Dear Spanish Lime Families,
Last month I had the opportunity to travel to Celebration Florida to undergo a 30 hour Comprehensive Training that provided me with an in depth understanding of the IMSE Orton-Gillingham methodology. This course focused primarily on how to teach phonological awareness, phonics, and basic literacy skills on a multi-sensory and sequential approach. This method can be incorporated into any literacy program and is catered for all types of learners. I look forward to integrating this knowledge into the classroom. Pamela Flowers has joined the morning work cycle as our schools reading specialist. She has been working closely with students teaching literacy and comprehension through a similar multi sensory approach. We are excited to have her join our community!
In observance of Martin Luther King Day the Spanish Limes were busy researching the Civil Rights Era, and the people that inspired change for African American rights. The Spanish Limes as a whole heard valuable lessons about tolerance and the importance of being unique. Everybody is different, and has special talents and qualities to offer the world. What a person looks like on the outside has nothing to do with what is on the inside! Students collaborated on small individual projects and a large Martin Luther King collage that was displayed in front of the school over the long weekend.
The Fourth Great Lesson, The Coming of Writing was presented to your child. This lesson focuses on the introduction of the human language. This story is divided into parts; The First Word is an origin story about the birth of human speech. The Ox and the House looks at the beginnings of the alphabet, focusing on writing. The Piece of Paper that Sees and Speaks is primarily about reading. By using these three stories all three components of language; speaking, writing, and reading are introduced in a narrative way. The fourth piece to the great lesson discusses the different cultures, time periods, and writings that were influenced.
Throughout the next few months we will be keeping history simple and straightforward by highlighting major events, personalities and national stories of the world’s culture. From the first nomads, to the rich lands of the Fertile Crescent, to ancient Egypt we are going too immersed in it all! We will discuss the rise and fall of Athens and the Barbarians that took control. The three Americas (North America, South America and Central America) and the Nazca’s that made sky drawings and the Olmec’s who built ancient temples and left giant stone heads of their rulers. We will be discussing democracies and monarchies and learn about the Roman consuls. These stories will give us a small insight of what life was like long, long ago.
“The hardest part about teaching world history is deciding what to leave out!”- Unknown
Sincerely,
Ms Sally and Ms. Nicole
