On behalf of our staff here at Hype, we want to wish all of our families a Happy Thanksgiving.   As I write this, our first Thanksgiving Dinner is underway….the turkeys are done, the side dishes are ready and students are busy preparing the rolls.   This was our first attempt at this and so far it has been a success.   Admittedly,  a little stressful, but a lot of fun!  Thank you to everyone who donated towards the dinner, whether by sending in food items, money towards the turkey, or offering your time.   We appreciate each and every one of you.  Thank you so much for the privilege of working with your sons and daughters.  We are truly blessed.

Upcoming dates:

November 21-23 No School – HAPPY THANKSGIVING

November 30 – Zumba

December 12 – Late Start

December 21 – Bowling and Pizza Party at Ford Lanes

December 24 – Jan 4 – No School – Christmas/Winter Break

Hello!  We want to thank everyone who volunteered to donate to our Thanksgiving Dinner!  We have just about everything we need, and will pick up the few extras with our class funds.  Notes have already been placed in student folders confirming your donation.   Please send in donations between now and November 19th.  If you marked more than one item as a first choice, we took that as you wanting to donate more than one item.   If that is not the case, no worries, but please let us know so we can plan accordingly.

The sheet sale orders are in and we will be placing the order this week.  Thank you so much to everyone who purchased sheets.  It does take a while to coordinate once everything is in, but the plan is to place the order by Friday and have sheets to you before the Thanksgiving Break.

Weekend Activity:  Tickets have been purchased!  Ms. Cote and I  will be in the lobby of the theater by 2:15.  The theater is almost sold out so I am anticipating long concession lines.  Concessions are expensive – students should have $15-$20 if they want to purchase anything.   As always – a little homework regarding the activity will be coming home on Friday!    Here is the time schedule for Saturday:

• Drop off  – 2:15-2:30  (Students arriving later than 2:30 will need to have a family member help them through concession lines)
• Pick up time – 4:45 p.m.  (Please be courteous of our time, students picked up more than 15 min. late will not be invited to attend the next activity)
• Homework:  Due Monday November 12th.

Looking forward to seeing everyone there!  I believe we have about 16-17 people attending!

Upcoming Dates:

November 10 – Weekend Activity

November 19 – Donations Due for Thanksgiving Dinner

November 20 – Thanksgiving Dinner!

November 21-23 – No School Thanksgiving Break

November 30 – ZUMBA!

Happy Halloween!

We had a great day here at Hype!  Now that October is almost under wraps, it’s time to think about November.  On Tuesday November 20th, we will attempt to have a Thanksgiving Dinner here at Hype.   The students will be preparing most of the foods as well as contributing to set up and clean up.  We will purchase the turkey with our class funds, but are asking for donations for other items.  A form will be coming home today for you to indicate what you will like to donate, if you are able.    Please indicate your first choice with a 1 and your second choice with a 2.  (That way we don’t end up with 25 cans of corn!).   We will send a confirmation back to you once we receive all of the forms.  No matter how it turns out (this is the first time I’ve done this without a full kitchen!), I know the students will have a great time and enjoy contributing to a meal for their classmates.   If you have any questions please feel free to contact us.  Please return the forms by Monday November 5th.  Thank you in advance for your support!

Hello!

Just a quick post to let you know of a change we made to our lunch schedule.  In order to accommodate the needs of all of our students, and to provide more space in the cafe, we have divided the students into two different lunch groups.  First lunch will run  from 11:15-12:00, second lunch will run from 12:05 to 12:50.  Those not eating lunch will be participating in fitness time.  Classroom instruction will begin at 12:55.  The students were made aware of this change today…we did our best to keep “friends” together.  It’s going to take some getting used to and we may need to work out some kinks, but right now this is the best solution for everyone.  For your planning purposes, here is the schedule as of today:

First Lunch 11:15-12:00

• Abdullah
• Ali A
• Ali J
• Ali M
• Zeinab
• Mo K
• Munasar
• Samiah
• Tori
• Wassim
• Susie
• Yasmeen
• Reda

Second Lunch 12:05-12:55

• Ahlam
• Aisha
• Andrew
• Bailey
• Ezedean
• Hassan
• Hiba
• Jamie
• Mo G
• Nejwa
• Thakara
• Yaser
• Malak

Hello!  Just a few mid-week reminders:

Next Wednesday is Halloween.  We will be having a (free) pizza party  – students do not need to bring a lunch but they will need a drink.  Students are welcome to bring treats to pass out but this is optional.  We will be playing some games throughout the day and ending the day with a movie – Hotel Transylvania 3.  Students may bring a snack for the movie if they choose.   Students should NOT wear costumes, but are welcome to wear a Halloween T-shirt, or other attire.

