October 20, 2025- Week 10 (new 9 weeks)

Hope everyone enjoyed their Fall Break

This week is busy: 

We have our last Bowling practice on Tuesday 10/21 

We have the Pumpkin Patch trip on Thursday 10/23: permission slips coming home. Students will need $23 for the patch and pizza/lunch afterwards.

We will not be making Dog Treats this week as we will be gone Thursday which is the day we make them. 

Remember the 30th- we will be leaving at 8am for the Bowling Tournament and need students up here by 7:45 that day!

So glad the weather is cooling off! :)

~Mrs. Morrison

October 6, 2025- Week 9

This week is the last week this grading period. Remember we are off school all next week. Oct 13th-17th.  I will be on campus next week Thursday and Friday for Professional Dvpt and Teacher Work Days. Please let me know if you would like a conference scheduled on 10/17 and we can set that up for the afternoon. Students are still working on their Country/Continent projects, observing and learning about Plants, Life Cycles, etc...and weather impacts. They are currently still working on Menu Math for Taco Tuesday's Menu and will be creating and delivering Dog Treats later this week. They are reading "The Giver " still and started CH 6-10 this week. 

Grades and updated goals will be complete by Friday- Oct. 10th and I will send home updates through email. Please let me know if you need paper copies of Goal Progress. 

I hope they enjoy their Fall Break next week! We will send home permission forms for the Pumpkin Patch soon for Oct. 23rd. 

Also- Seniors- turn in their Josten forms this Friday!  

Sincerely,

Mrs. Morrison

October 1, 2025- Week 8

Hi all,
Just a quick reminder about a few things going on this week and next week:

1. Make sure you have sent Rachel Burnett from TX- Workforce legal documentation for our VAT class starting in October- (this Friday was supposed to be the 1st class) They are still needing documents from a few students before the class can begin. I have sent her email in Parent Square and she has sent emails too I believe. Let me know if you have any questions or reach out to her. :)
2. October 13-17 is Fall Break so no school/no students. Teachers have Professional Dvpt on the 16th and 17th.
3. October 17th in the afternoon- if you would like a conference, please let me know and I am happy to get that scheduled as I will be on campus all day the 17th.
4. October 23rd- we are going to the Pumpkin Patch and out to eat at Pizza Hut. More details to come- I know students will need $10 for the pumpkin patch and $11-12 for Pizza Hut afterwards. Forms will be coming home soon.

**Grades are wrapping up and I wanted to remind you that our grades in Step 2/Academic Life Skills are typically around 80-85 as we mark progress on IEP goals and I input grades into Skyward as it's required. Be looking for goal updates soon as we're nearing the end of the 9 weeks. I will send those to you digitally unless you request paper copies to be sent home.

Next week- we begin our Community based instruction and I've scheduled it for Wednesday afternoons during 6th/7th periods. We will be going to Wal Mart most of the time together as a class to shop for cooking ingredients and Dog Treat ingredients to continue their work based learning business.
We are starting a unit on Internet Safety this week and have already had some interesting conversations. I'll send home info about that soon to give an update on their Internet Digital Citizenship Quiz.  Have a great week! Keep checking our class site out as we update weekly with info and links. :)

Thank You,
Marie Morrison

September 22, 2025- Week 7

Happy Monday!  We are in week 7 already and time is flying by! This week on Tuesday, we will still be practicing our Bowling for our Sp. Olympic Event in October. 

*ELA- We have started our Book: "The Giver" also and will be reading that for several weeks. Open House is tonight the 22nd from 6-7:30. Hope you can come. 

*Science/SS-We are still learning about the Bill of Rights as we discuss the Constitution and our 3 branches of Gvt. Today- Monday- We are starting our plant/gardening project and will be planting our chosen seeds this afternoon. We are very excited for that and will post pics soon! 

*Math- Functional, money related, algebra skills, and using Menu Math, Grocery Store Math weekly to learn real-world math skills. Students are learning functional math through their WBL activities also. 

*Cooking- Walking Tacos on Friday! Yumm!!!

*Transition- 

**Daily in 1st period we are discussing appropriate Coping and Social Skills, Vocational skills, adult living skills, etc....Our VAT class for workplace learning with TX Workforce will be on Mondays and Fridays during 3rd period. This will begin in October, so we are excited for that opportunity weekly. I will send out any info as quickly as I can. **Please respond to TX Workforce if they are still needing residency documents as it's required now to participate in the VAT class.**

**"Eagle Bites Dog Treats" has been great so far and students are learning some really valuable skills like: measuring correctly, creating a uniform and consistent product, adding $$ for orders and change, following directions and job descriptions each week, Interpreting a spreadsheet and implementing good and appropriate social skills/customer service. We will soon start going out into the community to shop after taking inventory weekly to replenish our supplies. More details to come!  If you have any questions or concerns, holler at me! Have a great week! 

~Mrs. Morrison

 September 16, 2025-Week 6

*Happy Tuesday everyone!! I hope you all enjoyed the 3 day weekend! We are starting our 2nd week of Work Based Learning and it was a great experience for the students. I am attaching a link to our Class Site so you can see a few pics of them making the Dog Treats and what the packaging looks like that they made. We made 96 treats last week and it was a big hit with staff here at AHS. :)

https://sites.google.com/argyleisd.com/step2academiclifeskills/home

*This site link is also in my email signature for you to click on as needed. We will continue to add to this site and will include class activities, cooking, projects, etc....

