Miss Lubs’ Class

Today we started our new read a loud: “Rules” by Cynthia Lord

Twelve-year-old Catherine just wants a normal life. Which is near impossible when you have a brother with autism and a family that revolves around his disability. She’s spent years trying to teach David the rules from “a peach is not a funny-looking apple” to “keep your pants on in public”—in order to head off David’s embarrassing behaviors.
But the summer Catherine meets Jason, a surprising, new sort-of friend, and Kristi, the next-door friend she’s always wished for, it’s her own shocking behavior that turns everything upside down and forces her to ask: What is normal?

Twelve-year-old Catherine has conflicting feelings about her younger brother, David, who is autistic. While she loves him, she is also embarrassed by his behavior and feels neglected by their parents. In an effort to keep life on an even keel, Catherine creates rules for him (It’s okay to hug Mom but not the clerk at the video store). Each chapter title is also a rule, and lots more are interspersed throughout the book. When Kristi moves in next door, Catherine hopes that the girl will become a friend, but is anxious about her reaction to David. Then Catherine meets and befriends Jason, a nonverbal paraplegic who uses a book of pictures to communicate, she begins to understand that normal is difficult, and perhaps unnecessary, to define. Rules of behavior are less important than acceptance of others. Catherine is an endearing narrator who tells her story with both humor and heartbreak. Her love for her brother is as real as are her frustrations with him. Lord has candidly captured the delicate dynamics in a family that revolves around a child’s disability. Set in coastal Maine, this sensitive story is about being different, feeling different, and finding acceptance. A lovely, warm read, and a great discussion starter.

The kids already love the book!

4th Grade Girls Group

Today the girls were kind enough to help me with a project for my grad students.  I asked them to draw self portraits so that I can show them to my class and see if my grad students can guess the age of the child!  They were super troopers! Thanks girls!

3rd-4th Grade Social Thinking Group

The boys were also kind enough to help me out with my project for my grad students and drew wonderful self-portraits. In addition, we started reading “Superflex Takes on Rock Brain and the Team of Unthinkables”.

Mrs. Enoch’s Class

Today we started our read aloud: “Granny Torrelli Makes Soup” by Sharon Creech

Twelve-year-old Rosie and her best friend, Bailey, don’t always get along, that’s true. But Granny Torrelli seems to know just how to make things right again with her interesting stories and family recipes. It’s easier to remember what’s important about love, life, and friendship while Granny Torrelli makes soup.

Rosie’s story unfolds first, over making and eating zuppa, and then Granny Torrelli tells parallel stories from her own childhood to help Rosie with her current predicament. Granny Torrelli’s tales are laced with endearing, fun-to-say Italian: “I didn’t like it, not one piccolino bit,” as is her attempt to help Rosie mend her rift with her best friend Bailey (“That Bailey boy!”), for whom she’s starting to feel more-than-friendship feelings. The details of both Rosie’s and Granny Torrelli’s respective stories are often quite funny (from Braille jealousy to secret guide-dog training for the legally blind Bailey). But, as usual, what Creech does best is slyly proffer small, nourishing morsels of wisdom–not unlike the cavatelli, the “little dough canoes,” that Rosie, Granny Torrelli, and that Bailey boy labor over in the book’s sweet second half.

The kids love the book and also are enjoying learning some new Italian words!

Thank you parents in the Autism Parent Support Group! You Rock!

Anxious Girls’ Group

These girls have been working so hard, we decided to play a game today!  It was Apples to Apples fun time! The girls were fabulous!

5th – 6th Grade Social Thinking Group

Today it was time to get this group back on track!  We looked at progress reports and discussed issues with not getting work done. Then I decided to distribute progress notes to the teachers so that next week, we can set some realistic and concrete goals.

7th Grade Girls’ Group

Where have all my little girls gone……today the topic was BOYS…..UGH!  They are growing up!

8th Grade Girls’ Group

A kinder gentler group today – we seem to be getting into a groove!

Pfish Class

We continued our read aloud:  Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

Caitlin has Asperger’s. The world according to her is black and white; anything in between is confusing. Before, when things got confusing, Caitlin went to her older brother, Devon, for help. But Devon has died, and Caitlin’s dad is so distraught that he is just not helpful. Caitlin wants everything to go back to the way things were, but she doesn’t know how to do that. Then she comes across the word closure- and she realizes this is what she needs. And in her search for it, Caitlin discovers that the world may not be black and white after all. From inside Caitlin’s head, readers see the very personal aftermath of a middle school shooting that took the life of the older brother she adored. Caitlin is a bright fifth grader and a gifted artist. She also has Asperger’s syndrome, and her brother, Devon, was the one who helped her interpret the world. Now she has only her father, a widower who is grieving anew and whose ability to relate to his daughter is limited. A compassionate school counselor works with her, trying to teach her the social skills that are so difficult for her. Through her own efforts and her therapy sessions, she begins to come to terms with her loss and makes her first, tentative steps toward friendship. Caitlin’s thought processes, including her own brand of logic, are made remarkably clear. The longer readers spend in the child’s world, the more understandable her entirely literal and dispassionate interpretations are.

