Day of Play Anyone???

Check out this article on the importance of play and a new initiative aimed at promoting play.

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/play-day/

I really want everyone to weigh in on this, but my vote would be that we have a Play Day here at GHE on February 6th. Please read this closely and comment on it. Otherwise I will not know your thoughts about it. There are other Wake County Schools participating as well.

Here is a link to a video that gives a rationale for this.

https://youtu.be/Bg-GEzM7iTk

Please read this carefully and understand that this is not a day to show movies. There will be no screens. We will have the typical scheduled structures such as recess, lunch, and specials.

All day long, students will be responsible for playing all day long. Teachers will be supervising that play, but will not be structuring or planing any activities. It will be up to the students to make themselves "unboard" and play.

 Ms. Gibson's students share their research books. Great job with writing!

Students in Ms. Bree's class are learning together about parallelograms and trapezoids

Reminder:

Monday: 

School Improvement Team Meeting 8:00 am Media Center

Tuesday :

Brief all staff meeting in the Media Center

MClass window closes

** Please remember to read the Morning News each day! 😊

Third graders share their frog books!

Great Work!!!

Examining our Practice with SWD students in the regular classroom

Last week's blog focused on simply remembering that our students with disabilities are to engage in and make growth on the general education curriculum while they are in their regular education classrooms. Looking at some general characteristics of Students with Disabilities can help you plan with them in mind. Again, not all of our special education students have all of these characteristics, but they may have one or a few of them.

• Disorganization
• Difficulty processing verbal directions
• Difficulty maintaining knowledge or content from one day to the next
• Difficulty maintaining attention

These may be things that you can plan for...

Checklists for tasks and mapping for organization of writing can be useful to students grappling with disorganization. 

Have a student repeat what they are being asked to do back to you to be sure they understood verbal directions or having the directions reflected in written words or pictures may also help to assure they know what to do.

A review of the previous day's learning before beginning learning for today may also help students maintain their knowledge and successful add on to it. 

Frequent check -ins or chunking of tasks can help students who struggle with maintaining attention complete a task. 

These are strategies that can be added to any classroom that might help students with disabilities access core curriculum.

Introduction of a new staff member

 Thank you for all you do Mr. Taylor! Here's

hoping you love your new air fryer! 

P.S. We told you there was a "present" for you in the health room!

One of Ms. Layman's student's shares a strategy he used to solve a word problem.

Here is a link to some great music! Have a great weekend!

Thanks to the DDMS and GHHS bands and Mrs. Small for arranging this opportunity for our fifth graders!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=14DJr9CFWHUiAc5ggZDrjaGWXGCZVprS5

Remembering our SIP goals

Keeping in mind our SIP goal...

BY June 2020, all GHE subgroups at GHE will meet or exceed growth as reported by EVAAS and we will increase overall reading proficiency by 5% from 76.6% to 81.6% as measured by EOGs. 

We are focused on all students making growth, but it is helpful to take a deeper dive and look at  our Students with Disabilities.  These students  are working with their special education teachers for only a portion of the day and therefore what they are doing in the regular classroom is crucial to their ability to make growth. Classroom accommodations act as a step stool for those students to reach that Core curriculum. As the teacher, you are the best advocate for access to the regular ed curriculum. As you plan with the assessments in mind, please think about how you will allow for those students to use their accommodations to be successful on an assessment of the grade level standard(s). Next week's blog will look at specific strategies that may help our SWD students access in the regular education classroom and specials. 

Students in Ms. Wesner's class answer questions about their animake research
and share with their classmates.

 

ESL Students practice for the ACCESS test with Ms. Cross.ACCESS coming in February!

Look at all of the interesting traditions that First Grade has learned about how children in different countries handle a lost tooth!

 

Ms. Patterson's class works on Moby Max

 

Upcoming:

Monday:

SIP Meeting 8:00 am Media Center

Tuesday:

No Meetings

Please visit Tara's Curriculum Updates for important assessment windows and line to curriculum resources.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1j4lAifd6ETmecV4V8AqfAuHk6cFbcK5Rfm2GpzCcGvY/edit?usp=sharing

New Year! New Beginnings!

A Happy New Year to all! The new year is a great time for goal setting and started anew with things that we are are still perfecting. Many cultures assign a great deal of significance to the new year for that reason. It is a convenient marker - the end of one year and the beginning of another. However, I am reminded of a quote

"Every moment is a fresh beginning"- T. S Elliot

Placing this in the context of what we do every day every time a student walks in the classroom each day, it is new opportunity for them to see themselves as a successful learner and it is a new opportunity for us to help them see themselves in that way. Each moment is a moment for you to find a new way to connect with that child and to try something new instructionally. Long after we have allowed carbs back into our lives or stopped drinking two gallons of water a day, when the treadmill is covered in dirty laundry, we will all still have that chance at being better at every moment.

Ms. Dubin and her class discuss resolutions

K and 1 Students share their resolutions!

2nd grade snowman stories! What an amazing job you all do teaching writing!

Digital Resources

Ms. Gardner created QR codes to help students access their First in Math. 

Ms. Arbour's students work on Moby Max

Mrs. Critcher patiently helps a student with his tens and ones

Reminders:

Tuesday January 8th- Leadership Meeting 8:00 am Media Center

10:00 am - Tours for prospective families

5:00 pm.- Tours for prospective families

Thursday January 10th- Principal's Meeting (Off campus)

January 31st IA mid - year evaluations due

Have a wonderful weekend!