Sugar- Our Therapy Dog!

Today we received a special visit from Sugar, our Therapy dog! This was our first visit with Sugar and the students enjoyed it very much!

Below are two pictures of Enoch and Sugar. Enoch didn't know what to think about Sugar. He walked around her several times before he began petting her!

DeAsia immediately fell in love with Sugar. I know that this picture is a little blurry but I had to share it with you. It is too sweet! Sugar definitely loved DeAsia's hugs! At one point, Sugar laid down right beside DeAsia (since she visited at Rest Time). DeAsia began calling her "Sugar Girl". Sugar also loved her new name!

His face says it all! LaShawn was amazed by Sugar! The whole time that she was in the classroom, he smiled and laughed. After she left, he yelled "DOG" for about 10 minutes!! He just couldn't get enough of our new friend!

Joyria was a little unsure of Sugar at first but quickly wanted to pet her! Once she petted her she called Sugar to come and sit by her!

Our first visit with Sugar was WONDERFUL! We will look forward to her visit each week!

These are the Special Times...

Over the last couple of days, me (Ms. Malcom) and DeAsia have become very special friends. We spent a lot of time together and worked together on many activities. Today we worked on a book about colors and objects. We read it together and found the appropriate pictures to match the words. DeAsia did an EXCELLENT job with this activity! She worked hard to find the pictures and paid close attention as Ms. Malcom read the book. DeAsia has already come so far this year! We are very proud of her! Great job DeAsia!

Adaptive PE with Mr. Wildman and Ms. Bell!

Boy, we love Mr. Wildman and Ms. Bell (our Adaptive PE coaches). All of the students in Adaptive PE look forward to seeing them and participating in the PE activities each week. In Adaptive PE, our students work on skills such as running or pushing their wheelchairs, throwing and catching balls, jumping, etc.

Below, Joyria is preparing to race across the room! She is a great runner! Everyone else waits so patiently for their turn!

Eliana (Enoch's sister) turns the jump rope with Mr. Wildman as they count to 10!

Claire prepares to run and jump over the jump rope!

Grace smiles as she pushes herself under the jump rope! She is cheered on by Mr. Wildman, Ms. Bell, and Ms. Stowe!

LaShawn tosses the ball to win points!

Adaptive PE is so much fun and a great way to work on our physical fitness skills! Thanks Mr. Wildman ("Coach") and Ms. Bell for all that you do for our students!

Morning Work!

In our class, we have a very "strict" Morning Work routine! By now, every student in our class has learned the Morning Work Routine and some are able to complete it independently.

Today was the first day that LaShawn completed this routine independently. He came right in and began unpacking his book bag!! We were very proud of him!

After unpacking their book bags, taking all of their papers out of their folders, putting everything in the correct place, and checking their daily schedule, each student is required to go to their seat and begin working on their morning work. Yesterday, Joyria did an EXCELLENT job on her morning work. She took her work very seriously and did an excellent job on it! After every line that she traced by herself, I (Ms. Malcom) very excitedly clapped for her! She loved this individual attention and was also very proud of herself!

In the picture below, Ms. Higdon and Enoch work on one of the Independent Work boxes. Enoch's task was to sort the chips by color! He did an excellent job!

Of course after we finish our work we are allowed to be silly! Mr. Michael and Claire build a tower out of the shape blocks!

I am so proud of all of our students for their hard work learning the Morning Routine! It definitely begins our school day on a very positive note!

The Sweet Sound of Music!

Everyday, some of our students go to Specials with one of the regular education 1st grade classes. Today we had Music! I took pictures to show you what a wonderful time we have in Music. The Music teacher, Ms. Webb, is wonderful with our students and makes extra efforts to include them in the classroom activities. The Music room is just awesome, with a ton of brand new instruments for us to use!

Below, LaShawn and Joyria listen to Ms. Webb as she imitates the beat that we will play on the bongos!

Claire poses for the camera as she gets ready to play the Bongo.

One of our activities was to come up with a beat, as a group, to play for the rest of the class. Below, Grace and Ms. Stowe work with their group to come up with a creative beat!

Below, Grace and Ms. Stowe practice their group's beat! Fun!

Joy and Claire listen as Ms. Webb plays a video of a very famous trumphet player!

Music is so much fun!

Miss Piggy has a New Friend!

I had to share this picture with you! This has become a normal occurrence in the mornings when Grace and Claire arrive at school. They come in, and before doing anything else, they run over to visit with Miss Piggy. They are so gentle with her and she just sits there as they pet her and love on her. Grace loves to let Miss Piggy sit in her lap! They already have a very special bond! This is too sweet!

Special Olympics Skating!

Today was our first day of Special Olympics Skating. We had a GREAT time and our students did so well!

Ms. Higdon helped Enoch skate for the majority of the time. Enoch did a great job and was so eager to get out on the floor!

LaShawn also had a great time! We pushed him for some time! He loved going fast on the skating rink floor! He also participated in wheelchair races with another student! It was fun!

Joyria and Ms. Malcom stop for a break after skating for a long while! Joyria worked so hard!

Although this was her first Special Olympics Event ever, Ms. Higdon fit right in! She led the class in the Chicken Dance as it was played on the loud speaker!

After skating, we all went into the concession area for a cold drink!! After such hard work, we definitely needed it!

