On November 28th, eight LABBB students began a four-week class offered by Bedford TV Community Access Television.  This hands-on, fun class teaches first-time students the basics of video production.  Classes are usually held in the Bedford TV studio located in the Old Town Hall, 16 South Road in Bedford, but Greg Dolan, the Director, offered to hold these classes at the TV studio at Bedford High School. Six students from the Bedford LABBB Program and two from the Lexington campus participated in these sessions.  Greg, Nick, and Julie, also from Bedford TV, did a great job working with our students, making the sessions entertaining and educational, and provided them opportunities to explore each task involved in video production.

The class was called SHOOTING AND EDITING FOR TV. It introduced students to the use of the equipment and to some important shooting techniques.  Students learned to use hand-held video cameras, operate cameras on tripods, and learned the mechanics of the control room.  They filmed each other interviewing other students, as well as learned to play the role of the person being interviewed. These activities taught them the importance of good communication skills when you are on camera. They were also taught how to film outside of the studio (field shooting). 

Students received a certificate of completion at the end of the four-week session. Greg offered to give the students a tour of the South Road TV station after the Holiday break. More advanced classes, such as Introduction to Post Production, Introduction to Studio Production, and Introduction to Field Production, are offered as follow-up classes to the Shooting and Editing class in which LABBB participated.  Greg often works with both Bedford Middle School and Bedford High School students who take classes, do internships, or volunteer at the studio or in the field. He can be reached at staff@bedford.tv for class dates/times or further information.

Happy New Year! Over the course of a year, we all ebb and flow with our ability to work towards our goals. This is true for teachers, students, and families-and it's okay! The start of the new calendar year is a great time to recommit to existing goals or set new goals.

Here are some helpful steps to creating and reaching your goals:

1. Think about something that is important for you to change. This varies from person to person.
2. Be reasonable about your goal. Make sure it is something you can actually achieve in the amount of time you have designated.
3. Break it down into manageable steps. Set a daily, weekly, or monthly goal to meet to help you achieve your year-long goal.
4. Choose the reward you will receive for achieving your goal. It can be anything from putting stickers on the calendar each time you get to the gym, taking a picture for each family game night you have, or treating your student to a special treat after a month of progress!
5. Actually give yourself the reward as you as you achieve it!
6. Don't let setbacks completely derail you. Let's face it, setbacks happen and that's okay. Just try again as soon as you can.

Now that you have the steps, get started!

 

During the last week of school in 2017, Chenery Middle School had a Best Buddies event making gingerbread houses.  Best Buddies is a program where our LABBB students are matched up with volunteer students from Chenery for the school year.  The buddies have a great time getting to know each other throughout the school year, helping each other during the events and saying hi in the hallways and cafeteria during the school days.  Each month we do a Best Buddies event where the buddies complete different activities and games together.  For our December event, the buddies had a blast building and decorating gingerbread houses in our large community room, before watching a holiday movie. 

Every year, LABBB is asked to participate in a Secret Santa charity event run by St. Vincent DePaul Society. Classes are asked to sponsor families in need during the holiday season. This year, Burlington High students generously donated and shopped for two children, a 3 year old boy and 7 year old girl. Thanks to the money donated, we were able to purchase gifts for these children to help make the holidays more special.

Our students planned the shopping trips during class and participated in discussions about wants and needs and what is important at this time of year. Both classes traveled to Target and had the opportunity to practice budgeting, purchasing, and general social/community skills. The next day we reflected on this experience while wrapping the gifts, listening to holiday music in the kitchen, and enjoying some treats.

On Thursday, Dec. 21st, we attended the annual assembly at Waltham High School to present the gifts and were treated to a concert put on by the chorus and band of Waltham High.

We are so proud of all the students and how well they handled this experience, and we look forward to participating in this event again next year! From all of us, thank you to all of our families for your generous donations.  

Click here to view our 2017-2018 Recreation Brochure

If you have new ideas to offer, please email them to prizzo@.labbb.net. We are always looking for new ideas and opportunities our students will enjoy!

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