LABBB Collaborative  
Monthly Newsletter  
September 2014

In This Issue
Message from the Executive Director


by Patric Barbieri

Dear LABBB Community:

Summer is not over yet! The first week of school was a hot one! First of all, we want to welcome all the new students and their families to the LABBB Community. We are looking forward to a very successful and meaningful school year. 

The summer programs at LABBB were very successful this year, and we want to celebrate by closing out this newsletter with the last of our summer articles. 

Everyone was excited to begin the new school year and LABBB students have been off to a great start. We look forward to bringing you our newsletter every month with updates from the LABBB community. 

We also have other social media tools we are using for sharing events in the LABBB community. LABBB has a Facebook page, many classrooms have blogs, and below, if you are a Twitter user, you can follow these twitter accounts and hashtags for updates with our recreational programs and other LABBB activities. You can also click here to view past LABBB Newsletters.

Please also read and follow my blog posts throughout year. Click here to go to Executive Directors Blog

LABBB is Zooming into the 2014-2015 school year!


 
Follow LABBB on Twitter

@patricbarbieri
@LABBBrec
@LABBBnurse
#labbbafterschool
#labbbbasketball
#LABBB
#LABBBdisney

 

LABBB Upcoming Events

  
  • LABBB Back to School / Open House dates
    • Foxhill Elementary, September 23, 6:00pm - 8:30pm
    • Memorial Elementary, September 23, 6:30pm - 8:00pm
    • Butler Elementary, September 30, 7:00pm - 8:00pm
    • Wellington Elementary, October 2, 6:45pm - 7:45pm
    • John Glenn Middle October 2, 6:00pm - 7:00pm
    • Chenery Middle, October 6, 6:00pm - 7:00pm
       
  •  September 9: Opening Night of "The Lion King" 7:30pm
  •  September 12: LABBB Reunion, Montvale Plaza, Stoneham,                7:30pm - 10:00pm
  • September 26: Open House/Coffee Hour for LABBB Burlington High School Parents. 10:30-12:00. We would like to invite parents of students to come in and meet the staff working with their students and have an opportunity to network with other parents.
       
  •  September 29: Apple Picking Trip, 3:30pm - 7:30pm
  • November 4: Calendar change. No school for LABBB Programs in Burlington on November 4 due to Election day. A letter and an updated calendar will be sent to all parents and guardians. Calendars are updated on LABBB Website.
 Bedford High School Best Buddies Win National Chapter of the Year!


 

 

This past April, Ben Driscoll, President of Bedford High School Best Buddies, and his chapter from Bedford High School, won the #1 Best Buddies chapter in Massachusetts.  On May 30, LABBB students joined in the celebration at Bedford High School and Lauren Potter, star of the TV show Glee, and Antony Shriver, Founder of Best Buddies, came to Bedford High School to  recognize the BHS Chapter. See wicked local on-line article here.

 

During this celebration, Anthony Shriver spoke to the BHS Best Buddies and the LABBB students about  this achievement and the mission of Best Buddies.  He also stated that Bedford High School Best Buddies chapter will now be considered for the #1 chapter in the nation.  Mr. Shriver told the story about Ben, upon hearing this news, had to  wake up at 3:00am to make a video to submit the next day for BHS to be considered for this prestigious honor. Click here to see Part I of the Video Application. 

 

The Bedford High Best Buddies is now recognized as the #1 chapter in the Nation! On behalf of the LABBB Collaborative, I want to say congratulations to  all the Bedford High School Best Buddies. It is an honor to be part of this chapter.

 

Arianna Dines, Vice President, Bedford High School Best Buddies; Anthony Shriver, Founder of Best Buddies and Ben Driscoll, President, Bedford High School Best Buddies receiving the National Chapter of the Year Honors
LABBB Students Attend Middlesex Community College this Fall


LABBB Collaborative has partnered with Middlesex Community College through the Inclusive Concurrent Enrollment Grant (ICE). Below is a picture of  three LABBB students who just received their Middlesex Community College student Id during the ICE Welcoming Day. They will begin classes the first week in September.

