USDB Friday Letter October 20, 2016 Dear Friends of USDB, Here is the Friday Letter for this week. I hope you enjoy this snapshot of the great things happening with USDB throughout the state. Have a wonderful weekend! Sincerely, Joel Coleman, USDB Superintendent Vision Graphics Welcomes KBS Post High Visitors KBS Post High students had the amazing opportunity to visit Vision Graphics in Salt Lake City. Vision Graphics is a company that provides print production for everything from business cards to vehicle and building wraps nationwide. The students learned how Vision Graphics helps businesses promote their services with banners, wall clings and digital signage. They learned about job opportunities ranging from graphic design to print production and installation. Vision Graphics has an amazing staff! They were informative and friendly and really enjoyed having us. The students loved the U of U wall cling and the gift bags they received after the tour (which included chocolates). Thanks Vision Graphics!
Casey Reyes, who is in 10th grade in the USDB outreach blind school has made a cooking blog! Casey is a braille user and also uses technology for the blind. Because of his amazing vision teachers and the help of the assistive technology team, Casey is independent in his classes and even spends extra time at the library studying to do well in his hard classes. We are so proud of this young man and want to share his blog: https://casey829.wordpress.com/2016/09/14/first-blog-post/ Don t miss Casey s newest recipes and try something new!
Roll-Roll the Pumpkin By Mrs. Petersen s Class Once upon a time, there was a little pumpkin in the shape of a circle. He had a big fat stem that was leaning to the side. He was a funny colored pumpkin, too. He was orange all around the stem, and a little at the top, and the rest of him was completely RED!! All his friends call him Roll-Roll. They called him that because he was SO GOOD at rolling. :) One day Roll-Roll the Pumpkin was doing what he does best - just ROLLING around!!! On this particular day he was rolling to find an adventure!! He looked out ahead and saw a street with a really big hill that went down. He thought to himself, I wonder what is down at the bottom of this BIG hill? So he rolled to the edge of the hill and said, Here I go..!!!!! Down the hill he rolled..and rolled...and rolled! He had never rolled this fast before! When he finally reached the bottom of the hill, he stopped rolling at the feet of a sweet little Grandma. Grandma said, What a cute little pumpkin you are. Could you help me? Roll-Roll the Pumpkin said, Of course I can. What do you need? I need a pumpkin for Halloween to carve into a Jack-o-Lantern to sit on my front porch. I will put a candle inside of you to light the way for the children to come Trick or Treating on Halloween night! said the Grandma with a big, warm smile. Roll-Roll the Pumpkin realized that if he helped the sweet little Grandma, his days of rolling would be over, but after he thought about it for a second, he said, I would be honored to be your Jack-o-Lantern for Halloween! The light will show how much I love the children too! Roll- Roll felt all warm inside as the sweet little Grandma took him home, and he knew everyone would be happy!!! HAPPY HALLOWEEN to ALL!!!!! THE END
Deaf-Blind Services Provides Peer Tutoring at Local Junior High School Deaf-blind Services had the opportunity to be involved in a training for 100 peer-tutors, teachers, and staff at a local Junior High School. The Deaf-blind Teacher Specialists were able to talk about disability awareness, deaf-blindness, and most importantly the similarities among all students regardless of each of their abilities and disabilities. While it proved to be enlightening to the students and teachers involved, it was also life changing for all of us Deaf-blind Teacher Specialists. It was a great reminder of the innate and instinctually kindness in adolescents. I think we can all agree, after this experience, that our future generations will do amazing things in the field of special education, but also for the world in general.
Post High students visit Hill AFB Aviation Museum On October 14th, KBS Post High School students visited Hill Air Force Base Museum. One student actually arranged for the tour himself making all the contacts and arrangements. Our tour guide was a decorated Air Force veteran who absolutely loves his time volunteering at the Museum. The students learned all about the airplanes used by the military, starting with the very first Air Force plane, and were allowed to go past the ropes to get a special look inside several planes. The students asked some really intelligent questions and seemed truly inspired by what pilots had to endure in the early days of using airplanes to fight in wars. The tour was so amazing that it went from the scheduled one hour to three hours! Neither the guide nor the students seemed to want it to end. It was really beneficial for the students to learn about the sacrifice made by our airmen and the amazing accomplishments they achieved while serving our country. ASL classes are now on offer in SLC, Ogden and online. Visit www.usdb.org for information. Register now for the November Deaf-Blind Conference, "The ABC s of Early Brain Development, for service providers and families working with individuals with deaf-blindness. Visit www.usdb.org for information. Ogden Halloween Carnival will be held on October 31st from 9-11 a.m.