Website: https://www.ksb.kyschools.us
Location: 1867 Frankfort Ave, Louisville, KY 40206
Phone: (502) 897-1583

Fax: (502) 897-2850
Facebook: facebook.com/KYschoolfortheblind/
Twitter: @KSBWildcats

On Thursday of this week, staff and students had a blast competing in the Student/Staff Goalball game. All of our students and staff joined in watching and learning about the sport specifically designed for individuals that are blind or visually impaired. Staff may be a bit sore and disappointed with the score, but the cheering and laughter made up for the loss.

On Thursday, November 10th, we will have a ribbon cutting ceremony for our brand new, accessible playground, Anthony's Wish. The project was spearheaded and would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of one of our parents, Cierra Martin and our Facilities Director, John Aaron. The playground will be dedicated and named after Ms. Martin's son, Anthony, and we are so excited to have the playground ready for students to enjoy. Thank you to all who put their hearts into make this happen and thank you to the following donors: Make A Wish Foundation, The Kentucky School for the Blind Charitable Foundation, Downtown Louisville Lions Club, Zoeller Pump Co., Stanley Schultz & Company Inc., Kentucky Society Southern Dames of America, Mrs. Sharon Zoeller Dueffert, Mr. Mitch Barnes, Mr. Gary McGruder and the Louisville Herbal Society.

Don't forget that next week is a short week due to Election Day. School will not be in session Monday or Tuesday. Dorm students will return Tuesday evening, and we will see everyone else Wednesday morning.

As the seasons turn colder and weather might have a greater impact on travel we wanted to remind everyone of KSB’s Inclement weather plan. Take a chance to familiarize yourself with the scenarios below so you will be prepared if cold weather heads our way.

❄️KSB Inclement Weather Scenarios❄️

• Students in the dorm and JCPS on delay
• KSB will delay the start of school, identical to JCPS.
• Students in dorm and JCPS cancels classes due to weather
• KSB will operate on a two-hour delayed schedule
• Parents responsible for transportation
• If a storm is predicted to cause a significant impact on the state, KSB will disseminate information (OneCall, Facebook, email, …) with the plan for the closure or delay of school. Students will take home devices and needed materials in anticipation of NTI learning.

• No School-Monday, November 7 & Tuesday, November 8
  
• Accessible Playground Ribbon Cutting-Thursday, November 10, 1pm
• Freshman/sophomore concert-Thursday, November 17, 1:30PM
• Thanksgiving Break-Monday, November 21-Friday, November 25
• Picture Day-Wednesday, November 30
• Winter Break-December 19-January 2

If you have any change in phone numbers, home address, a change in bus routine or you need someone added/removed from your child’s safe pick-up list; please contact Beth or Linda in the front office.

Are you signed up for OneCall? KSB uses OneCall to send school information, including our Weekly Wildcat. If not, please contact Beth Baker at beth.baker@ksb.kyschools.us or 502-897-1583

A parent/guardian should call the KSB Office (502-897-1583, ext. 0204) for each day their child will not be at school to report the nature of their child’s absence. If possible, please call the school before 7:45 am. A student’s absence can only be reported to the KSB Office.

Excused absences:

• Medical appointments which cannot be scheduled at non-school times
• Death in the family
• Student illness
• Unavoidable transportation issues
• Other just and legitimate causes, as determined by the Principal

Congratulations to our Honor Roll students for the first term!

All A Honor Roll

Valerie A

Eric E

Loyalty C

Pyper B

Makenna H

Krishna M

Isaiah S

Macy S

Ximi W

A/B Honor Roll

Caleb A

Hayden A

John B

Addy C

Anthony B

Brevin F

Faith C

Nicholas F

Elliott H

Gabby G

London H

Hillary J

Hailey H

Caleb R

Colten P

Trey M

Cory W

Brandon S

Kai T

Erin W

Mikah T

Our K-1 students have been learning about pumpkins! They've been able to see and feel real pumpkins, including cutting into them to learn about all that's inside. Students also got to see if pumpkins would float!

Students in 5th grade finished a matter unit with lemon volcanoes. They completed hands-on experiments to grasp further understanding of chemical changes. Students added baking soda and food coloring to the lemon juice in the lemon to make a fizzing foaming lemon volcano. They are now moving on to Matter and Energy in Ecosystems. They are learning about cells, DNA, consumers, and producers. They will have a scavenger hunt this week about the four different types of consumers. Make sure to ask them about it. They will have fun moving and learning at the same time.

