A big community today!

Today was a very busy day for us!  We spent time in the morning doing our center chores and were all very independent!  To celebrate our independence we went to lunch at Zio Johno's and displayed even more independence!  Each student ordered on their own, and payed for their own lunch!  SO GREAT!  We enjoyed great conversation and great food before heading out into the cold.  Off to Marion we went to drop off some of our holiday cards at Dreaming Bear in anticipation for tonight's Peppermint Walk (hope to see some of you out there).  From there we headed to Dollar Tree to make some more purchases, this time for our friends.  Each student selected and purchased a gift for one of their peers, to be exchanged at our holiday party later this month.  Back to the center we went to wrap our presents and wrap up our day.  It is so fun to spend the day in the community and watch each of our students show just how independent they are!

Our feature blogger this week is Parker.  Here is what he had to say about his week at PrairieWood:

"This week at PrairieWood, I learned to find hamburger.  I enjoyed getting my independence award.  I was challenged by pulling the cord at HyVee for the city bus.  At PrairieWood I would like to learn how to make Spaghetti."

Pictures from our lunch out...Enjoy your weekend!

The 6th Annual PrairieWood Thanksgiving feast...

Whelp...we are exhausted!  We have spent the entire week preparing food, cleaning the center, and practicing our party social skills.  And today we showed off all our hard work.  Guests included students and staff from Prairie and Kirkwood, those that are supportive of our program and those students who may one day be attending PrairieWood.  Each student spent two days cooking items that were served at today's luncheon.  Ask your PrairieWood student about their favorite part of the day!  We took some time this afternoon to reflect on our week of preparations and here is what we have to share...

"During our Thanksgiving, I learned to Grocery Shop for Thanksgiving food." Sarah

"During our Thanksgiving , I enjoyed talking with my friends." Nolan

"During our Thanksgiving , I was challenged by keeping my sleeves up while cooking" Andrea

"My favorite part of our Thanksgiving was making the stuffing." Kaitlyn

"During our Thanksgiving, I learned to make pumpkin pie." Parker

"My favorite part of our Thanksgiving was the people." Kyle

I could not be prouder of each and every one of our students today.  They worked so hard to clean and prepare the food, and were such great hosts to our guests.   They represented PrairieWood well!!!

Enjoy the pictures from our week of preparations and our party today...

 

Bowling Success!

What a FUN day the students and staff of the Transition Center had today.  We started our Friday morning at Westdale Bowl for the Special Olympics Bowling Regional competition.  Our students represented PrairieWood and Special Olympics well with their positive attitudes and smiling faces!  Each one of them had the best time bowling and cheering on their classmates.  Below is photos from our day.  Enjoy!

Rainy day fun!

Our original Friday activity plans had us heading to Palisades Park in Mt. Vernon today.  Its an annual fall trip where we cook out and go on a nature hike to enjoy the fall weather.  Well...it would be a pretty miserable trip today...so we had to come up with Plan B.  What a better way to spend a rainy day than with a trip to the movie theater.  We will be heading to the Budget Theater this afternoon to enjoy Despicable Me 2 3D.  Many of us are more excited about purchasing our own snacks.  An afternoon full of great learning opportunities and a little fun at the movie theater!

Our feature blogger this week is Sarah.  Here is what she had to say about her (short) week at PrairieWood.

" This week at PrairieWood I learned cooking because I made s'mores.  I enjoyed city bus.  I was challenged by playing a game.  I would like to learn more about the Rec. Center.  I am excited about our movie trip."

Have a great weekend!  And stay dry!!!

Its Fall!

We are doing our best to enjoy this beautiful "fall" weather before it disappears into winter.  We spent a lot of time doing activities outside this week.  For our community activity today, we enjoyed the Wilson's Apple Orchard between Iowa City and Solon.  We packed a picnic lunch, hiked through the orchard to pick apples, and enjoyed Apple Cider donuts.

Our feature blogger this week is Andrea.  Here is what she had to say about her week at PrairieWood...

"This week at PrairieWood I learned how to make frozen peas.  I enjoyed working at Kenwood.  I was challenged by playing the sign game.  At PrairieWood, I would like to learn more about how to make homemade ice cream.  I really liked playing kickball at Jones Park this week."

Enjoy the pictures from our orchard trip and have a great weekend!

