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Summer at Felicity is a time where we are offered the opportunity to work on social skills in non-stressful settings. We had plenty of fun on these adventures and staff enjoys providing our students with these rewards for their hard work over summer. Here is the list of outings students have gotten to attend on Fridays: Par King, Antioch Theatre, River Rand Bowl, Lambs Farm, and a trip to the Equine Center.

Park King: At Par King, students and staff were able to enjoy a round of 18 at one of the most well-known mini golf courses around. Whether they were just there to have fun, or competing with staff members for the highest score, laughs were heard all throughout the course!

Antioch Theatre: Staff and students were treated to a private viewing of DC’s newest movie “The Flash”. Established in 1924, Antioch Theatre provides a cool throwback experience, that reminded our older staff of times gone by.

River Rand Bowl: The competitive juices were flowing at River Rand Bowl, as students went head-to-head against their fellow classmates, and staff in 3 games of bowling!

Lambs Farm: Lambs Farm in Libertyville provides endless entertainment for staff and students to enjoy, while appreciating all types of disabilities. They give out bags of hay so that students can feed the animals (some of the animals included are Goats, Llamas, Cows, and even a Camel).

When they weren’t feeding or petting the animals; students could be found on the mini golf course, or in different buildings that house reptiles, birds, and even an adoption center where the students got to look at some adorable puppies!

Equine Center: For our last field trip of the year, we got the chance to head out to the Equine Center. The Equine Center is a large plot of farmland with horses, a pond, and plenty of open space for outdoor games!

Students have the freedom to grab a fishing pole and catch some fish, head over to the stables and check out the horses, and even spend their time swimming! Watching the students smile and laugh throughout the day was a perfect way to spend our last Friday of summer school at Felicity!

One of our administrative assistants, Jenny Sugarman, shared that Bella Ru Catering, was taking initiative to utilize extra catering supplies to start a food pantry nearby and taking volunteers to help pass out the food and making sure each family would receive a proper amount. After Ms. Sugarman discussed the work done with our Felicity students and families, each Monday there is a set aside amount of bags, coordinated with a pastor in Waukegan to ensure there is enough to provide to multiple families, while supplies last.

Felicity is lucky to partner with local organizations who believe in our mission and want to support our families by going above and beyond to provide extra supplies, save some families a trip to the grocery store or an easily made dinner.

For more information, please visit the below link: https://www.bellarucatering.com/

Felicity students and staff have gotten the unique opportunity to attend a weekly boxing class over the past few weeks at Marvelous Fight Studio in Wheeling. Coach Six has been a great role model for each of the students to take non-traditional boxing techniques into consideration, debunking common myths with boxing and safety techniques with self-defense.

He also demonstrates direct communication, consistency in learning and staying on task, which further enhances life skills. Each class involves perfecting techniques of beginner’s boxing techniques and increasing endurance across each type of workout, with adding new challenges for each workout to build on skill sets. Please see the photos below for a behind the scenes look at some of the lessons with our students!

Last Friday, we had the honor of hosting music artist Nicky Jam, who was accompanied by a small group of friends and colleagues, to play a few games of basketball before playing a local stadium show in the area. Nicky was welcoming of student spectators. In fact, Nicky and his entourage invited a student on the CAAEL basketball team to play a few games. Our student kept up with the pace of the other players smoothly. Before leaving for the day after getting a workout in, Nicky Jam agreed to meet a few students who were fans of his music. In fact, one of our other students, who had been a fan of Nicky Jam since her childhood, was able to get a t-shirt with a personalized autograph. Please see a few of our pictures from the unexpected surprise below!

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Felicity teachers have had to adapt to a lot of changes this school year, especially with new students coming in and creating new ways to connect, here are a few messages from our classroom teachers about some highlights from the school year:

Felicity represents an opportunity for the classes to have different experiences.  We love the different lunches, band room, staff members and peers.  We also love the opportunity to do different ways of instruction from hands on to direct instruction to computer based instruction.  The ability to diversify and know that in my room, it is not about the disability but the ability, brings out the uniqueness of each other.- Ms. Horwitz

“This year, our class started playing board/card games during our breaks. It has been a great way to build rapport in our classroom and create positive relationships. Our students look forward to playing the games and spending social time with their classmates and teachers. We love to see the students in our classroom bond with each other, along with the staff.” -Ms. Nightingale and Mr. Mitchem

“We have discovered talented artists and musicians in our classroom  In fact, a Felicity Art Gallery is in the works, with the help of our art therapist, Ms. Freberg! Join in Karaoke and jam sessions in our Felicity Band Room.”- Ms. Wright and Mr. Farca

“The ability to transition in and out of a work-centered environment, to a fun and caring space, is crucial to the development of students at Felicity School!  At Felicity, you can often find many avenues for personal growth: 1 on 1 basketball or maybe a game of Sorry! Need a bracelet or want to relax and use the rubber band loom? Not a problem! Feel like signing up for our basketball team? Of course you do! Here at Felicity, we have opportunities for students to grow into the best versions of themselves.” -Mr. Luskin and Mr. Townsend

Felicity School has officially wrapped up the first half of the 2021-2022 School Year!

We have been building groundwork in making positive changes for our students such as writing and presenting practice marketing pitches for the ROCKS restaurant group, putting up posters in the band room, finishing up the aquaponics set up, coming up with student movies to present in Film Studies and adding small group activities such as classroom board games to break up the day with students.

Before leaving on winter break, students were able to enter their tickets to win raffle prizes such as giftcards, art supplies, and chocolate to name a few. Also, a couple of our students were able to participate in cookie decorating with a few of our clinicians and got to pass out some of the cookies to other students and staff.

Now that the new year is underway and we have been welcoming many new students, we are looking forward to surveying students to restart our Felicity band, adding new units to PE classes, and starting the season of CAAEL basketball. Stay tuned for what’s next!

Felicity School recently celebrated Thanksgiving prior to the first holiday break by bringing back the traditional Thanksgiving lunch. This year, our staff decided to order from City Barbeque including the following food choices: smoked brisket, pulled pork, turkey, corn casserole and baked beans. Students were asked to sign up to work alongside staff on tasks to assist with set up, clean up, decorating, and serving food.

Additionally, students and staff were asked to contribute to the “Tree of Gratitude” project by sharing something or someone they were grateful for. Please see the photos below of the event!

Felicity School decided to incorporate some new traditions to honor local veterans. Our students started the Veteran’s Day unit with a documentary on Monday morning related to the impact of the Vietnam War. Monday afternoon, our art therapist organized a bracelet making activity for a number of students to participate in. In fact, the bracelets that were completed were put into an envelope and sent to the Deerfield VFW along with thank you letters as well as pictures drawn by a few of our students of the American flag.

We concluded the week with a guest speaker from the local VFW. One of our students also brought in some World War II memorabilia to share with the class from his great grandpa’s experience and pass around some of the belongings for others to see.