In Room 15's Makerspace activity, Liz and Steph's students had to build a flood barrier using materials provided. Many of our Endeavour students love taking part in basketball scrimmages in our Allancroft gym, and in organized events on the weekends. News like this makes our day at Endeavour, it is so great to see more people with Autism getting recognition for their hard-earned accomplishments. Click here to read Kalin Bennett's story in the NBC news. He is the first player with Autism to sign with a Division I sports team. Photo Credit: NBC News
We are excited to share that Endeavour student Brandon Riddoch has been featured in the CBC news for his artwork at the Light a Dream candle store in Pointe-Claire! Click here to read the article, way to go Brandon! Photo credit: (Marina Miller/CBC)
The Social Integration students of room 17 participated in a “soda splash” experiment which involved combining soda and Mentos mints, resulting in a "splashy" experience. The students learned that different kinds of sodas contain different amounts of gas (carbon dioxide) which in turn affect their “splash factor” when combined with Mentos mints. Fine motor skills are tested to the limit when trying to pour Mentos mints into the small spout of a soda bottle and then having to quickly move out of the way to avoid being splashed!
Edina Markovitz and Gina Zagari visited Elisabeth and Erliza's Social Integration class to talk to students about employment. They work for an organization called Agence Ometz. This charitable organization provides guidance to individuals seeking employment, and can help with everything from training to job searching (they also offer a host of other services!). Check them out online here: https://www.ometz.ca/. Thanks for the visit, Edina and Gina -- our students learned so much!
Blog post by: Julian Verboomen
Scratch is a computer programming language that is easy for beginners to use, and my Social Integration students and I have been tinkering with its various applications in class. In Scratch, programs are made by joining together coloured blocks using the mouse. These blocks are called "scripts" and they tell the objects on screen (called "sprites") what to do. All of this action takes place on the “stage." Students in the Endeavour Program are slowly being introduced to this free, safe, and fun program -- and they love experimenting with it! The possibilities are endless, and students will get the chance to make interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art. Below are but a few photos of our students in action, learning how to code. To determine whether you're ready to start coding with Scratch, take this quiz: Fill in the spaces to practice the key language of Scratch. 1. A _____________ is a set of instructions in Scratch. 2. Objects that perform actions in a project are called ______________. 3. In a Scratch program, the action takes place on the _____________. To try Scratch for yourself, please go to: https://scratch.mit.edu/ It's the New Year, which means it's application season for the 2018-2019 school year. We welcome applicants from a variety of contexts and programs, but most of our students come to us from LBPSB youth sector programs, social services (WMRC, SRSOR, CRDITED) programs, and a range of adult education programs. Students must be 16 years old in order to apply to Endeavour, but most students who apply are aged 21 and up. Students may reach out to us on their own, but their parents/caregivers or other advocates may also do so on their behalf. If you would like to apply, please check out this link, and do your best to have on hand copies of IEPs, report cards, assessments, and any other vital documentation to support your application. We look forward to chatting with you!!!
Blog post by: Melissa
My name is Melissa. I was a stage student in Special Care Counselling (Vanier College) at Allancroft for 10 weeks. I would like to share my experience with you. At first I had difficulty writing this post because I didn't want it to seem sugarcoated. So Iet me start with this: Not all days were/are good days. And that is completely fine, because we are only humans. A reason that this school made me vibrate is that exact understanding: We are all humans. Individually different human beings who have different needs, likes, dislikes, way to communicate, motivations and interests who deserves as much respect and understanding than any other human being. They make it a safe place and try to make it better when things do not go as planned. In the writing of this post, I also considered sharing the wide range of activities/outings/daily routines put in place for the students, such as a morning check-in with smiles and conversations, basket ball, cooking, drama, art craft, discussion on various topics, movies, going to the mall, to the library, to fire department; but I thought the list would be never-ending... So instead, I decided I would just share my appreciation as this was such a great learning opportunity from amazing teachers and support staff members! I will also leave with a little more inspiration from seeing those hard working people, ready to make IT happen. Staff Profile: Monique Laflamme, MA, MTA
Music therapy is a regular part of Endeavour’s programming. Music Therapist and Endeavour Teacher Monique Laflamme works with small groups and individuals in music therapy sessions to help build important communication skills, and to strengthen their ability to express themselves in a safe, relaxing, and fun way. Students work with Monique to set their own achievable goals, and are assessed on their progress in six week cycles. Music therapy has been an established profession in Canada since 1974. It is defined as the following: Music therapy is a discipline in which credentialled professionals (MTA) use music purposefully within therapeutic relationships to support development, health, and well-being. Music therapists use music safely and ethically to address human needs within cognitive, communicative, emotional, musical, physical, social, and spiritual domains. - Canadian Association of Music Therapy 2016 Monique uses a student-centered approach, rooted in cognitive-behavioral psychology, which allows for individualized programming for each student. Methods include instrumental/rhythmic improvisation, singing, songwriting and composition, lyric and song analysis. Making music with others is an innate human ability, and can be used as a tool to help motivate positive social interaction and self-expression, among many other important skills. The goal of a music therapy program is to help students develop skills in their sessions that they can take with them back into the classroom. Trish and Nancy’s class is currently completing an educational unit about bees and honey upon discovering that their students have a passion for learning about the honey bee. Truly, this is a unit driven by student interest! Trish brought in books from the library, and from these books students found ideas on making natural beeswax lip balm and other crafts, and they are now making and selling lip balm they have manufactured in class! The students have shown so much interest in this subject that staff and their students have continued reading up on bees in order to find out even more interesting facts. Trish and Nancy's students have also been decorating the hallways to bring awareness to other students about the plight of the honey bee, which is called colony collapse disorder. To help address this problem, people are urged to plant flowers and, as such, Trish and Nancy are planning on using the proceeds from the lip balm project to either plant a flower garden that attracts bees or make a donation to an urban bee hive initiative. It also turns out that the Pointe-Claire library has a rooftop bee hive, and the students will hopefully head there for a field trip this spring. Nancy was able to borrow a beekeeper suit and also a model of a beehive from local high school JRHS. With these items, Trish, Nancy, and their class have invited students from Allancroft Campus to visit their classroom to learn all about bees. Monique and Erliza’s class has stopped by to learn more about bees, and more classes will surely follow to find out what all of the BUZZ is about!
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BLogCheck-in here for blog posts from Endeavour staff, students, and guest bloggers. Archives
May 2019
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