Survivor Miriam

The planning for this year's “Survivor Miriam” Summer Program is underway. While the TV show encourages players to “Outwit, Outplay and Outlast”, our goal will be to “Enlighten, Encourage, and Empower.”

The Miriam School Summer Program offers the opportunity for students to maintain academic skills through instruction in reading, math and written language in the morning. During the afternoon, the students will participate in a variety of enrichment activities based on our theme and will explore the social skills necessary for successful teamwork.

• Session 1, "Navigators" will introduce the skills of survival. Older students may learn about how to read a map and how to survive both in the classroom and in the wild, while the younger students will learn about the many different habitats found around the world.
• Students moving on to Session 2, "Explorers" will continue their journey of survival. Younger students will learn how animals and people "survive" in different environments. and older students will explore their own personal learning styles, and learn about the ways in which exploration has changed the world as we know it.
  

Weekly "tribe challenges" will focus on team building games and activities that are not about competitiveness, but rather about empowerment.

“Survivor Miriam” offers 2 two-week sessions. Students can sign up for one or both two-week sessions. Groups are determined by age, social skills and academic compatibility.

"Navigators" Session 1: June 21 - July 2 - $600
"Explorers" Session 2: July 6 - July 16 - $575 (No program on July 5)

Registration for "Survivor Miriam" will begin in January.
Contact mbless@miriamschool.org for further information.

Group 3's Joke Book

Powder Valley Hike

The students enjoyed an encounter with nature on our Powder Valley Consevation Nature Center field trip this week. Some of the groups met deer along the path and stopped to listen to the many sounds of the forest as they hiked the beautiful trails. They also enjoyed the many exhibits inside the nature center which include a real bee hive, an aquarium of fish native to Missouri's rivers and streams, and a nature puppet stage.





The Nature Center is open year round, is centrally located and offers many different classes throughout the year. You can visit Powder Valley's blog for up-to-date notes on the latest natural events and scheduled programs.

Session 2 Begins

The students began the 2nd session of Extreme Media today. Each group has chosen an interesting way to use media to express themselves. Group 1 students have entered the world of I Spy. Group 2 will be continuing our Miriam News Crew newspaper as well as performing in a Fairy Tale movie. Group 3 will publish their magazine and create podcasts and Group 4 will continue to entertain us with the daily broadcast of Good Morning, Miriam.

We're looking forward to another productive 2 weeks!

The Magic House

The students headed to the new and improved Magic House this week for our summer's first field trip. We visited the three branches of government, built a new house, caught some fish and solved a mystery. No wonder we were all so tired when we returned!

St. Louis Post Dispatch Visits Extreme Media

Group 2 had a distinguished visitor from the St. Louis Post Dispatch. A reporter named Kevin Crowe came by to discuss the newspaper business with the girls. They had prepared like true reporters themselves by writing down their questions before he arrived. The students are grateful that they had the opportunity to do their own interview and will put their reporting skills to use when they publish their own weekly newspaper.

Marissa and Molly had their try at their own reporting when they asked Group 1 some questions about the recent heat wave we've been experiencing.

Group 2 had their first visit from Olivia, a Newfoundland with the PAWS Reading Program. Olivia has visited Miriam throughout the school year and has decided to continue her visits throughout the summer.

The students learned that Olivia not only likes to listen to stories, but enjoys swimming. In fact she has been trained as a water rescue dog! We're happy that Olivia will be joining us this summer!

"Sensory integration is the neurological process of organizing the information we get from our bodies and from the world around us for use in daily life."
http://www.memorialhospital.org/

As part of our Summer Program, the students do a variety of sensory activities which we refer to as a "sensory diet". Many of our students benefit from therapies that help them organize sensory input. We see in increase in task focus, an awareness of their body in space and an increase in the student's ability to handle frustrations. To the students, sensory diet is just "fun"

Lights, camera, action!

Our first session has begun and we've already completed the first official "Good Morning, Miriam" newscast. Mrs. Barnes group will be reporting on our daily activities as well as sports and weather information. We look forward to seeing everyone take their turn in the spotlight.

The other groups have been busy creating drawings with Kid Pix, learning about how to create a magazine and how to become a newspaper reporter.

We can't wait to share all of the fun projects the students create this summer!