Good Morning! Just a reminder that today is a half day, and tomorrow is a full day! This time of year always gets a little confusing. Because the High Schools have exams and will be running on a different schedule than we do, we will not have job sites or CBI Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. The buses that we use for those sites will be busy taking the high school students home.

Next week starts the new semester and we have made a few changes. CBI groups have been changed, so that there are more students in each group. This has it’s advantages and disadvantages, but it does allow students to get out more frequently. We still have an unusual amount of time at each location, therefore, if this is not appropriate for a student (because they are not able to control behaviors, hold interest, etc.) they are on a separate list to be included when we have an activity that is appropriate.

With that said, we have a meeting with the Director of Special Education planned for April to discuss our needs for next year and hope that changes can be made. One of the changes we are looking to make will be dropping Planet Fitness for the 2020-2021 school year, and replacing it with bowling as a CBI activity. This will allow more students to be able to participate and benefit from the activity. It makes me sad, but now that we are only allowed one day of week there, the students are losing interest and have lost some of their momentum. It was without a doubt, the single most successful and beneficial activity we’ve had to date and I encourage anyone with a membership to keep going on their own! So many of our students have lost weight and kept it off – some students have lost 50 pounds or more! They are independent, have a membership of their own and are contributing to their community. It’s everything I could have ever asked for.

Also new next semester will be our “pay day” system. We’ve made some upgrades to make it easier to administer and manage. Students will get paid “Camp/Cote Cash” daily now. They will receive $1 for every day they are here, at their seat by 8:30 a.m. This gives students a 30 minute grace period to enter the room, get their belongings, and take their seat. Students are not paid if they are not here. Students are not paid if they are not here (and in their seat) by 8:30. (Strolling in the door at 8:30 does not count) At the end of the week, students will be able to use their money to purchase either physical items (snacks, pencils, erasers, etc.) or other items such as “extra trip to Kerby’s”, “eat lunch with a teacher”, etc. The Friday movie will be $3 in Camp/Cote cash. Students who are sick for an extended period of time will be considered on an individual basis, students who do not have the money will be given an alternate assignment that will take place in our old classroom. This is a little bit of “tough love” for some of our students, but we hope it will encourage regular, on-time, attendance. Effective January 27, 2020.

Finally, on Friday we wished Mohamad Ghulais farewell as he moves to Howe to continue his education! We will miss him but know he will excel over there and make us proud! Good Luck Mohamad!

Upcoming Dates:

Jan 22 – Full Day – students need a lunch

Feb 5 – Late Start

Feb 14 – Pizza Party! Free! No lunch needed! Students may pass out Valentines/Candy if they choose. Currently we have 25 students.

February 17-21 Mid-Winter Break – No School

January is a little crazy so I though I’d remind everyone again about the dates for this month. Remember, we are on middle school time, but follow the elementary calendar. Even thought our students are adults, we follow the elementary calendar because we are part of Howe School, who also follows the elementary calendar. When Howe has a half day, we have a half day. Likewise, if Howe is closed for for a snow day, we will also be closed for a snow day. The special dates are as follows:

January 17th – Half Day – Dismissal 11:00

January 20th – No School – MLK

January 21st – Half Day – Dismissal 11:00

January 22nd – FULL DAY OF SCHOOL

We are still having an issue with students items missing and/or unlabeled. Please be sure to label backpacks, coats and lunch boxes, especially if your son/daughter cannot identify his or her own belongings. If it becomes an issue, we will label them for them. I have purchased some fabric labels that are washer and dryer safe. We have also put in a request to purchase more coat hooks and storage options – so that students belongings can be identified a little easier when stored.

Some have asked about weekend activities and as of right now, they are on hold. As our own children have gotten older, it’s been harder and harder to coordinate a weekend day that both Ms. Cote and I are available. Additionally, the demands of the classroom have increased tremendously and the weekend is much needed time to feel ready for the following week. That’s not to say we don’t enjoy getting together with the students, we love it, we just need to be at our best Monday-Friday, and we need to give our families the best of us as well.

February Dates:

Feb 5 – Late Start

Feb 17-21 – Winter Break – No School

How is it Christmas Break already!? Our party is going to start in just a little bit, so before that gets going and we get totally caught up – we’d like to take the time to wish all of our families a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Over the break is a great time to wash coats, backpacks, lunch boxes etc. Please make sure students names are on the inside tag in permanent marker. We’ve had several mix ups this year, one student is still missing his coat!

When we come back, we will be working on new guidelines on how we handle field trip payments and due dates. We want to make sure the information is translated so everyone understands the rules. In a nutshell, we can no longer private message people to remind them to pay for their students field trips. With almost 30 students in the class and probably 10 more coming next year, that would be a full time job. We send plenty of messages through remind and on the blog. It will be up to the families to keep on top of that to ensure their son/daughter is able to attend these events.

