Making Kids Smile 

Their Last Nine Weeks at Neuse Charter School 2012-2013

With the incoming pressures of the last nine weeks of school, it can be challenging for teachers and parents to keep a smile on their faces, let alone putting one on their students. That is the challenge I am taking on as an Exceptional Children's teacher while teaching my students all that I can these last nine weeks.

Concerning students with dyslexia, - check out www.dyslexia.yale.edu
There are many great suggestions and teachings to parents, kids, and educators about dyslexia.
They share how kids with dyslexia are usually very smart and very creative. They usually need extra time because their brains take longer to make connections and their brains use more steps. (From "Overcoming Dyslexia", by Sally Shaywitz, MD. Did you know that Dav Pilkey who wrote Captain Underpants has dyslexia. Did you know John Lennon of the Beatles did too and so does Whoopi Goldberg. All 3 are very smart and creative people. Please look at Dyslexia Straight talk at this sight which may clear up a few myths about dyslexia for you- it did for me.

Check out the explanation of a Livescribe Smartpen and paper for students with dysgraphia, a writing disorder on www.ldonline.org.  The Smartpen is good for middle school and high school students who have difficulty taking notes and then lose the content of the lecture. The Smartpen records the teacher when the student starts to miss the notes and it also takes a picture of the students notes. It has special paper that comes with it, allowing the student to focus on the content of the subject rather than on the writing.

For students with dyslexia and other dysablitlies, it is important for the teacher to break a lesson into clear stages such as in writing: brainstorming, drafting, editing, proofreading. This allows the students to focus on one at a time but learn the flow of the process at the same time. It stretches it out so to speak for them to be able to put the stages in order in their minds and be able to go smoothly from one step to the other on their own after they have learned the steps.

I hope everyone has had  very good vacation. I am looking forward to teaching our students these last nine weeks and helping them achieve their goals. With the pressure of the End of Grade testing, many students have a lot of anxiety concerning these tests. Here are a few suggestions for this time of year:

a. Try not to show your own anxiety to your child
b. Talk about the tests as little as possible if at all.
c. Stay on schedule with homework, projects, and reading.
d. Try to do as many fun learning projects as possible together and ask critical thinking questions while working on a project or discussing a reading.
e. Disguise your problem solving with your child and make it fun
f. Keep on laughing- laughing takes away a lot of pressure from within!
g. Pray: for students, teachers, administrators, testing co-ordinators, teacher assistants, administrative assistants, custodians, and parents!


Have a great last nine weeks!

Mrs. Peele