Prairie Pride

Well, we just got back to the center from a chilly trip around Prairie's campus for the homecoming parade.  What fun we had!  We saw so many familiar faces from all our years in the wonderful schools at Prairie.  We had fun waving, smiling, saying hello, and showing our Prairie Pride!

Our feature blogger this week is a young man who had a great week at PrairieWood.  Here is what Kyle has to say...

"This week at PrairieWood I learned where to find refried beans at HyVee.  I enjoyed eating pizza for lunch.  I was challenged pulling out big staples at my job.  I also sometimes get snacks in the break room at Kenwood.  I like that a lot!"

Have a great weekend!  Enjoy the fall weather!!!

Hard Working!

It happened this week!  All of our young adults started their community jobs.  Each afternoon, they spend several hours out in the community learning and improving their work skills.  We are all very excited to be working and very excited about all we are learning at our new jobs.

We also took advantage of the beautiful weather this week.  We took the city bus to Jone Park for bus training and spent some time enjoying the park.  We also went Mini Golfing this afternoon.  That was a favorite!

Our feature blogger this week is Nolan.  Here is what he had to say about his week at PrairieWood...

" This week at PrairieWood I learned a new job at hibu.  It was counting envelopes.  I enjoyed working at Hibu.  I was challenged by finding pizza sauce at HyVee."

Please enjoy the pictures of us enjoying this beautiful fall weather...and have a great weekend!

Learning our Routines and Rituals

We have a lot of routines and rituals in place at the PrairieWood Transition Center.  We establish these routines to provide opportunities for our students to be more independent.  If they know what comes next, or what to expect, they can prepare for it on their own.  Over the past few weeks we have been focusing our energy and attention on learning these routines.  Some are coming quicker than others, but we are seeing a lot of progress, and growing independence, even in this short amount of time.  One routine that got up and running for a few of our students this week is Work Experience in the community.  One crew of students began their work with the support of a job coach, volunteering at a local hospital.  We look forward to the rest of our students following suit, and beginning to establish their own Work routines.

Our feature blogger this week is Kaitlyn.  Here is what she had to say about her week at PrairieWood...

"This week at PrairieWood I learned about getting blankets and sheets from the cart.  I enjoyed working at Mercy Hospital.  I was challenged by doing my job at work instead of watching people at Mercy.  I would like to learn about my job and other jobs at Mercy Hospital.  We went to Lake Macbride for a picnic and hiking today."

Kaitlyn mentioned our afternoon trip to Lake Macbride.  What a relaxing and beautiful afternoon in nature.  Please enjoy our pictures.

Enjoying the sunshine at Lake Macbride.

Taking advantage of the beautiful, shaded trails.

One "week" down!

We may have started on Wednesday...but we have successfully completed our first "week" at PrairieWood!  We were very busy in this week learning new routines, making new friends, and getting to know our community; both on the Kirkwood campus and beyond!  Our feature blogger this week is Parker.  Here is what he had to say about his week at PrairieWood...

"This week at PrairieWood, I learned how to make lunch for my classmates.  I enjoyed meeting new friends.  I was challenged by loading the dishwasher.  At PrairieWood I would like to learn more about my new friends.  My week was challenging and fun."

Have a great weekend!

And we are off!

Whelp...it came.  And it went!  We have successfully completed the first day of our 2013-2014 School Year and its pretty obvious that it is going to be a great year!  Returning students are eager to be back and and get all they can out of their year, and new students didn't hesitate to jump right in and get things going!  We took a trip to HyVee to purchase lunch supplies and did a scavenger hunt to get to know campus better.  All left pretty exhausted, but pretty excited about all the things to come.  Including this teacher!  I am vowing that our blog (and website) will be current and update much more this year and I figured to start things out on the right note, we had to get a post out there on the first day.  A big thanks to all those moms, dads, siblings, friends and helpers out there who had these PrairieWood students ready and eager to have a great year! 

Until next time...
Parker, Andrea, Nolan, Sarah, Nick, Kaitlyn and Kyle

So long!

What a year we have had!  Nine students entered our program in August to develop and expand their functional life skills.  This spring we are sending six students of those nine out into the adult world.  Look out for them at the HyVee on Wilson Ave., HyVee drug on 6th Street, at Prairie High School, at OPTIONS of Linn County, the Walgreens Training program through Goodwill and Career Connections, also through Goodwill.  What an amazing group of young adults!  We are so proud to send them on their way to do great things and conquer the world.  As we wrap up this school year, we will share the happenings from our several of our grads.

