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Eagle Update February 2019

A male student with back to camera sitting at a table with a braille writer in front. He is wearing headphones and the 2019 braille challenge t-shirt. Bookshelves on the wall in the background.

ADMINISTRATION Mr. Jon/Ms. Aundrayah

The winter weather continues to present some extreme weather days that have caused local schools to close. KSSB typically remains open when storms strike during the week and classes are held for those students who are staying on campus during the week. If KSSB were to close, KSSB will email all parents and notify all transportation companies to alert them of the closing. If your email or phone number has changed, please be sure to notify the front office so that staff can reach you with information about the school and your student.

Braille Challenge is just around the corner.  Braille Challenge kicks off the night before with a special STEAM coding session, hosted by our own Bob Taylor.  This event takes place in the library from 6:30 – 8:00 pm. The Challenge begins in earnest on Friday morning, February 15th at KSSB.  Please arrive in time for the opening ceremonies and announcements.  If you plan on taking your son or daughter home following the Braille Challenge, please sign your student out in the school office before you leave.

Please check the Upcoming Events for more events of note, including no school on Presidents’ Day, Monday, February 18th.

UPCOMING EVENTS

  • February 14th: STEAM workshop (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math)
    • KSSB is holding a STEAM coding event from 6:30 – 8:30 pm in our library.
  • February 15th: Regional Braille Challenge at KSSB.
  • February 18th: No school.  Presidents’ Day observed.
  • March 2nd: Regional Braille Challenge in Derby KS.
  • March 8th: No School/End of 3rd Quarter
  • March 11 through the15th: Spring Break
  • March 29th through the 31st: Boys/Girls Weekend at KSSB

EARLY CHILDHOOD Lila Taylor, classroom teacher

In the Early Childhood classroom, movement is marching to the front of the room.  One of our seven-year old’s is learning to slide down out of her wheelchair with minimal assistance, as well as pull herself up from seated to a standing position. Our other seven-year-old is learning to use a cane! Things are on the move!

ELEMENTARY Cindy Huffman/Christian Puett, teachers

The elementary class finished up their unit on natural disasters by making a volcano that erupted! The class is now learning about the solar system.  The students are learning about the planets, stars, and moons in our system.  The students continue to work hard on the math skills of addition and subtraction.  The students are learning more about technology as they work with robots, coding, and working with drones.

4 female students sitting around a table with a black wooden tray with 4 braille dice in center.

PE/REC and LEISURE Christy Bowen, teacher

The new year brought enough snow to go sledding on campus. One of the latest snows gave us light and fluffy snow, with moderate temperatures, so many students went sledding – some for the first time.

A student wearing heavy winter coat and mittens sitting in a sled and moving down a snow covered hill.

MUSIC THERAPY Jenny Eichner classroom teacher

The elementary class held a tea party this past week when the social worker came to visit the class. Everyone assisted in bringing the needed items for the party and shared their favorite Christmas gifts. A sing-along serenaded the social works and he saw how the students learned to plan and prepare for a party, as well as carry on “party conversations” while seated at a table.

6 studentes and 2 adults sitting on the carpet encircling a pink cloth. Each holding pink cups in the air. They are smiling and cheering the camera. The male teacher is holding an almost empty pitcher of punch.

On another note, life skills students are learning about socialization and sharing space while playing the table drum together.

An overhead view of a large drum and students sitting around it with their hands on the top drumming.

SECONDARY Christian Puett, Penny Kimberling, Bob Taylor

Secondary classes explored ways to incorporate technology into daily routines.  The middle school Braille technology class has identified what they need to work on and what they want to work on.  Many students are working toward improving typing, access to technology, and Braille reading/writing skills. Mr. Taylor designed a new online UEB Braille contraction course that allows students to receive instruction and guided practice at their own pace.  The students are using a Google site to learn more about United States history and geography.  The high school reading class has worked hard to incorporate reading strategies while reading the book “The Giver” by Lois Lowry.  These students work on making predictions about what is to come, questioning what they’ve read, and making inferences about the story

FACS Christy Bowen classroom teacher

Students in FACS class have been working hard on learning a variety of skills in the kitchen.  They are washing and drying dishes by hands and learning to load the dishwasher.  Students are encouraged to use both hands to figure out where to place the dishes in the dishwasher.

