The Patrick Henry Post

This week's Patrick Henry Post has been taken over by our Special Education Department. Did you know at Patrick Henry we have permanent and part-time staff that cover an incredible number of student needs? We are so lucky to have a large staff of experts who address speech and language, occupational therapy, physical therapy, counseling, and learning disabilities. Take a look below at a few updates from our team members who serve at Patrick Henry!

“I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I cannot accept not trying.” – Michael Jordan

This month is Black History month and our students are working on building their sentence writing muscles by journaling about Black History leaders and their contributions. The more we write, the more we are able to expand and explore new vocabulary words and enhance our ability to write simple and complex sentences.

Since the first of the year, our writing projects have included thank you notes, biographies, recipes, and book reports. Students have also used this writing opportunity as a “calm down” tool and wrote about friendships and family.

“Journaling is a journey” and we look forward to what the next day will bring.

If you are a parent of a child with special needs, there is an abundance of resources out there to help you work with your child and involve the whole family in their education.

• Click here for Parent Support organizations that are free for families of children with a disability
• Click here for resources from the State of Missouri's Department of Education for families of children with a disability
• Click here to make sure you know your rights as a parent of a child with a disability
• Click here for a list of 50 websites full of resources for parents and families of children with a disability

What can you do if you believe your child might need Special Education?

1. Contact your child's teacher and discuss it with them - teachers see a lot in the classroom, and sometimes it is exactly the same at home, but sometimes it can be very different! Start with your child's teacher and see if your concerns are the same at school.
2. Try extra resources at home like tutoring or special learning apps on their iPads and work with them one-on-one to see if you can make a difference in their learning progress. Our staff can help if you need guidance in this area!
3. Request testing from the district. Making a verbal or written request is easy, and we will review our data to see if your child qualifies for testing for Special Education.
4. Use an outside evaluator like UMSL, SLU, or WashU - all of these major hospital and research systems have evaluations for children with potential disabilities and they are free! Click here for People's Health Clinics, click here for UMSL's Center for Behavioral Health with assessments, Click here for St. Louis Children's Hospital resources for psychological assessment
5. Talk to your child's doctor. Many disabilities are mental or physical health conditions, and getting a diagnosis from your doctor is necessary for a lot of Special Education processes.
6. Reach out to the school team - Dr. Rogers (Principal - deborah.rogers@slps.org) and Ms. Gregory (Counselor - crystal.gregory@slps.org) handle all Special Education referrals and requests and can talk you through the process.

Students across the district celebrated our 100th Day of School this week as a major milestone of their school year. Our celebrations were full of a LOT of counting - 100 is a big number for a preschooler learning their numbers! To all of our students, we congratulate them for making it through their first 100 days of the year, and we know that our 3rd and 4th quarters will continue to show off their academic growth, their social and emotional learning, and their incredible achievements inside and outside the classroom!

On Tuesday, February 14th, some classrooms will celebrate Valentine's Day with treats, cards, and tokens of appreciation. Please be on the lookout for communication from your child's teacher on what to bring to school that day. No child is required to bring anything in order to participate.

On Friday, February 17th, all SLPS schools will be closed. Staff will be in Professional Development throughout the day so there is no school for students.

On Monday, February 20th, all SLPS schools and offices will be closed in honor of Presidents' Day.

All families are invited to an IN-PERSON event on Friday, February 24th to celebrate Black History Month. This event will take place in the afternoon from 1:00-2:30pm in the Patrick Henry gym. Students will perform dances, songs, and skits during the performance, and we encourage all family members to attend!

Please contact your child's teacher to schedule your conference for the following days/times:

• Monday, March 13th, 3:15-5:15pm
• Tuesday, March 14th, 3:15-5:15pm
• Wednesday, March 15th, 3:15-5:15pm
• Thursday, March 16th, 3:15-3:45pm

There will be no school on Friday, March 17th. All SLPS schools will be closed.

All SLPS schools will be closed for Spring Break on March 20th - March 24th. School will reopen on Monday, March 27th.