At any given moment when you walk into Ryan Schrick’s 3rd grade classroom at Rosamond-Sherley, you will see a group of actively engaged students who are developing a love of reading and writing. One thing she ensures she does is make connections and build relationships with all of her students. They love coming to the carpet for her to read aloud and have meaningful conversation about the text. Mrs. Schrick delves into data, analyzing her students’ strengths and weaknesses to determine how she can best support them. When working with a small group, you will notice her other students working collaboratively in various literacy stations, or independently reviewing skills on Istation. Not only does she do everything she can to meet the needs of her students’, she also does what she can to support other RLA teachers in the district, whether it’s with helping new teachers in planning, sharing resources, or allowing teachers to observe her implementation of curriculum and classroom procedures. Mrs. Schrick is definitely a gift to both teachers and students.

Sara Ziehm is a new Special Education Teacher to Anna Middle School this year. Sara brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to her classroom with strategies, ways of instructing and introducing new material, as well as being an overall presence in the class. In her daily classroom routine, Sara works through activities and concepts with her students goals and needs in mind. Daily, she is helping her students develop calculator skills, number sense and uses fun, hands on activities with money, time, and equations to encourage learning.

During her MAC (Modified Academic Curriculum) class the students were introduced to the different types of change and what their values were. They were asked guiding questions about what each coin was, how much it was, and where they would spend certain denominations. Students answered her questions, as well as asked their own. As Sara transitioned into the workbook activity that focused on money, she noticed that the students were struggling with the coins and which values went to each coin. She created the activity you see pictured above. The students were given a “teacher table” lesson on what the coins were and their values. The students were given a set a coins (as pictured) and a set of answers. Sara walked through the steps of creating the poster, how to mark the coins with their values and how to solve the money equations with a calculator. The students were then given floor or table space to create these charts to show the different summative values of each set of problems. The students used calculators and wrote the value of the coins on each “equation”. The students continued working on the posters for day 2. During the second day of instruction the students were asked to check each other’s posters with questions such as, “Where they correct? Did everyone get the same answers?”. After the posters the students were asked to replicate the work that they created but this time with a handout. Sara increased the skill level because this time the students did not get to write the monetary value on the coin. This step showed Sara what the students were able to remember and if they needed more practice during their use of IXL or during warm up activities. The students were working together and Sara was actively offering praise and redirection as she maneuvered the task with the students. This is just 1 example of the many great ideas and new ways of engaging and educating the MAC students at AMS.

Sara has been such a wonderful addition to the Special Education team and we look forward to all the ideas she will continue to bring to her classroom.

After School Staff Book Club! In November, we read Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak