Planning Team Meeting 1

Tribal Early Childhood 1

New Outreach

Coordinator Hello

2

Read - ALOUD tips 3

National Immunization

Awareness

3

Metro Work Group 4

Traditional Code of Ethics 5

Taste of Metro 5

Parent Aware Provider 6

Professional Development 7

Parent Aware 8

Children’s Corner 9

MnTRECC Staff 10

MnTRECC News www.mntrecc.net

MnTRECC’s quarterly planning team meeting was held at the

Northern Lights Event Center in Walker, Minnesota on May

30th, 2013. Constituents of this group included tribal child care

directors/managers from the 11 Federally Recognized tribes in

Minnesota, tribal Metro representation and stakeholders from

the Minnesota Department of Human Services. The goal of this

group is to bring tribal child care programs together to provide

an avenue for them to discuss tribal child care issues statewide.

Thank you Leech Lake Child Care for hosting this meeting! Next

quarterly meeting will be held on September 19th, 2013 in

Grand Portage.

Planning Team Meeting

Tribal Early Childhood Resource Meeting was held on May 31st,

2013 at the Northern Lights Event Center in Walker, Minnesota.

The goal of this meeting is to bring tribal programs together to

provide an avenue where they are able to share resources, net-

work and gain access to training tools that will enhance their

tribal child care programs. A presentation by Amaze staff Meg

Thomas was provided. The presentation provided an overview

and hands on demonstration of the Families All Matter Early

Childhood Anti-Bias Curriculum.

Tribal Early Childhood Resource Meeting

Those who don’t believe in magic….will never find it!

Ronald Dahl

Minnesota Tribal Resources

for Early Childhood Care

MnTRECC

Edition 4

June 2013

July 2103

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Boozhoo! My name is Michelle Schaaf. I was hired as the new MnTRECC Outreach

Coordinator. I am very eager to be a part of this extraordinary program. I worked in Red

Lake with their Early Childhood Education Program for the last seven years, before coming

back to Leech Lake. I also spent time working with their Community Education program and

coached various sports. I love children no matter how bad of a day I’m having or had they al-

ways bring a smile to my face.

I am a Leech Lake enrollee from the Mississippi Band. Recently I have moved back to the

Leech Lake Reservation, I never imagined I would miss it so much. I enjoy traveling, I have

visited 26 states, and by far Minnesota is the most enchanting. I am very active in sports

either playing or watching my children play. Not to mention I am a huge Minnesota Lynx fan.

My hobbies include: beading, sewing regalia for my children, attending Pow-wows, softball,

golf, volleyball and hanging out with friends.

I am a proud mother of four children ages 18, 15, 11, and 9. They are very busy with sports

and Pow-wows. My two oldest children will become members of Minnesota’s 2,000 and 1,000

point club this coming basketball season. Each of my daughters have held Princess titles for

the Red Lake reservation. I always preached to them to be the best they could be, be proud

they are Anishinabe, and to remember to set good examples because they are also role models

to other children.

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1. Promote listening skills

2. Increase the number of vocabulary words they hear

3. Develop attention span and memory

4. Help babies learn uncommon words

5. Help babies learn to understand the meaning of words

6. Help babies learn concepts about print

7. Help babies learn to get information from illustrations

8. Promote bonding and calmness for both baby and parent

9. Stimulate the imagination and all the senses

10.Instill the love of books and learning

READ-ALOUD TIPS

10 BENEFITS OF READING ALOUD TO YOUR BABY FROM DAY ONE

“Yesterday is History,

Tomorrow is a Mystery,

But Today is a Gift.

That’s Why We Call it the Present.”

~Winnie the Pooh

August is typically recognized as National Immunization Awareness

Month (NIAM). This awareness month highlights the need for improv-

ing national immunization coverage levels and encourages all people to

protect their health by being immunized against infectious diseases.

