Hello families! Just a few announcements to end this short week!

• Field Trip: Permission slips are coming home for a Feb 5th field trip to see “The Lion King – Mufasa”. Please return with money by January 31st.

• Cell Phone Use: Students are managing their cell phone use wonderfully in the classroom. Having a cell phone and being able to talk to friends is a very age appropriate activity and one that I encourage. Part of having a cell phone is being responsible with it, and following whatever guidelines you as a family have set up, along with school policies, etc. It has been brought to my attention however, that students are borrowing cell phones from other students when they don’t have one. This seems to be taking place on the bus, so while I can’t control what happens outside of Hype, I encourage you to speak to your student about not letting others borrow their phone. This is also a very important life skill as students work towards independence and leaving our program. They could easily be taken advantage of should the wrong person get a hold of their phone. Unless there is an emergency, they should not be handing their phone over to anyone.

• Cooking and Breakfast: Next week we will be back to cooking and having breakfast in the classroom on Friday’s. We will have pancakes for breakfast and making grilled cheese later in the day. Students should still bring snacks and fruits and vegetables to supplement their meal.

Upcoming Dates:

• February 5th – Trip to MJR to see The Lion King – Mufasa
• February 17th – No School – Winter break/day off
• February 25th – No School – Professional Development
• March 24-31 – No School – Spring Break
• Every Tuesday is an early release day – dismissal at 1:50 p.m.

Hello! The students did a wonderful job today and worked very hard! They absolutely loved being on the college campus! Tomorrow our day will be a little shorter, and we will structure it a little differently. We will work with the Adult Ed Dept. until 11:45. At that time, we will take our lunch and end our day in the cafeteria. We discovered the cafeteria has a great variety of prepared foods and think it would be a wonderful experience to allow students to purchase their lunch if they would like to. I do not have prices, but as always, we will send change home if you’d like to send in $15-20. We will help students order and make sure they are staying within their budget. This is optional, and students who do not wish to order from the cafeteria should bring their lunch from home like they did today.

Tomorrow we will be going to Henry Ford College to help the Adult Ed Department with a special project. The bus will be picking us up at approximately 9:15 a.m. and we will return around 2:00 p.m. For this reason, students arriving late to school and/or needing to go home prior to 2 p.m., on either day, should stay home and will be marked excused. Students will not be able to be dropped off or picked up from the college. If you know your student will be staying home – please text me on the classroom phone so I know and can mark them excused.

Students will need to bring:

• Lunch
• 2 snacks
• Water bottle
• Money (optional) – for vending machines or to purchase a small item from the cafeteria IF we go. This is not promised.

What to wear:

• Comfortable clothing – dressing in layers is best
• Tennis shoes
• Be sure to wear a warm coat, gloves, scarfs, etc. – we will be walking from the bus to the building – no door to door service here! Also, we may walk to the cafeteria if we get the chance which is in another building. We will determine that tomorrow when we know what the weather will be like and the distance we will need to walk.

What to leave home (or at school) :

• iPads
• Large over the ear headphones
• Extra water bottles – we will only be taking what fits in their lunch bag and one additional water bottle.
• Books, magazines, etc

I hope everyone is able to attend as we help the Adult Ed. Department prepare for a new semester of new students! It will be a great experience for our students to be on the college campus and gain new skills!

Good Morning!

In an effort to clear up any questions about out “virtual plan”, here is further clarification on what this is and what it means…..

1. There are no closures, or plans of closures
2. The district asked us to provide a plan in case of emergency
3. The virtual plan is listed in “Class Info” on this blog, and was sent home with students today
4. The plan should only be used if Hype is closed while the district remains open. Example: Power outage or water main break that only affects our building.
5. It is NOT for use during district wide snow days/cold days, unless we exceed the 6 days allowed by the State.
6. This is not a “live” instruction time. No zoom calls, etc.
7. Office hours will be available if you have questions, should this type of situation occur.
8. There is no penalty for not following the virtual plan, but it allows students to continue their instruction while school is closed.
9. It ensures that we will not have to extend the school year if we go above and beyond our 6 snow days (Nobody wants that!!)

I hope this helps! I know it can be alarming to see the word “virtual” again after COVID, but it is really just a plan, in case of an emergency closure, so that students can continue learning. Please feel free to reach out with further questions!

It’s hard to believe our first week back has come and gone! The students have had a great week and picked up right where they left off! This week, a few of our boys started a new job at Xpress Poultry, and we will be back to our regularly scheduled jobs next week. Next week is a FULL week. Please check the blue folders coming home today. In them, you will find:

1. Progress Reports
2. Information regarding lunch at Bellacino’s for those working at Goodwill on Monday’s or Wednesday’s
3. Information on a volunteer activity our class will be participating in next week. We will be going to Adult Ed on the Henry Ford Campus and helping them with a special project.
4. Homework assignment (for those who may have been absent the day it was assigned)

In addition – we are modifying our Healthy Lunch and Fitness programs! We have new posters that will be going up soon so students can see their progress each week!

Fitness: Students will be racing to see who will be the first to reach 25 miles around the track! Believe it or not, I think there are a handful of our students who should complete this in a month! 10x around the track is equal to one mile!

Healthy Lunch: Students will now be competing to see who can get to 500 points! Students receive a point for healthy entrees (any food from home other than pizza or fast food), fruits, vegetables, water or zero calorie drinks, cheese, nuts, grains, etc. Students are not discouraged from bringing the “fun” foods – they just don’t get a point for them. Some students are earning 10+ points a lunch right now – they are highly motivated! Students who bring all healthy 1 point foods and no 0 point foods, receive a 2 point bonus!

Room temperature – it has been a little chilly in our room lately. Currently we are averaging between 64-67 degrees. We do have several heaters placed around the room to help students warm up. They are also fairly active throughout the day. The floor is cold – so please make sure students have warm footwear, socks, etc. Students are encouraged to dress in layers and they are welcome to keep an extra sweatshirt here in the classroom.

January’s Objectives/I Can Statements:

• I can wear a clean uniform to work
• I can find my clothing size when I am shopping
• I can put my work away in the correct spot
• I can ask a friend to play a game with me during leisure recreation
• I can identify the correct place to store food (refrigerator, freezer or pantry)

Upcoming Dates:

January 16, 17 – Trip to Henry Ford College (9:30-1:30 on Thursday, 9:30-12:30 on Friday)

January 20th – No School – MLK

A few pictures from today! Enjoy!

We had a fun filled day today! Students should be coming home full and happy today! Thank you to everyone to contributed to our party and a special thank you to those who contributed to the gift cards for our fitness instructors, they were so appreciative! You may wonder where all of the gifts came from today….. Outside of our gift exchange, someone who works with Ms. Maha’s husband contacted her and wanted to gift items to our students. Most students received hats and gloves, socks and notebooks. Some of our girls got lucky, as there were two coats gifted as well. I will be posting a few pictures of our day in a little while, so be on the lookout for those. I hope everyone enjoys their break! See you in 2025!