Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Today - the final two schools

Two school visits today to our top two choices. We have seen 5 schools total and feel 2 would be really good for Calvin.

Springall and Cook school at the Institute for Effective Education (TIEE)

First visit was to take Dave to springall which he hadn't seen yet. We had a nice visit at the school. They currently have one elementary class but with the addition of a couple of new students starting right after spring break they will expand to two classes. Each class will have 7-8 kids. They have a nice campus and a good sense of community. I like the campus which has big fields and lots of open space. They have a big emphasis on sports. They do PE every day, rotating through the different sports each season and get the opportunity to play on sports teams throughout the year. They also have a golf program.

The second visit was an after school visit with TIEE with Calvin. It is a chance for him to see the school and also for them to do a quick academic assessment so that he can come for a 1/2 day trial and can be appropriately grouped for his classes. It was tough to get him to the school -- he was nervous to come to a new place and was tired and grouchy -- but dave did a good job talking to him and distracting him and keeping him in a good mood. Once we got there he was pretty agreeable. We met a couple of people and then the teachers took him to asses him for about 45 minutes. He said he had a good time and they said he was very cooperative. Calvin was super impressed with their video game room with wii, xbox, playstation and game cube!

Tomorrow he will go back to the school for his 1/2 day at school.

The setup at TIEE is a bit different. It is in an office building. The elementary classes are on the 1st floor. The kids are put in academic groups of 2-3 kids and they are in a small class for each academic class. For each hour, they rotate rooms and groups so that they are in the correct academic placement for each subject. one advantage to this is that they can progress academically faster than if they are in larger classes. It is also nice for attitude/behaviors because if they have a bad hour in one class they get a fresh start when they change classes. I personally could not stand to be inside all day like that but I think it would be fine for Calvin.

HOMEWORK: Springall - a packet each week Cook - will start with something small and work up to more

BEHAVIOR SYSTEM: springall - level system. daily behavior sheets with stars (green, red, yellow) Cook - the kids carry around behavior sheets that are for THEM -- so that they can see what they are working towards, rather than sending behavior sheets home to parents. Parents have weekly phone calls from teachers scheduled to go over progress/concerns

PE - both do PE daily

SCHOOL TIME - springall 7:30 am - 2pm. Cook 8:30-2:30, early release on Tues at 1pm

SCHOOL YEAR - springall - similar to regular school with extended summer for July. Cook- school year runs labor day to the end of july for all students.

We know for sure that Calvin has been "accepted" to Springall and we are still waiting to complete the process at the cook school before we make our final decision, as we do not know if they will "accept" Calvin into their program. It is possible we can do it this week (we have an IEP meeting on the calendar for 3pm Friday). Otherwise, we'll have to wait 'til after spring break.

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