Welcome to a New Year!

Welcome new and returning families!

I hope that you have had a refreshing and restful summer.  I would like to welcome you to the Academic Learning Center (ALC) at Mountain View! The ALC aims to encourage academic, social and life skills growth for students impacted by a variety of disabilities by creating an environment that emphasizes modified academics and life skills. We also provide a respectful and open learning environment so that we may foster age-appropriate social skills.

Students will receive specialized services in academics, life skills, social skills, organization, communication and fine and gross motor skills through a variety of research based curriculums. This class will be a secondary blended grade classroom, so we will have 6th, 7th and 8th graders working together.

For some background on me for new families, this is my tenth year in special education, fourth year teaching and second year teaching the ALC. I am so excited for another fantastic year! We have an amazing group of instructional assistants this year, as well as our talented group of teachers, including Mrs. Twain (speech), Mrs. Ford (OT) and Mrs. Johnson (APE). If you have any questions about our staff, or myself, please feel free to ask at any time.

I'm looking forward to another great year!

Mrs. Zaworski

Happy Summer!

With only a few days left of the 2015-2016 school year, I find myself reflecting on the amazing growth our students have made this year. What a wonderful year it has been! Over the course of the last nine months we have:

-Learned to read more fluently and answer comprehension questions
-Learned to use tools to answer a variety of math problems
-Learned how to tell time
-Learned about money
-Learned how to write our name, address and phone number

-Learned how to elaborate on our ideas in writing
-Learned all the days and months and their order
-Learned what out feelings are, and what we can do about them

-Learned how to problem-solve when we are having a hard time
-Learned about our solar system
-Learned about the layers of the ocean and the Earth

-Learned about the elements
-Learned about our city and state
-Learned how to cook some yummy foods

-Learned how to recognize a good deal at the store
-Learned how to take the bus and Max around town
-Learned how to take turns in conversation
-Learned how to ask appropriate questions
-Learned how to stand up for ourselves and ask for what we need
-Made new friends
-Made new memories

And SO much more! We have so many accomplishments to be proud of this year! In these last few weeks it has been so heartwarming to watch all of the bonds and relationships that have formed in our classroom this year. In addition to all of the progress they’ve made in academics, our students have done the really hard and really important work of making friends and learning to be compassionate. I am so proud of all their hard work!

I hope that you have a wonderful summer! I am looking forward to seeing many of you in the fall!

End of the year activities!

It’s amazing to think we are in the final stretch of the 2015-2016 school year! This year has been so jam-packed with fun and learning and it has just flown by! I know this time of year gets a little crazy, so I wanted to give you a bit of a heads up about some big events coming up, and what we will need from you!

8^th Grade Aloha High School Visit- Friday, May 13^th- The 8^th grade students and I are going to be visiting the ALC classroom at Aloha High School. They will get to meet the teacher, Mr. Massey, as well as some of their classmates. They will also get a tour of the classroom and the school. We will be walking over to Aloha at 12:45 and coming back around 3pm.

Special Education Track and Field- Thursday, May 26^th- This is the day where all the students in the district who are in a self-contained special education classroom get to showcase their athletic skills! Students will have the chance to run, jump, throw and win medals! There is also a school spirit competition, and this year’s theme is outer space! We’re making individualized t-shirts based on a space-themed image each student picks out, but if you’d like, feel free to send your student in some space themed gear of your own. You are welcome to come cheer your student on at Beaverton High School from 10am to 12pm. Permission slip coming home on Monday. Students will need to bring a sack lunch, running shoes and possibly a jacket.

Bowling Field Trip- Friday, June 10th- Our class will be going on a field trip to Sunset Lanes. The purpose of this field trip is to enjoy a group outing with our friends in the SRC classroom as well as celebrate the end of the year together as a class! It should be a ton of fun! Permission slip coming home soon. Students will need to bring $7 for shoe rental, 2 games of bowling and a pizza lunch.

Looking ahead…

Wow! I can’t believe we’ve made it past Spring Break and into April already! It has certainly been a fantastic year so far! Each and every one of our students has worked so hard, and accomplished so much! I am so proud of their growth, and so thankful for the wonderful support of my staff, specialists and, of course, families. “Our” students are doing most of the hard work, but it is evident by their success that they have a full home and school team helping them each step of the way!

Planning ahead….

As fast as this year has already gone, it’s about to pick up speed! I want to take a few minutes to give you a heads up of what to expect:

*Lots of hard work! Most of us have either just had or are about to have our annual IEP, which includes lots of challenging new goals in the areas of academics, social skills, behavior, life skills, study skills and communication. We wrote ambitious goals for your student because we KNOW they will rise to the challenge! J

*Field trips! Coming up, there will be an opportunity for 8^th graders to walk over to Aloha High School (Friday, May 13th) and meet their new teacher, Mr. Massey. They will get to visit the classroom, meet some of their new classmates and get a tour of the school. Parents are invited too, of course J  Also, later on in May (the 26^th, to be exact), we will be participating in the Beaverton School District track and field meet! This is an awesome chance for our students to meet new friends and show off their skills! And last but not least, as the weather continues to get nicer, we will be taking advantage of this and going outside for academic lessons. We have a lot of things we can study around Mountain View (bugs, weather, plants, etc.), as well as simply enjoying the weather as we work on our reading, math and writing work. This is something I’ve done for many years and it’s something everyone always looks forward to!

I am looking forward to a fantastic spring full of fun and learning! 

Mrs. Z

Quick update...

