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Inclement Weather

On the rare occasion when Prep to Step-Up is cancelled because of challenging weather conditions, an email will be sent before 7:30 am. 

 

Our decision to cancel is based on local weather reports, school and bus closures and common sense.  Our priority is the safety for everyone!

Important Dates

Winter Semester
Tuesday, 7th Jan. - Thursday, 12th March 2020

 

Winter Semester Seminar Night Tuesday, 3rd March  6:30-8:00 pm
 

Winter Semester Celebration Day

Thursday, 12th March 1:00-3:00 pm
Everyone Welcome!

 

Spring Semester
Tuesday, 7th April - Thursday, 11th June 2020

Microwave Use at Lunch

As there is only accommodation at the Church for one microwave to be used at lunch, we kindly suggest that Clients bring foods that do not always need heating up. 

 

The lines are getting longer and eating times are getting shorter! 

 

Perhaps hot soup or pasta might be brought in a thermos?

Website

Our Prep to Step-Up website is our Main Source for Communication.
Please check it out regularly.  We have recently added Our Community Stars and Useful Resources that include important information available to our Prep Families. 

 

If you know of contacts that would be of interest to share please, let us know.


New Contact Email for Registrations and Inquiries
prep.stepup@gmail.com

 

Please also see under ‘Support Prep’, our GoFundMe Page and under ‘Contact Us’, our Prep for Press which can be downloaded or printed for easy distribution.

The Prep Funding Team 

Our Awareness Campaign is in full affect!  As we enter 2020, volunteers are welcomed to support the many productive ideas we are planning for the future!


Public feedback has added empowerment to the uniqueness of this program.  We welcome your participation in some very exciting inclusive community ideas in 2020!
 

As per the Funding Team’s Term of Reference, at least one parent or guardian is required to be part of this very important initiative. We are looking for your expertise and advice on the committee.


Only 1-2 hours per month is needed to attend a monthly meeting. This is your opportunity to have a voice! 

 

Please contact Chair, Susan Dunne or Doreen to discuss how you can best help keep Prep to Step-Up thrive well into the future! 

 

We thank you in advance for your consideration

Registration & Payment

Registration for the Spring Semester, April 7th - June 11th, 2020, is now open. 

 

Due to the incredible success of the Winter Semester reaching our full capacity of 25 clients, it is even more important than ever that you reserve your place in advance. The increase in registrations is due to the hard

work of so many people and includes more marketing, a dedicated Funding Team, a stronger online presence

and the support of all of you sharing what Prep to Step-Up is all about.

 

This is great news, but it does mean that we know there will be a waiting list for the Spring Semester. A

deposit of $150.00 by March 12th, 2020 will reserve you a place, which will be secured when full payment is received before April 7th. If full payment is not received, we will have to release your place and clients on the waiting list will be contacted.

Method for Mindfulness

Pause
Relax
Examine
Plan

Prep to Step-Up is Hiring!

If you know of someone with passion, well-rounded education, experience with those living with neurodiversities, patience, adaptability and a sense of fun please go to our website, https://www.preptostepup.com/work-with-us, to apply. 

 

Thank You!

Step-Up News: 
February 15th, 2020

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Love is Everywhere at
Prep to Step-Up!

Reminders

In bee-soft bower walk your way.
   In feather-clouds, trust keep you!
In sleep; In dream,
   Drink fresh; Breathe free.
In heart; In home, Love keep you!

                                                  ~  Doreen ~  1972

At Prep to Step-Up we encourage the practice of trust and respect as an important point of focus on ‘Being the Best We Can Be!’ for each other every single day. Giving each other the space to understand what we are learning and the time to listen gives both Educator and Client the opportunity to learn as much as we can, moment-to-moment of every single day! Hard work but we all try our best!

Trust and respect are essential practices of love! As each wonderful day progresses, we see our empty room fill up with love, building from the unique personalities and experiences our Clients feel comfortable to add in any memorable new learning adventure!
Educators love seeing Clients add more to the program with their suggestions and ideas that enhance any given part of the curriculum or plan for the day. We are becoming a more cohesive community of ‘students’ learning together. It is love, trust and respect that helps with this!

There isn’t an hour that goes by that our hearts don’t burst with love and pride over something someone has said, a touch or look that is shared with genuine care, a memory from early days shared with trust or a moment shared in silence except for the music heard in our hearts. Thank you to the Clients for being exactly who you are! Thank you to the Educators and Support Staff for the fun and guidance! Thank you to the Families for trusting us with your adult children! Thank you for the love!

Amid the reality of diagnosis, methods and reactions; tackling everyday stresses and financial responsibilities; answering the whys from the past and the hows of the future, the Neurodiverse and Typical Communities must work harder to develop consistent understanding and direct communication for a more accepting and complete society. Sharing the importance of value in each other is the essence that the Neurodiverse can illustrate and share with the Typical. Everyone needs to practice a Mindful society of combining reality with knowledge and hope. We are all essential to the care of each other.

 

David Suzuki once said that the breath we exhale in one moment is the very same breath we take in after it has travelled around the planet in one day. Like each moment in our lives, we must take care of that breath of air in the very best ways we can so it can continue. It represents potential. We can believe in the best of each other but I personally seek the potential in a person.  There is no right or wrong; only potential. The potential can still learn! The potential can still love! There is a future with potential!

