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RESOURCES
Mrs. Kathy Denny
Email:
kdenny@stmarysgreensburg.com
How does the resource teacher help students and why?
Some students need additional/or alternative instruction beyond the classroom in order to develop fundamental reading and math skills. This often requires special materials, different approaches, and extra practice. Students K-6th grade are scheduled for individualized, or small group instruction with the Resource teacher in addition to their own classroom teacher.
The Resource teacher, Mrs. Denny, is the additional teacher who works with the classroom teacher to ensure that these students have the added instruction and practice needed. Students are recommended by their teachers based on observation, classroom achievement, and test scores. To reinforce reading skills, strong phonics-based lessons are practiced. In math, some students benefit from learning Touch Math to improve computation. Students are engaged in a lot of oral reading in a reassuring learning setting. Correct handwriting is stressed in written work, and correct formation of printed and cursive is modeled by the teacher as needed.
Monthly sticker charts are used as incentives for good effort and behavior for students in Grades 1-3 when they work in the Resource Room with Mrs. Denny. Children receive a small candy treat each time they earn a row of stickers.
Mrs. Denny goes to the Education Center once a week to work with kindergartners Mrs. Smith thinks will benefit from extra practice on readiness skills, letters & sounds, and numbers.
In January, 1st graders who work with Mrs. Denny love to check-out extra readers from the Resource Room. They do this twice a week, on the days of their Resource lessons, Mondays and Thursdays. The students are awarded a sticker for each book read to a parent. Most children read 50-100 books by late May. We see a lot of growth in reading at that time.
Tips to Strengthen Skills
Keep your child reading daily. It is very important to continue this daily during the summer. Reading a few minutes (short periods of time) 2-3 times a day works better for some, than forcing an unwilling child to sit for several minutes at one time.
Educational/Tutoring CD Roms
You can take advantage of several CD Roms at the Greensburg Public Library. These are not in the Children’s Room. They are at the end shelves next to the Computer Lab on the N side of the library. Your child can use these in the lad computers. Just ask the lab librarian for help in getting started. Also there are some CD Roms that can be checked out for a week at a time. Many are helpful for reading, math, science and other subjects.
-Clifford (ages 4-6) Reading
-Jump start/Animal Adventures (ages 4+) Reading/Science
-Multimedia Animals Encyclopedia (ages 4+) Reading/Science
-Reader Rabbit (2nd gr./ages 6-8) Reading/English
-Math Blaster (ages 7-8) Math practice
-Magic School Bus (Ages 6-10) Science/Reading
-Oregon Trail (ages 10+) Reading/Problem Solving
These are just a few of the choices. You will see many more when you go to the library.