School Highlights Spring 2020
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School Highlights Spring 2020 In This Issue Burlington City High School ...............................8 Cherry Hill High School West..............................7 ECLC-Chatham High School .................................8 Grant Elementary School ....................................7 High Bridge Middle School .................................5 Instagram Posts life_skills_123 ..............................................19 lyndhurst_play_unified ...............................16 mendhamunified ........................................22 mhsunified_sports ......................................16 mthsunified ................................................17 northhunterdon_unified .............................19 sounified_newton .......................................18 sounified_vhs ..............................................20 wmcunified .................................................21 Kingsway Regional High School ........................10 SONJ Unified Champion Schools Go Virtual Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, schools in New Jersey were Lyndhurst Public School District .................. 11-13 closed, but that didn’t stop Unified programs. The SONJ UCS Millburn High School ..........................................5 Final Report asked the question: Were you able to continue Monroe Township High School ...........................6 your Unified programming virtually? Many school liaisons answered yes. The responses that follow on pages 1-3 describe Mount Olive High School ..................................15 how they kept the students connected. Newton High School ...........................................8 Franklin High School: We held a virtual Zumba class in May that North Hunterdon High School ............................5 was well received by our students and their parents. It was a way Overbrook High School .......................................5 to provide exercise and social interaction. Parsippany Hills High School ..............................9 Union City High School: We had weekly meetings on Zoom dur- SONJ UCS Connect Drop-in .................................4 ing the first few months of COVID. During May and June, we held exercise classes twice a week via Zoom. SONJ UCS Youth Leadership Committee .............4 SONJ Unified Champion Schools Go Virtual ....1-3 Hopatcong High School: Through esports and gaming. It has been a tremendous addition to our Play Unified experience Union City High School .......................................5 and may be a direction we head in with more fervor in the Washington Park School .....................................5 coming years. West Morris Central High School ........................7 Delsea High School: We kept our students connected through Woodrow Wilson Elementary School – google meets. This was a great way for students to “see” each New Brunswick ..............................................14 other. The Unified club and teams were able to talk and commu- nicate as well as play a game and workout with each other. Office of Special Education Programs Page 1 U.S. Department of Education School Highlights Spring 2020 Mount Olive High School: We had weekly Zoom meetings where we did Bingo, Scatter- gories, Pizza making party, Drive by birthday celebrations, Disney Sing Along Night. We still celebrated Autism Awareness Day and Down Syndrome Awareness, Unified Dress Down Week Kingsway Regional High School: We used google classroom for our track team and posted workouts weekly and asked the students to comment on how they were doing and how they liked the workouts. We held weekly Zoom meeting with our Unified club members and worked together to create an end of the tear Zoom dance party. The turnout for this event was impressive. During the party we presented a slide show with highlights from our year and showcasing our Unify Seniors! (The link is here: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Mw_5BSta_cF3EnEl1AfdGMfD- j4gquGauy-Fh4JuKH14/edit?usp=sharing). Morris Knolls High School: We continued to hold meetings for Unified Circle Club. We held a Unified Gifted and Talented Showcase virtually. We also held our Unified PE classes virtually. Metuchen High School: Zoom check-in meetings, Flip Grids, video birthday celebrations, daily workouts. We also were able to pull off a Respect Week in April-May. The students sent pictures of themselves in tie-dye, crazy socks, favorite team, as well as showed their Unified support by writing/drawing messages on side- walks or leaving posters in windows. Here is our end of the year video/senior sendoff for 2020. https://youtu. be/QRPrSM4mM-I Monroe Township High School: We had zoom meetings every week, participated in PE classes, various competitions and dance parties on Flip Grid. We had remote scav- enger hunts where team winners would get a pizza delivered to their doors. We had Respect week drawings where partici- pants were chosen to win a donut decorat- ing kit. For “Unified’s Got Talent” on Flip Grid the winner had an ice cream decorat- ing kit delivered to them. We did a Unified Lip Dub, created an end of the year video with video tributes to the class of 2020. Delivered MTHS Unified strong t-shirts to the class of 2020. Office of Special Education Programs Page 2 U.S. Department of Education School Highlights Spring 2020 West Morris Central High School: We had an extensive virtual program during quarantine with practice scheduled 2x per week, as well as regular competition with our sister school at Mendham. Our goal was to keep kids connected with projects such as a t-shirt design fundraiser and Unified banquet and pizza/ice cream social parties. North Hunterdon High School: In May we did 2 differ- ent challenges (Wellness- tracking healthy activities and Music- weekly music challenges and activities). We had virtual club meetings in April and May. We also offered a Unified partner lunch on Fridays in April and May. The staff organized up to two different groups for socialization. Chatham High School: We used Zoom to host virtual dance parties and our graduation! Parsippany Hills High School: Our students participated in game groups on Google meet. We continued having a Google Classroom for our Unified athletes where we gave them tips to staying healthy and active during quaran- tines. We also shared work out programs and routines recorded by the coaches for the students to do. We ended the year with a virtual dance party. Ridgewood High School: I have an after school club that meets regularly via Zoom, and I decided to combine the two clubs (my social club and Unified) to help those students meet new people and hopefully decide to join our Unified Sports program. I sent students and their families the links to Unified’s online yoga/wellness and exercise classes, and continued to meet with many of the students with special needs. Overbrook High School: We already had a google classroom set up so that is how we communicated and also through remind101. We had monthly google meet meetings just to check in and see how everyone was doing. Our Google Meets usually lasted 45 minutes. At the last meeting, the president created a senior book that we looked over in a slide presentation. Jefferson Township High School: We continued with our weekly meetings through Zoom. We met every Wednesday from March-June for an hour and completed activities. We did a kahoot, scavenger hunt, sing a long, fun fact game, etc. Lyndhurst: We created a google classroom to communicate with our club members. We also improved our Ins- tagram page and began using it daily. On google classroom, advisors were able to post links to zoom meetings and we were able to resume our Tuesday weekly meetings. Office of Special Education Programs Page 3 U.S. Department of Education School Highlights Spring 2020 SONJ UCS Connect Drop-in SONJ launched weekly UCS was that Unified relationships At one session, Molly Connect Drop-in sessions to are more important than McClosky, a lifelong educator offer a platform for anyone ever. They felt strongly that who now consults with Special who is interested to connect they should continue Unified Olympics on Unified Champion with one another or have a activities through virtual Schools, was a guest speaker. standard time to reach out learning and that the kids need She inspired everyone to with questions. All UCS team their Unified friends right now. think about the ways the members were invited to join Unified purpose, message and the sessions to share and Participants discussed activities can offer positivity network. Sessions focused on planning virtual activities, to and create a stronger different topics each week such as: Choose to Include foundation for inclusion with “office hours” at the end Week, workouts, pizza parties, during these challenging where UCS staff answered any teacher-student breakfast times. questions. meetings, scavenger hunts, arts & snacks, PE, and esports/ During this uncertain time for Some of the club advisers and egames, and district digital students and their families, coaches shared how they kept tournaments. UCS Connect Drop-in was just their students connected. one example of how SONJ Other stopped by to learn or In addition, ideas for spending moved fast to adapt and just to say hi. this years money, given the adjust to the changing world. expanded flexibility on how The goal is to be supportive The consensus among the money could be spent, were and flexible. teachers who participated presented. SONJ UCS Youth Leadership Committee The SONJ UCS Youth Leadership Committee 3. Virtual Learning