Fall ‘18

Manville Families at FenwayWe had a large turnout for our annual Manville Family Red Sox Event on July 30th. Students and their families cheered on the Rex Sox as they

took on the Philadelphia Phillies. The game was tied and went into extra innings. A few of our families stuck it out until the end and were even on

live TV when the Red Sox scored the winning run!

THE MANVILLE SCHOOL53 Parker Hill AvenueBoston, MA 02120-3225(617)232-8390 (telephone)(617)232-8399 (facsimile)

www.jbcc.harvard.edu/Manville.html

Director:James Prince, ex. 4140

Principal:Hanna Savransky Epstein, ex. 4142

Parent Program Coordinator:Ellen Sandoval, ex. 4251

Admissions:David Zimmer, ex. 4144

Manville Matters is published by the Manville School Family Support Program and edited by Ellen Sandoval and DavidZimmer.

We welcome your contributions which make this a truly cooperative project between the Manville staff and familymembers.

Please call us with your comments and contributions:617 232-8390 ex. 4251.

The Manville School is a program of Judge Baker Children’s Center, established 1917.

Dear Manville Parents,

I hope that you and your family had an enjoyable summer, and that youwere able to get some relief from the oppressive heat and humidity. I alsohope that your children are looking forward to this school year as much asour Manville staff are excited to welcome them back.

We have several new staff members that joining the Manville team this year.One of them is David Zimmer, our new Admissions Director, who you willall have chance to meet during the upcoming school year. David is replacingPaula Shea, who has moved on to take a position with the Brookline PublicSchools. In his role as Admissions Director, David will serve as our primaryliaison to the public school districts, and he will be scheduling and partici-pating in educational team meetings. David has extensive experience inboth private and public special education settings, most recently serving asthe Principal of Beacon High School. David is happy to speak with youabout any questions you might have regarding your child’s placement atManville, and can be reached at (617) 278-4144 or by email atdzimmer@jbcc.harvard.edu. Please join me in welcoming David to the Manville School community!

Manville School staff members will once again be participating in the Rod-man Ride-for-Kids bikathon on Saturday, September 22nd. This is a veryimportant fundraiser for our school, helping us to provide important serv-ices and assistance to our students and families. You will receive more infor-mation from your child’s homeroom teacher regarding how you can supportTeam Manville, and I ask that you be as generous as you can.

I hope to see all of you on Back-to-School Night on Wednesday October3rd.

Best wishes,

Jim

Page 2Manville School Community NewsletterDIR

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Upcoming Events at ManvilleRodman Ride for Kids: On Saturday, September 22, the Manville School and Judge Baker Children’s Center will participate in oureleventh annual Rodman Ride for Kids. The Ride has been an institution for over 25 years and has raised millions of dollars for child wel-fare agencies and schools across the state. Manville staff will be riding 25, 50, or 100 miles and seeking donations from the community tosupport our good work with children and families. 100% of the funds raised will come back directly to Manville/JBCC and if we meetour goal ($100,000) we will be awarded an additional 3%! If you would like more information or want to ride and/or help out in any way,please contact Liz Fitzsimons at the Judge Baker Development office at 617-278-4279 or lfitzsimons@jbcc.harvard.edu.

Back-to-School Night:Wednesday, October 3rd will be our annual Back-to-School Night. Families are invited to visit their children’s class-room starting at 6 pm where you will see school work and have a chance to chat with our staff. At 6:30, dinner will be served in the gym-nasium. We hope you can join us!

Picture Day:Our annual picture day is Friday, October 12th (no scheduled retake day). Please contact Ellen Sandoval at 617-278-4251or esandoval@jbcc.harvard.edu with any questions!

Manville School Community Newsletter Page 3

David Zimmer - Admissions Director & Public School Liasion

David comes to Manville from the Walker Beacon School (formerly Beacon High School) where he served

as Assistant Principal and Principal. David brings extensive experience in special education and work in

DESE-approved special education day schools. David has led teams of teachers, clinicians and milieu staff

to educate and support students with significant social/emotional, behavioral and learning needs. David

looks forward to helping build on the success of the Manville School by learning as much as possible about

the students and families, by listening to the goals and objectives of each member of the community, and by

developing an understanding of each person’s role in meeting those objectives. David can be reached at

(617) 278-4144 or via email at dzimmer@jbcc.harvard.edu.

Derek Sosnowski - Assistant Milieu Director

Derek Sosnowski joins the Manville School administrative team as Assistant Milieu Director after having

served as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) during the previous school year. Derek has worked

for several years as a Behavior Analyst in collaboratives and alternative schools in addition to work as a

Behavioral Consultant working with a variety of schools across Massachusetts. He is eager to bring his ex-

perience with School-wide Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) and applied behavior analy-

sis to Manville School in an effort to further the services and opportunities provided to Manville students

and families.

Mayor of Malden visits Manville Fair

We were delighted to have Mayor Gary Christenson attend our Manville Fair this

past June. Manville Parent Amanda Ceide invited the Mayor to come to the fair and

get to know Manville. The Mayor spent time visiting with our Malden families as

well as taking a tour of the school. He is pictured here with Malden students

eremiah A., Kiernan C. and Jamyhi R.

Page 4Manville School Community Newsletter

WEDNESDAY EVENINGS – MANVILLE FAMILY PROGRAMWednesday evenings at Manville continue to be a great time for parents to meet, share and learn from each other. It is also a wonderful opportu-nity for Manville students and their sibs to enjoy recreational activities together.

