December 1, 2017 I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving break. I enjoyed my time with my family. We had 29 family members at my house for Thanksgiving. Now we are back at school for week 14. We will continue with our daily schedule and before you know it we will be off for our winter break. Wonderful Wednesday have been so much fun for our 3rd through 5th graders. I have enjoyed being a part of the jewelry making enrichment club. We have made a lot of jewelry. The showcase will be held on Thursday, December 14th. Each club will have a showcase to exhibit the focus of their club. The holiday party schedule will posted soon and I will make sure you are aware of it. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please let me know. Ms. Tanya
September 24, 2017 We just finished week number 5 of school and it was another great week. All of the students did great with our adult schedule change last week. We moved right along and everyone did fine. If your child is in 3rd through 5th grade, you received a permission slip last week for your child to attend the Wonderful Wednesday Enrichment Program. We would love to have all Fern Bluff students attend the enrichment program. Fern Bluff staff (teachers and paras) will be facilitating the classes. Someone familiar with your child will be in the group your child is in. I hope your child can attend the program. Please let me know if you have any questions!! This week I want to talk about Ms. Suzy. This is Ms. Suzy's first year in the SLC classroom. Previously she has worked at Fern Bluff in the FAC classroom. We are very lucky she made the transition to SLC. She has already been a great asset to our team. Just like Gwen and Colleen, she really enjoys the kiddos. She takes great pride in seeing them learn and make progress. Suzy has two children, one son and one daughter. She lives in the Fern Bluff neighborhood so her children went to Fern Bluff also but now they attend Chisholm Trail Middle School and Round Rock High School. If you see Ms.Suzy this week, give her a big hug. She does a great job every day working with your kiddos. I'm fortunate enough to be spending this weekend with my some of my cousins, my sister and one of my aunts at a retreat home in Wimberly, Texas. We started spending two weekends per year together in 2011. I look forward to these weekends all year long. It is a time where I can reminisce about my childhood and reconnect with extended family. I'm very thankful for my family and the opportunity to enjoy them. I hope you have a great week. If you need anything, please let me know. Ms. Tanya
September 17, 2017 It was another fun week at school. We are following a great routine and we are all settled in so I guess it is time to mix it up a little bit. I believe it is best practice to rotate the adult schedules every 4 weeks so the students don't become too dependent on a specific adult. The student's schedules will stay the exact same but the support they receive will be with different adults. The adults are starting their new schedules tomorrow. It is always an exciting time for the adults. We'll see how the kiddos feel about it tomorrow. This week I want to share some information with you about Ms. Colleen. This is Ms. Colleen's 4th year to be working in the SLC classroom. Before transitioning to the SLC classroom, she worked in the FAC classroom. She is the Canadian of our group but I know she loves living in Texas. Colleen is such a blessing to our students. She is another energizer bunny and is a really hard worker. She loves the kiddos and does a great job on a daily basis. I also know the students love Ms. Colleen. She has two children. Morgan attends Chisholm Trail Middle School and David attends Round Rock High School. He will be graduating this year so I know it will be an emotional end of the year for her. If you see Ms. Colleen this week, give her a hug also!!! She is also very deserving. Third grade has their academic night on Tuesday, September 19th from 5:00 - 6:00. I hope everyone has a great week and as always if you need anything from me, please let me know! Have a great week, Ms. Tanya
September 8, 2017 We had another great week. First, last week we earned the "Golden Shoe". The kiddos have been doing a great job showing their expected behavior when they have been walking through the halls. This week during TeachTown we learned about Fire Drills. We practiced Fire Drills to make sure we are ready for our first Fire Drill. The students really enjoy learning through TeachTown. Today was Grandparent's Day during lunch. It was very busy in the cafeteria but it was also very fun. Seeing all of the grandparents brought a different feel to our campus. Too bad it isn't Grandparent's Day every Friday. For the next few weeks, I want to highlight the paraprofessionals that work with your kiddos every day. This week I want to talk about Ms. Gwen. Ms. Gwen has worked at Fern Bluff for 19 years. She is a wonderful asset to Fern Bluff. When I think about Gwen, the very first thing that comes to my mind is "she loves kids and she really loves kids with Autism". She shows me that every day. She is very kind hearted and is always thinking about the students. She has such a positive attitude and will do "whatever it takes" every day. She is known for having tons of energy. She is always willing to take the kiddos to recess and PE and moves right along with them. Again, she has a lot of energy. Gwen has one daughter and a grandson. Her daughter, Danica, worked at Fern Bluff until this year and now she is staying home with her son. I like to give Gwen a hard time because she is 8 days older than I am which makes her the "old" lady of our group and as all of you know she sure doesn't look like the "old" lady. Ms. Gwen also spends many of her evenings and summer days caring for kiddos with Autism. She has devoted her life to helping children and their families. Next time you see Ms. Gwen give her a big hug! She is always deserving of a big hug. On Friday of this week, it is Donuts with Dads at 7:00 a.m. This is always a very popular event. I promise you there will be a lot of dads and a very long line so plan accordingly. We hope to see you there. Have a great week! Ms. Tanya
September, 2017 We are having a great school year so far. It is great spending the days with the kiddos. They are adjusting so well to the schedule and routine and the school year is going great so far. First, I want to talk about the Friday Morning Assemblies. Every Friday morning, all of the students go into the cafeteria for an assembly. During the assembly, the announcements are shared, leadership awards are announced, and classroom awards are announced. We also sing "Happy Birthday" to students who had their birthday during the week. It is nice for all of the students and staff to share some time together even though it is short. The kiddos also seem to really enjoy it. I will give weekly updates on this web page but if you have any questions, please let me know at any time. Have a great week, Tanya Stalder