Functional Skills Class Disclosure 2015BUFFALO POINT ELEMENTARY

General Information

Our PhilosophyWe believe all students can learn. All of our students have valuable qualities that contribute to our classroom and to society.

We believe that communication is a critical skill for students and we will try multiple modes of communication until our students have found a way to communicate their wants and needs.

Our classroom will be a positive environment where students feel welcomed, loved, and safe. We will have high rates of praise, utilize appropriate positive reinforcements for each student, and maintain positive interactions with our students and their parents, the members of our team, and everyone else who works with our students.

We are going to learn lots of new things, have lots of fun, and stretch and grow this year!

Our Functional Skills Team

Ms. Anna (Teacher)

Ms. Dawn (Teacher Assistant)

Ms. Lisa (Teacher Assistant)

Ms. Patty (Teacher Assistant)

Contact Information

Numbers: Buffalo Point Elementary: 801-402-8400 Classroom Number: 801-402-8412 Ms. Anna’s Cell: 801-645-7361 (emergencies only please) Email: Ms. Anna agudgell@dsdmil.net (please direct concerns to me first)

Websites: Davis School District http://www.davis.k12.ut.us/Domain/1 Buffalo Point Elementary http://www.davis.k12.ut.us/Page/8558 Our Class Website http://www.davis.k12.ut.us/Domain/11153 Davis School District SpEd Website http://www.davis.k12.ut.us/page/1262

Communication Checklists and Folders

We will communicate with parents/guardians using a Daily Communication Checklist that will let you know how your child did at school throughout the day. The checklist will include at least one positive thing that your child accomplished or said. Please take time to celebrate these with your child. Any additional information that needs to be shared about the day will also be included as well as notes about homework, if needed.

We will be including two week’s worth of Checklists in your child’s pink-colored Communication Folder. This will allow you and us to look for patterns of behavior to see if it is the time of day, the subject, or something else that my be triggering the behavior.

Homework assignments and communication from the school will also be placed in the Communication Folder and put in your child’s backpack.

Please note that if an emergency does arise with your child, Ms. Anna or a school administrator will contact you immediately via phone.

Homework

Your child will have homework based on his or her IEP goals and needs. Please follow through with the assignments so that together we can help your child continue to grow and learn.

Homework will start next week.

CurriculumWe use a variety of curriculum materials and programs in Functional Skills so that we can help each child meet their IEP goals and learn and grow as a person.

Your child’s IEP goals are based mainly on the Essential Elements Standards and the Utah Extended Core Curriculum Standards for Students with Significant Learning Disabilities. Links to these can be found on our class website.

We will be running our classroom a little more like a general education classroom. Students will participate in ability appropriate Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Social Skills, and Art lessons as well as mini lessons that help focus on each student’s unique needs as identified in their IEP. This will provide our students with the opportunity to learn more about the world around them rather than limiting their knowledge to a few skills and concepts.

Grading and Such You will receive a progress report at the end of each quarter that will let you know how your child is doing in progressing towards his or her IEP goals. This will have information from Ms. Anna and any special education teacher and related service provider who works with your child.

You are more than welcome to contact Ms. Anna at anytime before school or after school (until 9:00 pm) to discuss your child’s progress or address concerns you may have.

Task Boxes Each student in our class will have opportunities to work on activities which contain things the students can do independently because they will be based on concepts and skills the student has already learned how to do.

This is important because it helps our students from forgetting what they have learned and it gives them a chance to be successful without adult help which is essential to helping them build self-esteem.

Birthdays We will celebrate each student’s birthday in class (unless you request that we refrain from doing so) by giving your child a small present and singing to him or her.

You may bring in treats for your child’s birthday but please keep in mind that district policy requires that and food given to students needs to be store bought (no home-made items).

Please also avoid anything with nuts or peanut butter due to allergies in our classroom.

Star Student

Each student in our class will have the opportunity to be our “Star Student” for the week where we will celebrate all the things your child likes and is.

The Star Student information will be handed out at our Back-to-School Night on Thursday, August 27, 2015.

Behavior and Reinforcements

Class ExpectationsWe will be using the term expectations rather than rules because these are things that each student is expected to do because they are capable of doing so not because someone else is demanding they be done. We will consistently teach and reinforce the expectations on a daily basis.

1.     Follow the rules (say okay and do it fast)

2.    Keep hands, feet, mouth, and objects to yourself

3.    Use nice words

4.    Do your best work

If a student fails to follow an expectation we will first reteach and practice the expectation several times before consequences are enforced. If we know that a particular task is going to be difficult for a student, we will provide scaffolding, praise, and positive reinforcements for each step to make completing the task less stressful for the student.

Focus on the Positive

Our main goal this year is to reward our students for doing what is expected of them and for progressing towards their IEP goals. We are going to focus on the positives by doing the following . . .

Focus on the Positive Giving praise either verbally or using whatever mode the student prefers.

Rewarding expected behavior with something that is personally meaningful to the student (we have tried to contact all parents via phone and/or email about this so we have things on hand for this).

Breaking up difficult tasks and assignments into smaller chunks so students can feel successful.

Giving students tasks and assignments during the day that they can independently complete and that reinforce skills or concepts they have already learned.

Giving students small breaks throughout the day.

Using penny charts to reinforce expected behavior for students who need it.

