Cruising Kendall County Corner
October Cruising
On Thursday, October 8th we set out for our first cruise around the corners of Kendall County Special Education Cooperative for the 2009/10 school year. Our first stop was at Thompson Junior High. The new addition is complete and looks fantastic! We visited with our social workers, Joy Howard and Jay Peterson. Jay (ED social worker) showed off his new office area – he is especially proud of his couch…we hear that staff visit the office just to sit in it! Our first classroom visit was in Lisa Sturgeon’s ED room. We enjoyed playing an Algebra game for points with the students – even received a prize from the candy box! Emily Nichols ED room was next. Her room has some wonderful visuals for her students. Her group was very enthusiastic about their book “The Outsiders” – Emily also shared her use of music playing as a reward along with the points sheets she uses with her students.
Our next stop was at Oswego East High School. We were greeted by Andrea Phillips, Psychologist who gave us a tour of the support team office areas. We saw Dave Milos, Psychologist and Brianne Kalusniak, Social worker. We missed seeing Dina Schnable and Daniel Breyne who had a meeting with students. Our first classroom visit was in Katie Kerback’s classroom. She was discussing current events with the students, specifically the Olympic Games. Our next classroom stop was in Kathryn Lippelt’s classroom – Her students were working on daily oral language activities. We missed seeing Lauren Peterson on our visit. Our next classroom was Lauren Krall’s ED room. Her students were working in groups on Algebra, demonstrating their work on the white board. Our last classroom stop was Heather Smith’s ED room. The students were having a “catch up” day – something we all agreed was a great idea!! Like last year, we really enjoyed Heather’s wall of Time magazine covers – it is awesome!
Our next building was Plank Junior High. Our tour guide was Regina Alonzo, social worker. We missed seeing Melissa Baier, Social Worker and Stephanie Krug, Psychologist – they were assisting students in another building. We visited the three ISP classrooms in the building. Laura Slimack was teaching a science class. Her students were definitely engaged and enjoyed working in the small groups that she had set up. Missy Grove showed us the new website that her team is using to communicate with parents, staff and students on her team. Cherie Huber was teaching a Math lesson on story problems with the new junior high Math curriculum.
Our last stop was Bednarcik Junior High where we visited with the social work team and Life Skill staff participating in a “Circle of Friends” group. Social workers Melinda Dickey and Melinda Everett were leading the group. Teachers Stacy Tharp and Maggie Slosar were assisting their students interact with the regular education students as the group worked on a “recipe” about themselves. After the group, we visited the LSP classrooms and motor room that they utilize. Kim McCauley, Psychologist was our last stop in the building.
A big thanks for all of our KCSEC staff at Thompson Junior High, Bednarcik Junior High, Plank Junior High and Oswego East High School …Stay tuned for our next day to cruise in November!