Davis Special Ed

Important Dates

Monday, January 19, 2009-Martin Luther King Holiday

Tuesday, January 20, 2009-Inauguration Day

Tuesday, January 20, 2009-North Cobb 8th grade parent night

Wednesday, January 21, 2009-8th Grade Writing Assessment-please talk with your student about the importance of this assessment.  Have them do some review of the writing process on Tuesday evening.   A link for this is

http://www.suelebeau.com/writingprocess.htm

Thursday, January 22, 2009-Pebblebrook's Magnet School representative at Awtrey will meet with applicants.

January 26-30 Middle School Conference Week

February 3, 2009-Principal of Allatoona meets with students zoned for that school

Increasing Comprehension

Trying to help your student study for a test-here are a few suggestions to improve comprehension

1.  Go through each section of the chapter in the book-write down the main ideas from each section.

2.  Make a quick outline of their notes.

3.  Summarize the reasons why an event happened.

4.  Rewrite definitions in their own words.

5.  Create a mnemonic device-

6.  Use post it notes to post vocabulary words around the house.  As the student sees them-ask them to tell you about them.  (i.e.-like on the bathroom mirror-when getting ready in the morning)

7.  Use flashcards to help with vocabulary or important details from the chapter.  Post a word or idea on the front and the defintion or details on the back.  Study them both ways-ask the word or idea one time and then the definition or detail the next.

8.  Don't wait until the night before the study-begin on Monday for a Friday test.  Many students need the repetition.

9.  Study with your student!  Interactive studying with your child is so important.  This is a good indicator for you if they know the material or not.

How to Improve Your Vocabulary

This is a great article from Tony Randall-yes he is the actor-

1.  Try to guess the meaning of the word from the way it is used-in other words-how is it used in the sentence?  Great clues are often found within the sentence itself-

2.  Look it up-this helps with knowing the idea behind the word, what the root is, and all in all this helps you understand the word-

3.  Dig the meaning out by the roots-the root is the basic part of a word-its heritage-its origin.  Learning the roots helps us to remember words, gives us a deeper understanding of the words we already know, and allows us to pick up whole families of new words at a time.

4.  Get the powerful prefixes under your belt-a prefix is the part that's sometimes attached to the front of a word.  Did you know there are less than 100 major prefixes? 

5.  Put your new words to work at once-use them several times during the first day you learn them.  Say them. write them, use them in conversation with people-you will be amazed how your vocabulary will grow!

Greetings! Welcome to my Blog.

Hi!    My name is Karen Davis and I am the Special Education Lead Teacher at Awtrey.  We have a great special education team at Awtrey!  Your students are in great hands!  We are continually attending professional learning opportunties to ensure our students have the best learning environment along with research based strategies and interventions.  I look forward to getting to know you and working alongside you and our staff in providing your child a quality education.

A few fun things to know about me-

I am a huge Auburn fan-War Eagle!!!  I even have a pug named "Aubie".     

I love to travel, shop, and design and decorate.  My favorite channel is HGTV and because of all the ideas I gather, it is my husband's least favorite!   I have 3 children.  Two of my children are married and the other is in college enjoying life as a college student.  In September of this year we became first time grandparents.  That event is certainly life changing!