Giant Steps Teacher Wins Grant, $1,000 for Art Supplies

The teacher said he applied for the grant on a whim and was accepted.

Edo Rosenblith is known around Giant Steps school to have an even temperament. Giant Steps, in Maplewood, is a school for children in the autism spectrum, and Rosenblith teaches art there. “Since they can be so easily excitable, and they’re always going through so much emotionally, it helps to have an even keel,” he said. If you get too worked up about it, it doesn’t help, I’ve found.” Rosenblith, 25, applied for a grant from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation for a three-day conference on art education in Washington, D.C., and was accepted along with 20 other art teachers from around the country. The group talked art education, went to the Smithsonian museums, and on the final day each teacher was given $1,000 to use for art supplies. “…

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Autistic Students Deliver Maplewood Chamber's Directory Citywide

“The exciting thing for us is when Jeannine asked me if we could do this job, I knew that all the kids could do it,” said Betty Berger, school director of Maplewood's Giant Steps school.

A collaboration between two different Maplewood organizations has resulted in good things for both, as well as a lot of great learning. Jeannine Beck, director of the Maplewood Chamber of Commerce, needed the 2013 chamber directory delivered to every home and business in Maplewood, so she asked Giant Steps School Director Betty Berger if her students could help out. Giant Steps is a school for children on the autism spectrum. It’s in the building that was once the school for Concordia Lutheran Church, on Sarah Street. “The exciting thing for us is when Jeannine asked me if we could do this job, I knew that all the kids could do it,” Berger said. Beck said an autistic young man had been working in her office for a year and a half. She had …

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Home Depot Volunteers Help Out at Giant Steps School in Maplewood

The volunteers built an attractive retaining wall around the school's entrance and front garden.

Rams Mascot Celebrates New Maplewood Playground

Students and their families gathered with the St. Louis Rams mascot for an open house at Maplewood's Giant Steps school.

Fred Taylor stood snapping photos while his 13-year-old son Logan painted a colorful circlular design at a creative arts station at one end of the new playground at Giant Steps, a school for students on the autism spectrum. The playground was funded and built by the St. Louis Rams football team as part of an annual community outreach program. The team was represented at the playground opening by its costumed mascot, Rampage. (See related on Patch: St. Louis Rams Build Playground in Maplewood) Logan, who has been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, will be starting his third year at Giant Steps tomorrow morning.  "If this place didn't exist," Taylor started to say, pausing for a moment to compose himself before continuing. "It's the only …

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St. Louis Rams Build Playground in Maplewood

For the third straight year, the St. Louis Rams build a playground for an area school.

For the third straight year, the St. Louis Rams built a playground for an area school. This year the recipient was Giant Steps of St. Louis in Maplewood. “We’re excited to be able to offer this assistance to Giant Steps,” said Rams head coach Steve Spagnuolo, who added that the plan was to prepare “the inside of the school so it’s ready for the students the first time they walk into the building this fall.” Not only did the Rams build a playground for the special education school and therapy center for children with autism, but also painted the rooms, created a mural inside and did some landscaping in front of the building at 7281 Sarah Street. The school has been at its temporary home in Maryland Heights for the past year and a half. With…

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