*TX Workforce will also be meeting with me this Wednesday to determine class time for their VAT instruction which is for vocational and employability skills training that you all filled paperwork out for already. Please be sure that you are completing any other requests like: release information or proof of residency from them to proceed with this valuable training. More info to come on that once finalized.

*In our 1st period Daily Living/Transition class, we are exploring job interests, safety awareness, discussing our hygiene checklist and discussing coping skills, appropriate stress responses, etc....

*In History/Geo/Gvt- We are discussing the Constitution and Bill of Rights while learning about the 3 branches of Gvt.. Their state projects are complete and they all did a great job researching facts, etc...

*The last several weeks, we worked on our large Mammal projects and students worked very hard researching the facts, adaptations, life cycles, etc...to complete for their chosen mammal. This week, we are starting our next Project based learning theme of Plants, gardening, etc....and will be putting in a Fall garden in the greenhouse here. Students chose the plants they wanted from our list and we will send more info/pics later once those seeds have germinated. Have a great rest of the week!

Thank You,

Marie Morrison

STEP 2/Academic Life Skills

Sept 5, 2025- Weeks 4/5

4th week down!! We've had a great week! We cooked this afternoon and made cinnamon rolls. Students did great following the directions and enjoyed that as a treat before getting on the bus. Next week, we begin making our Dog Treats to sell to staff. This is our Work Based Learning Business for them to learn valuable job skills. More info to come and I'll send pics out next week!

We also had our 1st Circle of Friend's Meeting today during Talon Time and it was a big success! They had a lot of fun socializing, dancing and playing basketball. Next week is Homecoming. We do not have a booth this year at the carnival but kids can still enjoy the parade if they want to watch or enjoy dressing up each day for the themes. Have a great weekend!!

Sept 3, 2025- Week 3

Happy Wednesday everyone! Yesterday, we had our 1st Bowling practice in the morning for Special Olympics. Here are the dates coming up that we will be going to practice: 9/9, 9/16, 9/23, 10/07, 10/21 All Tuesday mornings. Please have students wear socks on these days as they change into bowling shoes and need to have socks on to do so. Students did great and with this many practices, they should do awesome on the Event Day!! Woo-Hoo!

Also, We are all well-established in our routines and working hard. We have started our Project Based Learning in Science and History and they are still completing their 1st project in those subjects. Spirit Days have begun and I'll send another message with those days listed as well. ARDs are starting so you will start to receive messages regarding parent input and will hear from our Transition Rep: Mrs. Bowen about all things transition. ARDs are virtual so let me know if you ever want to come in person.

Have a great rest of the week!! Grades are also uploaded- most will always be 80 as we make progress on goals- grades are for participation and required. Goals mark real progress!

August 19, 2025- Week 2

Just checking in for the week as we are in our 2nd week of school. I have a few things coming home today that are important and really need to be filled out and sent back this week. Students have been doing great following our daily schedule in class, turning things in, completing their classroom jobs and got their pictures taken today. :)

- Community Based Instruction forms (2) One is a permission form for us to go out into the community to implement our instruction when we shop for cooking ingredients, shop for our work based learning business, practice buying lunch with our own money, etc... The 2nd CBI form is for emergency contact information that all staff keep with them when we leave campus for this instruction. CBI outings are only 1-2 times per week depending on our work based learning schedule. ( I will send out more info once our CBI schedule is complete and we start going out)

-Photo Release: this is for permission to have any photos taken while students are participating in our events on and off campus. Argyle loves to share and promote what students are accomplishing every week while in school. I will take pics as well to share with you as parents, so it's a lot of fun for us to send those out to you so you can see what your teen is up to here in my class while working on becoming an adult.

-TX Workforce Solutions Application. This is VERY IMPORTANT to get filled out and sent back asap as our Transition Rep wants to begin our off campus work based learning activities for our students. This is a great opportunity, even for 9th graders to begin learning how to navigate their job skills we work on in class and use those skills in an actual work site where they are supervised and assisted. These outings will only occur once per week usually and we will have a schedule in place for both our WBL and CBI outings to ensure we are still in class learning our academics and transition skills.

My goal with this class is to help your teens become independent, learn good job skills, necessary social skills and to understand proper etiquette, hygiene and daily living skills. Cooking, technology, following a schedule, following verbal and written directions, etc...are all must haves in my class and to be a successful adult.

I will also want to schedule meetings with each of you as parents before your teen's ARD to discuss post-secondary options and what I can help you with while they're still in school. Be looking for info to be sent home preiodically regarding transition, employment skill outings pics, etc...

Also, special Olympics paperwork is all back I believe, so thank you for sending it back!
Let me know if you have any questions or are not sure about paperwork being sent home. I have loved getting to know all of my students!

~Respectfully,
Mrs. Morrison

August 13, 2025- Week 1

Group message through Parent Square. When I send out a quick reminder or class update- I will use Parent Square usually. You can still text me if it's important, but the district wants us migrating to Parent Square as it documents parent/school communication. This platform replaces Remind 101. Students are doing well today and getting into the routine. We have noticed a little bit more relaxation and less nervousness. I want them to have fun at school and sent home my welcome letter and a rule contract for them to sign and for parents to sign. Please send those back as well as the Special Olympics application. This will be a fun event for your teen to participate in as we can do it as a class with our Transition Rep. Bowling is the 1st competition we will compete in. Happy Wednesday!