IvyNotes - Oct. 13, 2019

October 13, 2019

Director's Note

We are looking forward to a full week of instruction in what continues to be a busy Fall season.

We're also excited to celebrating our community partners this Friday at our annual School to Work Breakfast in honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month . We will share photos with you next week.

We hope you'll join us at Ivymount or by phone for the PTA meeting on Tuesday, October 15. See below for how to dial in.

See the latest about our student-run businesses below. If you haven't already, please check out the Ivymount Marketplace .

Have an excellent week.

Susan Holt,

School Director

Upcoming Events

Saturday, November 9

Music for Autism

Wednesday, November 27

to Friday, November 29

No School for students and staff

Thanksgiving holiday

Monday, December 23 to Friday, January 3

Winter Break

No School for students and staff

PTA Upcoming Events

Tuesday, October 15

Ivymount PTA Meeting

1pm

Ivymount Conference Room

Monday, October 21

Deadlines for Box Tops

Friday, October 25

Last day of the Boon Designs fundraiser

Saturday, March 7

St. Patrick's Day Dance

6 pm - 8 pm

NBC4 Visits Ivymount

Ivymount Outreach Saturday programs hosted NBC4, which was onsite to shoot footage of a visiting theater troupe.

The media opportunity was in honor of Only Make Believe's 20th anniversary. The theater group creates and performs interactive theater for children and youth in special education, hospitals, and care facilities.

With the help of local professional actors, students take part in original plays, dressing up and becoming the stars of the show. Each performance is tailored to the students' needs, including sensory modifications.

Outreach participants donned hats and masks to become space cowboys in a two-performance adventure.

Project SEARCH Smithsonian

Hosts International Guests

Photo: courtesy of SEEC

This week, a group from the Korean Association of the Vocational Rehabilitation Facilities for the Disabled visited our Project SEARCH Smithsonian program. They were invited by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The group spent time with the Smithsonian's Project Search team learning about their partnership and how they achieve successful employment for their interns. They also visited the Smithsonian's African Art library, where a former Ivymount student is interning.

Project SEARCH is a one-year school-to-work program that occurs entirely at the workplace, with the goal of the student achieving competitive employment. Ivymount's Project SEARCH model includes Post High School students and young adults receiving support from SEEC, our adult provider agency.

MLN Experiments

with Magnets

MLN High School students have been learning about various elements and their properties. In order to demonstrate where specific elements can be found outside of the classroom, they conducted an investigation of two separate cereals.

Students dissolved Cap’n Crunch or Frosted Mini Wheats in a beaker of warm water. Then they used a magnet to try to attract any iron flakes that might be in these cereals. Students were mostly unable to attract any iron flakes, which led to a discussion about why. As a group, they came to the conclusion that either the cereals did not have enough iron in them or the magnets were not strong enough to attract the iron flakes.

Ivymount's School To Work

Marketplace

Cooks Up New Offerings

Students in our School to Work Post High School are busy stepping up production of products for the Ivymount Marketplace in anticipation of the pre-holiday period and a special sale planned for Cyber Monday on December 2.

The businesses featured in the Marketplace include IvySoapery, IvyScents, and the Ivy Barkery. Students handcraft a variety of soaps using all-natural ingredients, scented room sprays, and flavored dog biscuits.

Proceeds from student-run businesses go toward supporting the growth of the businesses and community-based experiences for the students.

The online Marketplace offers credit card payments for easy ordering. Look for a brand new scent coming just in time for the holidays!

Attman's Steps up Fundraising

If you're thinking of a possible outing for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner with the family, consider planning it for Sunday, October 27.

Marc Attman, owner of the local Attman's Potomac Deli and the historic Baltimore restaurant, is donating a portion of the proceeds of an entire day's sales to Ivymount. It was just in August that the nearby Attman's Potomac Deli raised almost $2,000 for Ivymount through the sale of Reuben sandwiches. Our thanks to the Attman family for its continued support of Ivymount. Consider eating at Attman's Potomac!

Save the Date

Music for Autism November 9

SEE YOU AT TUESDAY’S PTA MEETING!

All parents and guardians are welcome and encouraged to join us for our next PTA meeting this Tuesday, October 15 at 1pm in the Ivymount Conference Room.

We will be discussing how the Back to School Fall Festival was received by families, current and future fundraising projects, and the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day Dance. We encourage new and long-time parents and guardians to attend and be a part of our meetings.

Meetings are inclusive of all Ivymount families and are a great way to socialize and meet other families. Please RSVP using the button below.

RSVP

If you would like to participate by phone, email Cindy Gottfried at ckgottfried@gmail.com for a call in number and pin that will allow you to join remotely.

List of Participating Products

Turn in Your Box Tops

Keep clipping those Box Tops before they become extinct! Box Tops are transitioning from clippable to scannable Box Tops, but there are still paper Box Tops on some products in stores. All money collected goes to the Ivymount PTA to use towards family events. The class that collects the most Box Tops wins a $25 gift card for their teacher to buy something for their class. The last day to turn in Box Tops will be Monday, October 21.

Get Your Holiday Shopping Done Early This Year with The Boon Designs Fundraiser

Runs until October 25

Get your holiday shopping done early while supporting the Ivymount PTA with some awesome products from Boon Design.

Help us spread the word about the fundraiser by emailing, posting and tweeting the Ivymount PTA’s Boon Supply link with family, friends, co-workers and neighbors: boonsupply.com/68316

Use the link and 40% of proceeds from the fundraiser goes to the PTA, which supports our awesome teachers and all of us in the Ivymount community.

Go to online store, click rocket and enter 10 emails. Boon will send them the emails and your child will get a prize just for that.

If you would prefer, you can also fill out an order form found in the catalogue and pay by check. Be sure to collect $1.00/item for shipping and $1.00/item for admin fees (new this year) Make Checks payable to Ivymount School PTA.

If half of the class orders, your student's teacher gets a $100 gift card and if 75% order, the teacher receives a $150 gift card!!!!

See a display of products in the Ivymount lobby. Contact Monique Wintz with any questions at tomandmonique@msn.com

This is the PTA’s biggest fundraiser of the year and we hope you will help spread the word!

PTA DUES

If you have not sent in your PTA dues, it’s not too late. Dues are voluntary and all amounts are very much appreciated. Parent support of the PTA allows us to plan events for the entire Ivymount community as well as show our appreciation to the incredible Ivymount staff! Dues can be sent via check or cash in an envelope marked, “Ivymount PTA”.