Week of 9/23

THRIVE Director Notes

Posts on this Blog will be directed to help families see what is going on in our THRIVE Program.  Items discussed on the Blog have already occurred. To keep updated on what’s coming up please refer to the THRIVE activity calendar or UCM activity calendar.

First-Year Students:

University Foundations :

Monday Students learned how to figure time spent on Plato. Students were also told the test for Chapter 3 is this Friday so start studying now. Students were asked to form their own study groups and study alone. Also, Students made a list of ways to help with time management and discussed each of them. One was getting up 15 minutes earlier a day. Tuesday we finished discussing the chapter and played Kahoots. Wednesday and Thursday we watched the movie “Door to Door.” A true-life story of Bill Porter and his patience and persistence that lead to his success.  Years ago Mrs. Southard had talked to his secretary and shared some personal stories. We stopped the movie a few times and analyzed why some of the events occurred

Daily & Independent Living Skills:

This week DILS learned about calculating their daily caloric intake and are keeping a food journal that we will review next week. We also began talking about jobs and career fields using data from the assessments they completed on Missouri Connections. 

Technology Literacy:

Our Tech Lit time is being spent catching up on some of the uploads like Windows, Powerpoint, and installing the Notability app. We'll be doing more on web safety this week as well.

Relationships 101:

We are finishing up discussing dating. Mrs. Southard read some dating scenarios. Students pretended they were the parents who brought up some interesting discussions about making decisions for their children.  We talked about how our personal values guide our behaviors. We discussed different ways to say “no”. We even discussed how to break up with someone. Number 1 was never break up in a text message.

Second-Year Students:

Transition Planning I:

We are getting ready to start Habit 2 "Start with the End in Mind".  We discuss what is their goal. All students said to graduate from the THRIVE program in May 2020. After they graduate some students said to go get a job/career and some said to continue their education.  Then we discuss how will you accomplish these goals.  

- We are also discussing classes and internships for the spring semester.  The students have to submit five possible classes and three possible internships that they may like to do by Oct. 2nd.  The students may be having a discussion with their parents about this.

Internship I: 

The students attended the Etiquette Dinner this week.  This event is hosted by the Office of Career Service Office.  This event is a formal dinner that the students have to dress up for, use proper table manners and have to use professional communication skills.  The students have the opportunity to network with other UCM students, staff and faculty. The THRIVE Program and the Office of Career Service have been collaborating on this event and other events to help our students to be successful in their goals.

Plato:

Most students are completing their plato hours. Many times I see students working in the THRIVE classroom on PLATO during the day. 

THRIVE Activities:

Mentor Activities: This weekend was Family Weekend.  Here are some posts from our Family Meet N Greet:

The Mentors set up a time for families and students to help decorate for the Float.  Here are some pictures from Saturday. Please look at the THRIVE Facebook page for more…  I know I saw many students postings of their fun times at UCM Family day.-

Important upcoming dates:

Down Syndrome Guild Walk: For the 2nd year THRIVE is a sponsor for the Down Syndrome Guild of Greater Kansas City’s Step up for Down Syndrome.  We will be putting together a team of 10 students that will go to Arrowhead Stadium to walk for this event, held on October 26th from 10 am to 2 pm.  We are excited that we are able to do this and see our students show support. We have 13 signed up. I’ll be contacting the students to confirm this today, so I can get them registered.

Softball:

We had enough players to sign up for a softball team for the fall semester.Ok.  We received word on Thursday that we have been switched to Monday night games. Our games are either 7 pm or 8 pm.  The students that have signed up and passed the softball quiz can play, as long as they don’t have mandatory study hall... All games are are the South Complex off of Highway DD.  If you need directions please email me and I’ll send the address to you.

Here are the game times.  The students will be driven to the field by THRIVE Staff about 30 minutes before game time.

Our last games were canceled due to poor field conditions. I'll update students and Facebook when I hear more.

Special Olympics group to be on UCM Campus:

We have a group from Special Olympics attending UCM in late October.  We will have a couple of students help with giving tours of campus and will also have a group of students help with an activity in the evening.  We’ll be talking more to the students as we get more information.

Homecoming Weekend is October 12th  Put it on your calendars.  The students will be able to participate in several activities.  Blood Drive, Corn Toss (Instead of Bowling), Cheer Competition, Spirit Window, Door Decorating, THRIVE student Dance, and the Parade on Saturday morning.  The sign-up sheets are in the classroom. We will have a float that the students help with and the students walk in the parade.

"This blog is a programming blog written by the director and staff of the THRIVE Program on the University of Central Missouri campus.  This blog doesn't accept any form of cash advertising, sponsorship, or paid topic insertions. 

The views and ideas expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners.  This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.  We are simply telling you what we plan to do in our program and using the blog to help spread what we are doing on a weekly basis."