| Newsletter September 2008 |
Building Families Vision:
Every child, beginning at birth, will be healthy and successful.
Building Families Mission:
Building Families’ mission is for children, youth, and families to live in safe and nurturing environments that promote health, independence and success. Building Families will create a continuum of supports and services that embrace children and their families.
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Date and time changes for PITC are below.
Apologizing ahead of time for any conflict this creates as I know the dates for PITC have already been advertised in your Empowerment newsletter.
Tara McGrath, the PITC instructor, has conflicts because of her school schedule. The following changes have been made to the dates of the Webster City PITC training:
Module I
September 25 6-10PM
September 27 8:30-3PM
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Module II
October 9 6-10PM
October 11 8:30-3
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Module III
October 16 6-10PM
October 18 8:30-3PM
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Module IV
November 13 6-10PM
November 15 8:30-3P
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Module V
November 20 6-10PM
November 22 8:30-3PM
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Creative Curriculum Child Profiles
Three and four year old Preschool Programs in Hamilton, Humboldt, and Wright Counties whose teachers have taken the Creative Curriculum training are qualified to receive assistance in using the on line Creative Curriculum Child Profile to complete their classroom assessments for next year. Building Families will pay for up to 20 children in your classroom (license is about $20/child). Assessments using the on line Creative Curriculum Child Profile of up to 20 children in one classroom will be done by November 14, 2008 and again by April 17th, 2009. Training for using the on line assessment tool and for completing and using the Child Profile Assessments will be held from 6:30 to 9PM on:
October 13th, at Building Families Office; February 1, 2009 in Eagle Grove; May 4, 2009 in Humboldt.
By June teachers will be required to report to Building Families the number of children assessed, their classroom (3 or 4 year olds) and the results. This will give us a good idea of the number of children who are ready to begin school in the fall and the amount of skill development that took place during the school year.
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County Child Care Provider Support Groups
Hamilton times from 6:30-8:00 pm: Oct 14th at ICCC in Webster City; December 9th, Fire Station in Jewell; February 10th, ICCC in Webster City; April 14th Fire Station in Jewell
Humboldt times from 6:30 to 8PM meeting at Godfather’s Pizza in Humboldt: September 17th, November 10th, January 7th, March 11th, and May 11th.
Wright times from 6:30 to 8PM: September 16th at Belmond Pizza Ranch; November 18th at Clarion Pizza Ranch; January 20th at Belmond Pizza Ranch; March 17th Clarion Pizza Ranch; and May 19th at Belmond Pizza Ranch
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PBS Training
Positive Behavior Supports for 0-3 training will be held at Building Families Office on January 15th and 16th. This training is open to all Building Families funded staff including Early Head Start and HOPES in-home visitation staff, DHS social workers, Head Start, and child care center staff. Watch for the registration. There will be a fee for food, but there is no charge for the training.
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September 18 at 7:00 PM
Casey Westoff, Executive Director of The Arc of Iowa will be the guest speaker at an informational meeting for the reorganization of Hamilton County ARC. All people of Hamilton County with disabilities and their families as well as interested members of the county are invited. The event will be held at 500 Fair Meadow Road in Webster City in the purple room. Coffee will be served.
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| Child Care Nurse Consultant Hired |
Building Families has hired a full time staff to work as the Child Care Nurse Consultant for Hamilton Humboldt and Wright Counties.
Michelle Olson is a registered nurse from Eagle Grove. She has worked as a registered in-home child care provider and a preschool teacher at a center. She is a former foster parent and has a child with special needs. All these experiences give Michelle the qualities to assist child care providers, preschools, and child care centers in addressing the health and safety issues in their program. Michelle will be working with the dental screening and varnishing project, facilitate a nutrition project in the preschools, will provide training such as universal precautions, and of course work with providers on the QRS. Michelle will begin your position on September 2nd and will be taking her training in October and November. By the end of December she should be qualified to work with providers on her own.
Michelle’s contact information is:
Phone: 515-832-1791
E-mail: molson@hamiltoncountymhsb.org
Address: 500 Fair Meadow Drive, Suite A,
Webster City, Iowa 50595
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Child Care Grants for Quality
| Building Families Board is offering in-home child care providers the opportunity to apply for grants to upgrade their environments. The initial focus will be the 31 registered providers who have taken ChildNet and FCERS. Amy Shannon and Ann Stewart will plan to visit each of these providers to discuss the barriers to attaining the level 3 on the QRS, which includes certification of ChildNet and a self assessment of FCERS. We will work with providers on their environmental needs and utilize the Child Care Nurse Consultant to assist with assessment of needs. CCR&R will be available to work with the provider on ChildNet certification and if there are questions about the food program we can bring in the food program coordinator for our area to answer those questions. The ultimate goal is for all our registered providers to become a level 3 or higher on the Quality Rating Scale (QRS). Amy will be calling to set up visits in the near future.
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We have providers who have reached some point on the QRS.
We recognize:
Ann Jensen, level 5 Brenda Smith, level 5
Carlene Larson, level 3 Wendi Harrah, level 3
Julie Anderson, level 2 Jill Gronbach, level 2
Holly Peters, level 2 Linda Solberg, level 2
Michelle Hines, level 2 Kids Kroner, level 2
Congratulations on your hard work!
