Written By Gabi Guillory-Welsh Teachers and parents alike understand the importance of building strong, trusting relationships with students. According to a Review of Educational Research analysis of 46 studies, strong teacher-student relationships were associated with the following: Higher student academic engagement Higher attendance Better grades Fewer disruptive behaviors and suspensions Decreased school dropout rates Additionally, “a teacher's relationship with students was the best predictor of how much the teacher experienced joy versus anxiety in class.” (Review of Educational Research) Is this why I’m on cloud 9 with my classroom this year? Almost my entire class is made up of returning students. I am able…

Written by Jackie Thomas, OT For this 2019-2020 school year, Horizon Academy extended its school day. Usually when a school adds minutes to their day, it is intended to be used for instruction or classroom time. Horizon Academy decided to use its extra minutes by adding a component to the day that would make our students more successful, MOVEMENT!   Movement has been shown to  change neurochemistryincrease production of new brain cells and synapsesincrease blood flow and oxygen to the brainimprove attention to task help information enter into memoryimprove behaviorreduce stress and anxietyand an extra benefit of increasing the strength of the…

by Holly Hammond, Teacher According to the Universal Design for Learning (UDL), there are three primary neurological networks that impact learning: Multiple means of representation - Gives learners various ways of acquiring information and knowledge.Multiple means of expression - Provides learners alternatives for demonstrating what they know.Multiple means of engagement - Taps into learners' interests, offer appropriate challenges, and increases motivation. Keeping this in mind, teachers, families, and educators have a responsibility to provide students with multiple opportunities to learn. If we are lucky...it can be fun!   The following are tools and games to provide students with additional practice in…

Isabella Fulton is a current Horizon Academy student. She was diagnosed with dyslexia in first grade. “We knew Isabella was having difficulties from a young age,” said parent Sonia Fulton. “She always had to work really hard. With after-school tutoring and homework at night, we were exhausted.”  Though her former school and teachers were supportive, something was still missing from her education. Sonia recalls Isabella telling her, “I feel like I don’t get the chance to learn something before they start moving on.” It was through Isabella’s self-advocacy and a recommendation from a friend that Sonia and her husband, Sean,…

Horizon Academy is excited to welcome Dr. Tiffany Arrington, PhD, as our new school psychologist. There are many benefits to having a school psychologist on staff. Dr. Arrington can consult on instruction, assessment and student wellness. A current focus of Dr. Arrington’s has been teaching Executive Functioning in the classroom. Executive Functioning teaches students a method and process of how to learn on their own.  “Executive Functioning is helping students develop the tools of their own learning… Executive Functioning is a relatively new term, but made up of familiar concepts like study skills, testing skills, organization, time management, emotional regulation,…