Skating was so much fun! We look forward to it again next week!

Happy Birthday LaShawn & Mr. Michael!!!

Today we celebrated two birthdays. LaShawn's birthday was today (Monday) and Mr. Michael's birthday is tomorrow (Tuesday).

Our ActivBoard came in handy as a beautiful birthday backdrop for our party!

LaShawn was very happy to open up the cards and present that he received from all of his teachers and friends!In LaShawn's present box was a baseball piggy bank. Mrs. Stowe even gave him some coins, which he greatly enjoyed putting in his bank!
Mr. Michael received a neck massager for his birthday from all of his friends in Ms. Malcom's class! He was very happy about that!
Below, the birthday boys pose for a picture in front of their birthday backdrop!
I'm glad that we were all able to celebrate LaShawn's and Mr. Michael's birthday! They both deserve to have a great birthday!

Pictures from the Second Week of School!

Our second full week of school went so well! We worked more on learning the procedures, learning how to use the class schedule, learning how to walk in line "South Salem Style" and got to know each other a little better!

One morning, when I got out my camera to have my picture made for the attendance board, Claire wanted to get her picture made with Ms. Malcom and the little stuffed dog that she gets to play with as a reward for participating in class. After three shots, this is the best one we could come up with!! Ha! Ha!

Music with Mrs. Stowe is definitely the favorite time of the day!

Claire poses as Mrs. Higdon demonstrates how to communicate the word "More" in Sign Language!

Mr. Michael sits with Enoch during Calendar Time. Mr. Michael comes into our classroom many times throughout the day to visit and help out! He is very kind and we have a great time with him!

Joyria and LaShawn pose for the camera during Circle Time!

The second week of school was a blast!

Welcome Mrs. Higdon!

Welcome Mrs. Higdon!

On Monday, Mrs. Higdon, our new paraprofessional, joined our classroom! No, we didn't lose Mrs. Stowe or Mrs. Miller. We now have four adults in our classroom and it has worked out so well!

We are so lucky to have Mrs. Higdon in our classroom this year!! Mrs. Higdon is so sweet, patient, and has such a positive attitude all of the time! Mrs. Higdon also always wears the coolest shoes!

Welcome to our room Mrs. Higdon! You have been a blessing already! We look forward to a wonderful year with you!

Three New Students!

Last week, we welcomed three new friends into our class!

DeAsia (below) is just a ball of energy. She loves to play on the computer as well as sing! She has a very beautiful personality and definitely keeps us teachers going!

Enoch is very sweet and has the most beautiful eyes! He seems to love school and is adjusting well to the new classroom routine! Enoch loves participating in art projects as well as eating salads at lunch!

LaShawn joined our class on Tuesday and is our newest friend. LaShawn is also very sweet and loves to laugh with his teachers and friends. LaShawn loves to participate in calendar time!

Welcome DeAsia, Enoch, and LaShawn!

Our First Full Week of School!

Below are pictures from our first full week of school! We have already done so much in such a short period of time!

We have worked very hard on our handwriting skills!

We have developed a new band!

We have met very special friends! (This picture is so adorable!)

We have been very silly when working on learning our alphabet!

We have put a new meaning to the time of the day that we call "Rest with a Book"!

It has been a great week! I look forward to the year ahead!

Welcome Mrs. Miller & Mrs. Stowe!

Welcome Mrs. Miller!

Mrs. Miller, our new paraprofessional, has been quite a blessing already this year!! She is wonderful with the students. She helps maintain a very positive and nurturing classroom environment with her calm voice and patience. Mrs. Miller also worked as a nurse for 10 years! We are very lucky to have her and appreciate all that she has done so far this year! Welcome to our class!

Welcome Back Mrs. Stowe!

Mrs. Stowe moved over to South Salem with our class! We are so happy that she did! Mrs. Stowe has to be one of the most musically-inclined people that I know and she has already been up to her "old tricks". In just one week, she has already established our class band! Mrs. Stowe is also wonderful with our students! She is fun and the students just adore her!

I am truly lucky and happy about the teacher assistants that I have been given the opportunity to work with this year! I appreciate all that they do and look forward to a wonderful year with them!

The Original Four!

So, we began the new school year with only four precious students! We have spent the first week getting to know each other and are already great friends!

Grace (below) is so sweet. She is very happy when she comes in the room in the mornings and loves listening to The Beach Boys while she completes her morning work! She also loves her morning coffee! :-) Grace has a twin sister named Claire!

Claire (below) is Grace's twin sister! Claire loves to sing and dance! She also works very hard in class and has already learned so much!

Lucy (below) moved over to South Salem with Ms. Malcom and Ms. Stowe. She was in our class last year! Lucy has grown so much over the summer. We were very surprised! Lucy has acted as our class leader for the week. She worked hard to show the other students how to follow the classroom responsibilities, stand in line the "South Salem style", etc. Beginning next week, Lucy will be spending the majority of time in another class (right next door)! We will miss her being in our class but we will see her often!

Joyria (below) is definitely what her name says. We call her "Joy" because she is a joy to have in our class. Joy loves to sing, especially "Happy Birthday to you!". She works very hard in class and is so sweet!

Well, this was the orginial four. On Monday, we will be welcoming 3 new students into our classroom!