It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

My 6th grade students spent last week reading and writing about "Robin Hood". After reading the story and answering comprehension questions, working on pronouns, and synonyms, they had a very productive Literature Circle. They each had a job to do- one person was the director, one person shared about the characters, and so on. They all joined in the discussion and shared many interesting thoughts about the story, theme, characters, main idea, and plot. As students begin to express themselves about a story openly, they find they really do have a lot to write about. This week this class will be creating power-point presentations to present to each other on Friday and the first of next week.

Mrs. Beaumont and I will be at an Exceptional Children's District meeting on Wednesday.

My elementary students have been working hard on math, reading, phonics,vocabulary, and main idea of a story.
One of my students read a book this week on the story of Little League Baseball. Mrs. Smith taught me a song to help students remember what to think about in order to formulate the Main Idea. I taught it to my student and it really helped that student to remember the different questions to ask himself- who, did what, where, when, why?

In math, the game of concentration is helping students remember math facts and fact families. I also use a bean-bag toss game to help students memorize facts, as well as just asking them orally to answer fact questions. Also google "grandprix multiplication" to have your students engage in a great game to learn facts.

Neuse Charter will be a busy place over the next two weeks, especially in the Exceptional Children's Department. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

Have a very blessed and peaceful Christmas season and vacation and a very Happy New Year!

Mrs. Peele
npeele@neusecharterschool.org

Fall Back, Spring Ahead!

It's about time for Daylight Savings! I can't believe it.
This week my sixth grade reading and writing class will be mailing letters that they have written to
their pen-pals in Uganda. They worked very hard on the letters doing a first and final draft.
Using two different graphic-organizers, or diagrams, they also wrote a paragraph using a topic sentence and a conclusion. For a final draft, each student typed his or her paragraph.

One of my classes was studying the short "U" sound and read an interesting article about the Peanut Man in Raleigh who had served our country in World War II. You may have seen it in Our State Magazine. Students with disabilities need to learn to read where they are at but with age appropriate material. That is very challenging to a teacher but rewarding as when I heard one student tell other students about the article he read.

In math students are very busy learning math skills such as multiplication of one and two digit numbers, finding the Least Common Multiple, the Greatest Common Factor, time, money, and fractions. ( Not all the same grade :))

The CIPP team for the Exceptional Children's Department met for the first time this school year last Thursday. One parent, one student, an EC teacher, an EC teacher assistant, a general education teacher, a community representative, and the EC Director attended. We discussed the CIPP report that was sent in last spring, the results of that report sent to me by the state, and ways that we  can improve our program at Neuse Charter School. Thanks to all who attended.

I am having my students that come to me for classes, fill in a classroom management chart, a smiley face chart, each week. Each smiley face is worth 5 play dollars and they are given for the way the student enters the classroom and completion of tasks. At the end of each week each student is paid according to the number of smiley faces on his or her chart. A store of prizes is presented on Friday and each student can buy prizes with his or her "money". If you would like to donate to "our store" please feel free to send in small prizes- candy, erasers, mechanical pencils, pads of paper, pens, fun markers, etc.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Peele

Pressing On for Excellence !

What a beautiful weekend we just had! I even got to show a pig at the NC State Fair and won a third place ribbon!

The homework situation is improving. I have seen a red folder that is working! That is great news!
Please continue to make sure you as a parent check your student's agenda daily to make sure they are on track with assignments and if possible, their teachers' websites. Thank you parents!

Transitions for our students are difficult. I am going to start placing a sticker on the day one of my students has a change in his schedule with me until he gets used to it. Try this at home if your child has difficulty with a change in schedule. Place a schedule on the refrigerator and on the day you know there will be a change such as a friend coming over to visit or you need to go out to the store or to an appointment, place a star or sticker on that day and time. This helps everyone remember that there will be a change taking place at that time and you can all prepare for that ahead of time.

Please have your student use www.spellingcity.com or another helpful vocabulary/spelling website of your choice to help with sentences, vocabulary, writing practice, spelling and more.

Teacher workday- 10/22/12

Have a great week-
Mrs. Peele

Last Week of September

Dates to Remember:

• Tuesday, September 25: Severe Weather Practice
• Thursday, September 27: Picture Day!
• Teacher Workday- October 22nd

Our students are working very hard with a great positive attitude.
Parents, please check your children's teacher blogs for assignments and projects.

Homework Help:

• Check your child's agenda against your child's teacher blogs.
• Have your student place homework in a bright red folder marked HW before he/she goes to bed.
• Sign your child's agenda if applicable.
• Check on projects- mainly grades 4-11.
• Break a project up into sections per night for your child so that they are not overwhelmed.
• Keep project parts in a clear plastic scrapbooking box marked with the project's name.( Michael's has them with handles)
• It's okay to ask your child to see his/her homework whether they want to show it to you or not.
• Don't accept, "I don't have any" for an answer when you ask your child if they have any HW.
• Again, check out the teacher blog and/or email/call the teacher to make sure.

