As I stated in my first message of the school year, we taste our pot of chili here early at TBall in order to decide what spices to add to it as it begins to simmer.  Well, we have completed our tasting/screening of students in grades K-2 in the areas of Language Arts and Math.  This screening allows us to determine which students are in need of support through additional or adjusted instruction.

 

Here are some of the spices we use throughout the school year:

 

This is a 45 minute session where tutors enter the classroom and break the class down into very small groups.  With the guidance of the classroom teacher, students are engaged in an interactive reading experience in groups of 4 or 5 instead of a classroom of 20 or more.  This activity takes place daily in classrooms where it is needed.

 

This process involves students visiting our Small Group Instruction Room where they focus on skill sets in groups of 4 or 5 with a licensed teacher.  The frequency of these visits depends upon the amount of support needed by each group.  The methods used in this environment might be simliar to those used by the classroom teacher.  However, this room gives us the opportunity to implement creative techniques that may not be suited for a large group setting.

 

This after school program was developed two years ago at Timothy Ball.  Students in need of additional support are targeted for TEAM participation.  There are three opportunities for TEAM tutoring each year:  Fall, Winter, and Summer.  Each of these remediation windows allows students to work with teachers and tutors in small groups outside of school for a 10-20 sessions.  Our first opportunity for after school TEAM tutoring is fast approaching.  Our Fall TEAM focus is ISTEP remediation.  Students that did not pass or barely passed ISTEP in the spring will be invited to spend time reviewing their tests and working on skill gaps in preparation for the tests coming up in March and April of 2010. 

 

Please keep the communication lines open with your homeroom teachers.  The bond between home and school is one of the most important spices of all!

 

Take care,