The Burlington Public Schools is opening a new preschool classroom.
Where:The program is located around the back of Burlington High School
When:The classroom will open on Tuesday November 9th 2011.
Days:The program will run Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
Time:8:30 to 11:30
Cost:The cost is $232.00 per month.
For more information please feel free to contact Louise D’Amato, program director, at 781-273-7632 or d’amato@bpsk12.org
For more information visit us our web site at:
www.burlington.mec.eduscroll down to integrated preschool and read our FAQ’s or frequently asked questions, http://www.burlington.mec.edu/ips/commonquestionsfaq.pdf
Where: Parlee Farm, Tyngsboro, MA www.parleefarms.com
Who: All of the students that attend preschool are invited to join us. On Thursday October 20, 2011.
Time: We will leave the preschool at 8:45am and return at 11:30pm.
How: We will travel on several large yellow school buses.
Cost: the cost of the trip is $10.00 per student and $6.00 per chaperone. The price of the trip covers the cost of buses and the entrance to the farm.
Chaperones: We will need 3 to 4 chaperones per classroom. If we have more than 3 or 4 volunteers per classroom we will hold a lottery. If you are interested in attending the field trip you need to have a Cori on file. (If you have filled out a Cori form within the past 3 years, you don’t need to be Cori’d) Cori forms can be filled out in the preschool office. We will need to photocopy your license when you fill out the form, make sure you have it with you. All Cori forms need to be completed by no later than Friday October 7th. Please fill out and return the attached permission slip to school as soon as possible. When returning your permission slips please submit the $10.00 in cash to pay for the trip.
If your child will be attending the field trip on Thursday October 20th, please return the permission slip and money by Wednesday October 12th. If we don’t receive money and a signed permission slip we will assume your child will not be attending the trip on Thursday the 20th.
On October 9, 2011, FrancisWymanSchool will be featured in an article in the Boston Globe Magazine. This magazine is found in the Sunday edition of the Boston Globe. The article focuses on issues related to special education and the increased incidence of children with disabilities. The author, John Marcus, begins his story in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of Brigham and Women’s hospital as he researches the increased incidence of children with disabilities. He follows the issue through to the impact on schools and the struggles schools face trying to meet the learning needs of all children. John had contacted the Massachusetts Commissioner of Education to obtain his recommendation of model school districts who implement successful programs. The Commissioner suggested he contact Dr. Eric Conti to learn about the Response to Intervention (RtI) program in Burlington. Dr. Conti suggested to John that he visit FWS to see the program in action. John visited several classrooms and interviewed teachers. Later, a photographer was sent to capture the program in action. It was exciting to share our enthusiasm for the positive impact our RtI program has had on meeting the needs of all our students. It will be interesting to read this article and see how FWS fits into the story!
In Burlington we are very fortunate to have iPad's in the integrated preschool. They are an amazing device especially for our friends that have delays in their ability to communicate. I'm amazed every day when I watch our young students interact with the devices and how easily they are able to navigate them. The apps that they have for young learners with special needs are simply amazing and we are so fortunate to be able to use this technology with our students. I think this blog post speaks volumes to what a wonderful tool an iPad is and how lucky we are to be able to use them daily in the integrated preschool.
I am hoping you will read this on your iPad in The Great Beyond, assuming there is a good Internet connection there (and hopefully a Starbucks, too).
My son, Max, has cerebral palsy. Doctors told us he might never talk, and so we are very grateful for the words that he has. He has a lot more going on in his mind than his mouth can speak, however, and we knew early on in his life he would need a communication device. He was 4 when I first asked the speech therapist at his school about it. "He's not ready for one," she said.
I challenged her. We had an augmentative communication evaluation, paid for by our school district, in which a team of therapists determined that Max was, indeed, ready for a speech device. We got one. Only it was a total clunker, and I mean that in every which way. It was heavy to lift; my son, who has challenges using his hands, wasn't able to carry it himself. Programming it was a pain, and my husband and I detested the task. We rarely used it at home, preferring instead to guess what Max was trying to say or nodding even when we weren't quite sure we understood him. Sometimes, we all got frustrated.
Cut to the spring of 2010 and the iPad's debut. Around that time I heard about a speech app, the Proloquo2Go. I asked Max's speech therapist at his current school, an enthusiastic and dedicated woman open to trying new technology, about them. Turns out the school was buying four iPads with speech apps, and would we like to trial one with Max? YES YES YES, please, WE WOULD.
Max took to the iPad from the start. He was fascinated. Who wouldn't be? Here he is, the first weekend he had it:
I hadn't ever seen Max use his pointer finger like that, no small feat for a child with cerebral palsy whose hands and fingers tend to be stiff. The iPad motivated Max to isolate his finger and maneuver it. Soon enough, he'd learned to use a lighter touch on the screen and he'd zoom around the iPad. He also discovered YouTube and Lightning McQueen videos, another life-changing event for him.
We had somewhat of a challenge in our house when Max's little sister, insanely jealous of his iPad, started hiding it in her room. But then my husband got an iPad and now she hides my husband's in her room.