Whole Group ReinforcementsI will be setting a timer to go off periodically throughout the day. When the timer goes off, if students are on task and following the rules, they will receive an immediate reward.

For the immediate reward, we will be using Go Noodle https://www.gonoodle.com/dashboardallowing the students to take turns choosing the video reward (they have free options you can do at home as well).

Students will also earn 1 point for each time they are rewarded as a whole group that will be redeemed for things like “Stuffed Animal at School Day” or a class party.

Daily Schedule

Daily ScheduleWe will always have a daily schedule posted in our room so that if you come to volunteer or visit you will know where your child is. This can be tricky at the first of the year as we have to get all of the preps, related services, and such worked into the weekly schedule, so please be patient with us for the first few weeks as things come together. Our schedule will include learning objectives for all whole class learning activities and lessons.  Team members should be able to tell you the learning objectives that are guiding small group instruction or identify the IEP goals they are working on during one-on-one instruction.  

Basic Daily Schedule 8:45 am: School starts

11:15 am - 11:40 am: Lunch

11:40 am - 12:00 pm: Lunch Recess

2:00 pm - 2:15 pm: Afternoon Recess for 3rd and 4th Graders

2:15 pm - 2:30 pm: Afternoon Recess for 5th and 6th Graders

3:25 pm: School ends (on Fridays, school is out at 1:25 pm)

Participation in General Education

General Education InformationOur students have been assigned a General Education Teacher as a grade level. They will participate with the students in their assigned class for a part of the school day. Studies show that this inclusion is beneficial for our students because it helps them develop their social skills and learn from their peers.

The following slides give information about who your child’s General Education teacher is and known times your child will be participating in the General Education Curriculum. We will work over the next few weeks to have your child join other activities and lessons in their General Education classes so they can have interactions with other students in the school. Ms. Anna will let you know what has been arranged as soon as possible.  

PE and Adaptive PE Students need to wear tennis shoes/athletic shoes on the days they have PE with their General Education class and on Tuesdays and Thursdays for Adaptive PE.

Computer Lab Time Students will need headphones to take to the computer lab when they go with their General Education classes.

3rd Grade General Education InformationMrs. Venable

dvenable@dsdmail.net

Monday: Art from 12:05 pm to 12:45 pm

Tuesday: Computers from 12:05 pm to 12:45 pm

Wednesday: Music from 12:00 pm to 12:30 pm; Library from 12:30 pm to 1:00 pm

Thursday: PE from 12:05 pm to 12:45 pm

4th Grade General Education Information

Monday: Computers from 10:20 am to 11:00 am

Tuesday: Art from 10:20 am to 11:00 am

Wednesday: PE from 10:20 am to 11:00 am

Thursday: Library from 10:10 am to 10:40 am; Music from 10:40 am to 11:10 am

Mrs. Barton, Room 24

jbbarton@dsdmail.net

5th Grade General Education Information

Ms. Dahl

(801) 402-8400 ext. 58420

Monday: Computers from 9:40 am – 10:20 am

Tuesday: Art from 9:40 am to 10:20 am

Wednesday: PE from 9:40 am to 10:20 am

Thursday: Library from 9:10 am to 9:40 am and Music from 9:40 am am to 10:10 am

6th Grade General Education Information

Monday: Library from 9:10 am to 9:40 am; Music from 9:40 am to 10:10 am

Tuesday: PE from 9:40 am to 10:20 am

Wednesday: Computers from 9:40 am to 10:20 am

Thursday: Art from 9:40 am to 10:20 am

Ms. Perry, Room 20

lperry@dsdmail.net

Davis School District Special Education Goals

Attendance and MathOur district school superintendent has asked all elementary school special education teams to set goals for improvement in the areas of attendance and math for the 2015 – 2016 school year. These will also be a school-wide focus at Buffalo Point Elementary for all students.

We have elected as a SpEd team to have our students monitor their own progress in these areas.

What This Will Look Like in Our Class . . .

ATTENDANCE

Students will “sign in” each day they attend school during the week by moving their clothes pin up our attendance chart one number a day.

Because our students often struggle with health issues, credit for attendance will be noted on the chart if the parent/guardian calls the school to inform us of an absence.

Students who “attend” all the school days during a given week will get to choose a prize from the treasure box or have an extra 10 minute free time activity of their choice.

MATH

Students will track their progress on completing math tasks or assignments by adding a star to their personal math chart each time they finish one of these.

Once students have filled up one row of boxes on their chart, they will get to choose a prize from the treasure box or have an extra 10 minute free time activity of their choice.

What We Need . . .

Please look over the following list and see if there is anything you can help with:

1. Volunteers to read with students or help them with other work

2. Volunteers to help put Task Box materials together (can be done at home)

3. Volunteers to help with class parties

4. Food items: Goldfish Crackers, Swedish Fish, Skittles (please avoid items with nuts or peanut butter due to allergies)

5. Treasure box items

6. Kleenex

7. Disinfecting wipes

8. Glue sticks

9. Task Box Materials: large pom poms, clear plastic glasses (cheap kind), dollar store alphabet, number, and math cards, yarn, cheap items that are easy to pick up and count, buttons, clothing items with different fasteners, the “shoe box” size plastic containers with lids, old games/game pieces

Last, But Not Least . . . We look forward to working with you and your child this year! We are going to make sure that the 2015 – 2016 school year is the best one yet!