cca news may 2020 · packets became a way to make sure the parents and students knew how much cca...

Susie's Corner

What's Happening at CCASummary of This

Issue's Contents:

Susie's CornerMasksSummer Services Remote Learning Stories

CCA NEWSMay 2020- COVID Chronicles

Susie's Corner

The past few months with the COVID-19 pandemic have been, and continue to

be a whirlwind and a challenge! Through our distance learning plan, we have

been inspired by the creativity that our staff has demonstrated by finding new

and exciting ways to serve their students from miles away. The families have

shown their dedication by helping with assignments, keeping up with countless

emails, struggling through technology issues, and everything in between. I've

had numerous families reach out to thank staff and administrators for all of

their support during this turbulent time.

And, the fun of distance learning is not over! Again, we are finding creative

ways to serve our students. This summer we are continuing remote lessons,

implementing in-home services, and slowly introducing center-based services

(oh my!). We plan to continue to comply with mandates and guidelines, and will

make our decisions with the health and safety of the students in mind.

What's Happening at CCA

Contact Info Cincinnati Center for Autism305 Cameron RoadCincinnati, Ohio 45246Office: (513) 874-6789Fax: (513) 874-6787Email:[email protected]:cincinnaticenterforautism.org

Remote LearningCCA, like countless other schools, had to designcreative ways to continue services during the unlikelyevents of COVID. Our teachers and students turned to"remote" and "virtual" learning in place of traditionalservices. The staff met this challenge head on andprovided an array of learning opportunities for allstudents at CCA. This included personalized packets ofinstructional material, curriculum-based activities, andreinforcing toys, instructional telephone and conferencecalls, zoom social groups, and more! The students werehappy to have the ability to see their teachers andfriends through zoom calls, and loved that the cameraallowed them to see themselves! Although this was notthe ideal way to end the year, our staff and familiesworked together to help students learn their academicmaterial, adjust to new situations, and have fun whiledoing it! We deeply appreciate the support andteamwork from our staff and the amazing families weserve. Keep reading to see some examples of the funremote programming that were featured in our COVIDChronicles.

Summer ServicesSummer looks a little different thisyear at CCA! To continue to protectour students' and staff's health andsafety, we have made changes toour summer services. We'veintroduced in-home instruction andcontinued remote learning for someof the students receiving extendedschool year services, and haveslowly begun appointment basedservices back at the Center. Ourteam is working hard to make surethat all areas are clean, while weencourage students to practicesocial distancing. We will continue tomonitor the progression of thepandemic as we plan for Session 2of quite a unique summer

Green ThumbsDid you know that technically a cucumber is a fruit? TheEmoji students learned the differences between fruitsand vegetables while learning the life cycle of plants.So, what is the difference? It is determined by the partof the plant that we eat! If we eat the roots, leaves, orstem it is a vegetable. If we eat a part of the plant thatcomes from the flower, it is a fruit! After learning thedifference between fruits and vegetables, the Emojishelped their teacher, Miss Hannah, put her green thumbto use. During their live lessons, each of the Emojistudents helped walk Hannah through the steps ofsetting up a seed experiment to grow vegetables. Theystarted with 3 simple supplies: a sandwich bag, beans,and a wet paper towel.

MasksCCA would like to extend a hugethank you to one of our very ownCCA parents, Liz Harlan, for makingmasks for each of our staffmembers. If you are in need of amask, please let us know and we willput you in contact with her.


Special DeliveryHow do you deliver hands-onactivities and learning tasks to youngstudents? For the Tadpole room,"packet pick up" became a weeklyevent! Packet pick up provided notonly paper assignments, butsomething extra special. The packetswould contain bubbles, games, and onoccasion slime! All of the packetsincluded a science, math, story time,sensory, and craft lesson and theneeded materials to complete thelesson. These lessons and activitiescorresponded with the videos createdby teachers specifically for theTadpole crew. As the weeks progressed, the Fridaypackets became a way to make surethe parents and students knew howmuch CCA cares about our students,and want them to feel special.

