Advocacy Day participants from Lexington included (l-r): Danny Gabel,Emilia Lorenti-Wann, Vanessa Hernandez, Donald Galloway, Suzanne

Chen,Tionna Diamond, Dorothy Corporan Nieves.

Haga un clic aqui para leer el boletin en espanol.

March 2016 NewsletterGreetings, Spring has come to Lexington! It's so nice to see our pre-K and elementary studentsexcited about this year's PARP "Spring into Reading" program. Sponsored byLexington's Parent Staff Association, Pick a Reading Partner (PARP) is a two-weekprogram to encourage students to read. This year's PARP events included a very wellreceived reading workshop for families. In early March, two of Lexington's high schoolstudents, Vanessa Hernandez and Tionna Diamond, had the opportunity to travel toAlbany. I am so proud of how these young women represented Lexington School to ourstate legislators. As the weather warms up, Lexington's calendar becomes increasinglybusier. Our late spring events include a dance show, a children's show and NTID'sproduction of Godspell. I hope you will be able to join us! Sincerely,Donald A. Galloway, CEO/Superintendent

Lexington StudentsParticipate inAdvocacy DayLexington Class Presidents VanessaHernandez, Class of 2016, andTionna Diamond, Class of 2017, hadan opportunity to see government inaction when they participated inAdvocacy Day at the State Capitolon March 1st. The students metwith state legislators, toured theCapitol Building and wereinterviewed by Albany NewsChannel 13. Accompanying thestudents were Lexington CEO Donald Galloway, PSA President Suzanne Chen, AthleticDirector Danny Gabel, Development Director Cindy Casson and sign language interpretersDorothy Corporan Nieves and Emilia Lorenti-Wann. Advocacy Day 2016 was coordinatedby the 4201 Schools Association to raise awareness of the schools' accomplishments andchallenges and to advocate for funding parity with public school districts. The event broughttogether students, parents, teachers and administrators from the 11-member 4201 SchoolsAssociation that represents deaf, blind and severely disabled students.

Click on image to purchase a T-shirt throughBooster.com!

Support Bluejay SoftballBuy a T-shirt!For the first time since the 1970s, Lexingtonis fielding a girls' softball team. Under thedirection of coach Stephani Trollo, fifteenBluejay girls have signed up to play softball. Lexington is launching a Booster t-shirtcampaign to help pay for new jerseys for thegirls. You can help our girls slide into home instyle by going towww.booster.com/Lex_softball andpurchasing a t-shirt. Don't delay - the t-shirtsale runs through April 22nd!

Academic Bowl TeamUpdateLexington is so proud of its AcademicBowl team members - Samer Abualya(senior), Vanessa Hernandez (senior),Nora Khalifa (junior), and Wyona Singh(senior) - who attended the NortheastRegional Academic Bowl Competition onMarch 10-13. The team worked hard,but ended up with 7 losses and 1 win in a very competitive tournament. The team learned somuch from the experience and wished they had joined earlier. Throughout the year, the teampracticed with social studies, math, science, current events, arts, language and literaturetrivia questions. They also had scrimmages with Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf (thankyou!) and Ohio School for the Deaf (thank you!). Team coaches, Danielle Goyette andShiran Zhavian, were very proud and thrilled with the current team and are excited about thefuture team. Next year's regional competition will be at Rockville High School in Maryland onMarch 10-13, 2017! Lexington is hoping to host the Academic Bowl regional competition in2019!

Spring 2016 ASL ClassesThe spring semester of American Sign Language (ASL) classeswill begin on Tuesday, April 19. Classes are held on Tuesdaysand each class lasts two hours. Beginning ASL is offered from12-2 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. ASL 2, ASL 3 and ASL 5 are offeredfrom 6-8 p.m. Students taking ASL 2 or higher classes, whohave not previously taken an ASL course at Lexington, must be

Click on image for copy ofregistration form.

Lexington alumnus Jason Wagner with wife,Vanessa, and daughter, Aria.

evaluated prior to registration. The class fee is $150, pluspurchase of a $35 workbook. Deadline to register is Monday,April 11. Click here for a registration form and more information.

NTID's Godspell atLexingtonSave-the-DateOn Saturday, June 4, 2016, the NationalTechnical Institute of the Deaf (NTID) willpresent "Godspell" at Lexington. Directedby Luane Davis Haggerty, the show willinclude hearing and Deaf actors in aproduction of Stephen Schwartz's successful Broadway musical. Told in a mix of music,sign/mine, dance and comedy, NTID's Godspell has been updated to a present day,environmentally "green" New York City. The curtain will rise at 7:30 p.m. in the Ralph &Ricky Lauren Center for the Performing Arts at Lexington. Watch Lexington's website formore information.

Lexington AlumnusSpotlightJason WagnerThis month, Alumnus Spotlight spoke withJason Wagner. Jason "grew up" at Lexington,enrolling in the nursery program as a two yearold and graduating from the school in 2002. For Jason, Lexington truly was a family affair. His sister, Amanda, also attended the schooland his mother, Marsha, is a retiredinstructional teacher. Jason's fondest memories of Lexington include winning the ESDAABasketball Championship and participating in Spirit Week activities.