Incomplete Assignments:

• If your child has an incomplete on his/her progress report, give your child direction as to how to make it up.
• Check with the teacher as to how long he/she has to make it up.
• Write it down on your child's agenda and your family calendar when it is due as well as other assignments.

"Finishing is Better Than Starting"
Have a fabulous week!
Mrs. Peele

New Beginnings Lead to New Possibilities

New Beginnings Lead to New Possibilities

As we start out the 2012-2013 school year, I have already seen great potential in our students.

Not only academically but socially. I was leaving one of the buildings this morning and one student was carrying a bag for another student who needed help. After they got to class, another student in the class came to help as well. What a great start to the new school year! Students helping students!

Our speech classes will begin the week of August 27th, as well as the Occupational Therapy classes.

Mrs. Jernigan is our new Exceptional Children's teacher. Mrs. Beaumont and I welcome her and we hope you have a chance to meet her soon. She is also the elementary school's guidance counselor.

We are all excited about a new school year with amazing possibilities for our students!

Mrs. Peele

If you would like to email me- npeele@neusecharterschool.org





Happy Exceptional Children's Week

This week is Exceptional Children's Week-

Check out www.exceptionalchildrensweek.org for more information

Our students at Neuse Charter are certainly all exceptional and work so hard.

Some of my students have planted some herbs, sunflowers, and pansies in the garden in
the front of the school.  The herbs are Rosemary, Oregano, and Mint. Our garden is under my
office window. You are welcome to visit our garden!

May 12th - Big Yard Sale at schoo for the Booster Club!
and Grease is playing at NCS that night!

Have a great week,
Mrs. Peele

Happy May Day/ Cinco De Mayo

Happy May Day and Cinco De Mayo

 The Exceptional Children's Department held their third and last meeting for the Continuous Improvement Plan Committee (CIPP) for 2011-2012 on April 24, 2012. The minutes were as follows:

Mrs. Peele welcomed everyone and opened the meeting at 3:30. 

Reviewed progress toward improvements:

• accommodations schart aaccessible to teachers in Google Docs
• improved communication with support services(speech, OT, psychologist, etc.)
• improved record keeping at NCS and CECAS
• improved communication between EC and eachers
• designated SAT Team and referral process
• better parent/EC communication
• communication with State Monitor
• quarterly EC district meetings

Suggestions for improvement:

• minimize distractions in areas used for pull-out testing(eg. media center)
• students need t know test location prior to tst
• more immediate communication with new teachers
• communicate betwwen teachers and subs if testing is planned
• communicate to teachers as schedules change and as IEP's change

Mrs. Beaumont and I will be attending the area wide district EC meeting with the state tomorrow in Rocky Mount. We will receive training and updates about pertinent and important information concerning our department.

I hope you all have a great week,
Mrs. Peele
peelencs@gmail.com

On Written Expression

Some students have difficulty with written expression. The writing process is so complex. We rarely think about all that is involved in writing a story but for a student with a writing disability writing steps don't come together easily. PBS has a great page called Misunderstood Minds where you can go to different pages and see what it is like for a student with a specific disability. Go to http://www.pbs.org/ and type in Misunderstood Minds. It is very informative and I hope will be of help to many of our parents with students with disabilities.

As we continue to prepare our students for EOG's, I will be trying to instill in them a love for learning despite the dryness of the testing situation. They all know so much about so many things. It is just amazing. The testing vocabulary is very tricky and many times we, as adults, can assume that our students understand all that is asked of them in the instructions. Parents, you can go to the NC Schools website and get samples of EOG questions and see what your student will be asked in general. For example, the word selection is used many times instead of story and that would be a good word to make sure your child understands depending on their age.

I hope you all have a great week and don't forget about the Talent Show!

Mrs. Peele

PS  Another great website for organizing and for writing is http://www.readwritethink.org/
Also please don't forget about http://www.spellingcity.org/ for fifth grade spelling,vocab, and science words.

Looking for Excellence!

This spring in the EC Department we are looking for excellence in our students and finding it too!

The fourth grade students have been working hard on finding the Main Idea in selections using the tool of a graphic of a hand - who, did what , where , when , why.

The 4th graders have also been busy studying EOG vocabulary. Often we take it for granted that studets know and  understand all the words in the directions given on any test and that is just not so.

Many of the 5th graders are also reviewing the meaning of different genres. It is so easy to get the meaning of  fiction and non-fiction reversed. We have been looking at different books, titles of books, actual books that are fiction and non-fiction. We have been talking about ways that will help all students remember how to keep them straight. One idea was to remember a title of a fiction book and a title of a non-fiction book to put with each genre.

5th grade is studying area and perimeter. One activity that helps assess the students' understanding of measurement is to give them a ruler and see what they know about measuring objects such as their desks. We will continue to explore measurement using a ruler and calculator this week with my 5th grade math students.

In science, the 5th grade is continuing to study ecosystems with Ms. Rennie. I will be uploading their vocabulary into www.spellingcity.com/peele  where they can study for their tests on WEDNESDAY.

