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!