The Lavelle school is ready for the 2011 Hand-In-Hand Awards ceremony

Students from the Lavelle School are two weeks away from their final performance! So they were busy rehearsing their songs and writting down their speech. Ms. Shawna reminded them a few things to keep in mind during the performance: project your voice, stand tall, listen to each other to sing in harmony and of course have FUN!

Ms. Shawna and Marie will go over the last details next week. For complete program, check our blog next week!

Letters from the New York Institute For Special Education to the California School for the Blind: excerpt

Dear Jack V.,

Hi, my name is Vivian from the New York Institute for Special Education. We have received your letter. I’m excited to be your pen pal. I like to listen to pop and spanish music. My favorite foods to eat are hamburger, steak and chicken. My favorite things to do is watching TV, playing baseball, bowling and talking on the phone.
Do you like to watch TV and talk on the phone? What are your favorite subjects? My favorite subject is Math and English. How about you?
I live in Queens, almost next to the White Stone Bridge. I live 3 blocks away from the park and my house is very big. How about yours?
When is your birthday? My birthday is January 27 and I was born in 1998. How about you?

I hope you write soon.
From Vivian

Visit to the Whitney Museum of American Art

For the second year in a row, in partnership with Art Beyond Sight, teens from the Youth Insights program at the Whitney Museum of American Art led a tour of the exhibition Modern Life: Edward Hopper and his time for a group of students from the New York Institute for Special Education (NYISE). Along with using drama and movement, they created tactile diagrams and gave lively verbal descriptions. They offered NYISE students opportunities to weave their own stories for each painting observed. Everyone came up with insightful suggestions. In discussing Edward Hopper’s New York Interior, William suggested that “maybe the young girl in the painting had just been ditched at her wedding.” Who knows…

At the end of the tour the group gathered for more discussion and a snack. Teens from the museum explained how they got involved with the program and what they hope to achieved. Students from the NYISE shared their interest in art and recent projects they have been working on with Mr. Jason.

Teaming Up with Teamwork at Lavelle!

All of the students at the Lavelle School for the Blind are busy getting prepared for their final performance of the year on April 6th!
Students of Group 19 are busy preparing a medley of their version of the Teamwork song in different genres, while group 22 wrote their own original lyrics to the song! Group 20 wrote an original rap to the music of "Black and Yellow" revolving around theme of working together. Everyone's been doing an outstanding job of stepping up and taking leadership as well as following directions and having a great time helping each other! We look forward to April 6th!

Jannat, Beautiful Job!

The Students at PS 201 in Queens continued working on their portraits today. After posing for their classmates to take their picture, students were to make their own frame. Kudos to Jannat who did a wonderful job emphazing the theme of her picture.

2 Reasons to Eat Trail Mix

“It last longer so that we can take it on a trail.” – Matthew
“It has proteins to make us strong.” – Salman

Today, students from PS 102 made their own trail mix after looking at and, of course, tasting a variety of nuts. We also discussed the health benefits of nuts -- how they are a source of protein, which helps build our muscles – as well as how they can be kept for a long time without spoiling, and that they are a quick and nutritious snack to give us energy to go through the rest of the day. Students prepared individual bags of trail mix for themselves and a big jar of it for their teachers. To make sure they do not poison themselves – or someone who is allergic to nuts doesn’t try a handful -- students wrote a label with the ingredients: walnuts, peanuts, pistachios, cranberries and raisins and today’s date.

Report from PS 201 in Queens

Self-Portraits

Over these past two sessions, students in Ms. Emily’s class made their self-portrait: from dressing up to taking the picture to framing it. See the result.

Working with Clay

Ms. Marie and Ms. Shawna had some plans for those little hands. We got to make them flexible and strong so that we can zip our jacket, button up our shirt and tie our shoes. We first started with a song, woke up our hands by clenching our fists and wiggling our fingers, then we went to the interesting part: the clay. Leenah told us clay is very cold and hard but little by little everyone was able to tear apart pieces of clay that we rolled in our hands and flattened up. Anaiah decided to make a cat, Shalim a snowman, Maisha a pot, leenah a dog and Marques a car. Look at them!

PS 201 at the Queens Museum of Art

Where to start? We did so much today.

Ms. Portia’s class had so much fun in an art-making workshop. They created pictures with markers, crayons and wiki sticks. Angel made a beautiful ship and lighthouse. Then, the students were in for a treat. Ms. Donnielle and Ms. Christine, two of our hosts at the museum, had them pour and spread glue all over small globes (and they could use their bare hands to do so!) that they decorated with various materials: fabrics, ribbons, wool, flowers and many others. They also had their photographs taken by Ms. Donnielle, who brought costumes and accessories for them to don. Marques decided to be batman, Destiny a rock star, and Anaiah the Statue of Liberty. We went on a walk around New York City panorama, a huge 3-D reproduction of the five boroughs built by Robert Moses for the 1964 World Fair. And finally, after two hours, we decided it was time to go back to school.

Ms. Emily’s class participated in a photography workshop. Students got to dressed up as any character they wished and, using digital cameras, shot portraits of their classmates and self-portraits, which they did by turning the camera towards themselves and extending their arms before shooting. Students discussed contrast and how to choose a good background for the subject they wanted to photograph. They then experimented by placing an object of their choice on different color papers and taking pictures of it. The group also went into the galleries to look at portraits -- photographs and statues -- which will hopefully inspired them next time they pick up a camera.

Team work in clay: how does it look?

Students from the Schermerhorn Program paired up today and were asked to think of a word that symbolizes team work to them without telling anyone else. They are now in the process of creating original works of art from clay representing their words. Here are some examples…Ms. Shawna and Ms. Marie are very curious to hear the stories and explanations behind them.

RAP song - A New Addition

Kudos to Branden, who made a wonderful addition to our RAP song. Ms. Shawna and I agree that Branden is a very good team player as he is at once supportive of his classmates and easily takes on the role of leader.

Well they talk about me here they talk about me there
But jealousy won’t let you nowhere
Remember my name let it echo through your brain
The name is Branden and I’m just not the same if you like
My style cause you like my smile
I can even rock it better than the radio “dial”
I pick up the mic at your request
You can’t spell yes without the ‘es’ cause I’m the best
And I really got the “fireness” and I am really done with NYSE you heard.