Lighthouse School, Inc.
January 15, 2021
"The greatest gift of human beings is that we have the power of Empathy."
--Meryl Streep (American actress and singer)
"Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?"
--Henry David Thoreau (American naturalist, essayist, poet and philosopher)
News & Announcements
Announcements:
- January's Bioeducational Theme of the Month is Empathy
- December's Monthly Newsletters are available in Google Classroom as well as on the Lighthouse School website
- There will be no school on Monday, January 18th, 2021 in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Rick Kilmartin, Coordinator for Biodevelopment Services
Greetings to our Lighthouse School Family in 2021!
As we turned the last calendar page from 2020 to a new year ahead of us, we look back on a year of momentous challenge and adversity. It was a year of unprecedented change, uncertainty and disruption on a historic scale.
It would have been understandable if the events that caused the closing of our school, led to a fracturing of the Lighthouse School community.
The pandemic could easily have led to more isolation, separation and self-interest. Instead, the Lighthouse family responded in a spirit of community and discovered new ways of connecting and maintaining the relationships that we treasure. By committing to the values of family, we were able to confront the adversity we faced together.
This month, in my role as Coordinator for Biodevelopmental Services, I would like to highlight one division of Lighthouse School staff, the Regulation Support Team. A critical role this team has is advancing student safety by building meaningful and trusted relationships with students. Students know that they can rely on Regulation Support to keep them safe when they are struggling, and to guide them through difficult times whether on-site or remote.
In addition, the Regulation Support Team has developed a state-of-the-art virtual token economy system and a virtual school store, called AMPazon.
This virtual store helps promote students striving toward their academic and clinical goals. Students receive reinforcement based on individual school goals, created in conjunction with their Individual Therapists, and have the opportunity to purchase reinforcing items to reward their hard work.
We continue to appreciate all of our collective work on behalf of our enrolled students.
Bioeducation
You can find the December Cluster Notes by clicking the image of the folder!
Holiday Traditions
Hello 2021! The winter holidays are now in the rear view mirror and the new year is upon us. The new year brings new hope for better times and optimism for the future. Keeping ourselves and our loved ones safe and healthy, remains the priority going forward.
But before we do, let's squeeze every positive we can out of 2020! We knew that holiday celebrations would look a little different than in past years. At Lighthouse, we had a number of holiday traditions that were different, but we could not miss the opportunity to celebrate together as a Lighthouse Family. Traditions are very important to us. It seems that now, more than ever, we need to embrace those traditions we hold so dear from year to year . Celebrating the holiday traditions "virtually" was a huge challenge, and that challenge was met. Our Staff and Students, through their creativity, collaboration and some much appreciated humor, allowed us a holiday season full of special memories.
Through engaging activities such as lighting a Menorah for the eight day's of Hanukkah, decorating a Christmas tree, building Gingerbread houses, a lights parade, our annual "window walk", Holiday cards for Kwanzaa, Ramadan, or Christmas, and even a story from a guy named Santa...all offered "virtually" as well as on-site. All of this insured that the traditions not only continue, but that we go into the new year with a momentum built on lots of fun, and lots of love...and most importantly, our Lighthouse Family remains together. Just like it should be during the holiday season.
Click on window below to view this years window decorating !
Window Decorating Winners:
One of our many holiday traditions, that would not be denied by distance, was our annual holiday Window stroll. This year was no different in displaying the creativity of our staff and students. While you may not be able to enjoy the festive walk around the building, you can see this season's offerings of Holiday wishes from our homerooms to you and yours!...and Congratulations to this years favorites, who earn a "Double Token Day" for their efforts:
105, 205, 307, and 404!
Student Sentiments: Students look back on 2020
Use the arrows on either side of the Slideshow to navigate the slides!
I am grateful for people that care about me at Lighthouse School because the teachers are awesome! - Brendan G.
What I am grateful for is earning the Honor Roll. -Liam C.
I am grateful for everybody being nice to me when I started school. -Bella E.
I am grateful for my new friend in my homeroom. She is funny and smart, she is also caring and understanding. She is always there when I need her, and I will Always be there for her as well. -Ruby F.
Bioeducational Theme of the Month: Empathy
January's bioeducational theme of the month is Empathy, which can be defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. At Lighthouse, students work to gain a better understanding of their own feelings, and throughout the month of January, our staff will be planning lessons designed to help them also better understand the feelings of others. Key concepts included in empathy are tolerance, compassion and respect. All of these are core values to Lighthouse's mission and philosophy and we strive to cultivate these values in our students as well. If you recall, each of these 3 values were also highlighted as themes of the month earlier in the school year and exploring the theme of empathy will help us build on these concepts.
As we focus on the theme of Empathy throughout January, our students will have the opportunity to participate in creative activities such as games designed for the participants to guess what other players are feeling, creating collages to express their understanding of another person's experience, and studying books/movies such as "To Kill a Mockingbird", whose themes inspire a deeper exploration of the perspective and situation of another person. Other movies that highlight empathy include Wonder, Zootopia, and Billy Elliott and book examples regarding empathy include What if Everybody Did That? by Ellen Javernick (pre-k- 1st), Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst (pre-k-2), One Hundred Dresses by Elenor Estes ( gr 3-6), and Blubber by Judy Blume (ages 9-12).
A Moment in Time...
So much of what we work on throughout the year with students is on personal growth: growing themselves as learners, growing their understanding of others, and growing their sense of self and skills to set them up for optimal life success. While we constantly reflect to learn and grow, the start of the New Year is a perfect opportunity to reflect at a larger scale; to look back at our successes, to learn from our challenges, and to refocus and look forward with hope and anticipation on the horizon. Students across the school have started to use our experiences in 2020 to help us stretch ourselves even further in 2021 through a Time Capsule Project.
Across lessons, Individual and Group Therapy sessions, and in the homeroom they have begun to collect artifacts that represent the world we experienced in 2020, but also the internal experiences they worked through. We are so excited to share with you the products of this powerful process in the next Newsletter!
Recent Communications
This new section of the Lighthouse School Update is designed to provide important communication topics that have been emailed or mailed to parents and guardians. If you have not received these documents, please reach out to your Family Therapist to make sure we have your updated information.
Please click on the letter you wish to view.
New Year's Thoughts & Resolutions
To our LEA's
Thank you for your continued partnership as we work to support our students and their families. We are here for you. If you need anything, please do not hesitate to contact us:
Dorothy Pepin
Director of Program Administration
Pepind@lighthouseschool.org
Jennifer Kamin
Associate Director of Program Administration Kaminj@lighthouseschool.org
Amy Bassett
Supervisor for Team Meetings
Bassetta@lighthouseschool.org
Sandra Muldowney
Supervisor for Enrollment Services
MuldowneyS@lighthouseschool.org
To our Families
Our therapists are available to offer clinical support to families and students 24 hours a day.
If you are in need of assistance, please call our support line, starting with Line 1.
Line #1: (978) 821-1351
If you are not able to connect with a therapist or do not get a response within 10 minutes, please try Line 2.
Line #2: (978) 821-0316
Resources
Click the icon for up-to-date information regarding COVID-19 from the Mass General Hospital website