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Welcome Letter to Parents

August 30, 2011

Dear Parents,


Welcome to my George Washington University class at Jefferson Academy!

My name is Maria Angala, an Exceptional Needs Specialist, and I am excited to be your child’s teacher this school year.

Throughout the year we will be very busy. We will cover many different units of “how English works” for both decoding and spelling automaticity with our Just Words Intervention Program. This program, I want to make it clear, supplements our regular Reading/ English Language Arts subjects, not replace it. We will cover intensive reading topics such as:

- Phonemic Awareness where students learn to segment and blend three sounds, then four, five, and six sounds within a syllable with a “tapping” system that provides a kinesthetic-tactile guide and reinforcement.

- In-Depth Word Study where students learn that the English language generally follows a logical system as they carefully study sound-symbol correspondence as related to syllable patterns, orthographic (spelling) rules, and the morphology patterns of prefixes, roots, and suffixes.

- Phonetically Regular Words where students study word structure that is based on the six-syllable types of the English language. Fluent decoding requires automatic sound-symbol correspondence and sounds are taught only as they relate to the syllable type being studied.

- High Frequency Words where students learn to automatically read and spell the most frequently used English words using kinesthetic-tactile memory techniques.

- Fluency, Vocabulary and Comprehension where students will apply decoding skills to read passages with prosody, learning how to read sentences in meaningful phrases. This emphasized fluent reading for meaning, rather than speed.

A good learning experience is built on a cooperative effort among, parent, child, and school. We look forward to the excellent work and tremendous growth we will all accomplish this year.

In the past, we have had many parents volunteer their time in the classroom, and I encourage this because it provides opportunities for more children to receive personal attention. If you are interested in volunteering, please let us know. This can be done on a weekly, biweekly, or occasional basis. Any help you will give will be greatly appreciated. You can also help by providing us with any information that will aid us in better understanding your child.

Again, welcome to Jefferson Academy! Please feel free to contact me about any questions or concerns you may have at Maria.Angala@dc.gov .

Sincerely,
Maria Angala, NBCT (Exceptional Needs Specialist)

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