Wow! This year is just flying by! It’s amazing to think that we are in the final stretch of the 2015-2016 school year :-)

Here are a few important dates coming up:

Mar. 19^th-27^th  - Spring Break!

Mar. 28^th  - Staff Development Day, No School

Apr. 29^th  - Grading Day, No School

May 6^th – 8^th Grade Panoramic Picture

May 26^th 10:00am-12:30pm – Special Education Track and Field Invitational! The theme this year is outer space! Permission Slip will come home soon!

May 27^th – Staff Development Day, No School

May 30^th – Memorial Day, Schools Closed

Parent Teacher Conferences

I'm sure you have all seen in your mail from our principal, Mr. Pedersen, that Wednesday and Thursday, February 10^th and 11^th are parent-teacher conferences for Mountain View Middle School. This means that there is no school on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday, and families now have the opportunity to sign up for conferences. Here is the link to sign up for your preferred conference time: 

https://www.beaverton.k12.or.us/schools/mountain-view/

Conferences will be scheduled on a first come, first serve basis and are in 20-minute segments. You will be able to meet with me, as well as your student’s elective teachers (Mr. Grant, Mrs. Johnson, Mrs. Holland, Mr. Mitcham, Mrs. Miller or Mrs. Bauer) and core teachers if they’re in a science class (Mr. Wadnizak, Mr. Fisher, Mrs. Adkins/Sloan or Mrs. Redding).

The daily conference schedule is as follows:

 Wednesday, Feb. 10th - 8:20-10:20am, 12:20-4:00pm, 5:40-8:00pm

      Thursday, Feb. 11th ^- 8:00-10:00am, 12:20-4:00pm, 5:40-8:00pm

      I look forward to seeing many of you there!

      Mrs. Zaworski

Happy New Year!!

Happy 2016 everyone!

With the snow day, the 2-hour delay, and the crazy bus snow routes last week, we had an interesting start to the new year, to say the least! With everything going on and everybody getting back into 'school mode', there was the potential for a lot of craziness last week, but it turned out to be a really amazing week! Everyone was very excited to be back and quickly slipped back into their schedule without complaint. We also enjoyed drawing, writing and sharing about our fun winter holiday break!

Many of us have started new classes since returning from winter break, and while a new class is always a transition, so far everybody is enjoying their new science and math classes with their peers. I am so proud of how well everyone has handled the changes!


On another note... Unfortunately, I have talked to many of you lately about illness. The cold and flu season has hit our room (as well as the rest of Mt. View) hard this year! Many of the students, as well as some of our staff have been affected, and some have already started experiencing a second round of sickness. We are doing all that we can in the classroom--cleaning with disinfectant several times a day, washing hands, avoiding any physical contact we can and reteaching germ awareness. But we need your help too... What we're seeing is kids coming back to school too soon. In the last few weeks, we have seen kids and staff come back to school, thinking they're feeling okay, and then end up crashing within a few hours :( While this is sad for them, it also runs the risk of infecting and reinfecting others.  

Thanks for your support in this! I really hope that in the next few days we can all get well so that we have the energy for the exciting learning and fun events to come!

Mrs. Zaworski 
 

Spirit Week 2.0 is here!

Happy week-before-winter-break (aka Spirit Week 2.0)!

Here are the daily themes:

Monday - Pajama Day
Tuesday - Ugly Sweater Day
Wednesday - Superhero Day
Thursday - Disney Day
Friday - Decades Day, Bowling Field Trip!!

Other important dates coming up:

Dec. 19th- Jan. 3rd - Winter Break!

Jan. 18th - Schools Closed, Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Jan. 19th 5pm-8pm - McTeacher Night

Jan. 29th- Grading Day, No School

Feb. 10th 8am-8pm - Parent Teacher Conferences, No School (More information coming soon!)

Feb. 11th 8am-8pm - Parent Teacher Conferences, No School

Feb. 12th- School Closed

Feb. 15th- Schools Closed, President's Day

How you can help...

Hello Families and Friends!

Over the last several weeks, I have had many parents and friends ask how they can help support our classroom. In these uncertain economic times, we have been fortunate to maintain such a skilled staff, supportive administrators and creative solutions for lack of funding for supplies. However, this year has presented new challenges. With the funding being reduced district-wide, we are being asked to do more with an already limited classroom budget, including purchasing supplemental reading materials, such as classroom magazines. This is also true of individualized classroom technology, which is a much bigger purchase and outside the realm of our classroom budget. 

So this year I have created a DonorsChoose website to ask for assistance in purchasing various supplies, supplemental activities and curriculum, as well as classroom technology that we can use during both small and large group instruction. In case you aren't familiar with it already, the concept of DonorsChoose is simple. Teachers create a page, requesting specific items for their classroom. Donors from around the world read about the need, and donate money. DonorsChoose then purchases the supplies, and delivers them to the classroom. This is my first experience with DonorsChoose after seeing the positive impact it has made on many of my fellow teacher's classrooms both at Mountain View and other schools in the Beaverton School District. I am asking that you spread the word about our page to friends and colleagues who may be willing and able to donate. Thanks for all of your support!

Mrs. Zaworski

Mrs. Zaworski's DonorsChoose Website

Important Dates in November

Hello families!

Here are some important dates coming up in November:

Friday, Nov. 6th - Picture Retakes
Wednesday, Nov. 11th- Veteran's Day, NO SCHOOL
Wednesday, Nov. 25th- NO SCHOOL
Thursday, Nov. 26th- Thanksgiving, NO SCHOOL
Friday, Nov. 27th- NO SCHOOL
Monday, Nov. 30th- Grading Day, NO SCHOOL