RISE

Welcome to the new RISE newsletter. We hope everyone had a wonderful Winter Break! We have added three new sections to our Newsletter: A Thank you section, a "Can I get an Applause section, and a "I love it, you Might love it too (recommendation section- parents find awesome products/items and we will share them here) section.

-Thank you for the continued communication. The collaboration and support drives our classroom toward success.

Update on the CLASSROOM CHANGES:

Dane and I have been very impressed with how the students have taken the changes to our two programs. Each classroom is working on specific DATA opportunities (behavior, social skills, academics, etc.). The students have shown success and improvements in just the short amount of time. Please continue to reach out to the two of us with any questions, concerns, etc.

While Dane and I have "separated" the two classrooms and caseload (paperwork responsibilities), we are working together to make the MLE RISE programs the best there is.

~Stacey Mueller and Dane Ottum~

Seatwork: Sequencing, Categorizing, and patterns (colors- ABA, AABB).

Taskboxes: Personal information, personal hygiene, All things Winter (food, weather, clothing, etc.).

Art/Science/Cooking: Snow (since we do not have any), What's in the Ice?, 2025 paper shredding activity, and all the Heart activities/cooking we can find.

Leisure Skills (movies): Inside Out (permission slip coming home soon), A Real Bugs Life (season 2 is out!), Curious George, and student choice (G rated).

• We have been given an awesome gift of a sensory swing!
• The RISE Team is thankful for all the wonderful gifts we received in the month of December.
• A wonderful parent gave each student a crochet stuff animal. If you are interested in more, let me know, she has amazing talent.
• We have two large, I mean HUGE, Axolotls for the classroom. One is 5lbs in weight and the other is just a fluffy cuddle toy.
• We have a real seatbelt coming to the classroom. We will be working on buckling our seatbelt (life skills for the win).

• The students did A-Maz-Ing at the Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe play. We yelled, "that's not nice," "take a break," and we clapped and laughed a lot.
  
• We had a student get a haircut for the first time in YEARS at a salon. Whoop Whoop! So proud of you.
• We had a student go to the movies for the first time, EVER! He did amazing per his mom. :-)
• We had two students learn to Ice Skate! Wow, who can do ice skate?

*Continue to share the amazing things our students do at home! We love to hear all about it. *

• Protein Powder: Ghost Whey (add to in baking- cookies!). Comes in several flavors, Oreo, Nutter Butter, Chips Ahoy, Cinnabon, Cereal milk (GNC and Target)
• Protein Powder: Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides. Add in to juice (Costco)
• Multivitamins: Ella Ola Kids' Unflavored Multivitamin (Ella Ola website)
• Sensory Swing: OUTFREE Kids Pod Swing Seat Cotton Child Hammock (Amazon)
• Babysitter- We have an amazing babysitter... IF you need a sitter, please reach out to Mrs. Mueller for contact information.

*Send us those recommendations. You never know if another parent is looking too.*

We are working on days of the week. We sing the following song during circle and practice our signs.

• Snow/Winter Gear (please label and let us know if it can stay at school)
• Tissue/Kleenex (square or rectangle boxes)
• Snacks (favorites to share with everyone)
• Juice (Apple, Orange, and Cranberry are our favorites)
• Change of clothes including socks

I have a few parents ask for an Amazon Wish List, so here it is...

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/dl/invite/5RUO4TV?ref_=wl_share

Report Cards and Progress Notes:

Progress notes and report cards will come home January 10.

No School for Students:

January 20, 2025 for MLK Day

Upcoming Field Trip:

TBD

January Parent Night:

Unfortunately, we were unable to get our community advocates available on the same day. We will try for January. *Still Trying*

Theme: All About Advocacy: Possible Attendees (Links, Care Coordinators, Sped teachers, Administration, etc.). Learn about Local programs, Waivers, and supports, get answers to questions, among other things.