In the meantime, have a wonderful relaxing break! We will see everyone in 2020!

Upcoming Dates:

January 6 – First day back!

January 17 – 1/2 Day – Dismissal at 11:00

January 20 – No School – MLK

January 21 – 1/2 Day – Dismissal at 11:00

January 22 – FULL DAY OF SCHOOL

Holiday Events:

(Change of Date) December 19 – Bowling and Pizza Party at Ford Lanes! Cost: $10 per student. Please send money beginning December 2nd. (Students who do not wish to attend will have to stay home as there will not be anyone staying back in the classroom, they will be marked excused if a parent notifies us.) This is always a great time and we are already looking forward to it!

December 20th – Zumba and Classroom Christmas Party! Ms. Susan will be back for Zumba the morning of the 20th. (Students who paid for November are already marked “paid” – there is no need to send in more money) We will have our regularly scheduled lunch (students need to BRING lunch that day!) and in the afternoon we will begin our Christmas party with minute to win it games, etc. This is one of our favorite times with the students – always lots of smiles and laughter as we wind down and get ready for the much needed break!

No School – December 23 – January 3

Hello! We’ve had a good, but busy week here at Hype. We were notified earlier this week that we will not be able to go back to Burlington Coat Factory until next year. This is a difficult loss for our program, as if affects the greatest number of students. This will leave only one job site for all 27 students for the time being. The other setback we have experienced is the rezoning of the bus routes, which has limited our CBI transportation. Currently, we are scheduled to be at Kerby’s Koney Island for over 2 hours. This is just too much time for some of our students who have more severe needs. We are working on alternate ideas and have offered some solutions, we are just waiting to hear back….. Please know that we want all of our students to experience all that they can while they are in this program, but we want to make sure they will be positive and successful experiences!

On a more positive note, thank you for all of your kind donations to our Thanksgiving party on Tuesday. Students should still plan to bring a lunch that day – we will have our party later in the afternoon.

Today’s Zumba will be rescheduled for December. Date to be announced! (Ms. Susan is sick!)

Upcoming Dates:

11/26 – Thanksgiving Hours d’oeuvres Party! (Appetizers!)

11/27-11/29 – No School

12/15 – Late Start

12/18 – Bowling Party

12/20 – Holiday Party

It seems hard to believe we are a week and a half away from Thanksgiving AND we’ve had a snow day! This year is going fast and so far has been full of surprises!

I just wanted to mention we have a very full class with 27 students this year. When Ms. Cote and I started teaching together, we had 11 or 12 students between the two of us. Quite a difference!! The students are keeping us very busy and we enjoy that – but because of that, we may not always see your texts or answer the phone immediately. Please give us an hour or two to respond to your messages. If you need to pick up your son/daughter early, please let us know ahead of time, otherwise you may have to come into the building.

Thank you to those of you who ordered sheets! The orders have been placed and they will come in next week!

Upcoming Dates:

November 22 – ZUMBA! $5 per student – Please send money by Thursday, Please note: The teachers reserve the right to determine who can attend for safety reasons. Not all students will be allowed to participate. This is an optional activity and alternate activities will be provided for those who do not participate.

November 27-29 – Thanksgiving Break! Enjoy!

December 18th – Late Start/ Bowling Party! $10 (Don’t sent money yet!)

December 23-Jan 3 – Christmas Break

Hello! Just a few announcements for today!

Halloween Party – October 31st. No costumes! We will go out to our job and community sites in the morning. However, there WILL be a prize for the student who shows the most Halloween spirit! This can be wearing black and orange, a Halloween T-shirt, headband, hat, etc. Accessories are allowed as long as they can be removed for the community sites. No face painting. TYPICALLY we provide food for the Halloween party, but since we just had an unexpected pizza party, and some students are scheduled to eat breakfast out that morning, students will need to bring their own lunch. We will be providing dessert in the afternoon. Students will be allowed to pass out candy in the afternoon, but it is optional. For planning purposes, we have 25 students in class if everyone is here. Your son or daughter should bring an empty grocery bag to collect their candy!

Sheet Fundraiser – I was hoping to start that this week but got behind a little! I am waiting to hear back from the company regarding available colors and pricing for the 2019-2020 school year. If I hear back by this afternoon, I will send an order form home. If not, expect it towards the beginning of the week next week. This fundraiser provides so much to our students. We are able to provide activities at a reduced or no cost – such as our end of the year banquet, pizza parties, reduced bowling fees, etc. We also buy much needed curriculum and materials for our students. Our needs change with each year, as new students come and old students move on. Thank you in advance for your support!

Also!!! We have noticed that MANY students are having trouble staying awake during the day. We suspect students are taking their iPads to bed or they have TV’s in their room and are up all night. Please make sure students are getting adequate sleep at night (7 hours or more) and to unplug those electronics! Students are not able to learn what they need to learn if they can’t stay awake.

