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