A look back at the fall semester

I'm feeling a little ambitious tonight (and my child and husband are both asleep!) so I'm going to try and post a couple of photos from the fall semester.
This fall semester was fast and furious. All but one of my students will age out this coming May, so it's been a rush to make sure everyone is ready, set, prepared for life post-program. They could not have made me more proud this semester.

 Students and teachers worked to get the interior of our facility in order, working on various types of home living skills lessons such as framing art work.

Fire tore apart a small community outside of our city limits. Students and staff purchased a variety of useful items for the victims of the fires and delivered them to the command center.

 One of the top priorities in our program is to have every students employed, whether it be VAC or CBVI employment. The first step in the process is to develop a resume.

Students took some of their scheduled leisure time to prune weeds from the flowerbed areas outside of our facility. Home living skills encompass both the interior and also the exterior of the home.

 Since we are in a new facility and not on a school campus in our district, the Marble Falls Fire Department came to our facility to teach students about the various fire hazards that can be found in a home, demonstration on the use of a kitchen fire extinguisher and assisted in developing an escape route/evacuation plan for our site.

 Every year since the program began (2009) the Transition Training Program at MFISD has been hosting our districts LIFE middle and high school classrooms for an afternoon of food and fun. It is a great way for students to interact and to work together as a team with other students with disabilities whom they do not see on a regular basis.

 We are very fortunate to have a great relationship with several other 18+ programs in our area. One of the highlights in our monthly schedule is having an outing with the other groups. We rotate on picking outings, which often include bowling, visiting a local farm, shopping, eating lunch in the community and having cook outs at our facilities. It's a great way for students to interact with other students their own age and for teachers to collaborate on new ideas in a relaxed setting.

I'm quite proud of our students this year. We hosted 16 people at our new site for a holiday meal. Students baked a ham, cooked all the sides and even baked a few desserts...all within a discussed and set time frame. Time management is something we strive to work on within the facility, but also on the job site. It has clearly been successful and I'm extremely proud of each student for their contribution and diligence.