The kids love the book!

Another Marvelous Monday!

Miss Ryder’s Class

Today we wrapped up our empathy lessons with a book called “How Do I Stand in Your Shoes”.

Miranda Peabody had no patience for the other students in class and just didn’t understand why they couldn’t be as smart and talented as she was. Her teacher, Mrs. Klemp, suggested that she try to understand other people by “standing in their shoes.” After much searching, she learns the true meaning of “standing in someone else’s shoes” and having empathy for others.

3rd Grade Boys Group

Mr. A. and the boys went to the gym to play dodge ball and practice good sportsmanship! Well done!

Miss Hebert’s Class

We continued with our topic of Empathy

What is Prejudice?

Opening: A Food I Like Now – the kids shared a food that they like now but didn’t like when they were younger.

Some of the foods we talked about may be foods that not everyone likes immediately. These foods may have unusual tastes for some of us, or be unfamiliar to our cultures. Trying something new when it seems strange can be like looking at our prejudices. We may think, “Oh, I’ll never like spinach. Everyone says it is icky.” Then we try it, and find we like it

Dr. Seuss wrote a book about this experience called “Green Eggs and Ham” – does anyone remember this book?

We then read: The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss

Discussion Questions:

• At the beginning of the story, what did the Star-Belly Sneetches think about the other Sneetches? Why?
• The attitude expressed by the Star-Belly Sneetches is called prejudice – prejudging others before knowing them individually
• The Star-Belly Sneetches were not born thinking this way –so how did they learn to think this way?

• How did prejudice hurt the Plain-Belly Sneetches? How did it hurt the Star-Belly Sneetches?

• In what way are Sneetches like people? Have you ever heard someone say “Oh, I don’t those so-and-sos, they are all __________.”  Then the person goes on to make a statement about a whole group of people being a certain way?

• Are there groups of people that other people are prejudiced against?

• If people are not born with prejudices, how do they get them?

Wrap Up:

What can we do if we think we do not want to play with someone at school? For example: Because we have a feeling of judgment about them?

Could we try inviting them to play?

What else could we do?

What about if we see someone being bullied or teased about being a member of a particular group?

What actions could we take?

The class was fabulous as always!!!  So insightful!!!

No 4th Grade Girls’ Groups today due to the change to 30-30.

Happy Super Bowl Weekend Everyone!

Today we decided to work as a group to defeat Brain Eater and the Destroyer of Fun!  We played a rousing game of Sorry..the boys were AWESOME!!!!

8th Grade Boys

They’re baaaaaaaaaaack!  A very nice group today – the boys had a great conversation during lunch and then talked Mr. A into playing some football outside!

5th Grade Girls

Oh the excitement of this group! I cannot get a word in edgewise! Lots of stories and Happy Happenings to share!

6th Grade Girls

Chatter, chatter and more chatter today!!!!  Another group of gabby girls!

7th Grade Social Thinking

We started out with reviewing current grades and then continued with Temple Grandin’s “Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships”

Rule #2 Not Everything is Equally Important In the Grand Scheme of Things

Are your reactions an absolute – either no reaction at all or a full-blown rant and rave? Do you make mountains out of molehills?

It is possible that no “ifs” and “buts” color your perception and experiences

Do your emotions swing wildly in an all or nothing manner; they are either off or on and nothing in between?

Thoughts like “that’s okay” or “it’s no biggie” are ever considered

You might have faulty self-talk thoughts you use to gauge the relative importance of life events

We then had a great discussion about being able to assign level of importance to different events.  How big of a problem is it on a scale of 1-5.

The boys did a very nice job!

A great day was had by all!

Mrs. Pescatello and Mrs. Temel’s (Mrs. Cravinho) Classes

Today we continued our read-aloud: Jackson Whole Wyoming by Joan Clark

His classmates have identified him as a friend of Jackson, who has Asperger Syndrome, and now Tyler is tormented by what that means in terms of his own personality. Over the course of this highly readable and swift-moving middle-grade novel (2nd to 6th grade), Tyler resolves this issue and in the process recalls incidents from previous school years, growing in his understanding of this unusual classmate. Written by a speech-language pathologist who works with children with autism spectrum disorders, this novel belongs on the library shelf of any classroom.

