ELC at George Earle Weekly Update

CVC words are so important for Kindergarteners to learn for both reading and writing. You may be asking yourself though, what is a CVC word? A CVC word is a word that is made up of a consonant, vowel and consonant sound. Cat, hot, tip, man and hut are all examples of CVC words. Learning to read and write these words are an important skill to be working on as we are working on letters, letter sounds, reading, and writing. Below you will find several examples of games you can play at home to be helping your kiddo out with this skill.

Start with just changing the beginning sound on each word. Give them a whole bunch of the same ending sound and just change the first letter. You can do this on a whiteboard or in a game like below. Write "p-a-n" and tell them, now change the "p" to a "c", what word do you have? Now change the "c" to a "t", what word do you have? And continue on like that.

As they are learning more and can switch up all the letters to sound out, here is a simple and fun way to practice with your kids. All you need is 3 Styrofoam cups and a sharpie. Twist the cups around to make all sorts of different words for them sound out.

You can make up some Bingo cards! Cheerios, popcorn, or fruit snacks work great for chips on their board, and they won't be sad to snack a long while they play.

Jack and the Beanstalk challenge. They were challenged to use 10 pipe cleaners to build a beanstalk that could stand on its own and hold a golden egg. Some got creative and used miscellaneous items from their tables to help them stand.

Northwest Indiana Special Education Cooperative

Did you know that all of the special education staff in the School City of Hobart are employed by both NISEC and SCOH? NISEC is a cooperative that serves 8 school districts across Lake County.

Here at the George Earle Early Learning Center we have 12 staff members that serve the special education community. Each week for the month of March (National Disability Awareness Month) we will introduce you to our special education staff.

Get to know our special education staff:

Virginia Sanders - ECD (Early Childhood Development) Facilitator

• Years at the ELC: 12 years (42 total teaching years!)

• College attended: Glassboro State in New Jersey

• Degree: Bachelor’s in Special Education Early Childhood

• Hobbies: gardening, reading, spending time with family

• As the ECD teacher, I create and implement IEP’s for 3-5 year olds. I teach AM and PM classes 4 days per week.

Miss Newton - Kindergarten LRE (least restrictive environment) Facilitator

• Years at ELC: 2

• College attended: Purdue University

• Degree: Bachelor’s in Elementary and Special Education

• Hobbies: thrifting, walking, being outdoors with my family

• As the LRE Facilitator I am responsible for creating and implementing IEP’s. I teach small groups in the subject areas of math, english language arts, social-emotional learning, and behavior. I also push into the K classrooms and assist students with functioning in the general education environment.

Katie Puchowski - ECD Paraprofessional

• Years at the ELC: 1 year

• College attended: Indiana University Northwest

• Degree: Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice

• Hobbies: reading, baking, spending time with family

• As the ECD paraprofessional, I am responsible for assisting with the students in the ECD classroom.

Mrs. Kuehl - Kindergarten LRE Paraprofessional

• Years at ELC: 1

• College attended: Brown Mackie College

• Degree: Bachelor’s in Business Management

• Veteran: Served 4 years active duty in the Army, 3 years active duty in Indiana National Guard

• Hobbies: reading, crafting, latch hooking

• As the kindergarten LRE paraprofessional I work mostly in the K classrooms doing push-in services with our students. I also work with Miss Newton is some of her groups.

There is no need to call the office when calling your child off of school due to illness. Follow the simple steps below to have your child marked absent. If we have any questions, we will get ahold of you. Thanks so much!