The iPad has enabled Max to share what's in his mind with the people around him. Some parents worry that a speech app will discourage verbal communication, but Max's has motivated him to communicate more. His current favorite button is the one that announces "That stinks." He enjoys telling people how much he loves spaghetti and the color purple. There is no button yet that says "Mom, leave me alone!" but I am sure he'll request one soon.
Max uses the iPad to draw, read stories, and play educational games, along with silly ones kids love. Apps made for fun, such as Talking Ben the Dog and Songify, motivate him to articulate sounds and words; ones likeCut the Rope help develop fine motor skills. He continues to watch too many Lightning McQueen videos and I hear "I. Am. Speed" in my dreams.
Other kids in our neighborhood consider Max's iPad and speech app cool—not something they would have ever thought with the previous communication clunker. It helps him fit in. I can't even imagine how many more social and educational doors it will open for him in the coming years.
Steve, you have been an inventor and innovator beyond compare, known for the Apple, Mac, iPod, iPad, even Pixar. Yet many are unaware of how much the iPad has been a game-changer for kids and adults with special needs. When I tell people that Max uses an iPad for speech communication, they are often surprised to hear that technology exists.
But this community knows.
This child knows.
This mom knows.
And I am eternally grateful to you for opening up my son's world.
So I'll say R.I.P., and by that I mean Refresh In Peace. Because I can only imagine that you will keep going, wherever you may be.
The following article from Reading Rockets is a great resource on how to begin to teach young children inferential skills.
http://www.readingrockets.org/article/43410/
By: Reading Rockets
Observations occur when we can see something happening. In contrast, inferences are what we figure out based on an experience. Helping your child understand when information is implied, or not directly stated, will improve her skill in drawing conclusions and making inferences. These skills will be needed for all sorts of school assignments, including reading, science and social studies. Inferential thinking is a complex skill that will develop over time and with experience.
Families can create opportunities to practice inferential thinking. Below are a few ways to help familiarize your child with this way of thinking and learning:
Explain to your child that we make conclusions about things and draw inferences all the time. Draw a conclusion together and then talk about what clues were used to come to that conclusion. For example, Erin played outside today. How can we tell? Muddy shoes, jump rope on front porch, water bottle out. Dad seems tired tonight. How can we tell? He's rubbing his eyes, he's on the couch, he was yawning at the dinner table.
Paper bag mystery person: Put a few items into a brown paper bag. Tell your child the bag belongs to a certain type of person. Their job is to tell you something about the person. Then, take out each item one by one and talk about it.
Example #1: goggles, a swim cap, a swim ribbon, a stop watch
Example #2: a bookmark, a library card, a stuffed animal, a book
Wordless picture books provide your child with practice using clues to create meaning. There are no wrong stories with wordless picture books, only variations based on what the "reader" sees and puts together. Rosie's Walk(Hutchins), Good Dog, Carl (Day), and Beaver Is Lost (Cooper) are all interesting and fun wordless picture books to explore.
Play twenty questions! This familiar word game helps build inference skills. As your child develops skill with the game, encourage him to avoid asking direct questions like, "Is it a dog?" Rather, encourage him to ask broader questions, "Does it walk on four feet?" Then, when your child figures it out, ask him to tell you the clues that lead to the right answer.
Create scenarios in which your child must use what they already know to predict an outcome. For example, growing seeds. Present your child with various scenarios (a seed will be given water and sunlight, a seed will get no water, a seed will be in a dark room). Ask your child to predict whether the seed will grow. Help your child become aware that she used information she knew about growing seeds, combined with new information, to fill in information about the seeds.
Learning to draw conclusions and inferences is a skill that develops over time. The skill requires children to put together various pieces of information, and relies on good word knowledge. Help your child develop skill by providing experience with inferential information, making implied information more clear, and helping your child draw conclusions based on the evidence.
Recommended children's books
Archaeologists Dig for Clues By Kate Duke
Archaeologists on a dig work very much like detectives at a crime scene. Every chipped rock, charred seed, or fossilized bone could be a clue to how people lived in the past. In this information-packed Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science book, Kate Duke explains what scientists are looking for, how they find it, and what their finds reveal. (Age level: 6-9)
A beaver's adventure begins on a log that floats away from his home and into the city. Before finding his way back, the beaver has many plausible adventures. The action is depicted in well-placed, realistic illustrations in a nearly wordless book. (Age level: 3-6)
This wordless picture book with Baker's characteristically beautifully detailed collage illustrations conveys a subtle message about how we can bring positive change to our communities. Every double-page spread is a view through the same window, a view that changes over a generation. Children can share what they think is happening to the neighborhood based on the illustrations. (Age level: 5-8)
"If not for the cat/And the scarcity of cheese,/I could be content." The essence of animals is evoked in rich language and the short form of haiku poems in this engaging book. The brief but rich language can prompt children to think about what creature is being described. (Age level: 6-9)
In the Woods: Who's Been Here? By Lindsay Barrett George
A girl and a boy and their dog explore the woods on an autumn afternoon and begin to notice all kinds of things around them — an empty nest, a gnawed branch, feathers, and bones. Each observation prompts the question, "Who's been here?" Turning the page reveals the answer. Others in the series include In the Garden: Who's Been Here? (Age level: 3-6
