completed community connections project
TRANSCRIPT
Sanford Middle School is a magnet middle school in Seminole County. The ESE department consists of Specific Learning Disability, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Mildly Intellectually Disabled, and Emotionally and Behaviorally Disabled classrooms.
The MID unit opened two years ago, and the ASD unit was opened last year with a secondary unit opening this school year.
The total number of students served by the EBD, MID and ASD units is 27. There are 10 girls and 17 boys between these programs.
Many of the students come from economically depressed areas.
The students in our programs have many different disabilities. They range from Autism, and Aspergerssyndrome, to Pervasive Developmental Disorder and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome as well as many other unidentified genetic anomalies.
The ages of our students are from 11 – 16 years old.
They come from several different racial backgrounds. We have African American students, Hispanic students, Caucasian students and many that are of mixed heritage.
These students are in our programs because their disabilities interfere with their educational achievement.
The fund raising event primarily benefits our ASD and MID classrooms which consist of a total of 22 students.
Sanford Middle School has a beautiful kitchen/life skills area for use by the ESE/ASD department. This is not a problem, however, the problem is a lack of funding for the students to utilize the kitchen for cooking projects.
SMS has a fall festival each year to raise funds for different departments such as sports, language arts, ESE, and foreign language. I requested the opportunity to hold a bake sale at the fall festival to fund our cooking projects.
I began the process by looking for recipes online. The idea was to choose recipes that the students would be able to help make. Nichole Boehmer, the teacher in our ASD classroom, came up with the witch hat cookie recipe, and I spotted the rice crispiepumpkins. Since the fall festival was held on October 29th the Halloween theme seemed fitting.
October 23rd - Purchase supplies at Walmart
October 28th - Work with students, teachers and assistants to make treats and cookies
October 29th - Set up bake sale and work the booth
Grocery List
• Rice Crispies
• Marshmallows
• Food Coloring
• Icing
• Gum Drops
• Margarine
Grocery List
•Fudge Stripe Cookies
•Hershey’s Kisses
•Icing
•Food Coloring
"Adorable Pumpkin Treats « Real Estate News & Tips." Real Estate News & Tips. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. <http://blog.homes.com/2011/11/adorable-pumpkin-treats/>.
"Rockdale Citizen | RECIPE BOX Witch Hat Cookies Liven up Halloween." Rockdale Citizen | Home. Web. 07 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.rockdalecitizen.com/news/2011/oct/24/witch-hat-cookies-liven-up-halloween/?community>.
Week of October 23rd - Three hours to earn the money for supplies.
10/23/11 – one hour shopping at Walmart.
10/28/11 – four hours preparing baked goods.
10/29/11 – five hours working the bake sale.
11/7/11 – one hour drive time to get gift cards.
11/9/11 – one hour drive time to get gift cards.
11/11/11 – two hours selling cookies and hot chocolate.
11/14/11 - one hour drive time to get gift cards.
This project was completed for Introduction to Exceptional Education.
The three concepts that I feel were well represented by the individuals with whom I worked are:
1. Students with mild intellectual disabilities are able to integrate into society as they become adults.
2. Students with moderate intellectual disabilities need more support when they are adults.
3. Students with Autism have extreme difficulties interacting with their peers.
The students with whom I worked on this project were representative of all three of these categories. Student
The students with whom I worked on this project were representative of all three of these categories.
Students with mild intellectual disabilities were quite capable of learning the steps to a recipe, and performing them. They had no trouble interacting with each other and seemed to be on the social level of their same age peers.
Students with moderate disabilities needed many adult supports to perform the steps of the recipe ranging from step by step prompting to hand over hand assistance.
The students with autism were almost completely unable to interact with other students while we worked on the activities.
I have always felt that it is important to give of myself to help others. In the years that I have been working with students with exceptionalities, I have spent many hours volunteering before, after school and on weekends.
For me , volunteering is an opportunity to help others and at the same time it makes me feel good about myself.
For individuals with special needs, volunteers can do so much to enrich their lives, such as offer them entertainment, independence, and the chance to learn something new.
I will continue to participate in any volunteer activities that are available.
I would encourage others to offer their services to exceptional students. In fact this spring our school will participate in the Autism Society of Greater Orlando Walk for Autism. We would love to have other UCF students help us represent our school.
I believe that every exceptional child deserves the best possible chance to learn. The students in our classes are our second family and I will do anything to further their educational success.
As a result of our fund raising efforts, our class has raised enough money to fund our cooking activities for the
remainder of the
school year.