⇪Feature photo⇪: IGNITE Extended Day Program
The SPECIAL EDition Newsletter is a publication of the Jersey City Public Schools Department of Special Education that highlights the latest student centered events, activities, and trends throughout the district to keep families and educators informed.
Created by: Dr. Gerry Crisonino Assistant Superintendent, Candace Cocarro Supervisor, Jaime Merced Lead Teacher
Sensory Room Expansion Projects
By: Heather Piechocki
The Department of Special Education has received grant funding that will be used to further expand the Sensory Room projects throughout the district. We will do so by adding additional equipment to pre-existing rooms and also open several new rooms. Listed below are the schools that will have a sensory room: MS #4, PS #5, 8, 14, 15, 22, 25, 26, 34, 37 and Academy 1.
What are Sensory Rooms? Sensory rooms are therapeutic, recreational rooms that are specifically designed to provide stimulation and relaxation through movement, touch, light and sound. Some benefits include self-regulation, improved focus/attention, improved communication and social skills, and fostering inclusive opportunities.
Why did The Department of Special Education choose this initiative? The COVID-19 pandemic has had such an impact on our students’ mental health and many students are demonstrating a loss of learning. To address the gap in learning and support our students’ mental health, we chose to further expand our sensory room spaces. These rooms will offer a quiet space for both our students with special needs and their general education peers. This space will allow for students to regroup, which may help in managing stress. By visiting the sensory room often, students will learn to self-regulate their behaviors, which ultimately improves focus. These rooms can be used to meet multiple objectives, including multisensory academic instruction.
CREATE is intended to be a work-based program located at Dickinson High School. It was developed by the Special Education Department to help students learn skills to successfully transition from high school to higher education and careers. It continues to work alongside the student’s Vocational Daily Living Class.
Project CREATE has begun its third year. There are some changes. No longer located in the New Gym Building, CREATE has now finally settled into its new home in the main building (B-12C).
Last schools year the students had a very different setup. CREATE had been conducted virtually due to the pandemic of the COVID-19 Virus. Students attended class via ZOOM. All projects were made from items easily found around their homes or objects that were recyclables. Students quickly learned the term “upcycle”. They learned the value of taking the old and making it new.
Stepping away from the previous school year, this year Project CREATE will get inspiration from nature. Students can explore their surroundings, incorporate found objects into their projects, as well as find inspiration from each changing seasons. Nature awakens the creativity within. This year's theme will be "Explore, Gather, and CREATE."
Edmark Reading Program
TEACH Program
This school year, students and teachers in the T.E.A.C.H. program continue to work very hard on developing many different skills. In the classroom, students learn independence and self-help skills, social skills, such as working in a group, communicating with others and play skills, pre-academic skills, such as following directions, appropriate sitting, eye contact, and attending to teachers during instruction as well important academic skills such as mathematics and language arts.
This year, the T.E.A.C.H program is excited to start a new reading curriculum, Edmark Reading Program. This program utilizes research-based instructional strategies to teach reading skills to students who are in need for an alternative approach to phonics. Through the use of carefully sequenced, highly repetitive word recognition combined with errorless learning to eliminate incorrect responses the Edmark Reading Program helps students to view themselves as readers.
The Edmark Reading Program is very beneficial to students of all ages who have not yet mastered beginning reading through lessons incorporating vocabulary, comprehension and fluency. We are excited to the progress our students make this school year in becoming fluent readers.
IGNITE Extended Day Program
By: Sean Healy
The IGNITE Extended Day Program addresses a crucial need to provide continuity of instruction, before and afterschool for students with disabilities and “at risk” students. The Special Education Department’s IGNITE program provides a rigorous academic experience for 2ndto 12th grade students.
The purpose is to provide these students with extra support and interventions to close the achievement gap while increasing Inclusion opportunities. The mission of the IGNITE program is to ensure that children do not fall behind academically and socially as a result of the school closures from the pandemic. As students are learning, they are part of a daily schedule that includes an artful blend of academic learning, hands-on activities, individually designed interventions including social-emotional learning, and the development of meaningful relationships.
The project outcomes include a proposed increased student achievement in the areas of phonics, comprehension, vocabulary and Mathematics. We also strive to improve student writing, speaking and presentation skills. The IGNITE program highlights students' accomplishments, enhances student self esteem and facilitates the development of appropriate behavior and work habits. The stakeholders i.e. students, teachers and parents are willing participants in sharing student’s successes. Since the program’s inception, student academic growth has improved, negative behaviors have diminished and student success has been celebrated. This program is grant funded beginning during the 2020-21 school year and will run into the 2022-23 school year. Sixteen schools are currently utilizing the IGNITE program this school year and are listed in the chart below.
Fun Friday's!
By: Jennifer Valdora
Fun Friday is a unique collaboration between the Department of Special Education, the Jersey City Free Public Library, and outside stakeholders. This year, students have had fun learning about physics from the Liberty Science Center. They explored the New Jersey Pinelands learning about threatened and endangered species from the Jenkinson Aquarium. Students participated in an interactive magic show with Mario the Magician. They tested their spy skills with the International Spy Museum. Students were up close and personal with a rhino and a giraffe during a visit from the Lion Country Safari. Stay tuned for more Fun Friday events throughout the year.
Inclusion for All
By: Jakleen Basha
The Special Education Department is excited to announce a collaboration with the New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Education (NJCIE) and Rev. Dr. Ercel F. Webb Elementary School, P.S. #22.
The NJCIE is a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to the development of inclusive schools and educational opportunities to support all children with disabilities.
The New Jersey Inclusive Education Technical Assistance project (NJIETA) was granted to P.S. #22 and has been helping to support the development of more inclusive schools where students with and without disabilities learn, contribute, and belong.
