School Highlights...Page 4 School Highlights November 2018 Office of Special Education Programs U.S....

School HighlightsNovember 2018

Office of Special Education ProgramsU.S. Department of Education

Brooklawn Middle School .................................15

Burnet Middle School .........................................8

Central Middle School ......................................15

Cool School Challenge Fundraiser ....................13

Delaware Valley Regional High School ...............8

East Hanover Middle School ...............................4

Fall Central Youth Summit ..................................1

Frank J. Smith Elementary School ....................15

Grant Elementary School ..................................15

Hamilton High School West ................................3

Lyndhurst ...........................................................5

Monroe Township High School ...........................2

Montgomery High School .................................12

New Brunswick High School ..............................11

New Jersey Regional Day ....................................7

North Hunterdon High School ..........................10

Old Bridge High School .................................. 2, 9

Overbrook High School .......................................7

Pond Road Middle School ...................................4

Randolph High School ......................................10

Sayreville War Memorial High School .................6

Somerville High School ......................................9

Union High City School .......................................3

Voorhees High School .......................................16

Washington Township High School .....................4

West Morris Mendham High School .................14

Woodrow Wilson (New Brunswick) ...................11

In This Issue Fall Central Youth SummitOver 140 students from 12 schools attended the Fall Central Youth Summit on November 15, 2018 at the Special Olympics New Jersey Sports Complex in Lawrenceville, NJ. Participating schools were: Burlington Township HS, Cedar Drive MS, Hamilton HS West, Metuchen HS, Monroe Township HS, Montgomery HS, New Brunswick HS, Old Bridge HS, Pond Road MS, Robbinsville HS, Steinert HS - East, and Woodrow Wilson (New Brunswick).

The main topic of discussion was “The Revolution is Inclusion.” Youth leaders explored the meanings of revolution, social justice and equity to define what an inclusion revolution means and looks like in their school community. Students then developed goals to spread understanding about the inclusion revolution (IR) through Unified Sport, leadership and whole school engagement activities. Also included was a social media crash course to assist youth leaders in creating their own social media campaigns using the IR Manifesto and SO hashtags. Other fun activities were ice breakers, a mix it up lunch, videos and lots of sharing. More pho-tos can be found on pages 17 and 18.

Three Winter Youth Summits are planned for 2019. Northwest: 1/23 at Voorhees High School, South: 1/25 at RiverWinds Com-munity Center and North: 2/1 at The College of St. Elizabeth.



Monroe Township High SchoolMonroe Township received Special Olympics National Banner recognition. SONJ is having a HUGE posi-tive impact in the lives of Monroe Township students!

Old Bridge High SchoolOld Bridge High School officially received their Special Olympics National Banner.



Hamilton High School WestHere are some pictures from

the Hamilton High School

West Pep Rally where they

were presented with Nation-

al Recognition Banner!

Union High City SchoolNovember was an exciting month for the Union High School Unified Club. They started their indoor soccer and basketball practices on Saturday mornings. On 11/15, Club presidents attended their first ever NJSIAA SAAC meet-ing. At the Club meeting on 11/30, they made plans for a new bulletin board and some volunteer ideas. Their Club president has been network-ing with other clubs in hopes to find another club to share volunteer opportunities.



Pond Road Middle SchoolPond Road Middle School created posters based on Play Unified questions. They rotated six groups of four students, every three minutes, to brainstorm and put down their thoughts answering questions such as: How do you see Play Unified in five years? How can we make Play Unified more inclusive? How can we get other people in the school to know about Play Unified? After all the groups wrote down their thoughts on the post-ers, they discussed the answers.

One outcome from this exercise was to plan a no bul-lying puppet skit. Using chromebooks for assistance, each group created a name for the skit and names of the people or animals that will be in the skit. Dur-ing the next class, they will vote on the name and the characters. The students plan to perform the skit for the first and second graders at the elementary school. They are very excited about this.

Washington Township High School

East Hanover Middle SchoolThe East Hanover Middle School Play Unified Club met twice during November. They had consistent attendance of both special needs students, who are invited to attend every club meeting, and a rotating group of students without special needs, who support participants with more significant disabilities. Club meetings had to move to their Media Center/Cafeteria due to lack of gym availability; therefore, programming has shifted to activities that are more appropriate for the smaller space, including group meditation, danc-ing and yoga with GoNoodle and “Just Dance” videos, large group games such as Seven Up and Four Corners, coloring, crafts, Spirograph, and board games.



LyndhurstThis month, Lyndhurst began their Unified Club meetings at four schools in the Lyndhurst Public School District. Students participated in team building activities to get to know all students involved in the club. They enjoyed meeting new friends and learning new games. On Tuesdays, students were able to compete in a series of organized activities indoors and outdoors this month. Each school organized relay races to start the hour long club meeting. Roosevelt School learned how to play flag football, while Jef-ferson School formed basketball teams and played scooter soccer. Lincoln and Memorial School played crab walk soccer and then sideline soccer. Students are also practicing for the first Kickball Tournament on December 13th. Lyndhurst is looking forward to their first competition between the four schools. Check out some pictures from their Unified Club meetings this month.



