Spring ‘16

Manville Meerkats Basketball Team Makes Us Proud!!

Mr. Kelsey, Mr. Donahue, Ms. Geelan and Mr. Rossell have so enjoyed coaching this amazing team. In addition to being un-defeated so far this season, Mr. Donahue states, “Everyone is working extremely hard, and the level of support is up there with thebest I’ve ever seen on a Manville basketball team!” The players have responded positively to the increased exercise. They also wonthe Groundhog Classic at Willow Hill School this year, so the Groundhog trophy will remain at Manville for another year. Let’s giveshout outs to the whole team! With the leadership of their captains, Makai and Gino, you have made us proud!!

PAC and Manville Parents Appreciate StaffWe are so excited to share that our teacher appreciation continues to be a huge success. This month we are honoring the

Lower School staff with a new bulletin board, and we provided a buffet of "sweet treats for a sweet staff"! Thank you to the parentswho contributed to the buffet, and to those who have sent in financial donations. These generous contributions allow us to keep upour efforts. The staff has expressed sincere gratitude, and it is making a big impact! It's not too late to contribute if you would liketo but haven't had the chance. Next month, Manville parents and Lineage restaurant owners, Jeremy and Lisa Sewall will be provid-ing a nice lunch for the staff on Wednesday March 2nd. We welcome parents to come and help us set up and/or serve the lunch.We also encourage parents to come help us plan future events at our next PAC meeting on Wednesday March 2nd at 11:30. Your in-volvement, no matter how much or little, is always welcome and appreciated! - By Marriah Morrison, PAC member

THE MANVILLE SCHOOL53 Parker Hill AvenueBoston, MA 02120-3225(617)232-8390 (telephone)(617)232-8399 (facsimile)

www.jbcc.harvard.edu/Manville.html

Director:James Prince, ex. 4140

Principal:Hanna Savransky Epstein, ex. 4142

Parent Support Program:Brina Einstein, ex. 4195

Admissions:Paula Shea, ex. 4144

Manville Matters is published by the Manville School Family Support Program and edited by Brina Einstein and PaulaShea.

We welcome your contributions which make this a truly cooperative project between the Manville staff and familymembers.

Please call us with your comments and contributions:617 232-8390 ex. 4195.

The Manville School is a program of Judge Baker Children’s Center, established 1917.

Dear Parents,

I hope you are all doing well as spring approaches, and I hope Idon’t jinx things by commenting too early on how much more pleasant thiswinter has been compared to last year.

This issue of Manville Matters highlights the energy and vibrancyof our school, our students and our parents. I’d like to compliment our stu-dents Sierra, Amy and Sam S. who contributed to this issue’s Kids Corner.I’d also like to congratulate our Upper School’s undefeated ManvilleMeerkats basketball team, and thank the parents who have been coming tothe games to provide support. Our vacation week Family Events continueto draw great crowds. 50 Manville family members went to a bowling partyat Lanes and Games in Cambridge over the December break!

I encourage you to pay particular attention to the article detailingthe upcoming Parent Focus Group workshops scheduled over the next fewmonths. Assistive Technology, Parent Behavior Management Training andTransition Planning are all topics that have been requested by parents thisyear. Kelly Chambers, Bobby Hermesch and Kim Smith are all terrificworkshop presenters, so I hope that you will be able to join us for any or allof the workshops.

Finally, I’d like to commend the incredible work and creativity ofour Parents Advisory Committee’s (PAC) demonstration of appreciation toour staff, and thank all of the parents who have provided support to theseefforts. It has meant so much to our teachers, counselors, clinicians and ed-ucational specialists to have their efforts recognized this way by Manvilleparents. These events have given a tremendous boost to our hard workingstaff. I hope that this will inspire you to get directly involved with the PACas well.