Middle School:

Middle School Students have focused on problem solving using the Engineering Design Plan and then built on that by revisiting “types of matter” and learning about why engineers care about types of matter. After learning about types of matter middle school students learned about how heat added to these substances changes them-that will be a strong focus in the upcoming weeks. It would be a great learning experience for families to talk about examples of heat transfer at home in cooking and in keeping your home comfortable temperature-wise.

In science we circled back to living organisms and add photosynthesis for Halloween. Students read about a 2,554 pound pumpkin. Our article and discussion focused on what the farmer gave the pumpkin in order to grow it, and how plants give back oxygen and food.

After focusing on the incredible power of plants to grow pumpkins, every class pondered what would happen If there were “no more plants” before circling back to matter, and then moving forward with heat transfer, more engineering by design, and on to weather.

High School:

High School Chemistry students are learning about nuclear decay in class this week. Our Biology students are learning about heart rates. Students are participating in Heart Rate Labs where they can exercise, and see how things raise their heart rates from the resting rate.

We’ve been busy with virtual author visits the past few weeks in the library. We’ve had Kyri Demby, who is an author and educator with a deep understanding of music. He was great at connecting with our students through the power of sound and art. He had us singing and moving around the library before a writing activity. The following week we had author, Michael Regina, who has been drawing comics since the third grade! His passion for art and storytelling has stayed with him his whole life. He showcased the program he uses to draw his graphic novels and had us draw our own monsters. This week we had Megan E. Freeman. She shared with us that she attended an elementary school where poets visited her classroom every week to teach poetry, and she has been a writer ever since. Her debut middle grade novel, ALONE, won the Colorado Book Award, is an NCTE Notable Novel in Verse, a Goodreads Choice Award Finalist, and was included on over a dozen Best Of and state reading lists. Many of our middle school students had the opportunity to listen to Alone before meeting with the author!

📖Reminder that students who have Ms. Reed for Language Arts have library every Monday and books need to be returned by then.📖

October was an incredibly busy month for short course students. We have been full of fall spirit! From October 10-October 21 we had a high school session. On Tuesday, October 11, the students had the opportunity to attend a presentation from Kaiya Armstrong. Kaiya, a visually impaired 21-year-old, participated in a program, Flight for Sight, during which she piloted a plane from Mesa, AZ to Washington, D.C., with a stop in Louisville. During the presentation, Kaiya talked about her experiences as a visually-impaired person flying a plane and answered student and staff questions.

On Thursday, October 13, high school students celebrated White Cane Day. They traveled off-campus to Robison Park in Louisville, Kentucky for a day of fun activities -- corn hole, trivia, lawn Jenga, chalk art, bead art, dancing, and karaoke. The students also were treated to lunch from Papa John’s and Raising Cane’s provided by the KSBCF.

On Wednesday, October 19 the students attended Actors Theatre of Louisville’s production of Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer and had lunch off campus at Los Aztecas. The students built valuable skills in the Expanded Core Curriculum (ECC) areas of independent living, orientation and mobility, recreation and leisure, self-determination, social interaction, and assistive technology while on the trip while also learning about an important civil rights leader in our nations’ history.

On Thursday, October 20 we celebrated our Annual Fall Festival. The students participated in a number of fall activities (pumpkin decorating, pumpkin tic-tac-toe, candy corn guessing game, monster popcorn hands, and a cookie walk). The students assisted with set-up and tear down of the obstacle course for the Fall Festival as well.

During cooking lessons for the high school session, the students worked on using a crock pot to make a baked potato bar. They also used a popcorn machine to pop popcorn and the oven to bake cookies for our Fall Festival.

High school students learned and honed their skills with roller skating during adapted PE during this short course session.

Our elementary session began on October 24 and has included learning about chickens and the incubation process (including meeting a baby chick), yoga, adapted PE lessons about roller skating, music lessons with instruction in playing the keyboard, fall stories in the library, math with the KSB 2nd grade students, carving pumpkins, roasting pumpkin seeds, baking cookies, and trick or treating in the halls of KSB.

Sensory efficiency refers to a person’s ability to use her senses to access the environment. For a person who is sighted, visual perception makes up a significant portion of the information that is absorbed and processed. Individuals with vision impairments must learn to access information from the environment in a somewhat different way.

Vision:

For those students with any remaining vision, sensory efficiency involves a student learning how to use residual vision effectively. This can involve learning specific strategies, such as how to determine the origin of a perceived light or how to track an object’s movement. It can also involve the use of specific adaptations to allow for a student to maximize the functionality of remaining vision. Examples could include using a monocular device to see street signs or placing high contrast markings on stairwells.

