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The Willis Tower Skydeck Adventure

Mr. Luskin and Mr. Watson have been working with a number of high school students on a direct instruction math course as well as designing hands on activities to practice the skills learned and keep students engaged. To this end, these staff designed the last field trip of 2019 to include a trip to Willis (formerly known as Sears) Tower to apply skills of skyscraper measurements and connect the relevance to Chicago architecture.

There were 6 students in attendance, some of which overcame their fear of heights, with the trip to the skydeck and were able to take in a beautiful view of the city. Back in class, students are designing model skyscrapers based on their math knowledge and real-life experience.

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CAAEL Volleyball: the 2019-2020 Season

Each week during Felicity’s fall semester, students are offered an opportunity to play volleyball with other schools participating in the CAAEL volleyball games over the Fall season. Our volleyball coach, Mr. Bolek, determines eligibility of students playing based on number of completed assignments for the week and appropriate behavior during each school day. Felicity students have done extremely well with sportsmanship and overall participation for each game.

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Chicago Bulls Game!


As most of you may be aware, we are currently housed in the old Berto Center in Deerfield, which means the Chicago Bulls have a special place in our hearts and minds at Felicity. On November 25 2019, twenty lucky students had the opportunity to attend a Chicago Bulls game at the United Center. The Bulls played the Portland Trailblazers this Monday night game and unfortunately took a loss, with a final score of 94-117.

However, the real win of the game was being able to take a picture on half court while the Chicago Bulls had their warm up before the game! Coach Wilhelm of the Bulls has met our kids and is excited, like us, to see additional growth in the relationship between the Chicago Bulls and Felicity School.  We are honored to pay tribute to the Chicago Bulls, past, present and future any time we are able.

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CAAEL’s Academic Bowl

Four of our brave high school students to the annual “CAAEL Academic Bowl”, hosted by New Hope School. The Academic Bowl is a yearly competition of other alternative and therapeutic schools in the area divided into small groups for each school’s chosen students to represent the team. Each team has one student as a spokesperson to share the team’s answers and gain points.

At the academic bowl, there are four rounds of competition, which included thirty questions about Geography, Science, History, English and Math. Felicity took home a second place trophy for sportsmanship as well as the second highest scoring school among the group! All schools were rewarded with a celebratory pizza.

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Richardson's Farm: An Annual Felicity Fall Tradition

Felicity students eagerly attended the yearly tradition of going to Richardson’s Farm during the peak of the fall season. Students and staff received a tour of the farm on a private hayride, provided by one of the owners of Richardson’s farm, enjoyed delicious s’mores after lunch and explore the farm’s attractions throughout the day in small groups.

Some of the Richard’s Farm activities included: the famous corn maze, petting zoos, the giant “jumping pillows” and pick out a pumpkin to take back and paint at school for Halloween fun. All painted pumpkins will be placed in a friendly competition to get the chance to win, “Most Creative Pumpkin”.

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Soul Harbour Ranch Therapeutic Horse Farm

In October, a group of Felicity students were able to check out Soul Harbour Ranch in Barrington, Illinois. In previous years, Felicity staff has been working on continuing to provide activities for students to interact with animals on field trips and special events. Felicity staff has found that interacting with animals can reduce anxiety overall, especially in students who have patterns of impulsive behavior.

The ranch included a variety of animals trained to be emotional support animals including: miniature therapeutic donkeys, miniature therapeutic horses and therapy dogs. Students pet the animals, learn how to walk with them around the farm and helped with grooming.

This was Felicity’s first time visiting and based on the student feedback, won’t be the last. Thank you to CAAEL for inviting Felicity to join in! Featured above is one of our Felicity clinicians, Ms. Swillum, enjoying some quality time with one of the miniature therapeutic donkeys.

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Bears Fit

Mid school year, a small group of Felicity students received the opportunity to participate in a sample workout that the Chicago Bears complete as a part of their pre-season training at the program called Bears Fit. The intense session demonstrated the skill, strength and dedication necessary to be an elite athlete. One of the requirements of our Felicity students going was to confirm they would be willing to participate in a sample workout for P.E. credit.

As much as Felicity loves to capture memories at our field trips throughout the year, due to the privacy of the facility, students were unable to bring their phones. However, this was a great opportunity to be mindful of the present moment and be comfortable sharing experiences without needing phones to make it memorable.

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The Historical Holocaust Museum

Ten students were selected to attend the Holocaust Museum in Skokie, Illinois to view a number of the exhibits as well as attend a discussion with a Holocaust survivor and ask questions. Some of our students were able to ask engaging and thought-provoking questions regarding a personalized experience of the Holocaust in a way that may not always be accessible to learn about.

Additionally, a number of these students have not been able to attend this museum and it was a great opportunity to see some of the underlying information about the Holocaust to apply to one of our online history classes or inspire individual projects for credit. This field trip proved to be insightful for students to learn and understand one of the darkest events in human history.