Sayreville War Memorial High SchoolThe Fall season of Unified Sports at Sayreville War Memorial High School has come and gone. The Bomber cup was held 11/15/2018 and was a huge success. There were a total of four games played between four different levels and ages. The high school Unified Team played a great game and had an amazing time! The event had approximately 15-20 stu-dents with disabilities and incorporated 15 main stream students. The students consisted of varsity soccer players, honor roll students, club advisers and many more. Every student was able to work as a unit and ended the Fall season closer and with a greater appreciation for each other than when they started. The coach-es, advisors, volunteers and students had a great time and enjoyed the time spent with each other!

Unified P.E. focused on life skills, such as transitioning and generalization. Since it was a new quarter, students were intro-duced to new peers and activities while developing positive peer relationships. Everyday, students engage with different partners for activities to work on transi-tional/social skills. Unified also focused on activities such as, motor planning, gross/fine motor skills, and team-building skills. Students are participating in coop-erative games to increase socialization skills with their peers.



Overbrook High SchoolOverbrook had a Unified Club meeting on 11/14. At this meeting, they went out-side and wrote happy things on the sidewalk leading to

the entrance of their school, so that on the next day, students and teachers would see these inspiring words. On 11/20, the students made

a Thanksgiving dinner for the staff and the students’ fami-lies. Also in November, they went bowling and practiced for the Unified Cup.

New Jersey Regional DayThe first inclusion events at New Jersey Regional Day provided students the opportunity to meet their

new friends for the first time. Students participated in recreational activities such as volleyball, dancing,

outdoor fitness activities and walk and talks. Students enjoyed lunch together where they planned future

inclusive activities together.



Delaware Valley Regional High School

November Delaware Valley Regional High School Unified events

included a Half-day Café where the students baked treats and

sold them on the half day of school before Thanksgiving Break.

They also made and sold hot chocolate and coffee. They raised

$200 at this fundraiser. At their Thanksgiving Feast and Celebra-

tion the students stayed after school and tasted pies and hot

chocolate and played a disguise a turkey game.

Burnet Middle SchoolPlay Unified Club meets the first Friday of every month at Burnet Middle School. They are starting to plan Respect Week for the spring and talked about a Pep Rally. They are also planning a Holiday Party for December. In addition, they are creating part-nerships with the Anti-Bullying Club and Student Council to help be active Unified Partners in their school community.

Students also practice every Monday after school. They went Unified Bowling at Bowle-ro on 11/2/19.

Burnet Middle School also started buddy lunches. They rotate lunches every Wednes-day throughout the month. On 11/7, 11/14, and 11/28 the students ate together, played games and socialized.

A lot of Burnet club members are new, so they have been working hard on creating new bonds with their Unified Part-ners, as well as looking for new leaders to step up. They held a Unified Game Day on 11/21/19 which was a day for students to play games in gym, watch a movie, eat snacks and socialize. Students are really starting to peak interest and understand the foundations of the club. They are excited for the North Youth Summit.



Somerville High SchoolThe Somerville High School Peer2Peer chapter hosted their monthly meeting on November 7th. From October to November their meeting atten-dance grew from 46 to 55 members. They believe that this growth is attributed to the recruitment of new members through continuous broadcast-ing of the “Choose To Include” message. At the meeting, they discussed donation plans, commu-nity trips and introduced culture day.

Somerville High School chose to contribute to the community in more than just one way. During the first part of November, they collected food items for a Thanksgiving food drive. Later in the month, they collected items for military personnel over-seas. The students will learn about why they are donating to the troops and the value of giving. Further, they have received so much support that packaging the goods is going to be a huge club activity, as was collecting them.

Aside from the donation drives, Somerville began a fun learning experience to submerge the stu-dents into the cultures of peer mentors. They hosted “culture day” events where a mentor

taught a lesson and provided activities from their cultural background. Typically, after making a food item and learning about where it came from, the students were eager for the next culture ex-perience. They’ve covered Egypt, Venezuela, Italy, and many more to come!

The first Unified Bowling meeting was also held in November. Practice schedules were confirmed and arrangements with the bowling alley were fi-nalized. The students received team uniforms and other apparel. They have a running countdown that contributes to the excitement of the swift approach of bowling season. Each month, they all wear their shirts, which draws a lot of attention to the unified programs.

Finally, near the end of November, the students and mentors were treated to a night out to see “The Grinch” in theaters. Peer mentors aided students in real life experiences, while relaxing and enjoying a movie funded by the club. They had such a great experience due to the incred-ible support of school and staff members in their fundraising events.