National Immunization Awareness

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Metro Work Group Activities

Membership List

Baby Space / Executive Director —Deb Lund

Bush Fellowship Grant Award Recipient — Janice LaFloe

Cherish the Children Learning Center —Director Heather Reynolds

Child & Teen Checkups Program Hennepin County —Outreach Sonoma Paiz

Little Earth Neighborhood Early Learning Center —Muriel Thompson

MN Child Care Resource & Referral Network —PIP Trainer Darlene LaBelle Manzanares

The Family Partnership —Vice President Kay Tellinghuisen

Think Small Hennepin County —Baseline Coordinator Fay Hopkins

Think Small Ramsey County—Baseline Coordinator Theresa Collins

Wicoie Nandagikendan Early Childhood Language Immersion Program —Parent Advocate Jennifer

Bendickson

Metro Work Group Mission Statement

To Strengthen The Cultural Heritage Of American Indians

Residing in the Metro Area By promoting And Supporting

Early Childhood Services That Foster Skills For

School And Life Success.

The Metro Work Group held their work group meeting on June 28th, 2013

at Mystic Event Center in Prior Lake, Minnesota. MnTRECC Program

Manager Sandra Williams facilitated the group. The focus of the group was

to select a work group member to facilitate future meetings and to discuss

the role of MnTRECC and the role of the Metro facilitator in this new Met-

ro Work Group redesign. Kay Tellinghuisen (The Family Partnership) will be

facilitating future meetings and Sonoma Paize (Senior Community Health

Worker) will be the alternate facilitator. MnTRECC Outreach Coordinator

will attend 3-4 meetings per year. Awards and bags were presented to

Metro Work Group members for their dedication to the work they provide

to Metro tribal families and children. The next Metro Work Group will be

held in August 2013.

Metro Work Group Meeting

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Taste of the Metro Cookbook was created by the Metro Work Group. It was the vision of

the group that the cookbook would be distributed to American Indian families and children in

the Twin Cities. The intent of the cookbook is to introduce families to a variety of foods from

different cultures. What an exciting and fun way to create a family time!

The cookbook can be viewed and is free to download at www.mntrecc.net

NATIVE AMERICAN TRADITIONAL CODE OF ETHICS...

Taste of the Metro

Wild Rice Loaf

4 cups wild rice cooked with 2 cubes of chicken bouillon

2 cups of bread crumbs

8 oz pkg of cheddar cheese

2 extra large eggs

1 green pepper diced

1/2 cup of diced onion

2 cups of milk

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Heat oven to 325 degree. Grease a 9x3 inch loaf pan with oil. Mix all ingredients together in a

mixing bow. When thoroughly mixed pour into loaf pan. Place loaf pan in cake pan filled with wa-

ter. Cook in oven for 1 hour or longer until tested with knife, comes out clean. Let rest for 15

minutes then loosen with knife and turn over onto a serving dish. Can be served with mushroom

gray. ~ Jennifer Bendickson

Each morning on rising, and evening before sleeping,

Give thanks for the life within you and all life,

For good things the Creator has given you and others,

And for the opportunity to grow a little more each day.

Consider your thought and actions of the past day

And seek courage and strength to be a better person.

