they, themselves know about a subject. They will also learn from each other. This is a pre-writing and learning strategy to help them connect with the topic and help them to remember what they will then read about snakes this week.

In math I am focusing on students memorizing their math facts in order to be able to complete their math problems in class.

Fall is such a great "sensory" time of year. There are so many beautiful colors, sights, and smells, sounds, and objects outside. A fun activity for those students who love art is to gather some natural objects from outside and set up a still-life scene. Present markers, paints, or colored pencils, erasers, and ask your child to draw and color what they see. Then have them write a four line poem about their picture.

The PTO meeting is Thursday night at the Temple Baptist Church on HWY 301 /bus. 70.
7:00

Have a great week,
Mrs. Beaumont
Mrs. Peele

Autumn "Leaves" Us Inspired

Autumn "Leaves" Us Inspired
by Nancy D. Peele

The print upon my canvas
Reflects the detail of
Autumn's inviting palette.
Bursting with warmth -
Luring us on toward winter.

Friday is the Student Staff Volleyball game at the JCA gym on Booker Dairy Road at 4:00 :)

Mrs. Beaumont and I are so please with how well our students are performing in class.
It is good to see everyone working really hard. I have been teaching my middle school students
the practice of a Think Aloud. If you are not familiar with this phrase never fear. It's exactly what it says. They are learning a systematic approach to finding a strategy such as "the Main Idea" of a paragrah or passage. I model it for them and then they join in the procedure and before they know it they have discovered the main idea by following the steps. I am using a story " Hero Dogs' that would appeal to almost any age and any gender. The purpose of a Read Aloud is to discover a strategy but also to help each student comprehend more fully what they are reading.


ECAC is a federally funded resource for parents that you might really enjoy looking into.
There is an office in Raleigh and they have so many resources.

The EC Improvement Committee that met last spring for the first time will have the first meeting of the school year on Wednesday, October 13th at 4:00 in the Media Center.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Peele

For the Week of September 13, 2010

Here I am at the Myer Homestead in Saugerties, NY. The house is still standing on this property and I am a descendent of this family who settled in Saugerties 300 years ago. I attended our first 300th year reunion.

"Text-to-Speech" is a tool that can be used on a computer to help students and adults who have difficulty reading text. The words are usually highlighted as a computer voice reads each word in the reading selection. I highly recommend getting this if you have a student who has learning disabilities or just difficulty reading and spelling. On the control panel of your computer you can look for speech options and then go to change settings. Or go to a program such as http://www.naturalreader.com/ that has a free download but you can also buy a better version that has a lot more for students such as books with their Education Silver version.

For teen school and homework help go to Internet Public Library 2 or www.IPL.org

For help with Learning Disabilities go to www.smartkidswithld.org

Also www.helpguide.org has very detailed explanations about disabilites and is very informative.

I will be "out of the office " on Tuesday but Mrs. Beaumont will be in all day.

I hope you all have a very good week.

Mrs. Peele

Happy September!

Welcome back to Neuse Charter School. Our Exceptional Children's Department has been busy so far this semester. Our students have settled into their classes and seem very happy with all of their teachers. It is great to have so many new students with us this year. Mrs. Beaumont and I are looking forward to great steps forward from all of our students this semester.

The Exceptional Children's Department motto this year is "Put Your Best Foot Forward!"

With Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder comes many difficulties that take a lot of work to overcome both by the student, as well as , by the parents. Please check out these websites that may inform you further about ADHD and what you can do to help yourself , if you have AD/HD, or your student:

Children and Adults with AttentionDeficit Hyperactiity Disorder- http://www.chadd.org/

The National Resource Center on AD/HD- http://www.4-adhd.com/ http://www.help4adhd.org/

Some helpful tips on organization would be to have your middle school/high school student
use a clipboard for take-home papers. Then when he gets home he can file them in a file with colored file folders. Papers are a problem because there are always homework papers, papers for parents, papers of instruction, and papers about projects. Sorting these after the student gets home each day into the colored folders may take stress off the student, as well as, the parents.
A few minutes of exercise before homework is also recommended.

Focusing is a major issue with kids with AD/HD. We are learning new ways to help students focus each day.



Have a great Labor Day Weekend!
Mrs. Peele