Ahsia (3 years at PrairieWood)
"This week at PrairieWood, I learned City bus and pushing the tape for HyVee.  I enjoyed being at PrairieWood.  I was challeneged by the BINGO game.  I will miss everyone at PrairieWood next year.  They are my friends."

Chase (1 year at PrairieWood)
"This week at PrairieWood, I learned I did great on spoons and forks at work.  I enjoyed doing my cooking project.  I was challenged by doing faster on dishes.  I loved being at PrairieWood."

Brandon (2 years at PrairieWood)
"This week at PrairieWood I learned about washing dishes.  I enjoyed wiping tables.  I was challenged by laundry.  I am done with work for now at HyVee."

Mason (1 year at PrairieWood)
"This week at PrairieWood I learned how to put the funnel back on the pop machine in the coffee area at work.  I enjoyed HyVee being really busy.  I was challenged by keeping up with all the dirty dishes on the tables.  I did so well and accomplished so much in my time at PrairieWood."

Only one more day left.  Next week those that are still around will reflect on their year at PrairieWood and will provide advice for our incoming students.  Have a great weekend!

Where have we been?!?

Whelp, it has been one VERY busy spring around the PrairieWood Transition Center!  Starting in January, we began preparing for the Special Olympics Track and field.  All our hard practice payed off because at the Regional Competition on April 20th all of our students got 2nd and 1st place ribbons!  We are taking 6 students to the state competition in May!!!  We couldn't be prouder!

We also have 6 students who will be leaving PrairieWood this spring and transitioning to the adult community in Cedar Rapids.  Some will be competatively employed in the community, while others are taking some time to further develop their skills through programs such as Career Connections and OPTIONS.

On May 6th we will be celebrating 5 years of building independence with our community open house.  To prepare for this, PrairieWood students reflected on all they have learned and enjoyed at the center along with their plans upon leaving PrairieWood.  These interviews, along with pictures and video of the students around PrairieWood and the community were compiled into a video which will be shown at our open house.  Students also prepared cookies, trail mix and lemonade for our guests to enjoy and just completed a very deep cleaning of the center.  As I write it is sparkling clean and awaiting Monday's guests.

Our feature blogger this week is Sarah.  Here is what she had to say about her week at PrairieWood.

"This week at PrairieWood, I learned grocery shopping.  I enjoyed cooking because I made sugar cookies.  I was challenged by completing my work.  At PrairieWood I would like to learn more about the News2You stories."

Maybe we will see some of our loyal readers on Monday...  Have a good weekend!

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Whew!  What a day we had!  We wrapped up a busy week with an especially busy day at PrairieWood.  We have missed our Friday activities, due to Snow Days and No School days, so we jammed three activities into one Friday today!  We started our morning with Dori at Dreaming Bear.  There we prepared for spring by painting bright, beautiful flowers.  Next we enjoyed lunch at the Kirkwood Cafe with the rest of our Kirkwood peers.  Finally we took advantage of the sunshine and the snow before it melts and spent the afternoon snow shoeing around Jones park.  WHAT FUN!

Our feature blogger this week is Nick.  Here is what he had to say about his week at PrairieWood.


"This week at PrairieWood, I learned snow shoeing.  I enjoyed wearing my winter clothing for snow shoeing.  I was challenged by Dreaming Bear.  At PrairieWood I would like to learn more about Painting flowers.  I liked having lunch at the Kirkwood Cafe."

Nick working on his Spring masterpiece!

Chelsey and Dori adding finishing touches to the flower.

Go Sarah!

Ahsia making her way through the snow!

Chelsey and Brandon enjoying their first time in snow shoes.

Hello Snow!

Our recent snow fall was actually welcomed at PrairieWood.  We usually prefer nice, dry weather, as it makes our activities in the community a little easier to get to.  However, this week we welcomed the snow!  This was because for one of our Lifetime fitness activities, we were giving Snow Shoeing a try.  We had scheduled it for earlier in February, but had to cancel due to lack of snow, so when we saw snow in the forecast, we geared up and did some snow shoeing.  While many of the PrairieWood students had never tried snow shoeing before, they were up to the challenge, and after one try decided it was something they would like to do again!  We'll see how long this snow sticks around...maybe we can squeeze in a trip to a park or nature reserve before Winter makes it's way out of town!

