Kirkwood Special School District
May 2022 Edition
Special Olympics
Best Buddies Walk
Are you still thinking about what to do this summer?
The PEDA Summer Resource Packet can help!
PEDA 2022 Summer Resource Packet
Other helpful resources:
St. Louis Recreation Council www.recreationcouncil.org
Blueprint for Summer https://blueprint4.com/stl/
St. Louis County Parks Activity Guide https://bit.ly/3LHpRsp
Early Childhood Summer Resource Guide https://adobe.ly/3vSuol1
Parent Education and Diversity Awareness (PEDA)
Applications will be available soon for the Fall 2022 semester SSD Family Leadership Institute (FLI) which was formerly known as the Parent Leadership Institute (PLI).
The institute, which has over 275 graduates to date, was created for families in 2007 to offer information, training, and resources. Participants gain the knowledge and skills to effectively collaborate with other families, school personnel, and develop leadership for SSD and their home districts.
Participants will:
- Build understanding of future planning and problem-solving, utilizing Charting the LifeCourse tools
- Learn to effectively participate in their child's education and improve the educational climate for all children
- Learn how to positively interact and collaborate with other families and school personnel
- Discover new resources and network with other families
FLI Graduates have:
- Served on School Boards
- Been elected as Parent Advisory Council (PAC) President(s)
- Actively participated in SSD and/or local school PACs
- Further increased their leadership training in policy development and mentorship
Contact us at ssdpeda@ssdmo.org or call 314-989-8460 if you have any questions or concerns.
Quotes from graduates:
- Thank you so much for everything! I feel very lucky to have found this opportunity.
- It was very helpful to learn how Charting the LifeCourse Tools could play a part in every step of the way.
- The topics and presenters made the program engaging and informative
- Learned a lot about planning for my child's future and the IEP process
- I'm really glad I signed up for this program. I had no idea what to expect and learned so so much about the available tools and all the SSD processes we will be experiencing during his life.
SSD Extended School Year (ESY)
Monday-Thursday
June 6, 2022-June 30, 2022
NO SCHOOL JUNE 20
Elementary
Location: North Glendale Elementary
Time: 8:15 AM-12:15 PM
Secondary
Location: North Kirkwood Middle School
Time: 8:00 AM-12:00 PM
Wellness Corner-Grounding Technique
With warmer weather on the way, you can boost your mood by being outside and connecting with nature. According to the American Psychological Association’s article Nurtured by Nature, research shows that spending time in nature (as little as two hours a week) can have cognitive benefits, increase happiness, and improve social interactions. During your daily time outside, try using a mindfulness strategy to help you to slow down and be present in a month that seems to fly by. Take a walk and practice this grounding technique to engage your five senses.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Grounding Technique
Acknowledge FIVE things you can SEE. This can be a flower, the roots of a tree, or anything around you.
Acknowledge FOUR things you can HEAR. This may be a car driving by, birds chirping, or your own deep breaths.
Acknowledge THREE things you can TOUCH. Perhaps you can feel the wind, the sun on your face, or dew on the grass.
Acknowledge TWO things you can SMELL. Stop to smell a flower on your walk or notice the smell of fresh-cut grass.
Acknowledge ONE thing you can TASTE. Maybe you can still taste your morning coffee or think of one of your favorite things to eat.
Coaching Corner by Shelly Everyone
Summer of Student Inquiry
Twelve weeks of summer can be exciting or taxing for families. Even If your child isn’t attending summer school, camp or another type of organized program, there are plenty of instructional practices to keep your child learning during the summer. Literacy, mathematics and inquiry-based activities are the foundations of academic achievement.
Any content area can be explored through inquiry-based learning. Inquiry-based activities tap into personal interests and help children draw meaning and apply life skills. Think about the summer activities that your family enjoys. Planning summer travel, attending sporting events, gardening, home improvements and cooking all require varying levels of problem solving, time management, research and decision making.
