Meet The Teachers

 Thank you for visiting our class website.  I am Melissa Keisler.  I have been teaching for fourteen years.  I have taught in Batesburg for seven years.  I graduated from Columbia College in December of 1996.  I  have a Bachelors Degree in Education and a Masters Degree in Educational Administration.  I am certified in Special Education, Early Childhood, and Elementary Eduction.  I was born and raised here in Batesburg.   I have two girls; Taylor age seventeen and Hallie age eleven.  I am involved in my family and church. I love working with the small children, because I am a child at heart.

There are two ladies assisting me.  Mrs. Mary Graham is a resident of Leesville. She graduated from BLHS and has been working with the district since 1999. She has a son Garrett who is 15, and a Sophmore at BLHS. She enjoys cooking, gardening, and fishing. She is the Youth Director at her church and really enjoys working with youth.  Mrs. Carolyn Keck lives in Leesville with her husband John.  She has three children who are all grown up and four grandchildren.  She loves spending time with her children, cooking, eating what she has cooked and reading.  Each of these ladies are very special and I am very glad to have them. 

                              Class Description

 The Pre-School Special Needs class is for students who have a delay in two areas of learning.  The children are screened, and then if they need further testing, it is conducted.  A child who quailifies for the class may start on their third birthday. Then an IEP (Individual Education Plan) is written with the goals that the student will be working on.  The class has two sessions--a morning and an afternoon.  The morning class begins at 7:50 a.m. and ends at 10:45 a.m.  The afternoon class begins at 10:45 a.m. and ends at 2:15 p.m.  The morning class eats breakfast and the afternoon class eats lunch in the cafeteria. Presently there are eight children in the morning and nine in the afternoon.  In the class we work on all learning domains; cognitive, social and emotional, self-help, fine motor, and gross motor.

 The curriculum used is the Rae Shapher Curriculum, "Read It Once, Read It Twice, Read It Once Again.  We read the same book everyday and then our daily activity relates to the book, and Nursery Rhyme.  We do this book and Nursery Rhyme for one month.  We also paint everyday for gross motor development and color recognition.  At the end of the month the student receives the book and they make a packet to put all of their work in to take it home.