New Parents will meet on September 12th from 5:30 – 7:30 for a special orientation and welcoming group designed for families whose child startedin Manville in late spring, summer or fall. Manville administrators will be giving an overview of the different aspects of the Manville School. Therewill be time for parents to ask questions and become acquainted with the many services Manville has to offer. Childcare for Manville students andsiblings will be provided as well as a light supper. Veteran parents are also welcome to attend and share their wisdom and perspective with ournew families.

Parent Group will resume on September 26th. These groups meet from 6:00 – 7:30 pm with childcare and dinner provided. Parent Group is asafe space for Manville caregivers to connect with each other and provide and receive support for issues and challenges related to parenting. It isan open group and participants can attend whenever they are available. Discussion topics are generated by parents and vary week to week.

Transition Group: The purpose of this group is to provide a space for caregivers to share their hopes, dreams & concerns about the future andprovide and receive support from other caregivers. These groups occur once a month and are held from 5 – 6 pm on Wednesdays. Please see thecalendar for specific dates or contact esandoval@jbcc.harvard.edu for more information.

Parent Focus Groups occur about once a month and are more educational in nature. The topics for focus groups come from parents and wewelcome your suggestions. Stay tuned for more information regarding our focus groups for the 2018 – 2019 school year.

Sibling Group – October 10th and November 7th We will once again be offering a monthly Sibling group that will take place the first Wednes-day of each month (except for October) during Parent Group time, 6:00 – 7:30 pm. This year our first meeting of the Sib Group will be Wednes-day October 10th. The group is a place for neuro-typical kids to have a shared experience with other kids who have siblings with special needs.The group is generally activitybased and will often involve creat-ing something in the art room ormaybe playing a game in the gym.During our activities conversationsrange from talking about interestsand life events to discussing strug-gles with siblings. Those who haveattend our groups have said theyappreciated knowing that theyaren’t alone and that other kids aregoing through some of the same types of things with their siblings. We welcome any new siblings at Manville as well as those who have partici-pated in the past. Parents should contact Jia Kempegowda at jkempegowda@jbcc.harvard.edu or Ellen Sandoval at esandoval@jbcc.harvard.eduif interested in enrolling their child.

We had a busy summer full of learning and fun! Each floor focused its morning curriculum around a theme. In Lower School, students studiedthe arts and famous artists through direct lessons, hands-on activities, and art projects. Middle School 1 students studied oceans with a STEM (Sci-ence Technology Engineering Math) focus. Within this unit, students learned about the ocean as an ecosystem, ocean pollution, and ocean preser-vation through project-based learning experiences. In Middle School 2, students studied innovation and technology through hands-on activities,lessons, in their literature unit and with art projects. The Upper School curriculum theme was Mythology with a focus on topics across contentareas. The Mythology theme included exploration of Norse and Native American Mythology.

In the afternoons there were field trips, special guests and electives to choose from. Students were able to go on a variety of field trips such as DuckBoat Tours, Lego Land, The Museum of Fine Arts or the beach. We had several special guests this summer including Curious Creatures, Barn Ba-bies, Kids Cooking Green and artist Bren Bataclan.

2017 Summer Program Highlights

Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat

12 3 4 5 6 7 89 10 11 12 13 14 1516 17 18 19 20 21 2223/30 24 25 26 27 28 29Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 5 67 8 9 10 11 12 1314 15 16 17 18 19 2021 22 23 24 25 26 2728 29 30 31

September 2018

November 2018

October 2018

Sun Mon Tues Wed Thurs Fri Sat

1 2 34 5 6 7 8 9 1011 12 13 14 15 16 1718 19 20 21 22 23 2425 26 27 28 29 30 31

Early Release12:30 Dismissal

Early Release12:30 Dismissal

Thanksgiving BreakNO SCHOOL!

Columbus DayNO SCHOOL!

Back-to-School Night6:00-7:30

Alumni Parent Group6:00-7:30

Veterans DayNO SCHOOL!

New Parent Orientation5:30-7:30

Parent Group& Sibling Group

6:00-7:30

Transition Group5:00-6:00

Parent Group - 6:00-7:30PAC - 11:30-12:30

Parent Group6:00-7:30

First Day ofSchool!

Parent Group6:00-7:30

Parent Group& Sibling Group

6:00-7:30PAC - 11:30-12:30Transition Group

5:00-6:00Parent Group6:00-7:30

Parent Group11:00-12:30

Picture Day!

Rodman Ride for Kids!

Manville SchoolJudge Baker Children’s Center

53 Parker Hill AvenueBoston, MA 02120

Looking for addit ional information? Vis i t us onl ine at www.jbcc.harvard.edu/Manvi l le

Manville School depends on parental involvement to ensure student success. The Manville PAC meets month with Jim Prince, the ManvilleSchool Director and Hanna Savransky, the Principal. We discuss general school policies, parental concerns, ways to enrich the school programfor students and parents and other school related issues. We also sponsor various fund raising activities.

This past school year PAC continued organizing staff appreciation events and hosted the third annual Manville Plant Sale. This highly ener-gized group of parents was a visible presence at school as they mingled with staff during school events.

PAC is scheduled to meet on the second Wednesday of each month from 11:30 – 12:30 starting on October 10th and then again on November14th. The PAC is a wonderful way to make an impact on the school both with fundraising and adding fresh ideas to embellish our program.We thank PAC for starting our Book Fair, School Pictures, Room Parents, Science/Curriculum Fairs and entertainment for the kids on Backto School Night.

PARENT ADVISORY COUNCIL (PAC) – PARENTS NEEDED!

Please contact Ellen Sandoval esandoval@jbcc.harvard.edu if you have any questions about PAC.