Hearing:

Using hearing efficiently and effectively can involve learning to listen to and absorb material from an audio version of a textbook, listening to traffic patterns in a busy intersection, or using a hearing aid to maximize residual hearing in a person with mild to moderate deafness.

Like it or not, your tween/ teen is probably already obsessing over Instagram, Snap Chat, Tik Tok or a host of other social media platforms. Here’s how to talk with you child about social media before they make an account.

If you thought you could coast when it comes to talking to your child about social media think again. There are undoubtedly perks to having young people connecting with their peers on social media. Platforms like Instagram and Tik Tok are full of inspiration and allow kids to creatively express themselves. But parents should also be aware of potential exposure to cyberbullying and inappropriate content. Tweens/ teens may not fully understand the consequences of their online actions, which may put them in compromising situations. Monitoring isn’t the end-all solution. It’s really about making sure that you have trust and you have ongoing dialogue for any activity that they do.

Here are a few tips to get you started when it comes to teaching your child good social media habits:

Start Talking About Social Media Early

Ana Homayoun, M.A., P.P.S., a social media expert and the author of Social Media Wellness: Helping Tweens and Teens Thrive in an Unbalanced Digital World, says, “In my experience, kids aren’t being informed about Instagram and other social media apps from their parents- they are learning from friends, peers, older siblings, and other influencers- so it’s important that parents take an active role in encouraging conversations.”

Enforce Good Social Media Etiquette

Receiving mean comments on social media can hurt a child’s self- esteem- and writing the comments can get them into trouble. Talk with your tween/ teen about proper social media etiquette.

Set Time Limits

Tweens/ teens are still developing self-discipline, so it’s not unusual for them to spend hours on social media platforms. Work together to determine an appropriate amount of time they should spend on apps each day, whether it’s 15 minutes or one hour.

Teach Kids Accountability

Cyberbullying is increasingly common nowadays. According to the 2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), nearly 16% of surveyed high school students were electronically bullied in the previous 12 months. “One of the most important things I’d like my son to understand is that things that happen online can affect how people feel offline,” says Ian Spalter, former director of design at Instagram. “It’s really important for them to take that into account with whatever actions they take online.”

Practice What You Preach

You know that kids are sponges, and they’re constantly learning by example. By practicing positive social media habits yourself, you’re setting up your children for a rewarding and inspiring experience.

Check out the Parent website for information.

Our Varsity Wildcats will be competing in the NCASB Goalball Conference Championships this weekend (November 6) at Missouri School for the Blind in St. Louis, Missouri. Teams will compete in a double elimination tournament for the Conference Championships. The Boys Varsity Team will play Wisconsin in Game 1 of the Boys Bracket at 6:00pm CST. The Girls will play Missouri in Game 2 of the Girls Bracket around 6:00pm CST due to a change in lineup of teams competing. Good Luck to our Varsity Goalball Wildcats!

If your child is interested in Wrestling or Cheerleading, last day to sign up and turn in all the proper paperwork is Friday, November 18. Cheerleading practice will begin on Monday, November 14, and Wrestling practice will being Monday, November 28.

The APH ConnectCenter includes FamilyConnect, CareerConnect, and VisionAware – a hub of websites that offer curated advice and resources to assist children, parents, adults, job seekers who are blind or visually impaired, and their associated professionals, leading to greater independence and success in their lives.

Navigating and Negotiating Successful IEP and 504 Outcomes

Wednesdays, November 16th, December 21st, 2022, 7:00 – 8:30 PM
In this a 5-part webinar we will share how to navigate the process of getting your child the appropriate support at school. This will cover the evaluation, present levels, annual IEP goals, accommodations and supplements and the service deliver model.
Register Here for Navigating and Negotiating Successful IEP and 504 Outcomes

Ask the Advocate

Wednesdays, November 30th, December 28th, 2022, 7:00 – 8:30 PM EST
Answering questions families have to better understand the processes, procedures and parent rights in a 504/IEP. When parents are better informed they will be better equipped to navigate and negotiate successful student outcomes.
Register Here for Ask the Advocate

Looking for more event opportunities? The ConnectCalendar is a one-stop resource for all events in the field of blindness and low vision. You can also submit events to share with the community and we’ll help spread the word.

Newsletter background shows a picture of a pumpkin pie, a few small pumpkins, and cranberries sitting on a white table.