Arrival and Dismissal
The school day begins at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 2:25 p.m.
* vans drop off and pick up students in the back, front, and sides of the building
* walkers can be dropped off or picked up in the main lobby
* there is always support staff with students upon arrival and dismissal
*Please refer to the school calendar sent home and/or the interactive school calendar on the Commack School District Website for information on when school is in session and for information regarding district/school wide events.
Snack and Lunch
Snack: Please send your child in with a bagged snack and drink each day. We will be having a morning snack during our homeroom (which is after 3rd period).
Lunch: Students may buy lunch on a daily basis. They may put money into a lunch account through the school cafeteria, or you can pre-pay using the Infinite Campus Food Service System. You can access the IC Payment Food Service System from the Commack website. Instead of using an account, you may send your child in with cash each day and staff will support your child with making their lunch purchase.
Your child also has the opportunity to participate in the lunch preparation program (please see attached letter).
* Please review each day’s lunch choice with your child to ensure that your child is
prepared to purchase his/her lunch. You can locate the CHS lunch menu and prices
on the district website.
Communication
Each day, we will complete and send home a Communication Log that describes your child’s day. These logs may touch upon the academics that were taught, the services that your child received, a “highlight” moment (a special achievement or milestone that your child attained) and any other pertinent pieces of information about the day. Please sign and return the Communication Logs (located in your child’s Communication Binder) each night.
In addition to keeping you informed about your child’s day, these logs can also be utilized as a tool to help foster conversations at home. Knowing the details of your child’s day allows you to ask questions about specific occurrences, and will help your child build on communication and recalling. J
*As always, you are also welcome to contact any of your child’s teachers via email.
Agendas
Each student at Commack High School will be issued a student agenda. These agendas will be used to record important dates/events. Please share any upcoming family/community events that your child will be participating in outside of school, so that we can help support them in recording these upcoming activities. This will help foster organization and planning skills. J
*In the front of your child’s agenda are important school rules and procedures. Please review these procedures at your convenience.
Homework
We will not be assigning daily homework with consideration of busy after school schedules (clubs, services, activities, etc.). However, there may be special assignments throughout the course of the school year.
Parent Training
This year’s parent training will be held in a whole group or individual session. The sessions will alternate on a monthly basis. Each group training session will be an hour long, conducted by Mrs. Garrett. She will be sending home information each month regarding the upcoming parent training topic, date, time, etc.
Functional Academics
During ELA, mathematics, social studies and health students will work to maintain previously learned skills, build new academic skills, and learn how to apply these academic skills to their everyday lives. These classes will help students achieve individual academic goals through both whole-group and individualized instruction. Integration between each subject area will allow your child to obtain a broader understanding of the skills they learn, and will help them generalize these skills across contexts.
Speech
Individual Speech will target IEP goals while Group Speech encompasses all aspects of communication, with a focus on pragmatic language skills (social language) and improving peer-to-peer interaction and conversation.
Science
This year in the life skills science class we will be meeting in the greenhouse all year long and using that space to explore biology and more specifically plant growth. We will discuss the parts of plants as well as how to grow and care for plants in all of their stages. Students will get to tend to the soil, plant seeds, keep track of germination times, monitor and water plants, as well as many other tasks related to keeping the greenhouse green.
Life Skills Class
In life skills this year, your child will continue to work on building daily living skills necessary for the community, school, and home. Through hands-on learning that mirrors real-life situations, students will build independence in the kitchen with food preparation and cleaning tasks, as well as their abilities to complete common household chores. They will also further their understanding about safety in different settings across the community, and work to improve their efficiency with hygiene practices.
In order to help our students generalize what they learn in school to their life outside of the classroom, I will be sending home “Life Skills Connection” sheets when applicable. These “Connection” sheets will provide you with a short description of the targeted task that your child is working on in Life Skills, and approaches that have been successful for him/her. We’d like to welcome you to encourage your child to demonstrate what they’ve been working on in class, in your home for you. J
Work Based Learning
This year in the Work Based Learning class, the students will be presented with new vocabulary, exciting new work tasks and interactions with the student and staff population. Each student will have an opportunity to be a cashier, a sales person, a manager, a barista and take weekly inventory. During the year the students will also have access to explore and research work based learning sites that they may want to work on in the future. Students will have practiced all of these skills in the classroom before venturing out to work in the All Star Student Café!
Daily Schedule
Students with Mrs. Fox as Case Manager
The school day begins at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 2:25 p.m.
Period 1: Goal Support (Even Days)
Greenhouse (Odd Days)
Period 2: Math
Period 3: ELA
Period 4: Social Studies/Health
Period 5: Group Speech
Period 6: Music (Even Days)
Physical Education (Odd Days)
Period 7: Lunch
Period 8: Life Skills
Period 9: Work Based Learning
This is a tentative schedule with regard to our school day.
Daily Schedule
Students with Mrs. Hanna as Case Manager
The school day begins at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 2:25 p.m.
Period 1: Goal Support (Odd Days)
Greenhouse (Even Days)
Period 2: Math
Period 3: ELA
Period 4: Group Speech
Period 5: Social Studies/Health
Period 6: Music (Odd Days)
Physical Education (Even Days)
Period 7: Lunch
Period 8: Work Based Learning
Period 9: Life Skills
Students with Mrs. Eisner as Case Manager
Period 1: Skills Suppport
Period 2: Monday-Wednesday- Life Skills
Thursday-Friday-Group Speech
Period 3: WBL
Period 4: WBL
Period 5: WBL
Period 6: WBL
Period 7: WBL
Period 8: Lunch
Period 9: WBL Reflections