 

 

 

L to R: Steve Pierce, Educational Coach; Pam Flaherty, Dean of Students MCC; Carole Cowan, President, MCC; Brian Guay, Student; Nick Boiven, Student; David Kaiser, Student; Dawn Gross, ICE Grant Coordinator, Patric Barbieri, Executive Director LABBB Collaborative
 
L to R: Steve Pierce, Educational Coach; Nick Boiven, Brian Guay, David Kaiser and Patric Barbieri, Executive Director, Zooming at the Middlesex Community College Block Party


The LABBB PAC: The Parent Advisory Council of LABBB Collaborative


 

The LABBB PAC is a state mandated organization consisting of family members of students attending the LABBB Collaborative Program as well as interested LABBB staff. The focus of  the LABBB PAC is on educating families, collaborating with school professionals, as well as exchanging ideas and information that may be helpful to family members of children with disabilities. The LABBB PAC also advocates for a quality education for all students, advises the LABBB administration on special education issues, as well as assists families to participate in the special education process. They do this by hosting a monthly meeting that is open to all interested parties, and organizing presentations pertinent to LABBB families. 

The following link opens a Parent Interest Survey, which we invite you to complete. The results of the survey will be helpful in planning PAC events and workshops that will benefit our LABBB families. 

If you would like more information about the LABBB Parent Advisory Council, feel free to

contact the following:

Theresa LeBlanc (LABBB staff co-chair) 
(781) 861-2400 x1013
tleblanc@labbb.ent

Trish Orlovsky (parent co-chair)
(339) 368-0463
t_orlovsky@hotmail.com
LABBB AHS at the National Sand Sculpting Festival


By Jeff Caritey

Students at LABBB Arlington High School visited the National Sand Sculpting Festival at Revere Beach on Monday, July 21st.  Sand sculptures ranged from castles to a large robot to a massive sand replica of the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Monument). Everyone had a great time admiring the talented work of the sculptures. Some students also stayed cool as they were able to take a dip in the ocean.  Students enjoyed their lunches along the boardwalk under the covered pavilions, still being able to enjoy the fun of the beach!
 

 

LABBB John Glenn Middle School Summer Program

 

by Katrina Wright

 

At JGMS we are enjoying our summer program. We did a lot of fun activities. We went swimming, went to the Burlington Mall, Bedford Farms, Wicked Good,  and Stop and Shop.  We made chili, sandwiches, and s'mores in cooking class. This summer we are reading the book Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea.  We are listening to it on CD and we made character webs for each character. There were a lot of characters to keep track of and this helped us remember all the characters. This book is very funny, but something sad happens.  We are waiting to see how Mr. Terupt makes out in his surgery. Everyone worked really hard at JGMS and we are looking forward to our month off in August. 

The Allen/Farley Classroom at Lexington High School Summer Program

By Melissa Allen 

Our classroom had a summer program filled with fun and learning. Our theme this summer was "Community Explorations." Students participated in some active learning and went on some great field trips. We also incorporated travel training using the Lexpress to destinations in Lexington and Burlington. For our culminating activity, students worked in small groups on a project titled, "The World and Me." The activity demonstrated, through a multi-modal approach, how our place in the world starts small with our street address and then gets progressively larger with our town, state, country, continent and finally, our planet Earth.   We look forward to continuing our explorations during the upcoming school year!

 

 

 The A.R.T Sensory Friendly Performance


 

 

Hello!

 

First off, we at the American Repertory Theater would like to thank you for your organization's impactful work in the community! We'd like to inform you of an exciting opportunity for families and children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, or other sensory sensitivities that normally prohibit them from enjoying live theater experiences.

The A.R.T. has programmed a Sensory Friendly performance of our original musical, The Light Princess, for December 30th at 2:00pm. Students, their families, and groups of students from institutions like your own are invited to experience a musical journey for children in a welcoming and inclusive environment!

Some of our adaptations to the show include reductions of stage lighting and sound, allowance of electronic devices for communication through assistive technology, moderate lighting for visibility during the show, and designated areas outside the performance for students to take sensory breaks if necessary! Specialists will be on-hand to assist patrons throughout the performance.

 

 We are excited to offer students a character guide and a social story as pre-show materials to prepare them for the performance! The social story provides children with pictures and simple descriptions of what the students will encounter at the theater on show day, as well as introduces the plot to the show itself. For more information about The Light Princess, you can watch the YouTube trailer from last year's performance. You can also watch the "critic" video on our channel to hear from other children in the audience.

 

To this email, we have attached the flyer for the Sensory Friendly performance. Tickets can be purchased by phone and our Front of House staff is trained to answer any questions you may have about specific seating arrangements and other considerations. Help us spread the word about this performance so we can provide more access programs like this in the future!

 

Sincerely,

 

The American Repertory Theater

64 Brattle Street

Cambridge, MA 02138

617.547.8300



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