Just a reminder that sheet orders are due next Wednesday – on Halloween.  The profit from our sheet orders goes towards things like our pizza party (we will have several throughout the year) our end of the year celebration, supplies, etc.  Thank you in advance for your support!

SAVE THE DATE!  November 10th we will have our first weekend activity!  We will be going to see The Grinch at Cinemark Theaters at Southland Mall.  We are excited to have a special guest – Dr. Tynan join us!  For those that are new to the class, a weekend activity is a chance for our students to socialize with their peers outside the school environment.  Parents provide transportation to and from the activity, but do not stay.  We do encourage car pooling!  Find a friend, make arrangements for one family to drive to the event, the other family picks up.  More details will be provided as we get closer to the date.

Thank you to everyone who came to our Open House!  We had such a great turn out and it was so nice to talk to you all!  I’ve been teaching for 21 years, and this was by far the best turn out I’ve ever had!  Thank you!

Our CBI and job sites are going well and we are still waiting on adding some of our activities back so that we can resume our normal schedule.  Currently, we are only going to Planet Fitness on Monday’s and  Burlington three times a week.  We are working with administration to add one or two more days to both Planet Fitness and Burlington.  We are also hoping to be able to add Ford Lanes Bowling into our Friday schedule.  They were kind enough to give us a school discount even though we were only going to send about 6 students at a time.  Fingers crossed it all works out!

Zumba was rescheduled to November 30th due to a conflict in schedules.

IEP’s  – both Ms. Cote and I have been busy getting ready for our next round of IEP’s (we just scheduled 7 today!)   Did you know that ONE IEP takes between 3-4 hours to prepare, and the coordination of about 5-6 different schedules!  In addition, each student receives a comprehensive transition assessment!  While we are flexible, please make every effort to attend your son/daughters IEP.  We do understand things come up and you may need to reschedule – but the IEP at this stage is so important in planning for your son/daughters future once they exit Dearborn Public Schools.

Please remember to send in your SMART Bus Applications by Monday October 22, 2018!  Students who do not have this form turned in may miss out on educational opportunities available by using this service.

Upcoming Dates:

October 31st – HALLOWEEN!   Free Pizza Party!  No lunch needed – bring your own drink.  (No Pop!)

November 2nd – Half Day – 11:00 a.m. dismissal

November 6th – No School

November 21-23 – No School – Thanksgiving Break (WHAT?!?!?!?)

Acronym of the Week:  ADA – Americans with Disabilities Act.   The SMART Bus offers a discount to those who qualify under the Americans with Disabilities Act.   Fare is just $1 each way.

Hello!   We have a working  CBI/Job Site schedule that we will be starting with on Monday!   I say “working” because it is still a work in progress, but we are going to run with it while still making changes.  Please be patient as we work out our new schedule.  Planners will be filled out next week so you will know where your son/daughter is scheduled.   If you haven’t purchased a planner for your son/daugher yet (there were about 5 students that still needed a planner when we checked earlier this week) now is the time to do it.  Once we start our routines – it’s a fast paced schedule and you will need to know where your son/daughter is scheduled for the week.   Students who currently have a Planet Fitness membership will be attending Planet Fitness this Monday  – so bring your gear!   New students will receive an invitation to join on Monday.  Not everyone is eligible for this activity due to safety reasons.

OPEN HOUSE – OCTOBER 16th – 5:30-7:00 p.m.

Please come join us for our Open House!  We have invited our administration team and it would be great to have the support of our parents as well!   Come see our new room and all the great things the students are doing!!

ZUMBA/Pumpkin Farm

Still quite a few people need to pay for Zumba and/or the Pumpkin Farm.   $5 for Zumba is due by Friday in order to participate.   $6 for the Pumpkin Farm is due by October 15th.   Zumba is optional and students who do not wish to participate will continue with the days activities.   Students not wishing to go to the Pumpkin Farm may stay home that day.  We do not have an alternate location to send students who will not be attending.  We feel that because our students are adults,  they are more than welcome to make their own decision on attending field trips as long as it is o.k. with their family as well.