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3 year old programs work toward a QRS level 3
Centers with three year old classrooms will also be addressing quality with Empowerment assistance this year. Five preschools have been selected to work with staff to attain a level 3 on the QRS. Marj Wonderlich, our Child Care Education Specialist, will evaluate each program with the ECERS tool, and assist in identification of environmental needs to become a quality program. Empowerment will provide a grant to assist the programs to meet the ECERS score of 5 with no sub scores of 2 or below. Then we will bring in a rater (with inter-rater reliability) who will rate the program in the ECERS. The programs will committee to work towards a QRS level 3 by the end of FY’10.
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I Smiles Dental Program
Fourteen preschool programs are signed up to participate in the I-Smiles Dental Project. Dental hygienist, Angela Halfwassan, will be visiting the participating preschools to provide dental screening and varnish to students. Parents will be informed if their child needs additional work and will be referred to Dentists to perform the work. The ultimate goal for this project is Healthy Children.
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Five a Day Fruit and Veggies
A second project preschools had the opportunity to participate in this year is the Five a Day Fruit and Veggies. The Child Care Nurse Consultant will visit 8 participating preschools to give a presentation to the children and play a game on eating healthy foods, five fruits and vegetables each day.
The purpose of this project is to encourage children to bring fruits and veggies for a snack rather than crackers and cookies. Activity books were developed and purchased from Penn State’s Department of Nutritional Sciences.
The project includes:
· A half hour presentation to the children on fruits and veggies by the Child Care Nurse Consultant.
· five themed activity books, one for each of five weeks, that include a storybook list, circle time ideas and tips, an activity page, a recipe for preparing a food during class time and a page to copy and send home to parents
· A poster with spaces to put stars or stickers on the days fruits and veggies were brought
· Reporting back to Building Families the activities used and the number of times fruits and veggies were brought for snack during the five weeks the preschool utilized the project
If you have not signed up for either one of these projects and would like your preschool children screened, please call Ann at 515-832-1791.
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| Why change the legal age for drinking to 18? |
Have you been reading the paper lately? Have you noticed the number of teen deaths due to automobile accidents in the past month? What a tragedy! I remember when I was a young adult the legal drinking age in Iowa was dropped down to age 18. At that time the Viet Nam war was in full stride and folks were thinking it was not right that an 18 year old young adult male could die for his country but not legally purchase alcohol. This only lasted for one year. As the age of legal drinking went down, the young lives lost in automobile accidents due to drinking skyrocketed. My point is not that the teens recently involved in auto accidents were drinking; I don’t know that they were, but what a tragedy it is to lose them at such a young age.
More recently a number of college institutions are advocating lowering the legal drinking age to 18. They argue that binge drinking would lessen because students would now be drinking in a bar. They argue that if these young adults are old enough to vote and fight in the war, why shouldn’t they drink. There are many good reasons not to lower the legal drinking age to 18.
Alcohol is a drug. Alcohol has been described as a “pharmalogical hand grenade” because it affects every body system negatively. Brains aren’t finished developing until about 21. Alcohol interrupts the chemical reaction in your synapses. It’s the synapses and not the brain cells that make you an individual and intelligent. Teens are limiting their potential when they drink.
Besides deaths from alcohol-related crashes, teen drinking is associated with long-term alcohol dependence, increased sexual activity, unprotected sex, suicide, smoking, and carrying weapons. In addition, it imposes high financial costs on society.
Our society has a number of ages of initiation. You have to be 14 to work, 18 to vote, 25 to run for Congress and 35 to run for President. Young adults at this age are by nature still impulsive and risk takers. Would you feel comfortable hiring a doctor, teacher, or police officer who was 18, even if they were a genius? Alcohol messes with your thinking. Adding immaturity to the mix is dangerous.
Alcohol use in reasonable amounts is an adult responsibility. Alcohol, just like penicillin, can kill in large doses. Keeping the legal drinking age at 21 may be best for our youth and communities.
Thanks to the youth coalitions in our counties, Community and Family Resources, Power Up YOUth, Jel, law enforcement, and public schools and all the volunteers and youth involved, work is going towards education to reduce the incidents of drug and alcohol abuse in teens.
Ann
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Early Learning Standards training for 0-3 will be held at the Eagle Grove school administration building at 325 N. Commercial on the following dates from 6:30pm to 9 pm:
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September 30
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October 7
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October 14
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October 21
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October 28
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November 4
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For other CCR&R and PITC trainings that will occur in September, please refer to CCR&R website:
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FCCERS:
Early IA Sept 8, 15, 22 and 29
Ft Dodge Nov 4, 11, 18 and 25
Sheldon Oct 21, 28 and Nov 4 and 11
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ECERS:
Sioux City Aug 12, 19, 26 and Sept. 2
Clay or Dickenson April 7, 14, 21 and 28
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ITERS:
Sioux City Jan 8, 15, 22 and 29
Clarion Sept 22 and 29, Oct 6 and 13
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