Thank you so much for visiting my schoolnotes page :)  Schoolnotes is a wonderful tool for parents/guardians to use throughout the school year.  If you check it every Sunday, you will be able to stay abreast of what your child will be busy learning at FSLMA for the upcoming week.  During the week of September 19th through September 23rd, Ms. Russell's wonderful students will be busy doing the following:

Monday:  Fort Service Learning Magnet Academy received a state award for being one of the top FAMILY FRIENDLY SCHOOLS in the state of Georgia for the school year of 2015-16.  Georgia's state superintendent, Mr. Richards Woods, along with other dignitaries will be visiting our school on Monday, September 19th.  Mr. Woods will be presenting Mrs. Coaxum and Mrs. Long with this award at a school-wide pep rally from 2:00-3:00.  All parents and family members are welcome to attend as well :)  The entire student body did a "dry run" this past Friday to practice how we will transition through the halls and filter in and out of the gym.  My class was BY FAR THE BEST BEHAVED CLASS OUT OF THE ENTIRE SCHOOL!!! Mrs. Alexander and I were SOOOO proud of them!  We gave them all kinds of positive praise and I put 5 marbles in the "Good Behavior" marble jar.  The students know that when that jar gets full, the entire class will be awarded with a class party. The jar is 75% full now!  Also, each student at FSLMA will be getting a free "Straight Outta Fort" t-shirt to wear on Monday at the pep rally, so please make sure your child wears jeans or jean shorts on Monday so we all match.  THANK YOU!!

• The beginning of the day Monday will be spent eating breakfast, taking their spelling pre-test, reading their Story of the Week for the first time, working on Touch Math, and continuing their academic curriculum on mobymax.com.  

Tuesday--Friday:  For the remainder of the week, we will continue with our normal routine.  

• Edmark station:  While the small groups are at the Edmark station, they read their story of the week to the teacher.  The teacher counts the total amount of words in the passage, then counts the total amount of words the student reads correctly.  On Friday when they read their story for a grade, the hope is that their correctly read word count will be higher than it was on Monday.  We also engage the students in teacher led discussions about the elements of the story (i.e., setting, characters, plot).  Reading comprehension questions are also completed.  By the end of the week, the students have a very good grasp of their story, and the words contained in that story.  

• Touch Math Station:  I create individual math packets for each student to complete at the Touch Math station.  Some are working on their number sense and number lines, some are learning how to subtract multi-digit numbers with regrouping, while others have started learning how to multiply.  The students use manipulatives, graphic organizers, dry eraser boards, and smart board programs to assist them with these math concepts.

• Computer Station:  Mobymax.com is the program the students log onto when they are at the computer station.  They work on a different academic content area each day (math, fact fluency, the alphabet, vocabulary, science, and social studies).  

• Independent/Life Skills Station:  When it is time for the students to visit this station, they do a variety of activities.  The life skills activities they work on are:
  • folding/sorting laundry
  • setting the table (plate, cup, napkin, fork, spoon and knife)
  • opening and closing different size containers (fine motor and life skills)
  • place beads on a pipe cleaner (fine motor and life skills)
  • sort nuts and bolts
  • sort coins
  • sort healthy food and treats
  • 5 food groups game
  • take out the garbage

• GAA:  Starting this week, I will begin administering the Georgia Alternate Assessment (GAA) activities.  The 6th and 7th graders have to meet 2 ELA standards and 2 math standards. The 8th graders must meet 2 ELA, 2 math, 1 science, and 1 social studies standard.  I am positive that my 12 wonderful and smart students will do amazing on their GAA activities.  I will certainly keep you posted on how they do on these important lessons.  

As always, I have an open door policy.  Any family member is more than welcome to come by and see your child in their classroom.

Thank you for everything you do!!

Jody Hunsaker Russell, M.Ed.

Learning specialist/Functional curriculum

Fort Service Learning Magnet Academy

"The Best Middle School in the World"

706.761.1954 cell