I will be looking for excellent grades from each of my students. Parents and students just go to the spelling city website and look for the science list.

Thursday 4/5 will be "Break the Code" day to raise money for Relay for Life. If your student decides to dress out of code they will have to give up $2.00 for breaking the code which will go to Relay for Life.

I hope everyone has a great week, a blessed Easter/and or Passover, and vacation.

Mrs. Peele

First Days of Spring

Spring is a great time of year! A time of new beginnings and new hope. I love spring.
I found a new website. It's free and parents, you can join it too to help your readers improve.
www.readworks.org Great EOG concept lessons and activities all connected with the Standard Course of Study.

Our new garden looks fantastic out in the front of the school! It is beautiful already and it's not even finished.

Thursday, March 22 , and Friday, March 23rd are teacher workdays!

IEP report cards will be going home with your students' general education report cards next Friday.

I hope you all have a great week and join in the games at the Community Park this Tuesday after school with the different spring sports teams from 4:00 on.

Mrs. Peele

Homework and Projects...HELP!

Tips from the Trenches!

So many students have trouble with organization and getting homework done! Wow! It is challenging to keep all those papers in the right folder or in the right place in a binder or accordian file. As you check the teachers' blogs with your children at the same time, it will help you, as well as, your children to acknowledge what has to be done and how long they have to do it.
Making a schedules on a 3x5 card of all the due dates and what is due, next to the date will help.
Another idea is printing out a calendar page from your Word-type program and then filling it in by hand or on the computer and then printing it out is also helpful. Using different colored highlighters for different subjects will draw your child's eye to the paper and help him/her refer to material due for each subject. Printing out the calendar in a color will help the student keep track of the paper and inserted in a plastic sleeve and clipped in a binder would be excellent:)
Packing up material the night before and going over the calendar each night will only be advantageous to you and your child.

Have a great week!
Mrs. Peele

February 27th

Last week some of my students practiced writing sentences with correct subject/predicate agreement using pictures for
the noun in the subject, the verb, the direct object and the indirect object. Using the Linguisystem approach, we will progress
in writing with correct agreement, as well as when they write their own sentences. This week we will also be studying inferences in
several reading selections. I use the game "Win Lose or Draw" which helps with inferences and figurative language.

A question came from a third grader today.... "What does spangled mean?" Now that was great.
From the American Heritage Dictionary - spangle-n. "a small piece of shiny metal or plastic used esp. on garments for decoration.- clasp".

In math I am working with time and money this week, as well as word problems where the student would have to choose the correct
operation.

I hope you all have a great week.

Mrs. Peele
peelencs@gmail.com

I've Got The Main Idea in My Hand

This picture was taken at the St. John's Church in Richmond where Patrick Henry proclaimed,
"Give Me Liberty of Give Me Death"! It was very exciting to stand in that exact spot! Wow!





Mrs. Smith has the Main Idea- she is teaching her class about the Main Idea using a hand illustration and song to go with it. It is a powerful tool for each student to figure out on their own the main idea of a selection. I have incorporated her method into my teaching , as well , with some of my students outside her class.

5th grade is studying Black History and writing about it through their own stories.
I hope to share my slides of Africa this Tuesday to give the kids a greater visual of
the background information that their teachers are giving them.

See you all Tuesday after the workday tomorrow.
I hope to see some snow tonight!

Have a great week.
Mrs. Peele

February

Week of February 6th- Practice EOG test this week.

The EC Continuous Improvement Plan Committee (CIPP) met for the second time this year in the conference room last Tuesday, January 31st. We talked about improvements that had been made to the Exceptional Children's Program and made some new suggestions for this coming year. A new CIPP will completed this spring.

New schedules bring confusion and frustration to kids with ADHD. One suggestion is to write out a student's schedule on a 3X5 card and laminate it for him/her to keep in a binder or pocket in a backpack to refer to when needed.

Parents, thank you for returning IEP invitations signed. That is such a big help to us.

Spelling City is now offering help with science and math terms/vocabulary. I will be using that site for math and reading and it is a great tool for parents and students to use at home to study terms, as well as spelling. www.spellingcity.com again, my page is user:peele password: gocougars for parents and kids to use. Please do.

I hope everyone has a very good week!
Mrs. Peele

Week of January 23, 2012

This week I will begin my lessons using a Chinese New Year theme since Monday is Chinese New Year. My focus will be on MAIN IDEA and supporting details in the stories we read.
The 5th grade has a list of vocabulary/spelling words to learn this week from Out of the Dust and they are posted on my Spelling City page. Go to www.spellingvocabularycity.com and enter: peele and then gocougars for the password. Each student can memorize each word and how to use it in context using this excellent tool at their fingertips.

For my math students we will focus on word problems for division in fourth grade and in 5th, multiplying and dividing fractions. I can't emphasize enough the need for each student to memorize their multiplication facts.

Please check the NCS website for events going on this week as it is a busy week with homecoming/spirit week, basketball games, and more.

I hope you all have a very productive week!

Mrs. Peele