Upcoming Dates:

November 1 – Half Day – Dismissal at 11:00

November 5 – No School

November 22 – Zumba! $5 (Optional)

November 27-29 – No School – Thanksgiving Break

Have a great weekend!

Electronics have become increasingly disruptive in our classroom – on a daily basis we are dealing with students listening to inappropriate music, making phone calls during class time, taking pictures without permission and playing video games that become too intense. So, today we “unplugged” from all personal devices. As expected, this was not well received by our students. Looks of horror spread across the room as devices were collected at the beginning of class, labeled with their names, and kept in a bin on my desk. Some students tried to tell me they didn’t have a phone when I could clearly see it in their pockets, others said they didn’t have a phone, but then “remembered” once a consequence was mentioned, but eventually everyone relented. (This was all amusing to us but we didn’t let on!) We will continue this practice for the remainder of the week and try again with full electronic privileges next week. It turned out to be a nice day with students talking to each other and socializing instead of looking at screens during their down time!

Information about the Weekend Activity is coming home today to those who RSVP’d with a “yes”. The show time is 2:45 on Saturday. We will meet in the lobby at 2:00 p.m. and start going through concessions by 2:15, so we can be in our seats before the movie starts. We have a big group attending and it will take some time to get through the lines. I will be purchasing the tickets Friday morning. Please read over the information that was sent home and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me! It’s going to be a great time!

Students who are scheduled to go to Kerby’s tomorrow have a menu in their folders for planning purposes. Please indicate what your son/daughter would like to eat if they are not able to tell me, and send the appropriate amount of money for their meal. Students who do not bring money will not attend the activity.

Hello!

Don’t forget tomorrow is our Open House! We’d love to see you! We will be here from 5-6:30. Drop on in anytime!

A RSVP form is going home today for the weekend activity. Right now, show times have not released for Saturday but we are still hoping for a showtime around 2 or 3. If your son/daughter brings home the RSVP on yellow paper, it indicates that he/she needs a chaperone in order to attend. We want to include everyone but there are some behavior and/or physical conditions we cannot handle in that type of setting. A chaperone is someone 18 years old or older, who will stay with the student the entire length of the activity and who you authorize to make emergency decisions for the student.

A Remind notification was sent regarding students needing a planner. This is the link between school and home. Everything will be in the planner – job sites, CBI sites, special activities, etc. We do not send paper notes home as reminders and cannot print off planners for the class. If a student is not prepared he/she may have to miss out on the activity. Please be sure to get a planner for your son/daughter as soon as possible. The planner should be tabbed (very important), no smaller than a 5×7 but 8×10 is best, and should be for the academic school year (July-December 19/20). As a reminder, the following students need a planner: Matthew, Tarek, Reda, Abrar, Mohamad C. Fatima, Ahlam, Hassan, Alexandria.

Hello! Half days are always so busy! We had a fun morning! We worked on money skills and our bank accounts, while the students were treated to donuts. We watched our Friday movie and had a surprise visit from a former parprofessional who brought a tray of sandwiches (schwarma and falafel) for the students. Some students may or may not be ready for lunch! Typically our days are not filled with so much food! LOL It was a nice relaxing day for all of us….and a much needed one at that.

The good news: CBI and Job Sites will begin October 17th. We will rotate the students through all locations as much as we can, we do have 27 students in the class so the chances of students going to all CBI locations every month is not likely. We have broken students down into smaller groups to allow for more personalized instruction and for us to be able to help those who many need extra help at these locations. Your son/daughters planner will be updated next week with their assigned locations for the month. If you see a $ on the day, that means they need money for that activity.

Bank Accounts: You may now send in money if you would like your son/daughter to keep a bank account here at school. The money can be used for CBI trips or when they are subbing for another student and go on a CBI trip unexpectedly. We do not use the money for field trips, as we keep track of that separately. The students each have their own envelope with a “register” and we keep track of the money they use, and when they need more, we will send a copy of the register home with them so you can see what they have spent and that their account needs to be replenished. Typically $20 will be plenty. Please send singles if possible.

Curriculum: This weeks topics included: Job Descriptions: working at Applebees and Kroger, Nutrition, Mystery Science, Scolastic News: Composting, ULS – Dressing for an Interview, Emotional ABC’s (Socio-Emotional Learning) – Reading body language

Upcoming Dates:

October 16 – Late Start

October 19 – Weekend Activity – Addams Family at Cinnemark Theaters – Southgate (information is coming home Monday – I couldn’t get it out today on account of the half day)

October 21 – Annual Sheet Sale Fundraiser will begin

November 1 – Half Day – Dismissal at 11:00

November 5 – No School

November 27-29 – No School – Thanksgiving Break