LMA May Newsletter
Good morning,
I hope this newsletter finds you well. The month of May has been quite eventful at The Mill. To begin, Spring has sprung and staff and students have been working hard to beautify our school grounds, especially around our garden. This allows our students an opportunity to work together with their peers while demonstrating pride in their hard work as they embrace their school community. This month we also celebrated our wonderful teachers during teacher appreciation week, and our school nurse during nurse’s week. Our students are incredibly lucky to have such a genuine and dedicated team of educators!
The month of May was all about Mental Health Awareness at the Mill, but as we like to say, Mental Health Matters, each and every day! It is so incredibly important for individuals to take time to reset and prioritize their own mental health in order for you to feel like “the best you” each and every day. Therefore, staff and students participated in multiple activities in and out of the classroom centered around mental health activities. Our school community has been “going green” on Fridays, embracing nature by taking walks or working in the garden, engaging in calming activities during creative expressions, and ending the day with yoga/meditation. This has proven to be a beneficial and successful way to end the week, and something our students look forward to building into our program on a weekly basis.
It’s so hard to believe another school year is coming to an end, and we are so proud of all of our student accomplishments thus far. Please spend some time reviewing our monthly newsletter, and see all the events and activities we are proud to offer the students at LMA!
Danielle Ruchaevsky, LCSW
Clinical Director
Ben G
LMA is proud to announce our May Student of the Month, Ben! Ben joined the LMA school community this past January. Prior to that he was an LMA student at the New Point campus. He has demonstrated to the staff and students his hard work, and dedication in the classroom, and throughout the school. Not only is Ben an active Boy Scout working on his Eagle project over the weekends, but he has taken a leadership role with improving upon the LMA garden. We are proud of Ben's accomplishments at LMA, and are honored to have him in the LMA school community!
Congratulations Ms. Schneider!
Ms. Schneider has recently been announced as one of the recipients of the 2024 Union County Shero Awards, by the Union County Board of County Commissioners. Ms. Schneider truly demonstrates her passion for diversity, equity and inclusive matters. For about 10 years she has worked with various advocacy and special education parent groups. In 2013 she started her journey into special education, seeing disparities in various populations and the discrimination many faced. In 2016 and 2017, she was a co-chair for the Westfield Special Education Committee’s “Expo”. Here, she worked with a group of parents to provide the community with helpful information to better support those who have special needs and their families. In 2018, she worked with advocacy groups and hosted a screening of “Deej”, a documentary about an autistic individual’s journey through obstacles and successes. Additionally in 2018, she joined a group of parents in Scotch Plains-Fanwood at a Board of Education meeting to remind the district that per state mandate, they needed an active SEPAG (Special Education Parent Advisory Group). Since that meeting, she has actively worked with parents, guardians and the district to have a productive and effective SEPAG. She served as Secretary on their first executive board and was recently elected their Co-President. The SEPAG works with parents and the district to help better their special education programming, promote true inclusion among all students, provide families with resources, as well as assist with initiatives to promote understanding of diversity (such as Autism Acceptance Month). She has also worked in special education, teaching in public out of district placements in Union County. Most recently she has created a music curriculum for students with emotional regulation impairments.
Music class at The Mill!
During the month of May, music classes finished their World Music Unit. This helped students recognize diversity among classmates, and exposure to various cultures music and dance.
Additionally, two students performed in the Union County Teen Arts Festival. One student sang “Easy On Me” by Adele, and another student performed a Scribian Opus on piano. LMA is very proud of the students who attended Teen Arts; those who performed showed how they built skills in self confidence, performance and perseverance through rehearsing. Classmates that did not perform displayed respect and showing support for their peers.
Ms. Finver's class continues with the Literacy Magazine Publication
Students have completed the Literacy Magazines Publication and distributed them to the various students who submitted a text. We had over 25 entries for our 14th edition of this student lead publication. Students have been analyzing various famous poems to develop a greater understanding of their authors' meanings through use of the TPCASTT method. We also went to the Union County Teen Arts Festival where we had our student’s written text critiqued by published authors. Additionally, we had two students present with a singing solo and keyboard performance. For Mental health awareness month students in ELA&L collaboratively designed a building wide bulletin board depicting various self care steps they take to care for themselves.
Mr. Acosta's Post Graduate Program wraps up the year!
Students in the post-graduate program recently participated in “muffin mania” where we made three different types of muffins and shared them with staff. In total, we made forty-eight muffins. Blake recently completed his application for the Cranford Movie Theater, which will be submitted shortly. Gabe continues to practice his interviewing skills and is gaining confidence when answering various questions. We are hopeful that before the school year ends, we will take one additional trip using public transportation to have lunch in Westfield.
LMA Participates in the Annual Union County Teen Arts Festival
Union County Teen Arts Festival was held in May, where students from various schools in Union County performed, created and wrote pieces to be shared and critiqued. Many LMA students submitted writing pieces and art through ELA&L which were displayed, as well as two students performing songs live they rehearsed in music class. Some students toured the grounds and participated in different workshops.
Some workshops included:
Nature printmaking; where students learned mono-printing and multi-colored printing.
Friendship bracelet making to acknowledge healthy relationships in their lives.
Keychains using various materials, fostering student’s sense of creative expression.
LMA Visits Crossroads School
Our experience at Crossroads was a very rewarding one filled with fun and teamwork. We met many great people, staff and students alike. Everyone was very welcoming and inviting when we arrived and made us feel at home. The group activities were an enjoyable experience for all. Even with some students being non verbal, we still were able to find other ways to communicate with each other.
One of the most positive experiences from Crossroads was the gym, as even though it was small, it was filled with activities to engage in with the students. Going into a new environment it was a bit nerve racking for us, but we were able to overcome it, and in doing so we learned some new things.
-Skye G.
The kids that we met at Crossroads were very kind, welcoming, and helpful. The staff at the same time were very supportive and welcoming. They even asked us if we would like some cookies as we walked into the conference room. The student that Taylor was working with initiated a conversation with him about a video game Five Nights at Freddy's. Amir was helping a normally unengaged student become able to partake in art activities. In the gym Ben helped Alaya learn how to trap, or stop the ball before kicking it back. Overall The staff and students made us feel happy and welcomed. Thank you Crossroads for letting us hang out with your students and staff.
-Taylor V.
Therapy Dogs visit LMA
On May 15th, furry friends from Creature Comfort Pet Therapy visited LMA to provide their services. CCPT offers a hands-on approach to therapy through the use of a variety of animals such as dogs, cats, rabbits, and guinea pigs. The animals provide healing comfort to individuals experiencing grief, loss, pain, recovery, homelessness, food insecurity, disabilities or loneliness.
Former Student Joshua J. continues his career path
Joshua J. attended LMA during the transition from COVID-19 remote learning, into hybrid learning. He was able to work hard during his short tenure at LMA providing him additional therapeutic supports and coping skills to be successful. He was able to return back to district from LMA in 2022, utilizing a shared time program to ease the transition to Piscataway High School. Joshua was able to successfully earn his high school diploma in 2023 from his home district. He presently works at Jiffy Lube and will be attending Innovative Salon Academy to pursue his passion in cutting hair to be a future barber. Joshua is a prime example of how each individual student that attends LMA has their own high school and post-secondary goals, and how LMA will support them on all levels!
