November Newsletter

Gratitude is a positive emotion that involves recognizing the good things in your life and acknowledging the role that others play in those positive events. Every day we wake up feeling gratitude for our next day and what our journey brings to each of us. We know that people come into our lives for a reason and that each one of us has special bonds and memories we hold dear to our hearts within our own families.

We are especially grateful for our Westlake Family. This is a special place where we feel grateful for working with students, their families, staff and staff's families, community partners, CST's and anyone else who steps foot into our building and into our lives. Teachers and staff are individuals who are passionate about helping students with special needs reach their full potential. They often go above and beyond to provide individualized support and create a positive learning environment.

We would like to "shout out" our Media Liaison and Newsletter Coordinator, Ms. Jennifer Pavlik who we are very grateful and lucky to have. Jen has become Westlake's Lead RBT and plays a crucial role in our behavior department. Always keeping to task, Jen is able to support everyone's needs in an effective manner, leading us to a continued positive school climate.

"I'm incredibly fortunate to work alongside such dedicated professionals: Mr. Peneno, Ms. Kodack, and Ms. Koch. Their unwavering commitment to our program and support for our staff truly makes a difference."

This month, show your gratitude to someone else. Pick someone that you might not necessarily know or talk to often and let them know you are grateful so they feel that gratitude the next morning when they wake up !

Enjoy The Power of Gratitude - Inspirational Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75RjgtZ2tj0&ab_channel=EddiePinero

Happy Thanksgiving!

Claudine

November 27, 2024 - 1:00 pm Dismissal

November 28th and November 29th - School Closed:

December 13, 2024 - Westlake Movie Night - sponsored by the Parent Organization

December 13, 2024 - School Spirit Day - Wear Your Westlake shirts

December 13, 2024 - 1:00 pm - Westlake Student Holiday Shopping

December 18, 2024 - 10:00 am - Holiday Sing-along - Parents invited

December 20. 2024 - 1:00 pm Dismissal

J.L. was nominated for being helpful and showing respect to staff and students!

J. M. was nominated for always being so polite. He is always saying Please and Thank You!

Ms. Anne was nominated for always being so willing to help everyone!

J.D. was chosen because of his initiative, excellent work, his willingness, and flexibility to do whatever task is asked of him. He is always courteous and friendly with our customers. Jonathan works at Westlake's Sunshine Cafe and Snack Shack, as well as Lido's Cafe in Roselle Park every Thursday morning.

Westlake and Crossroads were treated to an amazing program, lunch, and presents from the Holiday Express!

The Holiday Express mission is to deliver music, food, gifts, financial support and friendship to those with the greatest need for the gift of human kindness during the holiday season and throughout the year.

Founded in 1993 by Tim McLoone, Holiday Express believes no one should be alone at the holidays. Our programs use the healing power of music and friendship to improve the quality of life for those often forgotten. This season, we will again be visiting 100 organizations in the metropolitan tri-state area, hosting special charitable events and bringing hope and joy to nearly 30,000 people. Of the charities Holiday Express serves, the majority are registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. For many of them, traditional sources of funding are not sufficient to provide their basic needs.

By recognizing Native American Heritage month, the students learned about various Native American heroes such as Sean Sherman, Sitting Bull, John Herrington, and Maria Tallchief. Then the Sunshine Cafe made savory corn muffins and banana bread as our cakes of the month to celebrate Native Americans.

The students learned and discussed the origins, establishment, and traditions of Thanksgiving. To show our gratitude, the Sunshine Cafe made a Thankful poster "We have a latte to be thankful for..." decorated with the thankful messages from our customers.

This month, the students got a chance to learn different techniques to decorate desserts using a piping bag as well as prepping ingredients using a knife to chop vegetables. The baking lesson was focused on using different kitchen measuring tools correctly.

The students have been very busy working at the Snack Shack every day. The students are learning how to operate the cash register using the POS (Point of Sale) system and learning how to process payments correctly.

November is a time to be thankful and to fill your heart with gratitude and your days with joy!

We celebrated Halloween with a dance in the gym! It was set up with lots of decorations and props to take photos!

Work Based Learning students, are busy at Walgreens and Complete Care Nursing Home. J.B. and L.W. learned to fill the balloons. G.R. and J.K. putting puzzles together with patients.

Our students have been keeping very busy in W79 (Mr. Kurt’s class)! We have incorporated the Fall theme into our classroom activities of Math and Language Arts. Lessons observing Veterans Day and Native American Heritage Month were completed by our class as well. We also had lots of fun on Halloween and during the Holiday Express celebration.

The class recently went to Esposito Park and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Students really enjoyed being outdoors, which included a walk on a path around the park, playing soccer in the field and spending time on the playground.

In Gym, the class has been working on an obstacle course and developing their hockey skills. The students have also been enjoying Art and Music.

Our class would like to wish everyone Happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy family and friends, and safe travels to all!

Hello,

Recently we learned that November 16th is National Fast Food Day! In honor of this holiday, we thought it would be a good idea to take a survey of staff & students asking what is your favorite fast-food restaurant?

The responses ranged from Burger King to Wendy’s, and everything in between. It was a tight finish, but here are the results.

The number one choice with 12 votes was … Wendy’s!

A close second was … McDonald’s with 11 votes!

And in third place was … Dunkin with 10 votes!

Thank you everyone who participated!

Reporter: Ashanti

Recorder: Mohammed

Editor: Jonathan

This month in speech therapy, our sessions focused on engaging students with a variety of cultural and social themes while reinforcing speech and language goals. Key topics included Native American Heritage Month, Thanksgiving, and Election Day, which allowed us to integrate meaningful, real-world themes into our speech therapy activities. Students explored Native American culture through stories, pictures, and discussions. We focused on key aspects such as traditional cuisine, clothing, history, and important events in Native American history.

In honor of the Thanksgiving season, we facilitated discussions around the concept of gratitude. Students reflected on what they are thankful for, fostering both expressive and receptive language skills. We practiced answering questions such as, "What are you grateful for?" and "Why is it important to show gratitude?" These activities supported the development of social interaction skills, with a focus on turn-taking and appropriate responses.

To connect with the theme of Election Day, we introduced activities that involved voting on everyday interests, such as favorite sports, food, and restaurants. Students created their own ballots, participated in class voting, and tallied the results on a graph. We also worked on differentiating activities to match students’ individual needs, allowing for both verbal and AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) use during the voting process.

A major focus throughout the month was supporting students' AAC skills by introducing new core vocabulary and encouraging the expansion of utterances. Students practiced using their AAC devices to answer questions, make requests, and engage in conversations. We emphasized the use of complete sentences and worked on answering questions in full, rather than just single words or phrases. Activities were carefully differentiated to meet each student's unique needs, ensuring that they were able to access and communicate as effectively as possible.

We continued to foster social interactions by playing games, engaging in group discussions, and conducting school-wide surveys. Our older students worked on job-related social skills. These activities were designed to help them prepare for future job sites by practicing problem-solving, appropriate communication, and navigating social situations in the workplace.

Website: www.ucesc.org/schools/westlake_school

Location: 1571 Lamberts Mill Rd, Westfield, NJ, USA

Phone: 908-232-4181

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