Best wishes,

Jim

Page 2Manville School Community NewsletterDIRECTOR’S

C O R N E R

Over the past few months we have been fortunate to have several new folks join our team. Please welcome:

Michelle Malnati, Psychiatric Prescriber

Lauren Coleman, Clinician

Valencia The, Kitchen Assistant

Avanelle Peters, Milieu Counselor

Jessica Sherwood, Occupational Therapist

Veronique Parent, Clinician/Psychologist

Emily Luukko, Milieu Counselor

Nicholas Dolan, Assistant Teacher

Brian Harold, Occupational Therapist

Zachary Solomons, 1:1 Milieu Counselor

New faces at Manville!

Manville School Community Newsletter Page 3

K I D ’ S CORNER

Lower SchoolJosephAmyMaxPeterIsabelleAdamJamiaelKevin

Jayden MBradySam RayaneNasir

Middle 1JestonPatSeanSebronCiannaDavid

Upper SchoolErikMakaiNickRobertAnthony

Middle 2 Community UpdateMiddle 2 has been focusing on Commu-nity Building and Rewards. In class-rooms students have been working onbuilding friendships, supporting eachother, and understanding and appreciat-ing differences. Teams will be working ona Floor Reward based on students’ demon-strating “Growth Mindset”, which is theability to learn from our mistakes, re-

frame our negative thinking about events,focus on our efforts and the process ratherthan the outcome of a situation, and using

strategies to help ourselves.

Student of the Week What Character Traits Make Barack Obama a Strong Leader? - By Amy S.

I think Barack Obama is a strong leader. These character traits make him a strong leader.One character trait about Barack Obama, is that he is able to stay calm when we have to sendour troops to war, and when they die. He knows he has to be calm because he has to protectthe country. Another character trait about Barack Obama is that he is hard-working. Barack is ahard-working president. He got right to work when he was elected. He signed many laws, andthe Affordable Care Act. He also is a hard-worker because he has to take care of his own fam-ily and the country. Lastly, he showed he was brave when he became president. Barack makesspeeches in front of the whole country. He was also brave when he decided to run for presi-dent a second term. These character traits make Barack Obama a strong leader and able to runa country. - By Amy S.

"Winter"- By Sam S.

Windy and white.

The snow could be heavy or lite.

Snowy, blowy...

Who knowy how much

Winter has a beautiful touch.

Lower School Plays!

Manville’s ownSierra on the coverof Football Weekly!

Congratulations,Sierra!!

Page 4Manville School Community Newsletter

During December Break, over 50 members of the Manville Community met at Lanes and Games in Cambridge for a fabu-lous bowling party!! Each school was represented. Lower School: Adam and Allara; Middle 1: Michael and Jake; Middle 2: Joe,Max, and Daniel; and Upper School: Tommy and Jack. Middle 2 was also represented by sibling Mira who was excited to see Deenah,as both attend Sib Group! It was so fun to see parents, sibs and Manville kids bowling together, and everyone having a great time!Jack, Tommy, and Tommy’s sister, Isabella spent the afternoon together after the event! Parents commented how much they look for-ward to these events where their kids are welcomed, which allows them to relax and enjoy the adult company as well!

Many families joined us on February 19th at Sky Zone in Boston (Hyde Park) for our next Manville Family Event!! Pleasesave the date for our annual Red Sox game on Monday, July 25th at 7:00. Tickets will go on sale May 1st!!

Manville Family Program

March 9th - Assistive Technology at ManvilleKelly Chambers, out Assistive Technology Coordinator, will talk to parents about her role at Manville to support students,

staff and parents with the implementation and daily use of assistive technology and services. Ms. Chambers has a unique working re-lationship with all the students and staff which allows her to meet the needs of all the students. This year, she has introduced GoogleApps for Education platform as an educational, executive functioning and collaborative tool for staff and students. At the workshop,Ms. Chambers will explore the Google Classroom App and explain how students and teachers use it to assign, complete, revise andhand in assignments. This Focus Group will educate all of us on cutting edge technology used in the classroom!!

