ISVI Happenings
September, 2007
ISVI
Students “Gone Fishing”
On Friday, September 7th, a group of ISVI students went fishing! The group was
accompanied by various ISVI staff members. They went to Nichols Park in
Jacksonville to listen to the Urban Fisherman, Mr. Herb Dreier and a mammal
specialist. All of the students were able to fish. In fact, all of the students
caught at least two fish! All of the students were able to hold a live fish, a
catfish, a crawfish and a turtle. Also, they felt the pelts of about ten
mammals. This wonderful experience for these ISVI students was enjoyed by all!
(Picture of fishing trip)
New Activity Period is a Hit!
This year, ISVI has implemented an Activity Period that is on Tuesday’s and
Thursday’s from 2:55pm to 3:30pm. The activity period is an extension of the
school day. Each activity is offered one day per week for one quarter. The
students were given the option of many different activities to choose. They were
asked to rank their top five choices and were scheduled according to those
choices and availability of the activity. The following activities are being
offered this quarter: Healthy Habits for a Healthy Lifestyle, Hobby Building,
Machine Sewing, Morale Boosters, Recess, Science You Can Eat, Scrapbooking 101,
Sunshine Club, Special Olympics Activities, Study Hall/AR Reading, Art Club,
Book Club, Crafts with Math, ISVI Newspaper, Knitting, Small Animal Research,
and Study Hall/AR Reading. ISVI educators are doing a great job of offering our
students a “fun way of learning.” A big thank you goes out to Mrs. Linda Strader
and the Activity Period committee for putting it all together.
Field Trips
Two ISVI students are taking an automotive class at the Illinois School for the
Deaf (ISD) this semester. Recently, they had the opportunity to go on a field
trip to Bloomington-Normal to view the Mitsubishi Automotive Factory. The tour
of the factory was a great experience for them. Mr. Josh Dugan accompanied them
on this field trip with their ISD teacher and classmates. Also, this semester,
an ISVI student is taking a social studies class at Turner Junior High. She
participated in a field trip to the Woodlawn Farms Underground Railroad Museum.
She was accompanied by Mrs. Cindy Miller, her Turner teacher and classmates.
ISVI students are really getting a lot of exposure to a variety of activities
already this school year!
(Picture of students in front of the Mitsubishi sign)
ISVI is enjoying News-2-You
News-2-You is a weekly online symbol supported newspaper for beginning readers.
Each week the paper is provided in Braille, large print, and regular print
formats. It is distributed to selected classrooms and staff. The newspaper
includes current news, a recipe page, a joke page, a vocabulary page, and a
puzzle page. These different sections are all related to the feature story of
the week. ISVI has downloaded the News-2-You newspaper for approximately seven
years as a way to support and expand reading and vocabulary skills using high
interest topics. Students are also involved in sorting, stapling, and delivering
the newspaper to promote vocational job skills within the school day.
(Picture of student delivering News-2-You)