Seek the thing that will benefit everyone.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are Parent Aware Ratings? Parent Aware Ratings are an important new tool that Minnesota parents can use to find child care and early learning providers in their area that use best practices to prepare children for kindergarten. Min-nesota parents use the Ratings to inform their child care selection process, just as millions use Consumer Reports® and other types of consumer ratings to inform their shopping for other services and products. Why is early learning so important? The vast majority of brain development happens before age five, making the ear-ly years a critically important time to have children in stimulating learning environments. Minnesota is not doing well on this front. Nearly half of Minnesota children are not fully prepared for kindergarten. Unfortunately, too many never catch up and subsequently struggle in school and life. But high quality early education gets young children started on the right track. Why are the Ratings needed? Based just on a brief visit or talk with a program, it is nearly impossible to learn whether they are using the full range of early learning best practices. Parent Aware Ratings provides this difficult-to-obtain infor-mation to help parents with the important choices they’re making. An overwhelming 96 percent of Minnesotans say this kind of early education quality information is helpful. How do I search the Ratings? Parents can use this website to search or call 888-291-9811 for a complete, free child care search consultation. Is a rating search free? Yes. What do the Ratings measure? Ratings measure whether providers are using the best practices for preparing children for kindergarten. For instance, do providers have good learning environments? Are they using proven teaching materi-als? Are they regularly assessing child development and sharing that information with parents? Are they ensuring teach-ers have the necessary training? What kinds of programs can get a Rating? Child care centers, licensed family child care homes, Head Start and Public School Pre-Kindergarten programs can volunteer to receive a rating. Do parents want these Ratings? The decision of whether to use Parent Aware Ratings is up to each individual parent. But a statewide survey found that 96 percent of Minnesotans agreed that “parents should have access to the best avail-able information to help them find the best places for preparing children for kindergarten.” I see Parent Aware signs at some child care providers/early educators. Why? The signs, banners, stickers and flyers help parents know at-a-glance which child care programs in their community are willing to provide evidence of their early education quality. Are the Parent Aware Ratings different from licensing? Yes, they are different. State licensing assures a program is adhering to minimum health and safety standards. Parent Aware focuses on the early learning quality of a program. Every Parent Aware rated program has committed to learning that goes far beyond the requirements of basic child care licensing. (Note: Only licensed facilities are eligible to get a Parent Aware Rating.) Are the Ratings available in my area yet? To find out, search here. What if I need a language interpreter to guide my search? Interpreters are available to help parents with a Parent Aware Rating search at 888-291-9811. When should I start preparing my child for kindergarten? It’s never too early to start. Brains develop rapidly from the pre-natal stage through age five, so parents should be focused on early learning needs for this entire six year period, not just the last few months before kindergarten begins. Isn't the time before kindergarten too young for formal education? The pre-kindergarten period is too early for rigid classroom structure, but it’s definitely not too early for learning. For young children, learning looks like play because they learn best through play. But it is the type of stimulating play that prepares children for kindergarten and life. How do I know if my child is on track to be ready for kindergarten? One way to start the process is by taking a quick and easy quiz, www.isyourchildready.com. This website also provides a number of early learning tips and re-sources. What can we do at home to foster early learning? Regularly reading to children, even when they are infants, is one of the most important things any parent can do. There are many other helpful suggestions at www.isyourchildready.com. If your child receives care outside the home that learning environment is also very important. That’s where Parent Aware Ratings are helpful. How is the state of Minnesota involved? Parent Aware is an initiative led by the Minnesota Department of Human Services in coordination with the Minnesota Office of Early Learning. Implementation is being supported by local Child Care Aware agencies.

IF YOU STILL HAVE QUSTIONS, OR WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE IN PARENT AWARE, PLEASE CALL ME

AT 218-335-8205 OR E-MAIL michelle.traeger-nelson@llojibwe.org. I look forward to hearing from you.

Finally as a provider you may have many questions on your mind. Below are

answers to some common queries:

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From the desk of the Professional Development and Grants Coordinator

Greetings from the Desk of the Professional Development/Grants Coordinator

Aaniin Tribal Child Care Providers, I hope you are enjoying your summer, now that it is finally here. I

wanted to let you know about some of the work that has been happening in the past few months.

Training Events: MnTRECC hosted a training event with the Minnesota Center for Professional De-

velopment Registry (MNCPD) on Friday June 7, 2013. The training was to help get the trainers who

attended the Positive Indian Parenting (PIP-TOT) last June and the new trainers for the Amaze Cur-

riculum to get them on the registry. Getting on the MNCPD Registry was one of the agreements that

were made with MnTRECC in order to attend the TOT’s at no cost. We gave out gifts to the trainers

that attended the event. The attendees received classy tape dispensers, post it note dispensers, Bath

and Body gift packages, a cube of post it notes, and some decorative tape were some of the items.

Thank you to MNCPD for doing this training for the attendees, we truly appreciate your help in this.

Tribal Survey: We conducted a Tribal Child Care survey in April, Thanks to all that sent back their

survey. The surveys were sent to Licensed, Non-licensed providers, Family, Friend and Neighbor pro-

viders, and a percent of Tribal Head Start Parents state wide. The purposes of the surveys were to

help us identify trainings that you would like to see in your tribal communities and what is important.

The survey also identified strengths and weaknesses.

Next Grant Round: We will be advertising for the next MNTRECC Grant Round which will be open

September 1, 2013 to September 25, 2013. These grants are only available one time during the year

with the exception of Start up and Emergency grants. These are open year round, but unfortunately

the funds for the Emergency and Start Up grants have all been used. New money will be available

starting July 1, 2013. You can find Grant Applications on the website at www.mntrecc.net .