Our feature blogger this week is Aric.  Here is what he had to say about his week at PrairieWood...

"This week at PrairieWood I learned to snow shoe with boots on.  I enjoyed going to work to go on the work floor and straighten things (at Goodwill).  I was challeneged by making an open-faced turkey sandwich.  At PrairieWood I would like to learn more about getting better at folding clothes.  At Goodwill I also learned to put shoes in the right places."

Have a good weekend!

Aric pushes against the wind to snow shoe across the field.

Sarah, enjoying her time in the snow shoes!

Ahsia, making her way back to the van.

Kaitlyn thinks, "Snow shoeing is fun!"

Independence and an UNO Tournament

As a part of our recreation activity today, we participated in an UNO tournament.  Each person had a chance to play a few games.  We also had several winners: a Good Sport Winner, a Consolation Winner and a Grand Winner.  Everyone took turns, played well, and enjoyed the time!

We also have some students who are taking some huge steps towards independence and we couldn't be happier for them!  Mason has started using the city bus to get to and from his competitive community job.  Way to go Mason!!!

Our feature blogger this week is Mason.  Here is what he had to say about his week at PrairieWood...

"This week at PrairieWood I learned that I can wait to cross the four-way stop when in doubt.  I enjoyed riding the city bus on my own.  I was challenged by telling when a customer is done or getting more food at the all you can eat at HyVee.  At PrairieWood I would like to learn more about how to tell if the customers are done or getting more food.  I rode the city bus all on my own this week!!!!!"

Can't believe these signs of Independence!!!!!  It was a good week at PrairieWood!!!!!

Chelsey purchasing her consolation prize.

Aric purchasing his grand prize.

Have a great weekend!

Community Learning Continues

Lookin' good Aric!

We do most of our learning in the community.  This is often easier to do when the weather is nice and it is easy to bounce out and about.  However, there are many indoor learning opportunities when the chill of winter hits.  We spent some time this week checking on of our favorite indoor opportunities out.  Friday afternoon we ventured to the Collin's Road Theater (we love a good deal) for an afternoon showing of "Wrek-It Ralph 3D."  We practiced our money skills by independently purchasing our own tickets.  We also had a little bit of fun watching the movie in our cool glasses!

Our feature blogger this week is Kaitlyn.  Here is what she had to say about her week at PrairieWood...

Ready for the movie!!

"This week at PrairieWood I learned how to find sugar in the grocery store.  I enjoyed my cooking project making grilled cheese sandwiches.  I was challenged by reading News2You.  At PrairieWood I would like to learn more about the bus.  We saw a movie today.  It's "Wrek-It Ralph" and it's funny!

Everybody in their 3D gear...

A New Semester

It is a new semester at College Community School District.  For PrairieWood students this means some changes in work sites.  Several of our students just started a Work Evaluation through Goodwill Industries.  Several of our students are starting community jobs and getting paid!  Exciting times at PrairieWood.

We enjoyed a quiet day, by Friday standards, at PrairieWood today.  We completed our usual center chores this morning, enjoyed a delicious (and student made) lasagna for lunch, and did some painting at the center as well.

Our feature blogger this week is Sarah.  Here is what she has to say about her week at PrairieWood...

"This week at PrairieWood, I learned cooking.  I made burrito.  I enjoyed playing a game.  It is called raking the leaves.  I was challenged by city bus.  At PrairieWood I would like to learn more about News2You.  I like going to the Rec. Center."

Have a great weekend!

Technical difficulties...

Hello again!

So sorry you haven't heard from us in a while.  We have been blogging, but it appears our blog entries were never posted.  I am sure there is a technical reason behind this (and its probably something I am doing wrong), but in any case, we are up and running now!

We have just completed a brief week back after almost two weeks of holiday celebrations!  It was nice to have such a short week to ease back into things.  We did a little working out at the Rec. Center and made a trip to Dreaming Bear for some painting enjoyment this morning.

Our feature blogger this week is Chelsey.  Here is what she had to say about her week at PrairieWood...
"This week at PrairieWood I learned to paint pigs and cows at Dreaming Bear.  I enjoyed walking on the track at the rec. center.  I was challenged by by painting my pig.  At PrairieWood I would like to learn more about playing the game Kaboom.  I learned to lift hand weights at the rec center too.

Enjoy your weekend!