Prep to Step-Up still has a lot of potential to tap into!  Watch for our plans for the future in our next Prep News or come to our next Seminar Night on March 3rd. We believe in our Clients’ potential and we believe in you! At the end of the day, if you feel you need a little love, pop in and attend our Good-bye Circle! In the meantime, we know you’ll get some love this weekend!

 

“Never Ignore a Possible!”
                                                                                                                             ~ Doreen McCall ~

Spring Semester Registration is now Open 

 

April 7th - June 11th, 2020

Due to Increased Enrolment, Registration is Limited! New Client inquiries coming in. Secure Your Spot! 

 

A Deposit of $150.00 is required by Thursday March 12th, 2020 by either Cash, Cheque or e-Transfer.

Visit our website under Contact Us for more details.


You are our best ambassadors for Prep to Step-Up!  If you promote the program to someone new who definitely signs up, there will be a 10% deduction from your fee.

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Rotation  Reports

Literacy: I Will Do My Best to Be My Best
 

The Winter Semester marches forward with the emotions Anger and Sadness and continues to challenge the Clients with writing words that start with each letter in these words – a great exercise many of them want to continue at home. It's amazing the words that Clients can create from a piece of paper and a pencil/pen and a little inspiration. Keep your eyes open for the blank notebooks they are bringing home from their “bonus with purchase” from The Store. They asked for the notebooks and Prep delivered.

Clients continue to identify words like Calm, Comfort and Love and again we would be thrilled to know if they are using these words at home. Literacy rotation follows after Skills-at-Will where they have been reciting a motto “I will do my Best to be my Best”!  It’s so rewarding to know they are retaining such an important motto and repeating it in Literacy.

The next few weeks will be fun reading and choosing different endings to the book, Inside Out, and a new and wonderful story about another dog named Clancy. Everyone continues to give it their all supporting each other with their words, fist pumps and high fives.

Math: Graphing Connections Between Us

 

In the past couple of weeks, the Clients have been exploring the world of graphing and data; how analyzing and exploring our everyday lives can provide a deeper connection between ourselves and the people we interact with every day.

Connecting how we feel about different sports in bar graphs then advancing to learning about Pie Charts, we discovered how these connections work as part of the whole picture.

The Clients have also been talking about chores at home or The Choice Chart at Prep and how these chores make us feel when we do them versus how they make us feel after they’re completed which is usually a whole lot better!

‘The Store’ week recently is always exciting! Working together with the Skills-at-Will rotation has made the whole process a lot more streamlined and comfortable for the Clients. Every Client worked in The Store and got a chance to be a customer. Lots of items were purchased but Clients are always encouraged to explore other options with their money, such as saving for the next Store or sharing their money into a Collection Donation Box.  In the upcoming weeks, we will be exploring and delving deeper into our second and final Store this Semester. Overall, a very positive and strong growth period for all Clients as we examine what it is that we feel and how we can connect better with ourselves and the people around us through Math.

Science: Digesting Our Love of Food

 

As we continue building self-awareness through learning about our bodies, we have moved on from the brain to a journey through the digestive system. Very fitting given how much we all love food here at Prep! It is important to understand why our bodies need food and how that food affects our bodies. In addition to discussions and reading passages, hands-on and sensory activities are a great way to reinforce these lessons.

We have started the digestive pathway by learning more about the mouth; the ‘biter’, ‘chewer’ and ‘taster’. Biting into different foods allowed us to see the different jobs that each type of tooth has. Next, we put our taste buds to the test to compare different flavours. Moving forward, we will be putting our sequencing skills to work as we learn about the esophagus, stomach, and intestines. Our life-sized body maps will become more detailed with each new step.

Valentine’s Day celebrations included some ‘love bug’ snack creations along with some Valentine trail mix. What an imaginative group we have! These fun food experiences (more to come!) are a great complement to the science curriculum.

Art: Turn That Frown Upside Down

 

Our word for Weeks 4 & 5, ‘Calm’ allowed us to explore the antithesis to ‘Anger’.  Using ‘Mr. Grumpy’ from the Mr. Men book series, we were able to describe the expression, “Turn that frown upside down!” through large bubble-like letters drawn free-hand on posters with a message that was both literal as well as visual.

Our latest emotion theme of ‘Sadness’ has opened up our focus toward love and friendship. Everyone had tons of fun creating pop-up Valentine’s Day cards following step-by-step instructions and adding personal flourishes.  The results were really special and a source of great pride!

Skills-at-Will: Positive Affirmations


Throughout the last few weeks in Skills-at-Will, we have been exploring Anger. Exploring different ways to react to anger and learning different techniques to focus on has included different breathing techniques, yoga and positive affirmations. Trying to emphasize positive affirmations and breathing techniques has been our main goal in understanding this invasive emotion and how to cope with it.

In the next few weeks we will continue to explore Sadness, then Fear. Both emotions have very distinctive features and reactions. We will be exploring these emotions by completing group exercises maintaining focus on sounds and friendships. In addition, we incorporated the emotions of love for Love Week by testing our memories with a Valentine’s matching card game as well as giving out positive affirmation valentine cards to one another. These positive affirmations highlighted what the clients saw as personal strengths, good attributes, and recognizing skills in other Clients.

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