Old Bridge High School



North Hunterdon High SchoolFriendship Day was an in-school field trip at North Hunterdon High School held on Wednesday, Novem-ber 21st, the half day before Thanksgiving. Over 250 students were put into groups of 25-30 and partici-pated in team building activities. The typical and special education students incorporated together to form new friendships and celebrate a day where all students come together as one.

Randolph High School

During November,

Randolph High School

students participated

in basketball practice

as well as pickle ball.

They also hosted a

Thankful for Us dinner

night.



Woodrow Wilson (New Brunswick)Ruth, a Special Olympics Global Ambassador, came in from Montana and spoke to Woodrow Wilson’s entire Play Unified Club. She spoke of being kind, courageous, and goal-oriented. She shared her experiences as a Special Olympics athlete, volunteer, student, and friend. Ruth was inspirational and life-changing. Woodrow Wilson thinks that Ruth is absolutely amazing and they can’t wait for her book!

New Brunswick High SchoolThe New Brunswick High School Leadership Council joined with Woodrow to work on collabora-tive activities. The students got to know each other by par-ticipating in unique games and activities. One of the activities involved randomly assigning

each student with a disability. Someone could not hear (do to headphones on their ears), someone was blindfolded, another was placed in a wheel chair, and others lost the use of one hand. This taught the students that they are all given

different challenges and op-portunities in life, but that’s what makes everyone uniquely special and different. They also learned that the one thing everyone has in common is the ability spread kindness and that was their goal in the training.



Montgomery High SchoolMontgomery High School (MHS) in their

“Cougars Include!” shirts at a Unified Volley-ball tournament held at MHS.



Cool School Challenge Fundraiser$6,561.59, wow! That’s how much money Unified Champion Schools raised on November 3 for the SONJ Thanks4giving Plunge held at Asbury Park. The four schools that participated this year were Monroe Township High School, Rob-binsville High School, Ben Franklin Edison and Voorhees High School and for every $75 a plunger raised, $25 was rewarded back to their school.

Next year’s Thanks4giving Plunge will be on 11/16/2019.



West Morris Mendham High SchoolWith this month being off season between soccer and basketball at West Morris Mendham High School, they decided to use the time to plan social events. Their most exciting event was a board game evening that was planned and executed entire-ly by their officers. This was the first event that was cre-ated, planned, and executed without assistance from the teacher advisors. The athletes

and partners worked together to bring the night to fruition.

The evening involved stu-dents bringing in their favor-ite board games for everyone to play. In addition, the of-ficers matched students for a “Secret Snowflake” gift celebration in December. Their execution of the event was excellent, and every-one seemed to have a great time! By holding the event at

school, they were also able to expose students who were not a part of Play Unified to their Unified message.

Seeing the students be suc-cessful was inspiring for the teachers and impactful to the officers. The students were nervous about the event run-ning smoothly, but with this small victory, they are even more excited about organiz-ing student events!



Grant Elementary School Frank J. Smith Elementary School

In early November, Frank J. Smith Elemen-tary School finalized their 2nd Grade Be A Pal team. They selected a group of re-sponsible, friendly and compassionate students who will serve as go-to helpers for the program this year. The 2nd Grade Pals’ first task was to link up with a younger peer buddy during their first Spirit Team Meeting. (Spirit Teams are cross-grade level groups that are led by a teacher and are used to unify kids in a positive and chal-lenging way). The older Pals did a great job meeting their younger counterparts and walking them to their respective Spirit Team locations.

Frank J. Smith School is also in the process of starting a Be A Pal Unified phys ed class, which will take place once a week. They an-ticipate having 18 Pals rotate to be paired with one student with a disability. Together they will participate in fun gym activities that build skills and help students get to know one another. That is usually the most exciting time for the kids, so they are eager to finish planning for this!

Brooklawn Middle School

Central Middle SchoolBrooklawn Middle School held a meeting to discuss the events that they hope to take place in the spring. They are still in the very early planning stages.



Voorhees High SchoolThe Voorhees High School Unified Peer Leadership took a community-based instruction trip to the Bridgewater Mall. The peer leaders shopped with the students for holiday gifts for family and friends. They had 21 senior peer leaders participate. Voorhees also hosted a Unified Community Night: Laser Tag and Pizza where students, peers, families, friends, staff, etc. enjoyed a night of laser tag.

Unified Club peers socialize with students in their program in casual set-tings. The students have the opportunity to participate in programs offered after school. Some of the programs include open art room, “Make it Mon-day” in the media center and “Just Dance” in the sensory room. On 11/28/2018, one of the peer leaders hosted a sign language session. Anyone who wanted to learn sign language could attend. The Social Club met six times in November.



Fall Central Youth Summit – Photos



Fall Central Youth Summit – More Photos

School Highlights...Page 4 School Highlights November 2018 Office of Special Education Programs U.S....

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