March 23rd and April 6th - Parent Behavior Training WorkshopBobby Hermesch, Assistant Director of Clinical Services, will run a two part workshop to help parents strengthen their

parenting skills by learning and practicing positive energy and praise, and active ignoring and non-engagement for low levelbehaviors. These are strategies used at Manville and by parents learning some of these skills, home and school can becomemore unified for the child.

May 11th - Thinking about the Parent’s Role in Transition PlanningTransition planning starts at age 14 in Massachusetts. As advocates for our children, it’s important to think about these is-

sues and start early when possible. Kim Smith, our Parent Partner, will explain the official Massachusetts Transition Timeline, shareresources, and help parents think about evaluating their child’s strengths and needs while building a plan to support a child’s interests.

“The parent’s most important role in the transition process is to ensure that the student’s voice is heard, and that all team mem-bers listen and support him/her in developing the skills he/she needs to live as independent and meaningful an adult life as possible.”Family Guide to Transition Services in Massachusetts by the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission and Federation for Childrenwith Special Needs Family Guide to Transition Services http://fcsn.org/transition_guide/english.pdf

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March 2016

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NO SCHOOL!Good Friday

Early Release12:30 Dismissal

NO SCHOOL!April Break

Parent Focus Group6:00-7:30

Parent Support Group& Sibling Group

6:00-7:30PAC 11:30-12:30

Parent Support Group& Sibling Group

6:00-7:30PAC 11:30-12:30

Parent Support Group& Sibling Group

6:00-7:30PAC 11:30-12:30

Parent Support Group6:00-7:30

Talent ShowEarly Release12:30 Dismissal

Parent Support Group6:00-7:30

NO SCHOOL!Memorial Day

MCAS Testing

MCAS Testing

MCAS Testing

MCAS Testing MCAS Testing

MCAS Testing

MCAS Testing

MCAS Testing

MCAS Testing

Parent Support Group6:00-7:30

Parent Focus Group6:00-7:30

Parent Support Group6:00-7:30

Parent Support Group6:00-7:30

Parent Focus Group6:00-7:30

Parent Support Group6:00-7:30

Manville SchoolJudge Baker Children’s Center

53 Parker Hill AvenueBoston, MA 02120

Looking for addit ional information? Vis i t us onl ine at www.jbcc.harvard.edu/Manvi l le

If you have walked through the Lower School in recentweeks, you have certainly noticed the bulletin board on beingbucket fillers andthe colorful “buck-ets” hanging on thewindow outside Mr.McGown’s office. Abucket filler issomeone who saysand does kindthings for others.After reading thechildren’s book,“Have You Filled aBucket Today?”, theLower School com-munity brain-stormed the manyways that someonecan be a bucketfiller, signed thebucket fillerspledge, and havebeen incrediblybusy filling eachothers’ buckets with kind words, notes, thanks, and compliments.What a great initiative!

Lower School Bucket Fillers

Each of Manville’s schools brought learning to lifein the Manville School Curriculum Fairs held the week be-fore and after February vacation. Middle 1 shared whatthey have been learning in science and social studies in cre-ative and interactive ways. Room 221 created a trading postand wrote perspective essays about the French-Indian War,Room 228 led families and friends through an experimentto demonstrate the states of matter, and Room 229 re-searched important figures from the colonial times and cre-ated power points and costumes based on their research.More to come in our next issue...

Curriculum Fairs

Many thanks to our Upper School students whoworked on several community service projects in the weeksleading up to the holidays. Each classroom led an initiativeto support a particular population in need. Room 304 col-lected items for Operation Gratitude: Care Packages for De-ployed Military Service People, Room 306 raised moneythrough a bake and craft sale for the Quincy Animal Shelter,Room 307 gathered household goods and toiletries forFriends of Boston Homeless, and Room 308 collected foodand comfort items for pets for the Animal Rescue League ofBoston. A huge thank you to all who participated, and to allwho donated. The initiatives were a huge success, and verymuch appreciated by the community.

Upper School Community Service