Burnet Hill Elementary School

Room 10: Always thinking outside the box! 

Welcome to Room 10!  I am Mr. Loren - your child's teacher - and am returning to PRIDE as we say thank and goodbye to Ms. Mary Petinglay.  I am excited to join our three talented teaching assistants, Mrs. Haaker, Mrs. L, and Mrs. G., as well as our equally talented therapy team: Ms. Sana, Ms. Belinda, and Mrs. Miller. (Our speech therapist, occupational therapist, and physical therapist.)

Together, our team works to create a classroom environment that presents learning in fun ways. There are so many skills we work on each and every day, in fun and loving ways! 

• Pre-Academic Skills: Colors, numbers, letters, writing, attending, following directions, transitions;
• Social Skills: Peer interactions, resiliancy; respecting ourselves & others, learning our emotions, personal space;
• Self-help Skills: Toileting, self-dressing, feeding skills, hygiene, keeping our belongings organized & safe;
• Motor Skills: Big muscle & little muscle development, strengthening and coordination, understanding our sensory system, learning how our body works in the space around us, preparing for skills needed for kindergarten;
• Self-esteem & Personal advocacy: Understanding who we are as individuals, developing our own passion for learning, finding our own voice through becoming our own, best advocate; 
• Communication Skills: Learning how our mouth and breathing work to shape sounds & words, becoming an effective communicator and listener, attending, the "little things" we don't think too much about, such as volume, inflection, eye contact, appropriate engagement & responses, strengthing oral motor skills.

Room 10 uses Creative Curriculum as our guide for teaching & learning. Through Creative Curriculum, our school year is divided into Study Units which each last for approximately 6-weeks. Our first study unit is "Welcome to School!" Within this study unit, we will learn and develop through books, activities, centers, and discussions revolving around the first days of school, family, our own bodies, and our friends. (Please see our Study Unit guide page for a list of the units & curriculum we studied over the 2019-2020 school year. I will post the 2021-2022 list after Thanksgiving.)

In addition, we work with the other children and teachers of the preschool program: Ms. Pisctelli, Ms. Jenkins, Ms. Adesso, Ms. Caitlin, Ms. Laura and their respective teaching assistants. Visiting our room daily are our principal, our child study team members, and our department supervisors.

The PRIDE program is generously supported by the Burnet School Home & School Association (HSA), who provides us with teaching supplies through grants, books from the Book Fairs, and includes us in special school presentations that occur throughout the school year. Please visit their HSA page to find out more, and join the fun!

Our PRIDE Class runs from 8:20am-2:00pm. Please see our Daily Schedule, which gets updated peridodically. Parents will recieve a Monthly Activity Calendar, a Friends List, and an email at the beginning of each week titled, "Room 10 Week Ahead." PRIDE hosts Parent Workshops throughout the school year. The dates and titles will be available soon. The Parent Workshops are free, and open to PRIDE families and caregivers. We also use the app Homeroom, which allows me to post photos daily of what we've been up to that particular day, as well as notes and videos. This way you can carry over the skills and language at home to ensure greater learning success. (You will first have to give photo permission on your parent portal account through Genesis.)

Learning and teaching to your child's strengths and interests allow us to best meet your child's educational goals. We target childrens' needs through their interests. (In essence, we trick them into learning!) We are excited to incorporate parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings -- the entire family -- into your child's learning experience. (As John Dewey stated, "Education is not a part of life, it is life itself!")

We look forward to another exciting school year! There will be some new faces, as well as familiar ones. Our classroom has been cleaned, the floors waxed, and all our learning tools prepped for our little learners to explorer and experience. Centers are arranged, activities are planned, and we are excited to lead your child on their classroom adventure of becoming lifetime learners!

Thank you!

Mr. Loren 

By creating an environment which promotes and allows success in each and every child - no matter how big or small those successes are - we are ensuring that our children will seek, develop, and promote successes not only in themselves, but in others around them, again, and again, and again.

PRIDE: Where we celebrate marching to the beat of a different drummer!