Some of the topics that the monthly mini-series have been focusing on and will continue to focus on are: What's inclusion and why it is important, Behavior supports for all students, Co-Teaching approaches/techniques, and how to include students with autism in an inclusion setting, just to name a few.
Public Service Announcements
By: Jaime Merced
The Special Education Department records monthly Public Service Announcement's (PSA) by a rotating group of Lead Teachers that provide parents with helpful tips on how to play an active role in their child's life both in and outside of the classroom. Topics include, Returning to School Tips, PreK and Assistive Technology, Inclusion, Parent Strategies for Homework Help, and more.
PSA's are recorded at Snyder High School and broadcasted monthly on Comcast Channel 97, Verizon Channel 43 and JCETV.
CASP Program Welcomes New Music and Art Therapists This School Year
By: CASP Team
The CASP program would like to welcome two new music therapists, as well as one new art therapist to the Jersey City Board of Education, Lucas McCarren, Madison Indyk, and Emilee Davis. Madison and Lucas are both board certified music therapists and use musical experiences to reach both musical and non musical goals.
As some of you may know, music therapy and art therapy are evidenced based practices. While these therapies can be a lot of fun and promote creativity and reciprocity, it is important to remember that the children are working hard in these settings. Being able to follow a basic beat, tempo changes, and singing in key are all useful skills for children to develop as it assists them in relating with others in music therapy. Creative arts therapies also allow students to express themselves in a creative outlet through the use art experiences. Similarly to music therapy art therapy can use visual art to express their feeling through color, visual, and tactile senses. Other things that you might notice as Madison, Emilee, and Lucas work with the kids might be how they have improved motor skills, communication skills, social play, and educational goals. Thank you for welcoming Madison, Lucas, and Emilee to the team and for taking your time to learn a little bit about music and art therapy.
You've got a Friend in me
By: Lucas McCarren, CASP Team
Mrs.Ortiz's class from PS 22 worked very hard on learning this song and creating a music video to go along with it. This took several weeks and required a lot of focus and energy. Mrs. Ortiz collaborated with music therapist Lucas McCarren on the project. We are very proud of this accomplishment. Students contributed their own voices and instrumental parts while Lucas accompanied the piece using guitar. Please enjoy their music video and original recording of "You've got a Friend in Me" from Disney's Toy Story.
Communication Boards
By: TEACH Program
A communication board is a device that displays photos, symbols, or illustrations to help people with limited language skills express themselves. This school year, seven of our schools in Jersey City have designed an individualized communication board for their outdoor recess space.
Many of our students with special needs have difficulty in communicating their most basic wants and needs. Using a communication board can ease the difficulty of communicating with people who have language limitations. This type of system can be used to support an interaction around an activity. The pictures and words on the board will enable a student and the adult supporting them to make comments, requests or give a direction to each other. Communication boards help better language skills, more autonomy, and positive social interactions.
We can’t wait for our communication boards to arrive and hopefully be able to supply more of our schools with this amazing support for students with different abilities!
Technology in Special Education
By: Sabrina Martin
The Department of Special Education over the course of last year purchased laptops for their Special Education teachers and Child Study Team Members. The Department of Special Education began distributing the laptops to the teachers and CST members in November. Remaining staff will be receiving their devices in the upcoming months.
This purchase was made possible through the IDEA and the ARP grant received by the department. The updated devices will allow staff to keep up with the changing classroom and workplace circumstances as they navigate through new classroom platforms, meeting forums and communication exchange.
Laptops allow easier planning and group communication. With the pandemic, both groups were in need of new laptops, whether to provide instruction for their virtual students or to provide support. The devices allow accessibility from home and from school. They provide an important mode of communication for staff to plan, grade, evaluate, and of course communicate with families.
Self-Reflection-We Are All Masked Together
By: Bonnie Shultz, CASP Team
“We are all masked together” Art Therapy project, was a collaborative and creative opportunity to portray the social and emotional development of all my students. I, the Art Therapist, introduced a variety of mask prints and discussed how masks were used in an emotional and physical manner, such as placing the mask on their face, using a mirror to reflect. I had the students free draw a mask on a piece of white paper. Some of the students needed shapes to trace and then outlined with a black marker.
The students then explored a variety of art and crafty materials, such as feathers, gems, wood, and colorful shapes. Each student decided on what materials they wanted to use on their paper-mache mask. This gave the students autonomy and to feel in control of their ideas and thoughts. The mask making was a positive experience for the students. Once each mask was completed, a mural like showcase was created at each school (PS #5, 26, 34, Cordero, and McNair). Each mask represented, Individuality. It was amazing to see how each and every mask was different from one another. There was so much meaning behind those masks. Each and every one of them came out beautiful. The mural like showcase has become a social piece for students to appreciate. The students focused on self-expression, mindfulness, fine and gross motor skills and social pragmatics.
Teacher Appreciation
By: Sabrina Martin
The Department of Special Education wanted to show their appreciation to all their teachers for their hard work over the course of these unprecedented times. To show their appreciation, each Special Education Teacher received $1000 to spend on classroom materials and supplies for their students. This was made possible through the IDEA and ARP grants. From now until the end of the school year teachers from the department will receive their orders and will be able to utilize new materials with their students.
Thank you teachers for staying strong through these hard times and putting our students first!
Stepping into a New Intervention Program
By: Melissa Cook
The Special Education Department is implementing the new intervention program Steps to Advance that correlates directly to the Benchmark Advance Core program. This intervention is for students in grades 2-5 in self-contained and inclusion settings. It may also be used with our “at risk” general education students. Benchmark Steps to Advance is an intervention that addresses key literary, informational, and content-area grade-level standards. This program provides a scaffold to complex text, enabling students to reach grade-level expectations, through gradual steps targeting content vocabulary, language and comprehension.
