Good morning parents and guardians!

Hope you and your student enjoyed the MEA rake and found fun things to do outside of raking leaves!

This week in Independent Living Essentials we are finally planning our class trip using metro transit, specifically the public bus. Students in each class are identifying places in the LGA community (Target, Dollar Store, Comic Shop, Library) they would like to visit during their class time (80 minutes) and are using trip planner to find out IF we can take the bus to get there and back during our block hour. Once we find a place to go to we will print off our trip planner and using the trip planner identify what time we will need to leave school to get to the bus on time, how much bus fare we will need, how many transfers we will need to make and what time we will need to catch the bus to get back to school for our next class.

We will be sending home permission slips for this community experience so you will be aware of exactly when and where we will be going to practice our new community participation skill.

If there is time, we will wrap up our transportation unit by learning the steps necessary to earn one’s driver’s license and the costs involved  if students choose to do that in their time outside of transitions class.

In Independent Living Essentials this week we are reviewing the steps in how to be prepared to ride the bus so we have a successful experience and get to where we need to be. We are reviewing how to plan a trip, ways to pay, why we need to ask for a transfer and how to read a bus schedule.

We are also planning our class trip using the city bus. Students in each class are identifying places in the LGA community we can travel to and back during our 80 minutes class period. Look out for a permission slip next week, allowing your student to have this learning experience.

Greetings Parents and Guardians!

It was so great to see so many of your faces at conferences last week.

Students in Independent Living Essentials this week are continuing to learn and explore Metro Transit Options. Students are working on a Metro Transit Guide-identifying and documenting ways to pay, fare costs, expected behaviors and how to plan a trip for the Bus, Light Rail and North Star train.

Students are using the Metro Transit website to plan trips in their neighborhood based on events and activities they want to participate in. Students are identifying when they will need to leave their house/apartment to meet the bus on time, how much money they will have to bring, how many transfers they will need to take and how to make the trip back home.

Oh the places we will go! But how will we get there? Students will be begin exploring transportation options this week in Independent Living. Public metro transit will be the primary focus of this week’s learning. Students will learn metro transit options, ways to pay and how to navigate the metro transit website to find bus routes in their neighborhood and practice planning trips. We will also get out bus schedules and learn how to read them in case we don’t have internet access.

Students will practice their metro transit skills this week by identifying the bus routes we can use in the LGA neighborhood, where the nearest stops are and places we will be able to travel to during our class period.

9/19/2011

Greetings Parents and Guardians!

The past two weeks of class your student has been learning and reviewing the expectations and procedures for transitions class, as we learn both in the classroom and the community this year. Each class has spent time working in groups, becoming familiar with one another and learning the expected behaviors of working in a group and being an effective and respectful team member.  Students have also been exposed to the activities they will be participating in their specific transitions class.

This week we are starting to jump into the specific content area of each separate transitions class.

Students in Independent Living  Essentials are looking at the questions, “What is recreation and leisure and why is it important to include in my life?” Students will identify the recreation and leisure activities they currently participate in and ones that they are interested in exploring.  Students will learn the benefits of recreation and leisure and will explore free resources to use to find out about activities in their community.  Students will also compare themselves to the “average” American teenager in how they spend their free time.

We will end the week entering the topic of transportation by attending a “How to Ride” presentation put on by a guest speaker from Metro Transit. Students will learn payment options and expected behaviors for riding the bus and will practice boarding, riding and exiting a city bus.