A female student with long hair in a pony tail and glasses is putting plates into a dishwasher.

LIFE SKILLS Kim McCall, classroom teacher

To round out our January theme of “What a Change”, the Life Skills Classroom performed a science experiment to see what effect temperature has on matter.  The students used the heart from a microwave and cold water to observe which would make different types of matter (marshmallows, coffee grounds, bouillon cubes) dissolve the fastest.

A student wearing a black shirt sitting in front of a table with left hand holding the side of a white bowl and right hand pouring water from a bottle into the bowl.                               A student sitting at a table with right hand in a white plastic bowl and left hand holding a smaller clear plastic bowl.

MATH AND SCIENCE Sandra Craig

Here’s another way we have been using the pegboard in Distance Learning Algebra class.

Graphing Inequalities on the Coordinate Plane.

Materials:

x-y pegboard

pegs

rubber bands of various sizes

Procedure:

  1. Treat the inequality as an equation and graph the line as usual. Use as much of the pegboard as possible by extending the line.
  2. If the inequality also has an ‘or equal to’ component, insert three additional pegs along the line. Try to space them out evenly. Skip to step 4.
  3.  If the inequality does nothave an ‘or equal to’ component, you will need to alter the line to make it a dotted line. To do this:
  4. Insert at least four additional pegs along the line – count 3 or 4 holes and insert a peg; skip a space and insert another peg.  Repeat 2 more times.
  5. Remove initial rubber band that created original line. Place a rubber band over the first two pegs, skip a space, place a rubber band over the next two pegs, skip a space, and finally, place a rubber band over the last two pegs.
  6. To ‘shade’ the solution region, decide which region to shade. Greater than is above the line and less than is below the line.  Insert a peg directly up (or down) from the first peg in the line. Place a rubber band over the line peg and the new peg.  Move to the next line peg and repeat this process until you have reached the last line peg.

A yellow pegboard with rubber bands creating lines on the graph.

TRANSITION Tim Schierbeck/Lori Smith, teachers

The transition program continues to work hard to get ready for life after KSSB.  The Transition staff continues to work on plans for home visits during the second semester.  We would like to work with parents and young adults, to help them look for ways to improve independence in their daily lives. Supporting Transition students as they move away from a school-based life and develop a life in their home community is an important part of the transition services.

A view of a student walking toward the campus in the early morning light.

EXTENDED DAY PROGRAM (DORM) Sue Pollan

The students enjoyed our monthly dinner outing to Rancho Grande in Parkville. They were able to experience dining in the ordering process as well as having to pay for their meals. Many students were busy after school preparing for the Wrestling and Cheer tournament in Indiana. They also enjoyed a snow day with a variety of different activities offered throughout the day. Although it has been very cold. the students love to swim on Thursday nights and can be quite creative while being photographed. Four of the Transition students attended week 1 of a Career Academy at Children’s Mercy Hospital and others began classes at KCCC TEC and JCCC. All the students continue to keep up on their homework, nightly activities, and chores.

Several students swimming in the pool. A couple of students making faces and laughing for the camera.                                Students in the pool. On the edge are kickboards and pool noodles.

Field Services

Debbie Moody – SE KS Field Services

KSSB Field Services presented one of the new TECH Kits (portable magnification) with TSVIs and COMS that attended the South-Central KS Community of Practice meeting in Maize on January 24th.

Several female teachers sitting around a table with technology in the middle. The room has several windows and painted light blue.

Sabrina McAdoo and Susan Threinen – Early Childhood Outreach.  Image Description: Sabrina and Susan traveled to the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired for a Train-the-Trainer one day workshop on Active Learning. A selfie of 2 field service people with the entrance to the Texas School for the Blind in the background. Above the entrance door are large white smooth rectangle stones with braille letters tsbvi carved into them.

Jon Harding

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