ILLNESS

Seems like we have a bug going around the room.   Several students were ill yesterday and one went home today.  Please remember that students need to be free of fever, vomiting, and diarrhea for 24 hours before returning to school.   Thank you in advance for your consideration.

Have a great weekend!

Anyone wishing to set up a classroom “bank account” for their student may do so at this time.  Classroom bank accounts are set up to make it easier on the students and families.  We get it…sometimes it’s hard to remember to send in that $5 for Target….or you remember but you don’t have cash on hand.  By setting up a bank account it allows for those occurrences and the student doesn’t miss out on the activity.  Additionally, it allows students to sub for absent students on CBI trips.   If a student has a bank account, he/she can fill in for the absent student scheduled for Leo’s Coney Island.  Typically students have between $20-$40 in their account at one time.  Singles make it easiest so that students are not carrying large bills.  It also helps them to practice our “dollar up” rule when paying bills.  Bank accounts work best if they are used for incidentals rather than the main source of funding student activities. Please continue to send in money for special activities, field trips, etc.  We will keep a log of deposits and withdrawls the student makes, and will send a copy home with the student when the bank account reaches a low or zero balance.

We are anticipating CBI starting within the next week or so (fingers crossed!).  Please watch for an important survey coming home regarding scheduling and food choices.  Please return the form as soon as possible.   If we don’t hear back from you we’ll have to take the students word for certain things like spending limits and what they are allowed to eat.  Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Wow!  The first month of school is gone!  We’re off to a great start!  We are getting closer to starting our job sites and CBI – but it’s looking like it will be at least another week or two.  I  know everyone is anxious – but it’s coming!  We always tell the students to enjoy the calm while they can because once we start, it’s a pretty fast paced environment.

We are getting closer to our room being finished – our open house will likely be the second week of October at this point.  Just waiting on one more item to be delivered and then we should be set.  Everyone is enjoying our new space immensely.

HOMEWORK!  Students will be bringing home a Career Project today.  Please help your son/daughter complete this project and return by Oct. 31, 2018

The sheet sale is scheduled to begin October 8th.  We will be sending more information home towards the end of next week!

Upcoming dates:

• October 12th – ZUMBA!!!   Ms. Susan is coming back!  Please send $5 by Oct 10th   Students who do not wish to participate will have alternate activities.
• October 12th – Half Day 11:00 a.m. dismissal
• October 17th – Late Start/Three Cedars Pumpkin Farm – please send $6 by Monday Oct 15th.
• October 31st – Career Project Due

Hello!   I hope everyone had a great weekend and took advantage of the beautiful weather!  My family headed to the lake for one last hurrah, it wont be long until the weather starts cooling off and leaves start to change.

We are looking at starting job sites and CBI sites next week.   This is tentative, so please don’t mark you calendars yet.  However, students will need to have all of their supplies.  Surprisingly some students are still missing items.  Here is the full list, please try to have items by next Monday at the latest.

SUPPLIES

• Academic Planner  (Monthly, 8×10)   MOST IMPORTANT!
• 5 Pencils
• Colored Pencils
• Scissors (I noticed scissors were accidentally left off the list on the last blog post, but they are important for students to have) 
• Pencil Case
• Calculator
• Thermal lunch bag with cold pack
• Watch (or other time keeping device such as a phone or ipod)
• Girls  – Purse AND wallet
• Boys – wallet
• 1 box of kleenex
• Girls – personal hygiene items to be kept in purse or backpack
• OPTIONAL but HELPFUL:  1 container of disinfecting wipes (such as Chlorox)

We are feeling at home in our new room.  We are still waiting a few pieces of furniture be completely organized, but it is coming along nicely.  We are all enjoying the new space!  Remember to look for the Open House in October.

Just as a reminder:  Wednesday is a late start.  We will be headed to the DIA for the day.  Students will need a bagged lunch.   They do not need spending money.

Our annual Sheet Fundraiser will be coming soon!  We are planning to start the second week in October.  Details will be coming soon!  I do have color swatches this time, so for those of you who sell a ton of sheets (you know who you are!) you are welcome to have one!

That’s about it for now!  As always, feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.