Travel Advisory If your family travels over the Mid-Winter break, families must follow the New York State Health guidelines of quarantining and receiving a negative COVID test before returning to school. For the safety of all of the Cooke staff and fellow classmates, please follow these restrictions carefully. The contiguous states are exempt from this advisory: NJ, CT, PA, MA, VT. For travelers who were out-of-state for more than 24 hours:
COVID19 Vaccine Eligibility New York state is now opening vaccine eligibility to people with "intellectual and developmental disabilities including Down syndrome.” These New Yorkers can begin to make appointments at state-run vaccination sites beginning Sunday, February 14, with vaccinations beginning on Monday, February 15. Please find the full list of eligible persons HERE. St. John’s University with Cooke Transitions This semester Milk and Baldwin Pod 2 students are with St. John’s University (SJU) teachers for two Zoom classes. In Independent Living this week, students discussed where they would like to live and what kind of home they envision themselves in. Some students answered Japan, Korea or France, while others preferred to stay in New York City. Future classes will include “Needs for living on your own” and “Budgeting for living on your own (or with roommates)”. In “Spoken Word” students watched and discussed Amanda Gorman’s “Chorus of the Captains”. This semester they’ll be creating work around the theme of change and how certain changes have affected their lives. We are looking forward to another exciting semester with SJU! Let the Yearbook Fun Commence!It’s that time! Cooke Transitions has started the second semester with a new internship that will encourage students to collaborate with the Yearbook Committee. The Yearbook Committee includes Nitzeida Clare (Head Teacher), Gaetie Edouarzin (Community Inclusion Assistant), John Malaya (Transition Coordinator) and Jackie Bediako (Assistant Division Head)! As part of this internship, students will learn various skills associated with using the Canva platform, a platform used to make various online content such as digital invitations, eCards, social media posts and yearbooks! In addition, interns will learn how to use various Google platforms, such as Google Forms, and Google Drive, and learn how to use photo editing applications. Our in-person interns are Sarah, Tamara, Eve, and Aly. This week, they went over expectations for the internship, confidentiality, and privacy! Interns will be using a Yearbook email account, which will allow them to communicate with staff members in a professional manner. We are so excited to introduce this internship to the students. The committee made the decision to involve students in the formation of the yearbook this year since there are many important skills the students can develop such as: communication, digital literacy, self-advocacy and team work. We plan to keep you updated as the year progresses! If you have questions about the yearbook reach out to Jackie at [email protected]. Back In Business! For the second semester, Math Explorations classes will be focusing on businesses! Students began the semester by learning about goods and services, producers and consumers and how businesses use advertisements to sell their products. Students made connections to when they've paid for a good or service - such as going grocery shopping, getting their nails done or getting haircuts. After the winter break, students and their classes will be generating their own business ideas by conducting surveys on what students' wants and needs are. Based on student responses, classes will decide what kind of good or service could safely be sold online or in person. Classes will also be researching small and big businesses to help generate ideas. Everyone is looking forward to building their own class business! NIKE Nike has released it’s GO FlyEase hands-free sneakers! Awesome shoes for students who may have some difficulty with laces or who are really on the go! Check them out HERE. News from Nurse Liz Hi All! Here is some information about the new variants of the novel coronavirus from the CDC: Information about the characteristics of these variants is rapidly emerging. Scientists are working to learn more about how easily they spread, whether they could cause more severe illness, and whether currently authorized vaccines will protect people against them. What we know : US COVID-19 cases caused by variant viruses constantly change through mutation, and new variants of a virus are expected to occur over time. Sometimes new variants emerge and disappear. Other times, new variants emerge and persist. Multiple variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 are circulating globally. These variants seem to spread more easily and quickly than other variants, which may lead to more cases of COVID-19. An increase in the number of cases will put more strain on health care resources, lead to more hospitalizations, and potentially more deaths. So far, studies suggest that antibodies generated through vaccination with currently authorized vaccines recognize these variants. This is being closely investigated and more studies are underway. What we can do: Rigorous and increased compliance with public health mitigation strategies, such as vaccination, physical distancing, use of masks, hand hygiene, and isolation and quarantine, is essential to limit the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19 and protect public health. Click HERE for a “Virtual Activities ToolKit” from the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities. Comments are closed.
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