Dear Ivymount Families,
We continue to be inspired by your students and all of our staff. Our teachers and therapists continue to find new and creative ways to keep students engaged on virtual platforms. Check out the fun Bitmojis of Room 172's team and more Autism program highlights below.
Collaboration among families and staff remains strong and is crucial to our students' success with Distance Learning.Thank you for your ongoing partnership during this difficult time. We will continue to work with you and your local school systems to amend your students' IEP's as needed if they cannot be fully implemented during remote instruction. Your directors will be sharing more with you about this process.
Thank you for completing the family survey last week. We were happy to have received 142 responses across all programs. Your feedback helps us respond to your needs around remote instruction and informs our plans for an eventual return to campus. Please see below for some of the highlights.
We continue to work with our Board of Directors, Public Schools, Montgomery County Health Department, and Medical Advisors to determine the best plan for returning to campus. Having your feedback in this format helps us best represent your situation. While we all share the desire to have students back together, we also share the same concerns. We will continue to navigate all of this together as we gradually return to campus.
We are planning our virtual Back to School Night (B2SN) events for September 24 by program. Save the date on your calendar! We also have an update on one of the biggest events that would normally be on our calendar at this time - the Ivymount Foundation Gala. We thank our parent co-chairs, Jennifer and Matthew Berzok and Melissa Flaim and Jeff Fischer, for their continued leadership and dedication to this important fundraiser for Ivymount. Finally, the PTA has a special request for families. Keep scrolling to find out more.
Wishing you continued health and a successful week.
Sincerely,
Susan Holt
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Upcoming Events
Thursday, September 24
Back to School Night
Monday, September 28
Non-Instructional Day
No School for students
Friday, October 2
NDEAM Partners Celebration
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B2SN Goes Virtual
Look for information from your Program Director in the next week about Back to School Night, or B2SN.
This year, we will gather virtually on Zoom to hear about your program, before breaking out by classroom.
To replace the B2SN Information Fair, we're planning separate events for new and current parents who have questions about related services.
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We were pleased to once again have significant family participation in our latest survey. Here are two highlights:
Families were asked the following question: When onsite instruction becomes possible for your student, would you plan to have your student onsite or continue with only remote instruction?
- Just over half of the families reported plans to send their students for onsite instruction (52%)
- Almost a third reported plans to remain in remote instruction (31%)
- Remaining families reported having not decided (16%)
We recognize that families may change their opinion, and the survey represents your feelings at the time you responded.
Comments about not returning or being uncertain about returning revolved around the following areas:
- Generally unsafe/uncomfortable (10 responses)
- Decision pending health data/situation when Ivymount notifies of return (9 responses)
- Dependent on Transportation (7 responses)
- Need for more information on the Return Plan to decide (6 responses)
- Will return when there is a vaccine (3 responses)
- Family health concerns (2 responses)
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Autism Program Embraces Digital |
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Classrooms 170 and 172 in the Autism program have created a digital classroom for students with different rooms to explore and find activities related to music, science, reading, and more. Above is a screenshot of 170's classroom, and 172's features bitmojis of the team out front of Ivymount. (see image in Director's letter)
Both classes have also been working on a range of new material, including language lessons that include parent guides on how to prompt/increase language during the activity, music classes, and analyzing current events. Classes post daily videos of an instructor reading a news articles aloud. The video is paused throughout to ask questions and increase engagement.
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Classrooms 182 and 230 held their first virtual games group during Recreation and Leisure to practice taking turns and communicating with peers. Modeled after a group that students have participated in on campus, the games are a way for teachers and therapists to work on students' social skills goals and embed educational programming into fun activities. During the individualized Jeopardy game, this week's phrase was "Good Job" and the gesture was a thumbs up.
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Normally at this time, we would be energetically preparing for our biennial Ivymount Foundation Gala, which was originally planned for this October at the Washington National Cathedral. Although we're not able to hold the gala this year, we are considering plans for a possible gala or a reimagined event next year. We would like to thank our Gala Chairs - Ivymount parents Jennifer and Matthew Berzok and Melissa Flaim and Jeff Fischer - for their dedication and guidance on this effort.
The Foundation Gala has been the primary fundraiser for Ivymount for almost two decades. In 2018, the gala that honored former CEO and Director Jan Wintrol was attended by 500 people and raised $600,000. While such an event isn't possible at this time, the Ivymount Development team is working with the Foundation Board to plan a series of smaller fundraisers.
Historic Anniversary Nears
As Ivymount enters its 60th year in 2021, our mission Shines On! We will continue to pursue the excellence and innovation that has made Ivymount a nationally-recognized organization. Fundraising remains vital to support the depth and breadth of Ivymount's workforce, training, and technology. It's more important than ever with the added financial demands of the pandemic.
As always, anyone who wishes to support Ivymount's mission on behalf of our students can quickly and securely do so by Clicking Here to Donate. We are grateful to all of our generous supporters. Thank you!
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Ivymount
Distance Learning Plan
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Distance Learning will be provided through remote virtual instruction programs until we can return to campus for an in-person/remote hybrid model. The Continuity of Learning Plans in the spring provided continuity while transitioning from onsite programs. The Distance Learning plans provide students with an instructional experience to span more of the day. They include more time with live instructional opportunities and all content, courses, and programs, being taught throughout the week.
Unless your child's IEP can be fully implemented, an individualized distance learning plan or IEP addendum will be proposed based on your Local School System's expectations. Ivymount is committed to thinking creatively to best serve our students. We encourage our families and staff to contribute ideas and suggestions to overcome the barriers we face while implementing social distancing and other health and safety mitigation activities that impact our standard program operations.
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Outreach - Register by Sept. 18
for Fall Education Programs
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A variety of online groups are being offered that focus on critical skills such as flexibility, executive functioning, goal setting, friendship skills, and self advocacy.
Enroll now for:
- Unstuck and OnTarget!
- Secrets of Friendship
- Self Advocacy
Did you know?
Individualized 1:1 services are also available to support the virtual learning experience or provide extra academic instruction.
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Support Your Teachers by Becoming a
Room Parent
Thank you so much to those of you who have signed up to be room parents! This year especially, we need your participation in order to keep a sense of school spirit and community while we're not physically at school. We are still in need of parents and guardians who are interested in volunteering to be room parents for the 2020-21 school year.
Room Parents play an integral role in fostering a sense of community in each classroom. The primary responsibility of Room Parents is to keep the families in individual classes informed about upcoming PTA, school and classroom events. Room Parents also plan class social events — for now virtual or socially distanced — and coordinate the classroom’s participation in Teacher Appreciation Week (May 3-7, 2021). Room Parent tasks can be performed at your convenience and completely remotely. You do not need to attend any meetings and will be provided with information you can “cut and paste” for most class emails.
Room parents are still needed! If you have a student in one of the rooms listed in the image above, please consider volunteering to be a room parent. Our goal is to have at least one Room Parent per class. If you have questions, please contact Merrill Spiegel, Ivymount PTA Vice President of Teacher Appreciation, at [email protected].
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Coming Next Week
PTA Meeting and Parent/Caregiver Hangout Dates
Thank you, from the Ivymount PTA!
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Ivymount
School & Programs
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