Hello!  I hope everyone had a good weekend!  This is an exciting week as we plan for our first weekend activity on Saturday.  Information will be coming home today, with a RSVP to be retuned by Wednesday.  This is just to get an idea of how many people we can expect and who to look for.  We are planning to see “Middle School:  The Worst Years of My Life” (Rated PG) at Southland Cinemark Theater.  Right now, the showtimes are not listed for Saturday so the time will be announced by Thursday.   Please remember that we do our best to accommodate as many students as possible, but we also have to coordinate times around our own families as well.  Most times, once a date/time is set, we are committed to that time unless there has been a huge oversight on our part.

Sick Students:  It’s that time of year to remind everyone to please stay home if you are sick!  Per district policy, students should stay home for 24 hours after a fever, vomiting, and/or diarrhea has cleared.  We are in a very small room with a large number of students, if your son/daughter comes to school sick (and we do understand they can be fine when they walk out the door and sick by the time they get to school!) they will need to be picked up immediately.   A staff member will always call you if we feel a student needs to go home.  If a student calls asking to come home, please speak to one of us first.

The arrangements for Pat Barton are for Friday, October 14, 2016, as follows:

Service:

St. Charles Borromeo – Detroit

11 a.m.

1491 Baldwin, Detroit MI

Luncheon:

O’Kelly’s – Dearborn

1:00 p.m.

23663 Park St.

Dear Parents,

If you are an AOL email user, please be aware that you may not receive email notifications due to AOL policies. We are working to resolve this issue with AOL.

Thank you for your patience while we work with AOL to make sure you get classroom notifications from your teacher.

Sincerely,

Technology Department

Unfortunately I am the bearer of sad news once again.  We have learned that Ms. Barton, a paraprofessional known and loved by many of our students, passed away suddenly this morning.    We do not know any of the details at this time.  We were all shocked when the news came in this morning.  In matters like these, we always leave it up to families to handle it in a way they feel best for their son or daughter.  Ms. Barton was loved by many, and she loved our students.  May she rest in peace.

Just a few notes for today…

Planet Fitness – please bring your gym clothes every M-W-F, even though you may not be scheduled to go.  This way if there is an opportunity because of another students absence, or a cancellation of a job site, etc. you can fill in.

Weekend Activities –  will begin October 22nd.  Our first activity will be a movie and we will be going to the new theater at Southland Mall. (Specific details will be announced closer to the date when movie times are released)  For those of you who are new to Weekend Activities, we do have some guidelines.  Students are invited to go on the activities based on attendance and behavior.  It is something we want everyone to be able to do, but we realize that might not always be possible.  Not every activity will be suitable for every student, but there will be something that every student can attend throughout the year.  Ms. Cote and I volunteer our time to do this, and we enjoy it very much, but since we supervise the activities by ourselves, we do have strict guidelines as follows:

• Students who need 1:1 supervision  are welcome to come, but need to have a family member or guardian or caretaker with them, and they must be over the age of 18.
• Please check in with either Ms. Cote or myself when dropping students off at an activity.  We are not responsible for students who are dropped off without our knowledge
• Families are responsible for sending the correct amount of money needed for the activity
• Students must be picked up on time, not more than 15 minutes late, or they will not be invited to the next activity
• This is a class activity,  no siblings, relatives, friends, etc.
• Parents should not stay, unless requested
• Students must complete the corresponding homework assignment after the activity

Special Olympics – A new Dearborn Special Olympic team has formed and flyers are going home today for any student who is not already participating.  Ms. Lica is the coordinator  of the Metro Allstars and has asked us to send home flyers only to those who are not currently members of the other team.  I encourage anyone who is not currently participating to join either team as they provide wonderful activities for our students.

Have a great weekend!

Order forms are coming home today for our annual sheet fundraiser!   100% of profits will go toward our class.  We use the profits to buy materials, curriculum, and to fund classroom activities.  We even use it to reduce field trip costs.    Last year we were able to pay for our End of the Year Celebration at Benihana’s using the profits from this fundraiser.  It is very important to our class and we appreciate your support!  Order forms are on the back of the information flyer coming home today.   If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me at any time.

Details:

Sheets are available in sizes California King, King, Queen, Full and Twin.  All sets include the flat sheet, fitted sheet, and two pillow cases (one pillow case for twin set)

Price $25 set/any size

Colors:  White, Sage, Gray, Light Blue, Navy Blue, Silver, Chocolate, Camel, Taupe, Cream, Eggplant, Burgundy

Please pay with cash and/or a check payable to “Debbie Camp”

Orders are due October 28th, 2016, and must be paid for at that time.

Orders will arrive before Thanksgiving.

Thanks again for your support!

Wow!  We’ve made it through September!  October brings us a new start by heading out to CBI and work sites first thing Monday morning.  There are so many new families this year, I printed out some information regarding CBI just to make sure everyone understands it.  Please be sure to look for it today!  That will probably be the last paper note going home for a while, so please remember to check the blog weekly for any important information. Also equally important – student planners.  We started filling the month of October in and some students still do not have a planner.  Students may miss out on scheduled activities if they don’t have a means of keeping track of them.  Please help your son/daughter succeed by getting a planner for them as soon as possible.