Adventure SuccessWe are so proud of all of our students success andflexibility throughout the year, especially during remotelearning. The Adventure class, like many others, had toadapt to new learning environments, the use oftechnology, and working together with families andeach other. The students learned how to independentlyuse a variety of learning and communication platformssuch as Class Dojo Portfolios, Khan Academy,ReadWorks, Code.org, Typing Club, and Zoom! Theirteachers are extremely impressed with their hard workthroughout the entire school year. A specialcongratulations is in order for a member of this classwho earned his High School Diploma and is starting ajob! We will miss him but are always happy to see ourstudents find success when they leave CCA.

French "Field Trip" Our STEPS staff and students took us along for the ridefor a "virtual field trip" to France to learn about thecountry and culture during online lessons. Studentslearned to bake the traditional treat, pain au chocolat,made the France national flags for a craft, and learnedabout the history of France's famous gift to the USA:the Statue of Liberty. Making yummy treats, listening tofun songs, and pretending to be tourists in Paris madefor a fun virtual lesson!


Scavenger Hunt The students in the Leapster class had fun learning andtaking advantage of the nice weather! Our preschoolkiddos explored their neighborhoods, local parks, andtheir very own backyards. Each week the studentsreceived an assignment related to exploring nature thatincorporated developmentally appropriate skills to helpfurther their academic and behavioral progress whilenot in their traditional classroom. One activity was anature scavenger hunt. This lesson focused onidentifying different components of nature, recognizingcolors, following directions, attending to a task, and ofcourse having fun!

Science at HomeThe students in the Raccoon classroom love to take onnew challenges by using cunning creativity and thispandemic didn't hold them back! The Raccoonscombined family time, imagination, and experimentsduring Fun Friday Science Challenges! Students andtheir families hypothesized whether items would sink orfloat, traveled to outer space to create moon dough,discovered magnetic objects, and more! These fun DIYlessons have allowed the Raccoons to interact with newmaterials while learning something new.

Mr. Potatohead's

ScheduleThe Owl classroom had a special newclassmate in remote learning -Mr.Potatohead! Everyday, he helped theOwls review their schedule on theClass Dojo.The Owl classroom did an excellentjob in creating ways to reward theirstudents and engage them virtually!After their live sessions, the staffshared their screens with theirstudents to showcase the rewardsystem.

Virtual Fitness Our resident fitness instructor, Mr.Tony, made sure that our students hadfun ways to stay healthy and activewhile staying at home. Each week, heposted workout videos with easystretches, exercises, and ways to stayactive. This was a great way for ourstudents to get their wiggles our andlearn about keeping a healthy body.


BrainPOP!Adjustment and change are quite a venture during thisCOVID crisis, but BrainPOP has helped with that! Thiswebsite features over 1,000 short animated videos andactivities for students in grades K-12. Especially helpfulwere the lessons on emotions and different reactionsthey might bring. During the first week of virtuallearning, students had extremely pertinent questionsabout the changes occurring and many felt confused,overwhelmed, or anxious. "Why are we doing this?""Why can’t I go to school?" "Why do I see my friendsand teachers in little boxes?" "Why is COVID-19changing my life?" With the help of BrainPOP, thestudents were able to learn new skills to help cope andadjust to the changes - while laughing at the funnyvideo characters!

DIY Quesadilla Check out this easy cheesy quesadilla recipe from thestaff and students in the Express 2 room!

Dungeons and

DragonsAt the end of each week, theSuperhero room would spend their"earned time" playing Dungeons andDragons as a group, and they quicklylearned the hard way that they arestronger together than apart! Whiletraveling back to save the town ofPhandalin from the very samewhite dragon that had just descendedfrom its perch on Icespire Peaklooking for a carry out meal (I’m surewe can all relate), the dragon,Cryovain, spotted their caravan andswooped in for the attack. The partysplit up in an initial effort at self-preservation, but found the dragonwas far too strong and turned ourgood friend, Taco Master, into a niceappetizer. Gust of the Phoenix, ourwarrior monk, used his newly acquiredmath skills to figure out how manydice he needed to use to have achance of knocking the dragon downto save Taco Master. The partycommunicated their strengths andweaknesses and exchanged itemsbefore splitting up to lure thedragon to expose its weak side toTaco Master. Taco Master wasequipped with the Dragon Slayerlongsword, and was able to driveaway the dragon to find an easiermeal elsewhere. There is a reason wecall them the Superhero class!

cca news may 2020 · packets became a way to make sure the parents and students knew how much cca...

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