When asked if there was a teacher at Lexington who inspired him, Jason mentioned EricPeeks, his math teacher. As a student, Jason was not fond of math. But, with Eric'sencouragement to never give up and to maintain a positive attitude, Jason successfully

The topic of this Bubble Map is how to describe foodusing taste. In the inner bubble, "candy" is the topic. In the

outer bubbles, the student uses adjectives, such as"sweet" and "sugary" to describe the candy. The "frame"explains the context - "we can describe food with taste" -

and includes the student's source of information -"personal experience by taste."

passed his Math Regents. Jason also credits Lexington athletic coach Paul Kaufman forserving as a sports role model and fostering teamwork and leadership skills.

After graduating from Lexington, Jason attended Rochester Institute of Technology andearned a degree in business management and marketing. Jason has worked for SorensonCommunications for almost nine years and is currently the District Manager for Indiana andthe Account Executive for the Northeast Region. Jason and his wife, Vanessa, have a two-year-old daughter and another baby on the way. Jason was able to return to Lexington forthe 84th ESDAA Basketball Tournament in February. As a transplant to Indiana, Jasonmisses the diversity, culture and food of New York City, but he most emphatically does notmiss NYC's traffic. Jason's words of wisdom for Lexington's seniors: "Always work hard,but don't forget to take time to enjoy life today!"

Thinking Maps in ActionBubble Maps Bubble Maps help students expand theirvocabularies by using adjectives oradjective phrases to describe a topic orconcept. Bubble Maps encourage childrento use vivid, descriptive language thatinvolves their five senses, logicalcomparisons or emotional qualities. BubbleMaps may be used for character analysis,for scientific thinking or to distinguishbetween fact and opinion. The main topic of the Bubble Map is writtenin the inner circle or bubble. Extending fromthe inner circle are lines with smallerbubbles that contain adjectives describingthe main topic. The rectangle or "frame"around the map defines the point of view orevidence that supports the selection of the adjectives. The "frame" asks the studentsquestions, such as: Are your choices of adjectives influenced by a specific point of view? Which senses are you using to support your observations? Why are these qualitiesimportant? Click on the bubble map to see more examples.

Spring into ReadingLexington's Pick a Reading Partner (PARP) program kicked off on Monday, March 21st withclassroom visits by the Bluejay. Sponsored by Lexington's Parent Staff Association (PSA),the two-week PARP program gets children excited about reading. On Tuesday, March 22,PSA sponsored a workshop to provide parents with tips to encourage reading. Otheractivities during PARP will include "Wear Blue" Spirit Day, Pajama Day, and communityreader day. Click on the photos to see more images.

PARP Parent WorkshopFourteen Lexington families attended the PARP Family Reading Workshop, sponsored by thePSA, on March 22rd. Presented by Pre-K teacher Leigh Crane and parent Lauren Ridloff, theworkshop provided parents with tips on how to select books and make reading an engagingexperience. At the end of the presentation, students joined their parents for an interactivefamily reading session. Click on the images for more photos from the workshop.

Children's Show - May 21stSave-the-DateASL comedian and storyteller Keith Wann will be presenting aspecial children's show at Lexington on Saturday, May 21st at 7p.m. Watch this newsletter and our website for moreinformation.

Teacher Wins Science BooksSuhanthi Knower, a Lexington middle school teacher, recently won a bundle of sciencebooks. Ms. Knower entered the Read Across the Sciences NSTA Press giveaway,sponsored by the National Science Teachers Association, and was one of three luckywinners. Way to go, Ms. Knower!

NYU Dental Returns toLexington

Click on image for more photos.

On Thursday, March 3rd, New York University'sCollege of Dentistry's Outreach Programreturned to Lexington to provide education on oralhygiene and dental screenings. Thirty-five highschool students, Junior Classes A & B andForeign Language Transition Classes A & B,participated in the program. Dr. Scott Podell,second from right in photo, coordinated thescreening with assistance from NYU dentistrystudents, left to right, Catherine Pyo, DanielChen, Jennifer Vander Woude, and Joel Ortlip.Click on the photo to see more images!

Class 2-225 Wins Boxtops ContestCongratulations to Middle School Class 2-225 for winning the February Box Tops forEducation contest. Classmates Liliana, Julia, Nakayla, Alexandra and Alisa, and teachersSuhanthi Knower and Mindy Daniels, collected a total of 325 boxtops. The class wasrewarded for their efforts with an ice cream sundae party. Class 2-225 graciously invitedclass 2-230 to join the celebration in appreciation for their assistance in collecting boxtops.

Mental Health Center Receives GrantLexington's Mental Health Services Center has received a $37,626 grant from the New York StateOffice of Mental Health. The grant was awarded through OMH's Non-Profit BehavioralHealth/Developmental Disability Providers Health Information Technology Investment Program tosupport the acquisition of information technology by providers of Medicaid Managed Careservices. Lexington's award will be used to purchase network hardware and staff computers.

Correction: Spring Awakening actor Joshua Castille was mentioned as "hearing" in theFebruary newsletter. The article should have reported that Joshua is Deaf.

Lexington School for the Deaf Foundationdevelopment@lexnyc.org | www.lexnyc.org

Lexington Center & School for the Deaf26-26 75th Street, East Elmhurst, NY 11370917.832.1676 (Video) - 718.350.3300 (Voice)

718.899.9846 (Fax)Physical Location: 30th Avenue and 75th Street