Together We Can

These last few weeks, I have been able to get out to the school buildings and see some great things going on. There is so much inspiring learning from our students. I have seen some great literacy and math lessons by our dedicated staff. Our classroom teachers are doing such great work with your children.

On Thursday February 2, I will be providing an update on the Special Education Action Plan to the Board of Education. The meeting will be at the Havemeyer Building on Greenwich Avenue and is expected to start around 8:00 pm after the BOE has an executive session. If you are not able to attend, you can also watch virtually.

Best,

Stacey Heiligenthaler, Ph.D.

Chief Officer of Special Education and Student Supports

stacey_heiligenthaler@greenwich.k12.ct.us

Mrs. Bennet at Cos Cob is leading a math addition lesson in the kindergarten co-taught class.

Students in Ms. G's third grade classroom at Julian Curtiss are working on solving multi digit addition and subtraction problems.

Third-grade students at Parkway celebrated the Chinese New Year! 2023 is the sign of the rabbit! Chinese New Year 2023 fell on Sunday, January 22, and celebrations will culminate with the Lantern Festival on February 5.

Lynn Rule from Connecticut Parent Advisory Center (CPAC) provided parents and staff an overview of special education and the PPT process. On February 8, she will be returning to present on "Getting to Know Your Child's IEP." See the registration flyer in this newsletter for more details.

The new sensory rooms at Western MS help children improve their visual, auditory and tactile processing as well as fine and gross motor skills.

Ms. Barnett's English Skills class at WMS is discussing and brainstorming character traits. The class is brainstorming character traits and using graphic organizers to write paragraphs related to their independent reading.

GHS teachers Ms. Gillian Thompson and Ms. Nicole Kumar present to faculty on the Zones of Regulation. Teachers left with tools to use in their classrooms to build students’ emotional vocabulary.

Teachers at GHS convene to work on a student’s individual plan so that all stakeholders are on the same page. Collaboration is key for student success!

Community Connections expands job opportunities for for students with a student being hired directly by Spot On Veterinary Hospital & Hotel. A great student and job match is a true success story!

Please join our Winter 2023 Listening Community.

Meetings will be held at Greenwich Town Hall in the Gisborne Conference Room.

Wednesday mornings from 9:30 AM- 10:30 AM:

• January 25
• February 1
• February 8
• February 22
• March 1
• March 8

For those parents that would prefer to participate virtually, below is the meeting link:

Google Meet joining info

Video call link: https://meet.google.com/bsc-jneo-tby

Or dial: ‪(US) +1 570-415-1046‬ PIN: ‪950 110 805‬#

More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/bsc-jneo-tby?pin=9474928562361

I hope you are having a great start to 2023! I’m excited to continue building our understanding of inclusion and share some resources with you.

A major part of promoting inclusion is understanding NEURODIVERSITY. Put simply, neurodiversity is the diversity of human brains; my brain works differently than yours. In the context of learning, humans take in, process, and express their learning in different ways. A person can be neurodivergent or neurotypical.

Resource Share:

Here are two videos that dive deeper into neurodiversity:

• What You Need to Know About Neurodiversity (4 minutes)

• Ask an Autistic- What is Neurodiversity? (11 minutes)

This year, GPS elementary schools began its partnership with PINE, "Program for Inclusion and Neurodiversity Education," to strengthen our inclusive practices, build on our understanding of neurodiversity, and better support all of our neurodivergent learners. Through PINE, elementary school teams are doing a variety of inclusive work such as, completing courses on topics like Understanding Autism and Building Executive Functioning, having thoughtful conversations about areas of strength and areas of growth, and participating in office hours with PINE experts.

As I continue to share resources and information, let me know what is of interest to YOU. Please take a few minutes to complete this survey.

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Email: stacey_heiligenthaler@greenwich.k12.ct.us
Website: https://www.greenwichschools.org/teaching-learning/special-education
Location: 290 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich, CT
Phone: (203) 625-7493