Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!


2012 brought a couple of job changes for us. Jeff moved into the ‘lead’ position on his team. He is quite fond of everyone on his team and has been enjoying leading some events. He put on a recognition event, in which he was very serious about acknowledging the work his team members were doing, but with, not surprisingly, humor built in. He also  held a Medallion Hunt and we hosted a party with his coworkers at the Lake.

For the first year in my 13 years at Oak Grove, I changed positions. My official title is ADSIS teacher, which stands for Alternative Delivery of Specialized Instructional Services. What that means is that I am putting my reading license to good use by teaching reading. Several people have asked me what exactly I am doing this year. I am working with students who struggle in reading. I have ten small groups that I work with in grades 1-5. I assess them to determine the reading skills that are lacking, then determine what reading interventions I will use to target those areas. I am loving working with small groups and very much enjoying teaching reading all day!

Ian was happy to get his driver’s license shortly after turning 16 this fall. It makes his mother a nervous wreck, but deep down I know he is a cautious driver. His goal is to get a job and get his own car this summer.
Ian tried out a couple new sports this year (10th grade). In the fall he ran for the cross country team and is currently on the swim team.
Another new thing for Ian is SCUBA diving. He became certified, and was lucky to go on a trip to Florida High Adventure Seabase with Jeff and several other scouts and another leader in June. At first it looked like they might not be able to dive due to rough seas caused by tropical storms, but things turned around and they got to dive from the second day on. Great memories for both Jeff and Ian.

Rowan’s big moment was of course his surgery for Chiari Malformation in May. (More info about this a few posts back). This was a very difficult week for all of us, but we came out very grateful that Rowan’s problem was one that was able to be fixed, and he was able to get on with life. In the months following his surgery, he has really made leaps and bounds with speech, communication, and development. In fact, when he goes back to school after break his special ed service time is being cut down due to him meeting all of the goals on his current IEP since school started in the fall. We signed him up for swimming lessons, which he loved, as long as his face didn’t get too wet. He might need another session as a ‘crayfish’ before moving up to ‘minnow’!

We are looking forward to a great 2013. Happy New Year to everyone!