January 24, 2011

This week , although cold, will start the beginning of the third quarter. I am very excited about the work that is being done and the grades achieved by our students this past quarter.

The 9th grade is reading the Odyssey and doing amazing related activities.

The 7th grade is beginning Chains. I love historic fiction and this is a great book.

The 5th grade will be working in literature centers during language arts and accomplishing many goals in each center.

4th grade continues to work hard on vocabulary and spelling along with readings from their reading book.

6th grade is also working very hard.

The students worked very hard on their practice EOG tests last week and the week before.

My schedule and Mrs. Beaumont's schedules have changed slightly. If you need to reach us the best time would be at 12:00 in the Media Center.

The EC Continuous Improvement Stakeholders committee meeting will be held in the Media Center this Wednesday, January 26, at 3:45. There is a notebook in the school office for public viewing.

I continue to encourage parents and students to use the Spelling City website for improvement in spelling, vocabulary, and language.

Report cards will go out Friday. For students with IEP's, an additional progress report will be included in the envelope.

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Awards assemblies will be on Friday, with grades 5-9 @ 9:00, and grades K-4 @ 10:30

Thank you and have a great week,

Mrs. Peele

January 10, 2011

I have noticed that many of our students like using our headsets to help block out noise while they are testing. If you would purchase a set of earplugs for your student to keep in his/her backpack with his/her name on the package that would be a great help. They have them at Walmart.


At www.spellingcity.com you can have your student start a homepage and collect spelling and vocabulary lists. I have started doing this with some of my students because from the list the website turns the list into word searches, games, sentences, and crossword puzzles just to name a few of the great activities. It is great because it reads the sentences to the student and gives them definitions which are also read out loud to them. I highly recommend this sight.

The EC Improvement Team will meet soon. Please watch for a date and time. I hope to meet in the next two weeks.

Have an inspiring week :)

Mrs. Peele

Welcome Back and Happy New Year!

I like to think of all the activity of the second semester as a skier skiing down a slope from the top of the mountain, making several major stops along the way to rest and recover after going over many obstacles. It is always a great sense of accomplishment to reach the base of the mountain in one piece. With our students in grades K-9, we look forward to seeing each student reach their IEP goals and make great progress in all areas this semester.

Some dates to remember:

January 14- end of second quarter

Janurary 17- Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Janurary 18- Teacher Work Day

Janurary 21- Report Cards go home/ Awards

Please check all of your student's teachers' blog pages for updates and homework information.

A great website that I discovered is http://www.ixl.com/ for math.

Please make sure your student has plenty of pencils and paper for class in his/her backpack.

That takes so much pressure off of them when they go into class just knowing they have supplies accessible to them.

Have a great first week back. We are off to a great start.

Mrs. Peele

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