Building Connections
Academy Program

ACADEMICS:

Social-Emotional Learning:

     Our school includes social and emotional learning (SEL). It aids students in acquiring the knowledge, abilities, and attitudes required to successfully navigate complicated social situations and control their emotions. Using SEL, our students can establish trusting bonds with adults and their classmates, handle disagreements in a constructive way, and show empathy and compassion for others. Also, it aids our kids in acquiring the self-awareness, self-control, and decision-making abilities that are necessary for success in both academics and daily life. SEL has been associated with better outcomes for students' mental health as well as increased school attendance, decreased behavioral issues, and improved academic performance. By putting an emphasis on SEL, our school can establish a secure and welcoming learning environment that encourages good connections, improves students' emotional health, and equips them for success in the workforce of the twenty-first century.

Parent-training:

     Parent training is a useful tool Building Connections provides to parents of neurodiverse or children with special needs. We offer these free classes to assist guardians to better understand and support their child's needs. Our training sessions occur on a monthly basis where we give parents knowledge, tools, and techniques to help them deal with the difficulties of raising their children. These classes are also posted on our YouTube page. A wide range of subjects, such as behavior management, communication abilities, self-care, advocacy, and navigating the special education system, can be covered in our parent training class. The goal of parent training is to empower parents with the knowledge and skills necessary to support their child's development, enhance their quality of life, and strengthen the family's overall well-being. By providing parent training, it allows Building Connections Academy to support parents in becoming strong advocates for their children, creating a community of support, and fostering outcomes that are favorable for their child's academic and social-emotional development.

 Kindergarten through fifth grade make up Building Connections Academy's Elementary program, which is organized into three independent grade levels: Lower El (K-1), Middle El (grades 2–3), and Upper El (grades 4-5). Due to our personalized configuration, teachers can modify academic education to the level of each learner, as well as providing the necessary repetition of previously learned concepts. This allows students the opportunity to work at their own pace while getting specialized support from their teachers. Students are given sufficient focus on executive functioning to learn how to concentrate, plan, and organize. The social learning curriculum encourages the improvement of social communication and critical thinking skills. Our Elementary staff is committed to fostering a positive, enjoyable learning environment for all young students. 

In our school, we place a high value on personalized learning and assistance for each of our students. Students can get individualized student teacher ratios depending on their Individualized Education Plan (IEP), ensuring they get the degree of attention and support required to accomplish their goals. To implement effective behavior intervention strategies and make sure that our students are on track to meet their goals, our behavior specialists collaborate closely with our Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). They help to establish a supportive and welcoming learning environment by offering support and direction to both instructors and students.

Our program is designed to increase language and communication, improve attention and focus, and decrease problem behaviors. We build on each student’s interests and strengths using structured and natural opportunities to facilitate learning. In the classroom setting, skills that are useful in everyday life are broken down into easy-to-learn steps, with positive reinforcement and goal-focused treatment that meets the unique, individualized needs of each student. At its core, our School-Based Behavior Intervention program helps students access school curriculum.

Throughout the process, progress is measured and data is collected to ensure that the teaching approach is working and that the student continues to obtain educational benefit from the intervention services. Once the data is analyzed, findings guide adjustments to the Individual Treatment Plan that may be necessary or appropriate to ensure continued educational progress our model is an intervention strategy that focuses on managing behaviors, building relationships and teaching socials skills. Its concrete strategies work with every type of student, in every type of environment. The results…

Program:

These elements are a part of a complete system-wide approach to create respectful interactions between staff and students by altering the way schools address to student behavior.

Lower Elementary (K-1):

Students in lower elementary learn how to participate in a classroom community and learn to perceive school as a happy place. Along with early academics, pre-academic skills like sharing, taking turns, cooperating, and actively participating in class activities are prioritized. Through the use of techniques that involve students' sensory systems and promote concentration, students are led to become aware of their emotional state before regulating it.

As students master the ability to push through difficult activities, keep track of their materials, and comprehend their daily and weekly schedules, they also develop executive functioning skills. Each of the day's activities are academically rich with language and geared to increase each student's communicative competence. Experiential day trips help students better understand subjects covered in their academic studies while also boosting their self-esteem, encouraging curiosity, and fostering their imagination.

In lower elementary, we keep class sizes particularly small so that academic instruction can be tailored to each learner's stage of skill development. Students in the lower grades learn how to:

Students in lower elementary also take part in weekly music, visual arts, social learning, and digital citizenship classes.

Middle Elementary (2-3):

Students develop their critical thinking, communication skills, and civic responsibility in middle elementary. As they learn to identify their own emotional states and acquire coping mechanisms, students are helped to enhance their capacity for self-regulation. Long-term projects, field trips, and other activities that teach kids how to manage their time and their resources help students build executive functioning skills. The curriculum includes social learning throughout and deals with the issue head-on in weekly sessions. Students gain knowledge about what it takes to be a good friend, how to appreciate another person's viewpoint, and how to participate actively in groups.
The foundation of the middle elementary class schedule is standards-based academic programming that is individualized for each student's needs. Middle elementary students learn to:

Students in middle elementary also take part in weekly music, visual arts, social learning, and digital citizenship classes.

Upper Elementary (4-5):

Fourth and fifth grades make up Building Connections Academy's upper elementary. The most appropriate environment for this particular development level, both emotionally and physically, has turned out to be a self-contained classroom. The ability to control one's physical and emotional responses to difficulties and accomplishments is expected of students. They learn expected and appropriate social behaviors, which enables them to benefit from fulfilling connections with their peers and bounce back swiftly from setbacks. In order to prioritize the behaviors and routines that contribute to an orderly environment and a productive, relaxed frame of mind, upper students also learn executive functioning skills. These abilities range from setting priorities on a weekly to-do list to maintaining an organized homework folder. Long-term class projects help integrate the curriculum, develop social skills, and improve executive functions. Access to our garden that provides hands-on, interactive instruction.

The foundation of the upper elementary class schedule is standards-based academic programming that is individualized for each student's needs. Upper elementary school learn how to:

Students in upper elementary also take part in weekly music, visual arts, social learning, and digital citizenship classes.

Our 6th through 8th grade middle school division at Building Connections Academy offers the academic curriculum and social framework necessary for students to successfully bridge the gap between childhood and adolescence. The unique issues that adolescents of this age face can be successfully addressed at Building Connections thanks to the inclusion of our committed staff of core teachers, speech therapists, and counselors. Our middle school students receive the specialized academic support required to achieve their potential through the implementation of a standards-based curriculum and regular tests that track progress. Our kids are better able to negotiate the challenging world of adolescence because of the experiential and social learning programs fostering the growth of self-confidence, self-awareness, and friendships.

Students in the middle school are in a transitional stage at Building Connections Academy. Our 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students are unquestionably at a crossroads since they are no longer little children but also aren't yet young adults. The use of a variety of innovative approaches to problem-solving and critical thinking is promoted among this demographic, along with the recognition of their unique strengths and problems. Our Middle School students learn to create personal, behavioral, and academic goals in the disciplined environment of Building Connections. Our intention for our students is that they develop into self-advocates, lifelong learners, and involved citizens in a welcoming community that supports their academic and social development.

The heart of the middle school timetable is an academic program that is based on standards and is tailored to the needs of each group. The following classes are part of the middle school curriculum along with earn field trips, and hands-on and interactive outdoor gardening component that help the curriculum come to life:

Middle School (6-8):