From the Principal's Desk

Behind the curtains at Lifeline Theatre

PACTT Learning Center — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:28:54 +0000

This week, I had the pleasure of joining our Transition Program for an interactive workshop at Lifeline Theatre. Organized by PACTT Arts & Recreation Coordinator Robert Mann, these workshops allowed participants to get an inside look at characters and costumes and explore the theatre space. Next week, they'll go back to see the play in action.

Our school, transition, and vocational participants each had a unique visit with the Lifeline team in the last couple of weeks. Here are some action shots from their visits:

Hard at work

PACTT Learning Center — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:19:26 +0000

It's wonderful to have all our students under one roof again! Our high school classroom was hard at work this week - and enjoying their new space:

Finished!

PACTT Learning Center — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:54:18 +0000

Thanks to a dedicated group of parents and friends who came out to help us move a few Saturdays ago, a committed teaching team who has spent innumerable off-the-clock hours unpacking and organizing, (and some VERY flexible students!), we are grateful to have our classrooms up and running in their beautiful new space.

The top two photos are our North classroom; the bottom two are our South classroom.

Making progress

PACTT Learning Center — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:15:27 +0000

The construction teams finished work on our second floor last week, and the cleaning crew came through to spruce things up a bit. I've never seen those floors so shiny!

From top-to-bottom: The top two photos are our north side classroom (previously carpeted). The bottom two are our south-side classroom. Both have new floors, newly painted walls and ceilings, and an added chair rail / vinyl wainscotting along the bottom of the walls

Under Construction: A holiday surprise

PACTT Learning Center — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 22:48:07 +0000

Students and staff returned from Winter Break this year to a welcome surprise - Santa's elves had begun renovations on the school's second-floor classrooms. Those two classrooms had been in great need of a little TLC! With new floors, patched and painted walls & ceilings, and the addition of some durable wainscoting, the rooms will look good as new! They're not -quite- finished, but here's a sneak peek of the work-in-progress ...

Happy Holidays!

PACTT Learning Center — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 17:28:16 +0000

From our houses to yours, we wish everyone a very Happy Holiday season!

(Thanks, Shaun, for the festive holiday bulletin board!)

Season of Giving

PACTT Learning Center — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:21:00 +0000

PACTT students turn vocational tasks into donations to Howard Area Community Center's youth programming.

Congratulations, John - our December graduate!

PACTT Learning Center — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 04:15:54 +0000

John celebrates with veteran PACTT team member Solange

The entire school, transition and vocational program participants gathered Tuesday to celebrate John N., our newest graduate.

Congratulations, Johnny! We are SO proud of you!

Busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style ...

PACTT Learning Center — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 03:44:59 +0000

Participants in our School, Transition and Adult Vocational programs hopped on the El last week for our annual holiday adventure. They checked out the windows at Marshall Field's (err ... Macy's), a trip through the Kris Kindlemart to see the City Tree, and a stop at McDonald's for a treat before heading home. This year, some of our folks even made a quick trip to tell Santa what they REALLY wanted under the tree this year! Lucky for us, the weather cooperated, and the trip was a grand success.

Take a look at scenes from some of our adventures:

December Parent Update

PACTT Learning Center — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:08:31 +0000

December 2011

Here we come a calendar-ing!

Before I forget - or you forget! - I wanted to remind everyone that our Winter Break for School and Transition programs begins on WEDNESDAY, Dec. 20th at NOON. Students will eat an early lunch that day, and buses, cabs, and pack mules will all leave from the school at 12 p.m. Please ensure that someone will be at your home to meet this bus at its earlier arrival time. Group homes will be staffed accordingly.

Spreading holiday cheer

Our students got in the spirit of things this week, as they packaged donated items for our friends at the Howard Area Community Center. Last month, an anonymous donor gave us tons of lunch bags, mini-radios, and other assorted doo-dads. So, we decided to turn it into a vocational opportunity for our students (who loved putting together all the packages), and a way to spread the cheer with another local organization. The folks at HACC will share the packages with the students in their after school programs. Find photos, and more details, later this week, right here on thePrincipal's Blog.

Our annual tradition

All our School, Transition, and Adult Voc folks bundled up and headed downtown this morning to catch the windows on State Street, visit the tree in Daley Plaza, and enjoy a (highlight-of-the-trip) stop at the Golden Arches for a snack before heading back north on the El. Everyone has been looking forward to this long-standing PACTT tradition (and we were THRILLED that the weather cooperated this year!). Snapshots from the trip will (hopefully) be online by this weekend.

Stay up to date with all things PACTT on our facebook page (www.facebook.com/pactt), our website, and especially here on my Principal's Blog. More info on our HACC donations, photos from the Christmas trip, and more will arrive in both places in the next few days.

Wishing you ...

And finally, no matter what holiday you celebrate this time of year, may it be filled with the gifts of joy, love and peace.

See you next year!

- Paula

p.s. School and Transition Programs resume Wednesday, Jan. 4th.