December 5, 2011

Tomorrow night, Tuesday, December 6th, is the Art Show and Christmas Concert at NCS starting at 6:15. We hope you all can come!

My classes have been busy using www.spellingcity.com for spelling and vocabulary practice.
This week the students will focus on the skill of Inference. Students with learning disabilities have difficulty with abstract concepts and with the help of picture clues and demonstrations and sequence, I will teach them the skill of Inferring information from their reading selections.

Math skills are improving with my students and this week we will be applying the skills they are learning in class to word problems that they may encounter on the EOG in the spring. Understanding the vocabulary in the word problem is half the battle. Once they know what is being asked of them they are ready to conquer each problem.

I hope you all have a very good week. Don't forget the Booster Christmas shopping extravaganza coming up!

Mrs. Peele

Happy Thanksgiving!

Monday- November 21st- Neuse Charter's first basketball game of the season!

*5A is having a math test- please study hard!

Students are continually encouraged to use http://www.spellingcity.com/ to study their vocabulary in all subjects including math and science. This is an excellent tool and makes studying fun! Wow!

*Please donate to the library's fund raiser going on now (check Mrs. Souter's Blog)!

Tuesday- November 22nd-

I am continuing to use the " Recipe For Reading" program with some of my students.

This week we will be focusing on syllabication. They have been studying detached syllables and now this week we will begin to put the syllables together to form words with two or more syllables. For reading comprehension we will focus on "the main idea" using short articles that I read aloud and have them choose the correct main idea (from LinguiSystems).

Math vocabulary is so important. Many times, students with learning disabilities, have difficulty connecting from the instructions to solving the problem because of not comprehending the verbage used. For example the term "evaluate" may cause them to not solve a simple problem just because of not understanding what is being asked of them in the directions. Increasing vocabulary is so important in all subjects for all students but with students with learning disabilities it is especially important in order for them to not lose their focus on the problem at hand and move on in their completion of problems.

*On behalf of Mrs. Beaumont and myself, we hope you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Mrs. Peele
peelencs@gmail.com

Tips for a Successful IEP Meeting

Tips for a Successful IEP Meeting

I wanted to share this very helpful article from the National Center for Learning Disabilities' website.
It gives insight into the law, as well as tips for parents and other team members. I hope it is encouraging to all who read it. It was to me.

It is my hope that all IEP team members feel apart of our team at Neuse Charter School. It takes all of us to work together to learn and discover about our students. They are so unique and have so much to teach us.

As we begin the next nine weeks, I will continue to use the "Recipe for Reading" program with my Language Arts student. This program is supported by the Orton Gillingham program. It is an excellent program because it helps students through different methods of learning-visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.
Last week, I had my students perform a listening exercise which I call " Wack-it, Smack-it". As I read a story to my students they were to listen to words ending with "tion" (shun) or "sion"(zhun). If they heard such a word they were to slap the "water"(a blue piece of paper) with a fly swatter. The students that heard the words helped the others who had more difficulty pin-pointing the words by slapping the paper.
Trust me it would get anyone's attention. As we continue to study phonological sounds and their spellings, it is my hope to see our students improve in spelling, reading, and written expression.

Math disabilities can take many forms from what I have observed. One day it seems as if the student understands a concept, and the next day while reviewing the same concept you find a specific area of that concept that is the trouble spot, so to speak. Through continual observation, assessment, and data collection by the teacher and student I hope to see steady improvements with our students.

Feel free to contact me at peelencs@gmail.com
Have a great week!
Mrs. Peele

October 17, 2011 NC State Fair Week

Mr. Peele won 2 blue ribbons at the NC State Fair for his show pigs! Go Pigs! We had a great time. Someone's pig decided to go the wrong way and went under my legs to get wherever he wanted to go! It was fun to see some of Neuse Charter School kids showing animals, as well!

The rest of this month will be an action packed month. Workdays on Friday the 21st and 24th, awards coming up on the 27th and the Booster Bash on the 28th.

The 5th grade has been reading The Secret Garden. It's great to see students so excited about a story. I love the book too! A garden is a wonderful place no matter what is grown there but to have a wall around it and have it be a secret is very special, indeed. Perhaps our students are like plants in a garden that are blossoming each day as they are watered with more and more knowledge and understanding.

A note about schedules- it is a big help to our students to have schedules written down . A suggestion is to have a small card and mark it at the top with the day of the week. A 3x5 card would be excellent. If there is a schedule change for that day, the student can mark it down in homeroom or one of the teachers would be glad to do it for them. They can then check the card throughout the day to see where they are going next. This helps with anxiety about schedules and keeps the students on track. Clear contact paper might be a help to keep it in tact.

Thank you and have an excellent week!

Mrs. Peele

It's NCS Bookfair Week and NC State Fair begins Thursday!

Come to the Fair! The NCS Bookfair and the NC State Fair!!!

Mr. Peele and I will be showing our pigs this Saturday at the Kelly Building at the NC State Fair!

Come and visit us - the shows will be at 8 am, 12:30, and 1:30 pm. Also, this year I have a painting in the art show at the fair .

The fifth grade has been studying weather, as you know. Yesterday some of my students and I found a great song about clouds on www.schooltube.com . It was a great way for them to learn the different types of clouds and remember them, most of all.

I found some beanbags in my closet at the start of school. They are great for so many things.

In Mrs. Vassar's class , I 've been using one as a microphone to pass to each student in my group.Only the student with the microphone gets to talk which cuts down on any interruptions.

In math, the beanbag is a great tool to learn math facts by throwing it back and forth and saying the math facts. In language arts, it is a great sequence tool, phonics tool, as it passes from student to student. I love beanbags.

Have a great week and don't forget to come to the NCS Bookfair and the NC State Fair!

Mrs. Peele

Homework Help!

Welcome to my blog:) I hope you all had a great weekend. I am concerned for students and parents that battle constantly with homework. Here are some suggestions to help you through the year:)

1. A clipboard in the backpack to clip extra papers for mom and dad or notices of any kind.

2. Check you child's agenda each night whether they like it or not.

3. Use color coded folders for each subject.

4. Check to make sure that the homework actually has been completed. Please do not just take your child's word for it, which I know sounds as if you are not trusting them, but you are just making sure it is completed properly in order for them to get a good grade and you both to have peace of mind.

5. Check the teachers' websites consistently as things change quickly as you all know. Go to www.neusecharterschool.org and click on teacher blogs and then on the corresponding teacher blog pages.


I hope these few things will help. If you are already doing them - give yourself an extra pat on the back ! Have a more peaceful week!
Mrs. Peele

9/11/11



Having stopped today to remember the victims of 9/11/01 and praying for those that need God's comfort and love because of it.

Our students all seem to be off to a great start this year at our new school.
In science, many students are studying weather. They have been writing weather words in cursive, breaking words into syllables, and matching words with their definitions. They watched a short video from scholastic on the weather cycle: http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/studyjams/water_cycle/  I thought you would enjoy it too, even though they will have a test on it tomorrow, Monday.

In math, students are working hard in fourth grade on the different forms of numbers: short word form, expanded form, and standard form. I focus on what the teacher is teaching in the Standard Course of Study supported by work with memorization of basic facts, reading and understanding directions, and steps in problem solving and the students' individual goals, more specifically.

Mrs. Beaumont and I will be working "off campus", Tuesday, 9/13/2011.
Have a very good week!
Mrs. Peele