Autism Awareness!

First of all Happy Autism Awareness Month!!  I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and was able to enjoy the beautiful weather!  I wanted to take the opportunity to thank Chrissy Gemmill for organizing an Art Auction to benefit our program.  Chrissy we are all so appreciative of your support for Challenges!  If you have the time stop by "The Muse" in downtown Frederick to see the beautiful auction display.

Our 3rd Annual "CMES Autism Awareness Week" will be held Monday April 28th - Friday May 2nd.  We are planning to showcase our students skills through videos during our school's morning announcements.  We will have "Autism Awarenss" posters displayed throughout the school.  The general education students will attend assemblies to help them learn more about interacting with their friends who have autism.  The general education students will also be invited to participate in a writing contest where they can write about helping their friends who have Autism.  You will all be invited to our "Light It Up Blue Night" on Thursday May 1st, so mark your calendars!  Also if you're in school please check out the cafeteria bulletin boards that are featuring Autism Awareness information, a big thank you to Katie Staines and Chrissy Gemmill for designing these bulletin boards!  More information about our Autism Awareness Week will be sent home after break! 

The boys have enjoyed our Spring unit, especially planting and caring for their sunflowers!  This week and after break we'll be learning about baby animals that are born in the springtime.  Thanks for checking in...we're looking forward to a great couple of days before break!

Units

I've done some rearranging with our units because of our crazy snow days!  We will continue with our Dr. Seuss Unit this week and celebrate his birthday with some crafts and a treat on Friday.  These are the books we have read:

        
        

Even if you don't have a copy of the book you can get on Youtube and find most of these stories read aloud.  It would be a great way to review the books we've read in class!

We will begin our Polar Bear, Polar Bear What Do You Hear?  unit next Monday!

We had a great time as always horseback riding last week.  Thanks to Ms. Nichols for all of these pictures!

 

 

 

 

We are meeting as a Challenges team this week and after that I will have more information about our upcoming "Autism Awareness" week!  Please check back soon and be sure to send in any fun snow day pictures :)!

Valentine's Party!

The boys had a good time today at our Valentine's party!  After some initial protesting over crafts ;), they did great accepting their Valentine's gifts to each other, thank you so much for all that you sent in!!!  They loved listening to some new Valentine's songs.  We made a Valentine's float with Cherry 7-Up and ice cream and some of the boys enjoyed it :).  It was a great time, thank you all again!

 

 

 

 

Next week we will begin a Dr. Seuss unit where we will focus on different Dr. Seuss books.  Then we will celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday on Monday March 3rd, more information will be sent home soon!  Following the Seuss unit we will be completing a "Polar Bear, Polar Bear" unit :)!  Please continue to review units with your child as they come home.  Refer to the page on the right hand side for ideas on what to work on with your child at home and let me know if you have questions! 

 

Remember our horseback trip is rescheduled for next Thursday 2/27, please send in forms ASAP. 

 

Check out the link to our calendar, I've updated it for the month of March!  Have a great weekend!

Updates

Hi everyone!  I hope the boys enjoyed their snow days, as you can see we may be having indoor recess for awhile longer, but hopefully we'll thaw out this week!  Please send in any pics of your child playing in the snow and we'll be sure to share with the other students.

I've contacted the farm to see if we are still on for horseback riding this week, I'll let you know as soon as I hear if we need to reschedule or not.


Our Valentine's Party is re-scheduled for this Friday 2/21, please remember to send in a special treat, just for your child. 

Looking forward to seeing everyone and hope they enjoy their last day off!  I''ve updated our wishlist and will be updating our calendar soon, so please check back! 

Staying Warm in Challenges 1!

Our students have enjoyed learning all about "Our Senses in the Winter" while we try to keep warm!

Despite all of our snow days and delays the boys continue to work hard!  Check back soon to see our February Newsletter - it will contain info about our next unit and important dates in February.  Please be sure to check out the pages on our blog including the wish list, calendar, and suggestions for activities to work on at home.  Have a good one and stay warm!

A new year in Challenges!

Over the last few months we've had some great field trips and we've continued to make progress in the classroom everyday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are all excited to be here for the new year!  Our students are adjusting back into our daily routine and seem to be enjoying themselves! 

 

 

 

Please take a moment to check out the updated pages on the right hand side.  I've added a page that lists things that you can work on at home with your child.  Thanks for taking the time to check out our blog.  Stay warm!

Spirit Week and Fundraiser

DON'T FORGET!

This Saturday November 16th Mrs. Lacey Petersen is having photo shoots and she is donating all proceeds to Challenges' field trip funds.  Please consider signing up - check out the info below!

Also this week is Spirit Week!  We loved seeing some of the kids' mismatched outfits today :).  The rest of the week is as follows:

• Tuesday - Sneaker Day
• Wednesday - Pajama Day
• Thursday - Jersey Day
• Friday - CMES Pride Day (wear read, black, and white)

The following restaurants are donating proceeds to CMES when you mention our spirit week or show them the green coupons that were sent home:

• Dominick's Italian Kitchen - Monday (11am - 9pm) 
• Chipotle - Tuesday night (5:00 - 8:00pm)
• UNOs - Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday

We hope you can participate in some of these upcoming events :).  Have a great night!