Crossroads Monthly Newsletter

The New Year started off with 2 days of professional development for all of our staff. Allison Gebler turnkeyed a series of training workshops on “Critical Communication Skills” that focused on teaching functional communication and how those skills are taught through motivation and individualized instruction. Our behavior department was able to train all of our new staff in Safety Care™, a crisis prevention program that gives our staff the tools they need to help keep students and staff safe and provide our students with opportunities to make choices that help them improve their social-emotional behavior.

During the month of January, the theme of “Leadership and Courage” was carried over in our specials classes as well as in the classrooms. Students continue to learn about being brave and trying new foods as well as leaders in the community and community helpers.

Community-based instruction is in full swing with our Middle School program, they are learning so much and having a blast doing it. Visits this month included trips to Shoprite, Target, Cranford Theatre, and BJ’s Wholesale. In addition, our preschool team is collaborating to ensure that our new preschoolers are receiving the best intensive intervention possible, this is especially important for our students who were unable to receive early and intensive programming due to Covid-19 restrictions.

We are looking forward to seeing the hard work our staff has put in this month turn into strides for our students!

Best,

Danielle Cicalese

Supervisor of Curriculum & Instruction

Everyone came back from winter break refreshed in room 106! This month in Ms. Anna’s we are learning about community helpers. We read a story about a bear who is a Mail Carrier and delivered to all the community helpers. Students did a great job labeling all the helpers in our community. We also read an interactive book, the students had to walk over and choose the correct picture that matched the definition of the community helper. They all did an amazing job!

We also introduced a Winter theme to our classroom. We are talking about how to dress in the cold, what sports you play and the weather in the winter time.

The Safety Care Trainers started off the New Year strong with the training of our new staff in Safety Care™. The goal for the Safety Care Trainers is to train 100% of the school staff. Our Safety Care Training team consist of two BCBA’s, an RBT, and Safety and Security Monitor. The commission has been using Safety Care for five years and it has made a positive impact district wide. The curriculum's main focus is creating a positive, supportive, and enriched environment for our students and staff. Safety Care also provides the training our staff needs in order to maintain a safe environment in the classroom. The initial training is two full days which is very interactive and includes role play activities to help our staff navigate real life situations.