Banyan Bulletin

To educate students with learning disabilities by identifying individual strengths and abilities, continuously monitoring individual progress, and adapting the curriculum to to meet each students changing educational needs.

As we begin a new school year all refreshed and ready to go, we all set goals for the year! One of our main goals this year at Banyan High School and LIFE Academy is to improve upon our communication to our parents and families. Our classroom teachers and related service providers will be communicating with our families on a monthly basis to update you on content and activities within the classroom. At times, these communications may include more personal information regarding your student.

As part of our goal, we want to ensure that our communication includes all of the information regarding your student. This includes any struggles or hardships that your young adult may encounter within the school day. Open communication is the vital key to a sound parent-teacher relationship and always bridges the gap between home and school. We will also provide information for follow up at home on school content, as well as any academic or social/emotional struggles.

Our school theme this year focuses on turning our struggles into our strengths. We can only do this with our students by working together as a school/home team to provide them with the consistent reinforcement that our students need. It is our belief that the monthly classroom updates will be the first step in improving our communication this year, in addition to our website, Realtime Parent Portal, and Google Classroom. We will be sharing a date for a parent training on our communication technologies.

"The struggle you're in today is developing the strength you need for tomorrow." -Robert Tew

Hi Banyan families!

My name is Melanie and I’m a new speech therapist here at the high school and LIFE academy. I’m so excited for the year ahead filled with learning, friendships, and growth. I’m honored to be a part of this journey with you and your child as we navigate the school year ahead.

Here’s a little background about me: I earned my B.S. in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Syracuse University, as well as my M.S. in Speech-Language-Pathology from Ithaca College. I began my career doing early intervention home care where I worked with kids from birth to three years, building their early language and communication skills. More recently, I’ve worked with middle and high school students, where we focused on community integration and independence.

The best way to contact me directly is via email. Please feel free to reach out to me at any time at mrosen@banyanschool.org. I’m looking forward to an incredible year ahead!

Transition Services help students prepare for adulthood and increase confidence by providing:

• Interactive Classes on topics including: meal planning, nutrition, cooking, personal hygiene, social skills, financial literacy, functional math/reading, resume writing, job applications, interviewing, professional behavior/communication, problem solving, community/internet safety, person centered planning, executive functioning and self advocacy skills

• Work Based Learning (WBL) are unpaid work experiences in various industries supported by Job Coaches to teach students both hard skills specific to certain jobs as well as soft skills which apply to all jobs. WBL provides opportunities to assess a student's interests, abilities, strengths, and aptitudes while they learn about career and post secondary education possibilities to form a vision for adult life.

• Community Based Instruction includes public transportation training, gym fitness sessions, banking, restaurants, shopping and leisure activities.

Transition Services help parents and caregivers by educating them about adult services and financial protection for their children such as:

• SSI (Supplemental Security Income)/Medicaid and SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance)/Medicare

• Guardianship

• Special Needs Trusts (SNT) and ABLE Accounts

• DDD (Division of Developmental Disabilities) and DVRS (Division of Vocational Rehabilitation Services)

• Disability housing

• Trade schools and college programs with supports for students with disabilities

At the high school and LIFE Academy we offer these services both in the classroom and out in the community. We will be sharing parent workshops and other opportunities to learn more about transition throughout the upcoming school year!

Beginning on Monday, 9/16, the school store will be open for all students to purchase snacks from Monday - Thursday. Students can also purchase Snapple and Gatorade products from our vending machine in the lunch room for $2.00.

We are OPEN!

Banyan’s School Store is open for business!

Stop by Monday - Thursday from 11:50-1:10 and buy a snack from our very own WBL workplace!

Fruit Snacks ____________________________________ ¢ .50

(GF, Dairy Free)

Frito Lay Chips _________________________________ $ 1.00

Pringles (any ___________________________________$ 1.25

PopTarts( ____ _________________________________ $ 1.50

Little Bites _____________________________________ $ 1.00

Oreo ( 2 pack) __________________________________ $1.00

Oreo ( 2 pack) __________________________________ $1.00

(GF)

Capri Sun ______________________________________ ¢ .50

POPCORNERS _________________________________ $1.00

(GF, Dairy Free)

POPCORNERS __________________________________ $1.50

CEREAL ________________________________________ $1.50

We are pleased to welcome back Melissa Keyes DiGioia, CSE, of Finding Your Individuality for another year of health education for the students. Melissa is a Certified Sexuality Educator and Co-Founder of Finding Your Individuality.

Ms. DiGioia brings with her a specialty in working with young people who have special needs. The Finding Your Individuality program was developed with the goal to “identify, address, support, advocate and advance the individual rights of all people across the lifespan with special emphasis on abuse prevention and sexual rights of people with disabilities.” With the emphasis of teaching sexuality from a social skills lens, this program supports our students’ needs and our work in developing our children's social skills.

This orientation will provide parents with an overview of the proposed student program as well as an opportunity for our trainer to hear your needs in discussing sexual development with your young adult. Some of the topics that are expected to be included are information on hygiene, puberty, boundary setting, social media safety, relationships, sexual anatomy, and abuse.

We believe this program is vital for the success of our students. This year we will only be offering a TOPIC OPT OUT option. Meaning, all students will be participating in this program as part of their health curriculum. You will be notified about our different topics as the year goes on. If you wish for your student to not participate in a specific topic, you may opt out of that topic by notifying me, Rebecca Borkowski, at rborkowski@banyanschool.org.

Ms. DiGioia will be presenting a Parent Orientation, Monday, September 30, from 6:30 pm via Zoom. A special Zoom meeting link will be sent for this presentation next week.

LIFE Academy is introducing two new web-based programs that will provide our young adults with lessons and learning that is individualized and can meet their needs beyond the school environment. These programs will also provide us with informaiton and assessment that we can bring to monthly updates and IEP meetings to discuss student progress.

VIZZLE

Vizzle is a web-based learning library of interactive lessons for students with special needs. It includes lessons that can be tailored to any grade level and assigned to any student. Vizzle lessons will be used for group lessons, small group instruction, individualized lessons, interactive books, matching and sorting activities, and games.

Vizzle lessons are designed to reinforce different depths of knowledge and can be done in groups or independently. Activities include multiple-choice, true or false, sequencing, sorting, and categorization. Vizzle also uses Errorless Learning to ensure that students always answer correctly. Data is automatically collected data towards IEP goals and objectives and standards.

LEARN4INDEPENDENCE

Learn4Independence is a 32-course curriculum developed for adults with special needs that focuses on independent living skills and career readiness. Unique curriculum elements accommodate various learning differences and incorporate universally designed instruction adaptable to your community and cultural needs.

Each course is designed with a similar structure presenting new material while assessing knowledge and mastery. A comprehensive collection of supplemental materials includes worksheets, projects, presentations, midterms and final exams. Courses vary in length; some progress across four semesters, starting with basic information and building to more advanced concepts of independent living and employment. Courses focus on areas such as: work, community, finances, identity, and living on my own.

We are looking very forward to implementing these new curriculum materials to best meet our students needs as they move toward post secondary planning.

All events can also be found on the district website at: https://banyanschool.org/

• September 14: Jack's Walkabout - All families are invited to join us for Jack’s Walkabout Club, a hiking club for children and young adults with disabilities. We would like to invite you to a hike at EAGLE ROCK RESERVATION in West Orange on Saturday September 14 at 9:45am. Please join us for the first hike of the fall season! Here is the link to all the exciting details: http://www.jackswalkaboutclub.com/next-hike.html
• September 25: Virtual Parent Technology Training 7:00 PM Link is below: https://meet.google.com/wsd-ezjq-esf
• September 25: Social 4 Life - Dinner & Movie 2:45 - 5:00 PM
• September 28: Disability Services Resource Fair - Boys and Girls Club of Clifton 10 AM - 2 PM
• September 30: Finding your Individuality Parent Training - 6:30 PM. Link to follow.
• October 2 - 6: Week of Respect
• October 3: No School
• October 14: Student Picture Day
• October 21: Annual Banyan Golf Outing at Glen Ridge Country Club. Please join us by completing the invitation below: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zntr1MoxxoMq1akP_lp57OXtYPYJ1ed2/view?usp=sharing

DON'T FORGET THE MONTHLY FITNESS CHALLNEGE - DO YOUR SIT UPS. PARENTS CAN PARTICIPATE TOO!

We would like to invite all of our parents to join our PTSO for Banyan High School and LIFE Academy! The PTSO hosts many events for our families, such as the upcoming Bingo, and provides events for our students. If you would like to join, please use the links below:

Here is the link to the PTSO membership on https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E-qyfDldaJgOtt2KxsDsgIao1hFnkUiQg0uvBM-piMQ/edit?usp=sharing

PTSO are collecting dues and payment will be accepted via Zelle and check/cash. Checks made payable to Banyan High School PTSO

Suggested amount $45

A schedule will follow for virtual PTSO meetings for the 2024/2025 school year.

Please join our PTSO!

Website: www.banyanschools.org
Location: 471 Main Street, Little Falls, NJ, USA
Phone: 973 785-1919
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Banyan-School/100063632976200/