We welcome everybody into December and promise you will want it to continue, no matter how attractive Winter Break is. However, before we welcome in this month and all its revelry, let us first pay homage to November:

Our annual Thanksgiving Feast was our largest one yet! Over 350 family and community members, volunteers, students, and staff were welcomed to campus as we celebrated Thanksgiving with those we love. It was a memorable event, and we were excited to see many new faces. We know we will see them again next year. It was the perfect way to end the month and send our students off for the break.

Homecoming was on the 16th, and we were delighted to see so many current and former Raccoons on campus for this annual get-together. DJ Cody provided music; the Foundation provided snacks, cookies galore, a photo booth, and a face-painting station. This is one of our favorite events on campus as it reminds everybody that once a raccoon, always a raccoon. We love events like this when we welcome back old friends and their families. We aim to make this a common occurrence, and we are always looking for more opportunities.

Speaking of opportunities to welcome back former students, please get the word out about Fundamental Sports held on campus every Friday! Fundamental sports is how our former student-athletes can continue competing in Special Olympics activities. It takes place from 12-1 in our gymnasium, and we have plenty of adaptive equipment and volunteers to ensure that every student who wants to compete can. For more info, please send me an email.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled December accolades.

December is a time to remember here on campus, and we have many activities to celebrate the season with. This year, we will be participating in the 8 Days of Winter and inviting the students to play along. Each day, your students will be dressed in the day's theme, and we'll shower them with gifts and huzzahs! Please take a look at the PDF below for more info.

We've also got Breakfast with Santa on the horizon (12/13), complete with an authentic Asian breakfast and a performance from a Bells Choir. Later in the day, we'll all participate in a service project to create cards for hospitals and nursing homes.

We finish the school year off on the 20th with pancakes and pajamas! We want our students and staff to come dressed in their warmest holiday PJs for this most delicious of events hosted by former principal Elizabeth Dicky and her church. Then, to put the cherry on the sundae of a first semester, we'll all meet in the gym later in the day for a Holiday Sing-a-long!

There is no shortage of fun this month, or any month, here on campus. We love having your students here and are always trying to discover new ways to increase their Joy factor. We cannot control what happens outside these hallowed halls, but we are in firm control of what occurs inside. We want our students to know we see them, love them, and will work with them for as long as it takes to allow them to reach their own level of independence. Care, compassion, and encouragement are the keys to getting them to produce their best, and I am happy to say we are beyond efficient in providing all three.

Happy Holidays!

Matthew Nelson

Principal

Rosedale

7505 Silvercrest Dr.

Austin, TX 78757

512-414-3617 ext. 70744 office

To reward our fantastic staff and provide job-like training to some students who can only leave campus occasionally, we will offer free snacks to all staff each afternoon!

For this to be as successful as possible, we will also need your help. You have the power to make a difference. Please donate snacks to the school, which we will disseminate to our staff. Any individually packaged snacks or drinks (non-alcoholic) will work. You can drop them off at the office, send them with your student, or even have them shipped here from anywhere in the USA.

We thank you in advance for your gifts and for wanting our students and staff to feel the love.

Each newsletter we will showcase a few Rosedale Raccoon staff members and ask them five random questions. Be forewarned, the questions are random and chaotic and may not pertain to what we do here each day at Rosedale, but they should give you a glimpse of the inner-workings of those who have answered the call of awesomeness.

1. 1. What's your current favorite TV Show/movie? Designated Survivor on Netflix. (por que) It just popped up in our queue, and now we are hooked. It's suspenseful and timely.(like this interview)
   2. What is your most hated form of transportation? The City Bus. I used to have to take it to my job at the mall, and it took me two hours to get there. I was fired because I kept arriving late. (wait, don't your students take the city but to Gusto's once a week) Yes, but it takes a lot of work to fire volunteers.
   3. What is your favorite place you've traveled to? We spent three days in Juno, Alaska, where it was freezing, dark all the time, and cloudy. Our friend we came to visit was sick, so we had to fend for ourselves in this dark, frozen tundra of a town. (Um, yeah... I said favorite.) Oh! Hawaii... hands down.
   4. What app are you currently addicted to? Other than any one of my 100 text threads? Snapchat. It's a great way to unwind. (what about the Cap Metro App?) Do they have an app? (I think I see your problem with the busses)
   5. What type or kind of mythical beast would you like to own? Oh, easy, a Dragon. They could shoot fire from their mouths to protect me and could take me anywhere I wanted to go. (like a city bus?) I'm ending this interview now.
      

2. Do you believe in reincarnation? Yes, you have to go somewhere. (what would you come back as?)A fly. They're aways on the wall and they never die. (I don't think you actually know wat a fly is, James.)

3. Which superpower would you like to have? Obviously, super strength. (like a fly?) No, like the Incredible Hulk.

4. If the police arrested you with no explanation, what would your friends and family think? "Not again," is what they would think. (and....) and what? (I'm waiting for the just kidding part....still waiting....okay, Jim, we're moving on)

Just Kidding! (phew...thanks James)

5. What was the worst job you ever had? Easy. I worked for the state in the disabilities department, and my job consisted of reading IEPs and denying claims. I got so sick of the system that I decided to quit, become a teacher, and work from the inside out vs the outside in (so you were given lemons and made lemonade? Good job by you, James). For the last time, it's not James, it's Jim. (sorry, Nuggy)

December PTA Meeting and Cookie Exchange

Tuesday, 12/10 from 11:30 am-1 pm

Rosedale Community Room

Bring cookies (if you can) to share and swap with the group

Lunch will be provided

Spanish Interpretation is available in person and on Zoom.

Resource sharing topic: Self Care and Caregiver Burnout with Elizabeth Dickey, LPC-A

Zoom link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84311948309?pwd=Ooflwg12z6nkZQLaIlEDbnIaRhaN9O.1

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We need books for our new Lending Library for parents, caregivers & community members.

Resource books that have helped you, books to share with siblings, neighbors or friends. Books that discuss disabilities to promote understanding, awareness & inclusivity.

We have a cart in the Community Room for the lending library

Thank you,

Kimberly Johnson

Rosedale Proud Parent

Please use this form (click above) for your student if h/she is going to be arriving late or will be attending any doctor's appointments or therapies. For questions, please contact Tracy Castillo at (512) 414-3617 ext. 57110

tracy.a.castillo@austinisd.org

https://www.schoolcafe.com/austinisd

Austin Unite is a social group that provides low-cost opportunities to young adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities ages 17-25 in the Austin community. In the past, events have included UT sporting events, park picnics, arcades, and more! At the events, participants are paired with trained, college-age volunteers in a ratio that best reflects their level of need/ independence.

Here is the link to the website: www.austinunite.org. To get your child involved, navigate to the "parent interest form" under the participants tab.

Transition and Employment