NWE Game Plan!
News You Can Use!
Friday, February 5, 2016 [Volume 1, Issue 10]
*We are diving back into the focus of Academic Language this week! Check your email!
Upcoming Events! Please mark your calendar & also check the school-wide online calendar frequently:
February:
11 - Magnet Schools Open House ...5:30 & 6:30
26 - Northwoods Spelling Bee @ 1:00 in MPB
News from your EC Program Coach
Resources for Parents of EC Children
Often our parents come to us looking for ways to help their children at home with their academics, their behavior, or even just resources out in the community. What if we could take the pieces of what they already know and connect them with resources that will help them solve the puzzle? This article is for those parents with the wh~ questions; WHAT? WHEN? WHERE? WHY? WHO? and HOW?
Family Support Network of North Carolina- this website provides access to supports based on the area that the parents live. Parents can select their county and find information about the contact person in their area. Parents who are a part of this group can be put in touch with other parents of children with disabilities to share their stories.
FAPE.org- FAPE stands for The Families and Advocates Partnership for Education. The website "provides educators, service providers, and policymakers with important national news and information related to improving educational outcomes for children with disabilities".
ECAC (Exceptional Children's Assistance Center)- ECAC is a private, non-profit parent organization that believes in improving the lives and education of all children with a special emphasis on children with disabilities. They provide information, education, and support to families in North Carolina. The site contains links to parent rights, special education and IEPs, IDEA and other laws, how to resolve disagreements, links to other parents, information on the NC Deaf Blind Project, health centers and more.
The Exceptional Parent- This is an online magazine with featured sections on education, healthcare, military, mobility, money, parenting, and wellness. Their special needs section includes information on autism, cerebral palsy, down syndrome, epilepsy, and intellectual disabilities. The website is free but does require you to register in order to read the articles.
North Carolina PTA Exceptional Children's Commission- This link has resources for parents and teachers who work with exceptional students. There are tons of links to various websites that connect parents and educators to resources all over North Carolina. The list includes TEACCH, Victory Junction Gang Camp, All Kinds of MInds, Department of Public Instruction, and even Special Olympics.
Here is a list of other websites or information that may be of interest.
After School & Homework Tips for Parents of Children with Special Needs
News from your Literacy Coach
WIGs! [Wildly Important Goals]
This is something each of us do every day. We make a daily or weekly to do list and track accomplishing it. We make a weight loss goal and track our progress. All of us make goals in our life and track it, we need to transfer this to our classrooms.
The big question: What is something that you know your kids need to improve?
3rd and 2nd Grade made their WIGs this past WAVE and will implement on Monday. Here is what they are doing!
3rd Grade WIG
2nd Grade WIG
The first WIG is for them and instruction. They don't want to push small group instruction to the back burner when things get busy. They believe they will have 3-4 days a week with uninterrupted instruction in their reading block. There goal is 3 days a week they will meet with 3 small groups during reading a day. This will cover a minimum of 9 groups a week. They believe if they do this they will improve student's independent reading levels along with TRC scores. Here is a photo of their graph they will keep next to their small group area. Then weekly we will track the grade level.
The second WIG is to track achievement of levels for students on DreamBox. The team is currently making a large graph in the hallway. We will share more on this next week! Defintiely walk down there to take a look!