Congratulations to our Healthy Lunch Winners – Sabrina and Fowzi Abuhmaid!  There were a LOT of students who came close, and quite a few who really improved their lunch and who came up from behind.  We are so proud of everyone!  In addition, most students lost weight in the two weeks since starting this, what a great correlation for students to see!    The students are working on their last round of fitness right now so the winner will be announced at the end of the day.  Awards will be given out on Monday!

Next week we will begin our annual sheet fundraiser.  Information will be coming home next week.  We will close the order at the end of October, and sheets will be delivered before Thanksgiving.

Also, our weekend activities will start in October.  Look for that information in the next few weeks!

Have a great weekend!

PS  This just in…. TORI GONTARSKI is the winner of our Walking Club for September with 313 laps – the equivalent of 39.12 miles!!!!!!   Congratulations Tori!!

Good Morning!

Due to our DIA trip on Friday, I wasn’t able to get the blog up before we left for the weekend.  Thank you for returning the forms that were sent home, it is so important for us to know what needs to be in place before a student leaves our program.  However, in looking at the returned forms, I see a lot of families have checked that they are the students guardian.  On this form, we are asking whether the student is his/her own guardian, or if you are their legal guardian, which means you have gone to court and removed the decision making rights that were once your son/daughters.  In court, you have to declare and prove that your son/daughter is incapacitated to make decisions on his/her own.  On the other hand, Power of Attorney gives you the decision making rights for certain aspects of your son/daughters life, such as financial or medical decisions.  If you have indicated that you are the student’s guardian, we will need to place a copy of the legal documents in their file.  Please send them to school by Friday, September 30th.  If you do not have legal documents, the student is his/her own guardian and we will treat them as such.   We will be announcing several workshops throughout the year that will provide more information about Guardianship, Power of Attorney, CMH, etc.  I highly recommend attending if possible.

In other news, we are anticipating starting our job sites and CBI next week.  It’s time to re-activate any Planet Fitness memberships that were closed for the summer, get your gym bags ready (list of supplies were sent home) find the library cards, and make sure your son/daughter has either a wallet or purse to keep money and membership cards in.   Also, please note….work site dress code will be in effect beginning next week.  Long pants, close toed shoes, clean shirt.  Students who are not scheduled for a job site may continue to wear shorts and sandals.  Those who wish to bring shorts to change in to after a job site are welcome to do so.

I am sad to announce that due to a new federal mandate, students under 24 are no longer able to work at STEP, therefore we will no longer be able to attend as a school group.  However, if you feel that your son/daughter would like to work there after leaving Dearborn Public Schools, we can help you with that process.  It was a great place to work and provided a wonderful experience for our students.  I still highly recommend this provider for our students.  They provide a full range of services, the workshop was only one tiny part of what they do.  They offer vocational training, job placement, job coaching, classes, they have a thrift store that they own and operate, etc.  There are many options!  Hopefully in the future we can go back, but for now, we have to say goodbye.

That’s it for now!  Have a good week!

I knew I forgot something!

The date for the Open House is tomorrow, September 20th from 1:30-3:00 p.m.   (Unfortunately we do not have use of the room after school hours.)  If you’d like to come by, say hello, as a few questions, you are more than welcome to come during this time.  It is entirely optional, as we see and talk to most of you on a regular basis.  Please know, if you have questions or concerns at any time during the year, please contact us and we will be happy to set up a time to meet.

Hello!  It’s been another busy week here at Hype.  The students are doing a great job bringing in healthy lunches – I am so impressed and proud of them!!!  Looking forward to kicking off our Healthy Lunch program officially next week!

Just a few updates this week:

Planet Fitness – A lot of people are excited about Planet Fitness and have been asking questions.  To answer, the student/parent must go to Planet Fitness on Ford Rd/Southfield and purchase a membership.  They only accept funds from a checking account.   You can do this at any time, but we probably won’t get started for another week or two, so it’s up to you when you want to start the membership.  I will let you know once transportation is set.

Circles – We will begin the Circles program next week, which is a curriculum designed to talk to students with disabilities about different relationships and social boundaries.

Supplies – Please send in a glue stick and scissors for students to keep in their pencil bag.  Some of our new curriculm requires cutting and gluing and we do not have access to those things here at Hype.

The Bone Yard – We will be walking to the Bone Yard for lunch on Wednesday, September 21st – Weather Permitting.  It is approximately a 1 mile walk.  So far the weather looks like it will be beautiful, but we will keep an eye on it just in case.  Menu’s will be coming home today.  Please select what your son/daughter will order, and send the correct amount of money to school by Tuesday, September 20th.

DIA – We will be going to the DIA on Friday, Sept 23rd.   This is a free event.  Please remember a bagged lunch.

That’s it for now, hope everyone has a great weekend!  Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions!