"It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold or silver."

--Mahatma Gandhi (One of the twentieth century's greatest political and spiritual leaders)

"Cooperation is always more powerful than competition."

-- Bob Proctor (Canadian self-help author and lecturer)

Student Motivation: Activities and Clubs

As the end of the school year approaches, staff continue to work hard to find different ways of keeping students engaged and motivated to participate in their treatment and academic programming at school. This includes implementing motivational activities and clubs to provide additional social and outdoor movement opportunities for our students. Since each of these motivational activities has a token cost to participate, this provides further motivation for students to work on their goals and earn tokens in order to join in on the fun. As some examples, the 400 Cluster offers the Breakfast Cafe and the Chess Club, which provide social opportunities for our older students to connect with others in the recreation room. In May, many students in the 100, 300, and 400 Clusters will participate in our intramural programs which include basketball, lacrosse, and kickball. Our 200 cluster students have an Art Club offering, as well as ways to earn additional outdoor time. Students interested in motivational activities or clubs can speak directly to their homeroom teacher or therapist to get more information about how to sign up for these activities or request other activities of interest.

In addition to these motivational activities, our school store continues to accept student suggestions for items that they would be interested in purchasing with their tokens. Popular items include Lighthouse sweatshirts, fidgets, stuffed animals, headphones and bluetooth speakers. We also offer a variety of food items such as Gatorade, juice, pretzels with hummus, trail mixes, chips, and M&M’s. There are 3 school store locations-1 in the 400 cluster, 1 for the 100 and 300 clusters, and 1 for the 200 cluster and items in each store are geared toward the interests and treatment needs of the students in those clusters.

We recognize that our students often need external motivation to attend school and remain engaged, and this is an important (as well as fun) part of our program. We look forward to adding more motivational opportunities as the school year continues.

Coming Soon: Consent Forms Process 2022-2023

As we approach the end of this school year, we are already looking ahead to the upcoming year and our Consent Forms Process will be beginning shortly. Completing these forms annually ensures that we have the most current information for all of our families and students, as well as the necessary permissions to provide services and treatment. Once again, we are excited to have these forms available to complete and sign fully online, with the goal of making these forms as easy as possible to complete. You should receive an email with a link for School Year 2022-2023 Consent Forms during the week of May 2^nd. Please communicate with your Family Therapist if you do not receive the link. As always, we appreciate your cooperation in completing this important and necessary paperwork!

May Bioeducational Theme of the Month: Cooperation

During the month of May students will focus on the Bioeducational Theme of Cooperation. Cooperation is the process of working together toward a common goal. It is a fundamental life skill that allows us to work harmoniously together and accomplish something that would be difficult to do alone. There are many skills that are involved with cooperation such as listening to others, taking turns, hearing and applying feedback, compromising, and problem solving. Through cooperation, students can learn tolerance, empathy, patience, and communication skills.

Lessons this month will incorporate the theme of Cooperation as well as highlight the skills needed to cooperate successfully. Group Therapy lessons may include creating a classroom art project, constructing a flag to represent the homeroom, finding a treasure in a scavenger hunt, and building objects together using unconventional materials. Students will process what the experience was like working with classmates, including how they felt in the moment when they faced obstacles, and the roles they shared in their group projects. Academic lessons will also focus on cooperative learning through hands-on activities such as trivia teams to learn concepts, using STEM skills to build simple cars with a team using classroom materials, or writing a group story.

There are so many creative ways to teach cooperation and we invite you to have fun at home with this theme as well. Please see the following resources to get you started:

1. Turn chores into a challenge: Set a timer to tidy up. See how fast a room can be cleaned or a bed can be made when working together.

2. Cook together: Pick out a recipe, go shopping, and cook together. Enjoy the meal you made together.

3. Puzzle: It is a simple idea, but one that everyone can participate in. Once your puzzle is complete, consider gluing the puzzle together and hang your new artwork.

For more suggestions of activities to enjoy in the spring weather visit: https://www.pbs.org/parents/explore-the-outdoors