The kids were awesome….they love read-alouds and had some great commentary!

5th Grade Girls Social Thinking

Lots of conversation today – and even waiting patiently for a turn!  Also played Hangman!

Otters Class

We continued our read a-loud!!!  Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there’s no delete button. She’s the smartest kid in her whole school—but no one knows it. Most people–her teachers and doctors included–don’t think she’s capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows . . . but she can’t, because Melody can’t talk. She can’t walk. She can’t write.

Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind–that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice . . . but not everyone around her is ready to hear it.

She is smarter than most of the adults who try to diagnose her and smarter than her classmates in her integrated classroom—the very same classmates who dismiss her as mentally challenged, because she cannot tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by cerebral palsy. And she’s determined to let everyone know it…somehow.

Readers will come to know a brilliant mind and a brave spirit who will change forever how they look at anyone with a disability. From multiple Coretta Scott King Award winner Sharon M. Draper comes a story full of heartache and hope. Get ready to meet a girl whose voice you’ll never, ever forget.

The kids are hooked!

Miss Lubs’ Class

Today we wrapped up our empathy lessons with a book called “How Do I Stand in Your Shoes”.

Miranda Peabody had no patience for the other students in class and just didn’t understand why they couldn’t be as smart and talented as she was. Her teacher, Mrs. Klemp, suggested that she try to understand other people by “standing in their shoes.” After much searching, she learns the true meaning of “standing in someone else’s shoes” and having empathy for others.

The class was awesome!!!!

4th Grade Girls Group 1

Chatty, chatty, chatty!!!  These girls have so many Happy Happenings there is little time for anything else…..well, maybe a little coloring!

3rd-4th Grade Social Thinking Group

Ooops….had some Brain Eaters today – needed to go and find the boys to come to group because they forgot – once there…we needed to remind everyone of the rules for our group.  Hopefully, we will start our Superflex Academy next week!

Mrs. Enoch’s Class

We continued with our topic of Empathy

What is Prejudice?

Opening: A Food I Like Now – the kids shared a food that they like now but didn’t like when they were younger.

Some of the foods we talked about may be foods that not everyone likes immediately. These foods may have unusual tastes for some of us, or be unfamiliar to our cultures. Trying something new when it seems strange can be like looking at our prejudices. We may think, “Oh, I’ll never like spinach. Everyone says it is icky.” Then we try it, and find we like it

Dr. Seuss wrote a book about this experience called “Green Eggs and Ham” – does anyone remember this book?

We then read: The Sneetches by Dr. Seuss

Discussion Questions:

• At the beginning of the story, what did the Star-Belly Sneetches think about the other Sneetches? Why?
• The attitude expressed by the Star-Belly Sneetches is called prejudice – prejudging others before knowing them individually
• The Star-Belly Sneetches were not born thinking this way –so how did they learn to think this way?

• How did prejudice hurt the Plain-Belly Sneetches? How did it hurt the Star-Belly Sneetches?

• In what way are Sneetches like people? Have you ever heard someone say “Oh, I don’t those so-and-sos, they are all __________.”  Then the person goes on to make a statement about a whole group of people being a certain way?

• Are there groups of people that other people are prejudiced against?

• If people are not born with prejudices, how do they get them?

Wrap Up:

What can we do if we thinkg we do not want to play wit someone at school? For example: Because we have a feeling of judgment about them?

Could we try inviting them to play?

What else could we do?

What about if we see someone being bullied or teased about being a member of a particular group?

What actions could we take?

The class was fabulous as always!!!  So insightful!!!

It was a terrific Tuesday!

Anxious Girls’ Group

These girls are amazing!  What a great group today. We used “Thought Changing Cards for People Who Are Anxious”.  The Thought Changing Cards are designed to help identify automatic thoughts that trigger and reinforce their anxiety; develop rational responses to rebut these irrational thoughts and develop behaviors that disprove their belief in and reliance on dysfunctional automatic thoughts. After going through some of the cards, the girls were able to identify a personal irrational belief and come up with a thought changing response.

5th – 6th Grade Social Thinking Group

Today Mr. A. led the group and we continued with the Diary of a Social Detective – tales of mystery, intrigue and interpersonal adventure.  Today’s story: “Gimme Back My Banana!: The Case of the Bothersome Bully.”

7th Grade Girls’ Group and 8th Grade Girls’ Group

Today’s topic…the Semi-Formal Dance!!!  Sounds like the ladies had fun!!!!!

