Albany High Best Buddies

Yesterday we had our Spring into Backyard Games Party with a Heart Healthy theme ❤️ We had cheese plates, fruit & water before we went outside and played & enjoyed the weather ☀️ We played basketball, with hula hoops, hop scotch, had fun with bubbles and got creative with sidewalk chalk! Scroll all the way through the pics to see one buddy’s solar eclipse drawing! The Buddies had the best time ever, the last pic is a screenshot of a text from a student after the party. All of the “thank you’s” from them makes it all worth it 💙💙💙

We are all set up at the Autism Fair at Montessori 🧩 Stop by and see us for some Falcon Swag 💙 We’re here until 7:00 pm

Albany High people!!! best Buddies is raffling off this Valentine’s Day Basket ❤️ Please help support us and our students, funds are used to do fun things with our Buddies after school. There’s candy, chocolate, a Dunkin’ gift card, Bath and Bodyworks candle, lotion, and hand soap, a throw blanket and more in this basket! Info on tickets is posted on the flyer (2nd pic in this post) Katie Miller Teresa Giglio

We kicked off our year with Friendsgiving & a staff pie eating contest 🥧 The Buddies also had pie & apple cider! All of the Buddies & Peer Buddies had a great time socializing and watching the contest. Special thanks to our transition Coordinator Joey DiPiazza, Abrookin secretary Yasmine Thompson and our favorite bus driver Rashaad Turner, who were our contestants. DiPiazza came up on top as the winner taking just under 5 minutes to eat an 8” apple pie 😂 He went home with a turkey hat as the top prize, all contestants received a turkey medal. This is definitely a party we won’t forget!

Some summer fun that Best Buddies New York is offering for anyone who is part of Best Buddies!

Join us for a summer of friendship and fun! Thursday mornings in July and August, we will be having free summer fun days at the Colonie Library. Students in grades K-12 that are part of a Best Buddies program are invited to participate in a fun activity and meet some new friends!

RSVP Link: https://colonielibrary.libcal.com/event/10333584

Our Unified Basketball season ends tomorrow, and what a season it has been! We are 5-2 and will be playing Bethlehem tomorrow at Bethlehem in the final 🎉 Here are some pics from the last few games. For our last home game we played at the Armory where the Albany Patroons players warmed up with our team and stayed to cheer us on! What an experience for our players and Buddies 💙 These guys have worked so hard the past 7 weeks 🏀 So if you are able to, please come out to Bethlehem High School tomorrow at 4:15 and cheer on your FALCONS 🎉💙🏀🎉💙🏀

Our Unified Basketball season is well underway! We are 1-2 on the season. Every game so far has been a great learning experience for our athletes, and extremely exciting for those of us watching 🏀🏀🏀 These guys have been working extremely hard 4 days a week for the past 4 weeks. The pics are from our games against Columbia, Mohan, and today’s win over Niskayuna 🎉
Our next game is at home tomorrow against Ballston Spa at 4:15. We hope to see you there 💙🏀

On Thursday we had a Disney themed Best Buddies party! We had snacks, Moana Punch, lots of Disney coloring sheets, and we finally had a chance to play BINGO! If you don’t already know, our Buddies absolutely love playing BINGO, and the Disney socks were a hit for prizes 🧦 We also had a visit from Best Buddies Program Manager, Shannon Boreali. Special thanks to Ms. Bryanna and Ms. Shelley for always helping us out 💙

On Wednesday we had a Valentine’s Day/Game Night Party! We celebrated love for our friends by playing board games & UNO, doing puzzles & making cards 💌 For a sweet treat we had Ms. G’s loaded Rice Krispy Treats topped with chocolate, marshmallows & M&M’s! We also had Hot Cocoa Bar 🍫🥛😋 with lots of good toppings! We all had a great time socializing, playing games and being together 😊 🧩💙

‼️🎳Albany & Albany High people🎳‼️

***Long Post*** But please read 😀Hi everyone! It’s Ms. G! Our SPED students participate in Unified sports every year. The first sport is bowling, which starts the week of February 6th. We would love to have some Gen Ed students join our Unified Bowling team as partners. They will bowl along side our SPED students, offer them support when needed, and just socialize with them as a friend and teammate. So, if anyone knows of any student at the high school, who would be interested, or perhaps a student you think would be a good fit, please give them the info that I will post at the end of this post. Unfortunately, students who are on the bowling team this year can’t participate 😟 Most PE teachers posted the info on their google classrooms as well. This is also a great opportunity for students to receive volunteer hours. Last year we came in 4th place in the league, and in 1st place in basketball (which starts in April)!!! Our students are awesome and a lot of fun to hang out with. Students may also come to my room, 122 (old building) to get more specific info.
Thank you all! And here is more info…
Unified Bowling in the month of February and March. The season outline can be found below.

