More than two dozen students in Walt Whitman High School’s Life Skills program got together with teachers and alumni for their second annual Friendsgiving on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, November 25th.  Students in this Special Education program range in age from 14 to 22 and require individualized education programs for a variety of disabilities including autism, hearing or visual impairment, learning disabilities, Down syndrome, physical challenges, brain injury, and emotional disturbance, among others.  Students can remain in the Life Skills program until the age of 22.

 

Special education teacher Melanie Marano started this new tradition last year.  “I was looking for an opportunity to reconnect my students that had exited the program with the students that are still here. And it was a wonderful way to incorporate all the different functional life skills within one event,” said Marano. 

 

In addition to academics, the Life Skills curriculum includes important skills for everyday living, all focused on increasing students' independence and confidence and getting them ready for life after high school. It incorporates daily skills like shopping for food, cooking and learning how to read a recipe, and household chores; socialization and communication skills like teamwork, and building work and friend relationships; and vocational and job training to prepare students for employment.  

 

A Friendsgiving gathering is one big teaching opportunity for these students because it puts all the skills they’re mastering, and so many more, to the test as they prepare the food, serve it, and sit down together to eat.  And it all happens in the high school’s special apartment-style classroom suite where Whitman’s four Life Skills classes attend school every day.  It features a fully-equipped kitchen and dining area, plus classrooms. 

 

“I sent out a spreadsheet. Each of the classes signed up for a side and a dessert and we started the food preparation.  We started making cookies the week before, and we've been freezing a batch of cookies a day to bake right before our Friendsgiving.  We also made stuffing. Speech groups made cupcakes together.  All the groups made mashed potatoes and carrots, and everybody took a little piece of it and they're all incorporating this into their class lessons. So all the preparation, except for the turkey, is being done in [our kitchen],” said Marano. 

 

The classroom suite was beautifully decorated by the Life Skills students.  There were two dining rooms with holiday movies playing for entertainment.  One classroom was turned into a dance floor for the party where the students could put their social skills and dance moves to use.

 

The guest list included 28 students currently enrolled in the Life Skills program, nine program alumni, all their teachers and teaching assistants.  Marano says a lot of her students were most looking forward to seeing former classmates.  “This is an opportunity to socialize with some of their friends who they don't get to cross paths with outside of school.  I'm really excited for them to connect again with friends that they spent all day, every day here with for years. Some of the students in this program are here for as long as seven years.  So to exit and then not have that connection anymore; this is a way to reconnect,” said Marano.

 

Following some music, dancing, and lots of hugs, everyone left with a full stomach and a beaded Friendsgiving bracelet handmade by the Life Skills students.

 

Thanks to everyone who made this wonderful Friendsgiving possible!
Special Education teachers Laurie Augier, Kaitlin Fasano, Melanie Marano, Meghan Musgnug, and Tyler Williamson
Transition Coordinator Michelle Siragusa
Speech Therapist Jessica Corrado
Occupational Therapist Tyler Burton
Teaching Assistants Sue Civello, Leslie Cook, Ellen Dash, Peter DeMeo, Karen Friedman, Mary Geiser, Ivory Jimenez, Janice Kalter, Mary Jane Lubrano, Sue Naughton, Lauren Reams, Lakitha Robinson, Naseem Shahid, Sue Sorrentino, Michele Wasserman, Jennifer Whitney, and Margo Wright

 

See photos from this year’s Friendsgiving here!