I am so excited to start the new year! Please see the supplies/forms tab above to get a list of supplies that will support your child this year. You do not have to send in everything the first day..... within the the first two weeks will be fine. Also please click on the form button and fill out the information about your child on- line. I apologize about the amount of information that you have to repeat on each form but they all go different places. On the first day you will get a pack of forms to fill out. Please send these back on Tuesday if possible. We will not have snack everyday, however we will for the first week. It seems to help to get them refueled as they transition into the new year. However, if your child wants a snack throughout the year, they may bring one and eat it during the break. Water bottles are encouraged and may be keep on their desk. On the first day of school, we will have a waffle party. I know some of your children have dietary restrictions; please send an alternate snack. Please send a change of clothes for your child to be kept at school. If clothes become soiled at school, it is very hard for us to find spares and you will get the call to bring some! Also, if any of you have basic sweatpants/shirts that you would like to donate to us for such an occasion, that would be appreciated!!! I am your child's case manager and primary teacher, however, we have a TEAM! I will be co-teaching with Mrs. Holcomb-Knowles who also has a MOID class next door. The paraprofessionals are Margaret Arny and Marcia Atkins. We have a new Speech Therapist...sorry, I've drawn a blank at this time on her name, but she is young and adorable. Also a new Occupational Therapist, CeCe Meyers. This may be temporary as Laura Hollar has a large caseload and had to drop us, but she wants to come back as soon as she can. The county nurse for those who need nursing is Margaret Haden and the Adapted PE teacher is Coach Baleu. Sorry, I think I am misspelling her name. In addition, there is the MID teacher next door, Rob Case and para, Cheryl Huston. We are looking to hire an additional para as well. As a team, we want to want to work together with you to bring out your child's strengths and accommodate for their weaknesses. We are working to make your child as independent as possible, whether it be at home, in a day program or at a job. Parents- here is the difficult thing to hear. There will not be a paying job for every student. However, we are teaching the soft skills of employ-ability that can carry over to all aspects of their lives. Students need to be taught how to communicate with supervisors and co-workers. They need to know how to adapt if they are assigned to a new task, how to ask for help, what to do when they are finished, how to be responsible about coming back from breaks...and so much more. There can be some frustration when they are learning a new task, but that is how we grow. I've been there- when Amanda's second grade teacher told me that it took her 30 minutes to take off her jacket. I was stunned, if not furious. "Surely you are exaggerating...she has cerebral palsy and you let her struggle for 20 minutes?!?!?" In retrospective, I realize that they were encouraging her to be independent and Mom (me) wasn't teaching that, so I sure am glad she can take off her own jacket now! You are the best expert on your child and I respect that, however we can offer a different perspective. That being said, before you get annoyed with us (me) let's talk about what is going on. We aren't perfect but we sure do love your children. We spend seven and a half hours with your child, so we feel like we are part of the family. We love seeing pictures of what your child and family is doing and it is an excellent way to initiate conversation, so please send in pictures of your summer! I've talked about pre-vocational skills but of course there is so much more. We teach adapted lessons on high school standards in Math, English, Science and Social Studies. More on that another day. Again, I am excited for the new year as we learn, grow more independent and of course have FUN!
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