What is Unified Sports? Unified Sports joins people with and without intellectual disabilities on the same team. It was inspired by a simple principle: training together and playing together is a quick path to friendship and understanding.

Sport: Unified Bowling
Coach: Alicia Arasim
Coach email: [email protected]
Home Lanes: Del Lanes
Registration on Final Forms OPEN NOW until February 16th - Do Not Wait, Sign up Now...
• Please use the following link www.albany-ny-finalforms.com (first time user, parents have to select *New Account)
• Choose sport named “Coed Unified Bowling” – Winter Sport.
• Fill out all forms and sign (parent will need to know the child’s doctor and dentist information; about a 20 minute process the first time).
• Proof of physical, and med orders can all be uploaded on final forms under physical page.
Practices will begin the week of February 9th.
Matches will be on February 16th , 27th , 28th , March 2nd , and 7th.
Culminating Event on March 9th. Practices start on February 7th and will be everyday, except for Fridays.
*note: this is a tentative schedule, it may change.

www.albany-ny-finalforms.com

Last week we had our picture taken for the yearbook 📸✨ We have the best group of kids 💙

Last Thursday Best Buddies went on a field trip to Quick Response in Round Lake to take a drive through their Holiday Light display. The Buddies had the most amazing time, so many of them thanked me on Friday for organizing the trip ❤️To say that made me happy would be an understatement, it really made my day! On the bus ride we sang and listened to some Holiday music and handed out some bling bling blinking rings 🤣 Before we left for the ride up there, we had a quick snack and colored some ornaments. We had our favorite First Student bus driver, Rashaad. The Buddies loved the lights so much that he drove through twice and got everyone home safely. Make sure you go through all the pics and videos, they will surely put a smile on your face 😀 Thank you to Quick Response for putting on the Holiday Light Show (for free)! Make sure you take a ride up there, it’s totally worth it ❤️💚

Last week we had our first after school party of the year to celebrate Fall & Halloween 🍁👻 We had an Autumn Chex-Mix, with candy corn of course 😋 and some Apple Cider 🍎🍏
Then the Buddies decorated bags and went Trick-or-Treating 🍫🍬 The Peer Buddies handed out candy and other snacks. Fun was had by all! Thanks to our Peer Buddies and staff who stayed and helped out for a successful party 💜💙
If you know of any Albany High student that would like to join Best Buddies as a Peer Buddy, contact us on FB or send them to Mrs. Miller (Rm 206) or Ms. G (Rm 122) For more info about Best Buddies visit their website www.bestbuddies.org

Some of the TA’s who work and care for daily with our Buddies dressed up as the SPICE GIRLS!!! Later this week we will be having our Fall Fun Party where the Buddies will do some more Trick or Treating 🍬🍫🍭
We hope you all had a great, fun & safe Halloween 👻🎃

Yesterday we officially kicked off the 2022-2023 Best Buddies school year at Albany High with a meet & greet so that all the Buddies & Peer Buddies could meet! We had spider & pumpkin shaped donuts from Dunkin’ & chocolate milk-the breakfast of champions 🍩🍫🤩 The Buddies were so excited and had a great time and many asked “when is the next party?” This makes us all so happy and all the hard work we put into Best Buddies is so worth it 💙💜

‼️Albany High Friends‼️ We are doing a fundraiser for BEST BUDDIES! We have face masks for $10 and t-shirts for $15 (I will have a poc of the shirts tomorrow). If you would like to purchase any please see me in room 100 or email me (tgiglio1) I can also come to you any time of the day as well! We have lost opportunities to hold other fundraisers that we woukd normally do so any purchase would be greatly appreciated 😊 Please share this post as well, thank you!!

Flash Back Friday to last Saturday’s Best Buddies Virtual Friendship walk 👩🏾‍🤝‍👨🏼👩🏻‍🦽 Thanks to everyone that supported team Albany High! Here are some pics that we received from some students & staff 💙🧩💜