Recently, our middle school students had the opportunity to attend our first in-person middle school meet-up of the year, a nerf war, on the TJS playground. Middle school meet-ups offer students the ability to practice social skills in a fun, real-life way, so it's a true JOY to offer these events in-person again. Read through this Q&A blog post with Program Director Elyse Trusell to learn more about the unique benefits of our middle school meet-ups for students, how we're keeping students safe at these events and plans for future meet-ups.

In this #JoyfromAfar blog post, Christina Medina, Learning Specialist, explains how she developed an online learning program that worked best for her students, striking a balance between providing social opportunities with learning opportunities through live and on-demand videos and giving students chances to have fun while learning, even at a distance.

In this #JoyfromAfar blog post, Laura Gray, Dean of Students and Family Support, and Jonathan Li, Middle School Learning Specialist, describe the ways they support students' social and emotional growth by hosting virtual hangout meetings during The Joy School's COVID-19 closure.

In this #JoyFromAfar blog post, Director of Enrollment Management Rob Wise discusses how the admissions team has adjusted their process due to COVID-19 and continues to provide a virtual experience that allows them to understand prospective families deeply and build relationships with them while also providing opportunities for families to remotely assess the School and fit.

In our #JoyFromAfar series, we discuss The Joy School's transition to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this blog post, learn about how TJS Learning Specialist Kathy Matlage worked remotely with the parent of one of her students to build a document camera, a much-needed resource for a student who was having success using manipulatives to understand math concepts in class before the school closure.

Our speech-language team serves a very important role at The Joy School supporting teachers and leading specials classes for students called Language and Cognitive Development classes. To help build relationships with parents and provide strategies for parents to use at home that complement strategies that they're teaching in their specials classes, our speech-language team hosts coffee talks for parents. Read on to learn more!

In this edition of Nurses Notes, Nurse Mary explains ways that you and your family can prevent getting the flu this year. She also describes a campaign she is working on at The Joy School to help students understand the importance of proper hand hygiene and the role it plays in preventing the spread of illness.

In this episode of The Joy Vlog, we talk with our Instructional Technologist, Christine Dinh, and discuss three assistive technology tools that can help students who have dyslexia.

In this post, we discuss scaffolding with Andrea Dorr, our Transition Coordinator and former math teacher, to help you better understand this term and help you visualize how it's used in our classrooms. We also explain the integral role scaffolding plays as Andrea evaluates students' readiness to transition into other schools.

Summer programs at The Joy School are a great way to bridge the gap between school years in a relaxed environment, and for younger students, summer programs are a great way to prepare for their first year of school. Learn more about The Joy School summer programs by reading our most recent blog post!

Ms. Burden's fourth and fifth grade students participated in the #WhoCaresIDo Challenge - a global challenge that encourages young people to stand against bullying and stand up for inclusion and kindness. Learn more about the art projects they completed and submitted in our most recent post!

Andrea Dorr, Transition Coordinator, explains how to navigate the high school transition process, breaking it down into five easy steps.

Jan Flowers, Learning Specialist, explains how to effectively use a variety of different types of consequences, a topic she presented on at the 2018 Early Childhood Methodist Conference.

Summer Erskine, Learning Specialist, explains how she uses the CPA Method (Concrete, Pictorial and Abstract) in her classroom to teach math.

The winter season is upon us, and with it comes cooler weather. This may trigger an asthma flare-up. You might be asking yourself, what is asthma? How can we prevent it? Read on to learn what asthma is, and what you can do prevent asthma attacks from happening.

Here are a few tips to encourage your children to develop healthy eating habits!

Use these tips to ensure your summer is filled with FUN and not sunburn, dehydration and nasty bug bites.

Walking around the School, I found words that express love. Words that express caring. Words of reassurance.

Here are just some of the gifts, notes and overall love we received over the past week.

One cute idea anyone can use to celebrate a birthday!

Head of School Shara Bumgarner shares some of the magic she witnessed on Switch Day, when all our new students visit TJS.

How to make the most of your last few moments of class by reconnecting and testing retention.

Shout out to Zach Johnson, TJS alumnus who is now a 3rd degree black belt!

Types of Headaches, Why We Get Them & How to Treat Them

TJS alumnus Charlie just "signed" at National Signing Day to run cross country and track!

Q&A with Scott Brown, Coach & Learning Specialist, Editor in Chief of Overjoyed

When we received the wonderful news that an alumni family made an anonymous major gift to The Joy School for our outdoor space, the AEIOU (Association for the Evaluation & Improvement of Outdoor Utilization) jumped into action.

Here's why and how you can fix it.

How giving globally can increase empathy locally

Sarah Burden, Speech-Language Pathologist, shares an adventure that pushed her out of her comfort zone and challenged her physically, mentally and emotionally more than ever before.

How can anything that is constantly changing become routine? Many parents struggle with this question regarding their growing children's hygiene needs.

Fourteen pairs of students worked together to create arcade games, which they built out of 80% recyclable materials.

How to Tell Whether You have Allergies or a Cold

Congrats to the TJS alumni who made the Head of School honor roll at St. Pius X High School for their outstanding academic achievements in the fall semester!

At the Alumni Happy Hour in January, our 21 and older alums shared their fondest memories of TJS!

Check out all the pictures! We look forward to more fun events in the future!

Learn all about these scary symptoms and when to investigate

How to tell when to keep your child home from school.

Share a drink with us, on us. Gather with your old friends, teachers, and administrators while we share stories and catch up.

When Ms. Sorensen's seventh graders learned about 5-year-old Ryland Ward, they knew they wanted to help.

The energy these passionate students brought to the stage reverberated throughout the back courtyard for all who attended!

The students learn how to be flexible with one another, understand that when we all work together we can accomplish big goals.

Kids think they are just hanging out, decompressing and doing a fun activity. Little do they know they are doing so much more than that. There are so many benefits of puzzles!

How one movie strengthened bonds among TJS alumni, teachers, students and more.

Don't know? Click to find out!

Our 5th graders participated in the Global Cardboard Challenge this year, creating a real-life arcade out of mostly recycled materials for our students and parents to enjoy! Here they are with some of their creations.

Thanks to all the alumni who came to visit us at Family Fun Night! We are so lucky to have you and can't wait to see all you accomplish!

We are so proud of these alumni! Shout outs to these athletes for making time for their passions.

We are overwhelmed by the number of alumni who came to visit TJS already this fall semester! Here are some of the friendly faces we were so glad to see