Sports is a relatable pastime that presents many mathematical concepts. Help your child keep score of teams and/or individual player’s statistics. Numerical sense is the most basic element, however, geometry and probability are all extended opportunities for learning professional and/or recreational sports.
Coordinate ways for your child to explore math activities. Board and card games are two entertaining ways to help develop and maintain number sense and computation skills. Strategy games focus on higher-level knowledge of patterns, problem solving and probability. Manipulative toys are another way to stimulate development. Legos, geoboards, tangrams, blocks, puzzles, dominoes, dice, magnetic manipulatives are all hands-on activities that hone in on mathematical representation, spatial sense and processing.
Obtain a library card, visit a bookstore or rummage yard sales with your child for materials. During the summer, most libraries sponsor reading challenges with prizes and incentives. If reading is a non-preferred hobby, try audio books, comics, poetry, song lyrics, recipes or magazines. Encourage reading to new people or explore new locations. Designate special seating, create a reading cave or utilize an outdoor space. Have your child read to a sibling, stuffed animal, grandparent or pet while using a flashlight, singing or trying out a different voice.
Cooking can be a fun and intentional way to build literacy and mathematical skills. Cooking requires word recognition, reading comprehension and learning new vocabulary. Interpreting recipes involve measurement, fractions, ratios and other basic math concepts. Whether cooking together or taking in a baseball game are things your child enjoys, inquiry-based activities help children deepen understanding and cultivate key skills over the summer.
STAFF SPOTLIGHT
Emily Flesch
Tanner Glaub
I have worked for the Special School District through the Kirkwood Schools for two years now. I am very happy to be the Adapted PE Teacher for the Kirkwood School District. I love this job because I get to help students learn motor skills that they are trying to improve on. My students get to participate in a variety of sports and recreational activities throughout the school year while they are in PE. Therefore, I really enjoy getting to teach so many different activities in the hope that my students find an activity that they like enough to do for a lifetime. In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my family and friends. I also like fishing, playing golf, and playing frisbee with my labradors when I am not working.
Dwana Hudson
Hello my name is Dwana Hudson. I am a wife and a mother of four. I have been in the education field for over 20 years. I have been in the Kirkwood District for 5 1/2 years as a paraprofessional. I enjoy working at KHS because I love education and helping children achieve their goals. I also love being around my co-workers.In my spare time I attend a lot of basketball sporting events and I also love spending time with my grandkids and my family.
Helpful Links
Upcoming Events
SSD Board of Education Meetings:
May 10, 2022 Board Work Study Session 5:45 PM
May 24, 2022 Board of Education Budget Hearing 5:40 PM
May 24, 2022 Board of Education Business Meeting 5:45 PM
Please visit the SSD Board of Education for more information.
Kirkwood School District Board of Education Meetings:
May 9, 2022 Board Work Session 5:00 PM
May 23, 2022 Board Meeting 7:00 PM
Please visit the Kirkwood Board of Education for more information.
May 11-SSD Parent Advisory Council (PAC) Meeting 7:00 PM-9:00 PM
May 25-Early Dismissal-Last Day of School
May 30-Memorial Day
Contact Us
Special School District of St. Louis County
12110 Clayton Road
Town & Country, MO 63131
Phone: 314‐989‐8100
Taneal Davis
- Director of Special Education-Robinson
- tmdavis@ssdmo.org
- taneal.davis@kirkwoodschools.org
Colleen Card
- Special Education Coordinator-KHS
- COcard@ssdmo.org
- colleen.card@kirkwoodschools.org
Bridget Duke
- Special Education Coordinator-North Glendale, Tillman, Nipher
- baduke@ssdmo.org
- bridget.duke@kirkwoodschools.org
Emily Meuth
- Special Education Coordinator-Keysor, Westchester, NKMS
- ELMeuth@ssdmo.org
- emily.meuth@kirkwoodschools.org