Pfish Class

Finally!!!  We started our read aloud!  Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

Caitlin has Asperger’s. The world according to her is black and white; anything in between is confusing. Before, when things got confusing, Caitlin went to her older brother, Devon, for help. But Devon has died, and Caitlin’s dad is so distraught that he is just not helpful. Caitlin wants everything to go back to the way things were, but she doesn’t know how to do that. Then she comes across the word closure- and she realizes this is what she needs. And in her search for it, Caitlin discovers that the world may not be black and white after all. From inside Caitlin’s head, readers see the very personal aftermath of a middle school shooting that took the life of the older brother she adored. Caitlin is a bright fifth grader and a gifted artist. She also has Asperger’s syndrome, and her brother, Devon, was the one who helped her interpret the world. Now she has only her father, a widower who is grieving anew and whose ability to relate to his daughter is limited. A compassionate school counselor works with her, trying to teach her the social skills that are so difficult for her. Through her own efforts and her therapy sessions, she begins to come to terms with her loss and makes her first, tentative steps toward friendship. Caitlin’s thought processes, including her own brand of logic, are made remarkably clear. The longer readers spend in the child’s world, the more understandable her entirely literal and dispassionate interpretations are.

The kids already love the book!

Good work today, Cast of Once Upon a Mattress!

Mrs. Noyes’ Class

Today we wrapped up our empathy lessons with a book called “How Do I Stand in Your Shoes”.

Miranda Peabody had no patience for the other students in class and just didn’t understand why they couldn’t be as smart and talented as she was. Her teacher, Mrs. Klemp, suggested that she try to understand other people by “standing in their shoes.” After much searching, she learns the true meaning of “standing in someone else’s shoes” and having empathy for others.

The class was awesome!!!!

3rd Grade Boys

Mr. A and the boys played a rousing game of “UNO” today – it was a ton of fun!!!!

Happy Friday Everyone!

5th-6th Grade Social Thinking

We continued to work on Expected and Unexpected behaviors using “We Can Make It Better” stories. The boys love this activity and do a fabulous job!  Today’s story was “Bob and Maria Go Skating”.

5th Grade Girls

Oh the excitement of this group! Chatter, chatter and more chatter and then a shatter as one of my more enthusiastic girls opened the door and hit a glass framed picture……oooooops! 

6th Grade Girls

This group loves to problem solve friendship difficulties and talk about mean girls and drama…..all in an effort to stay above the fray! Nice job ladies!

7th Grade Social Thinking

We started out with reviewing current grades and then finally started Temple Grandin’s “Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships”

Rule #1

Rules are not absolute. They are situation-based and people-based

We followed up with a very nice discussion.

Once Upon a Mattress Rehearsal

Another great rehearsal cast!!!!!

Mrs. Pescatello and Mrs. Temel’s (Mrs. Cravinho) Classes

Today we started our read-aloud: Jackson Whole Wyoming by Joan Clark

His classmates have identified him as a friend of Jackson, who has Asperger Syndrome, and now Tyler is tormented by what that means in terms of his own personality. Over the course of this highly readable and swift-moving middle-grade novel (2nd to 6th grade), Tyler resolves this issue and in the process recalls incidents from previous school years, growing in his understanding of this unusual classmate. Written by a speech-language pathologist who works with children with autism spectrum disorders, this novel belongs on the library shelf of any classroom.

The kids were awesome….they love read-alouds and had some great commentary!

5th Grade Girls Social Thinking

Talkative, silly and fun…..wouldn’t want them any other way!

Otters Class

We have started our read a-loud!!!  Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper

Eleven-year-old Melody has a photographic memory. Her head is like a video camera that is always recording. Always. And there’s no delete button. She’s the smartest kid in her whole school—but no one knows it. Most people–her teachers and doctors included–don’t think she’s capable of learning, and up until recently her school days consisted of listening to the same preschool-level alphabet lessons again and again and again. If only she could speak up, if only she could tell people what she thinks and knows . . . but she can’t, because Melody can’t talk. She can’t walk. She can’t write.

Being stuck inside her head is making Melody go out of her mind–that is, until she discovers something that will allow her to speak for the first time ever. At last Melody has a voice . . . but not everyone around her is ready to hear it.

She is smarter than most of the adults who try to diagnose her and smarter than her classmates in her integrated classroom—the very same classmates who dismiss her as mentally challenged, because she cannot tell them otherwise. But Melody refuses to be defined by cerebral palsy. And she’s determined to let everyone know it…somehow.

Readers will come to know a brilliant mind and a brave spirit who will change forever how they look at anyone with a disability. From multiple Coretta Scott King Award winner Sharon M. Draper comes a story full of heartache and hope. Get ready to meet a girl whose voice you’ll never, ever forget.

The kids are loving it!