Curriculum Supplement: Additions to the Ojibwe Curriculum is in the works. We had Dr. Anton

Treuer translate the Sioux Language into the Ojibwe Language. These were pieces of the curriculum

that didn’t make it into the first translation project due to the amount of funding MnTRECC had. We

are currently in the process of getting a quote for the printing of the material. If you are interested

in purchasing the boxed Ojibwe Curriculum you can contact Sandra Williams at 218-335 8381 or San-

dra.williams@llojibwe.org and order a set from her.

Minnesota Center for Professional Development Registry (MNCPD): The MNCPD registry

tracks and recognizes practitioner training and career development. Anyone working in early childhood

and school-age field such as; Trainers, training organizations/sponsors, child care profession-

al/practitioners including Family Friend and Neighbor caregivers, school age care providers, and center

based providers, and Head Start Practitioners you can learn more about the registry by visiting the

website at www.mncpd.org

Resources: Here is a list of websites that can assist you in finding trainings that will help you in your

Professional Development: http://www.mnstreams.com/ , http://www.eagertolearn.org/ , and if you’re

interested in becoming a trainer: http://www.mnchildcare.org/trainers .

If you have any questions, I can be contacted at 218-335-8344 or patti.turney@llojibwe.org .

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Michelle Traeger-Nelson, Baseline Coordinator, Child Care Aware of

Leech Lake

STARS DEFINED

To earn a One Star Rating, programs have shown that they have introduced some of the basic best practices to prepare kids for kindergarten, including:

Collecting resources for families Learning more about child development through continual training Carefully observing children as they learn and documenting information

By volunteering for Parent Aware, these programs are putting themselves on a path to incorporating best practices into their program. Like each of the other Star Ratings, a One Star Rating shows a program’s commitment to continual im-provement and the children in their care.

To earn a Two Star Rating, programs have shown that they are actively using many best practices to prepare kids for kindergarten, including:

Acting as a resource for families regarding their children’s healthy growth Planning daily activities in a thoughtful way that enhances each child’s experience Familiarizing themselves with Minnesota’s early learning standards for young children Planning for its own on-going training and professional growth

To earn Three Star Rating, programs have demonstrated the use of best practices in preparing kids for kindergar-ten, including:

Active role in assisting families in identifying needs of child Regularly conducts child assessments throughout the year Received nutrition, physical activity and curriculum implementation training Documented training and education Curriculum aligned with the Minnesota Early Childhood Indicators of Progress (ECIP)

To earn this Rating, programs must first meet all One and Two Star Rating requirements.

To earn a Four Star Rating, programs are excelling in the use of best practices in preparing kids for kindergarten.

Exemplifies a truly engaged school readiness partner for parents Ongoing assessment of child’s progress Continually adapts lesson plans and goals to meet individual needs Regularly updates parents on child’s progress Trained on children’s developmental disabilities Communicates across cultures Receives and documents on-going childhood-related education

As with Three Stars Earned, programs must first meet all One and Two Star Rating indicators before becoming eligible for a Four Star Rating. Programs earning a Four Star shows that it is equipped to offer the very best in quality care, as-suring parents that it is doing all it can to prepare their children for school.

One Star Earned

Two Stars Earned

Three Stars Earned

Four Stars Earned

Let’s Talk About Parent Aware

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NO DIRECTIONS NEEDED...JUST HAVE FUN!

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Leech Lake Early Child hood Division / MnTRECC

115 Sixth Street NW—Suite E

Cass Lake, MN 56633

MnTRECC

Mission Statement

To serve as a foundation and a link where child

care and other early childhood programs can gain

access to resources and information that will

enhance and strengthen the child care delivery

system for Native American children and

families throughout the state of Minnesota.

MnTRECC Staff:

Sandra Williams / Program Manager

Michelle Schaaf/Outreach Coordinator

Patti Turney / Professional Development & Grants

Coordinator

Toll Free : 1-800-551-0969

www.mntrecc.net

MnTRECC is a component of the Child Care Services Program within the Leech Lake Early Childhood Development

Child Care Aware of MN Contact Information

North East District 1-800-890-5399 www.pinetech.edu

North West District 1-800-941-7003 www.lakesandprairies.net

West Central District 1-800-292-5437 www.midwestchildcare.com

Metro District 651-641-0332 www.thinksmall.org

Southern District 1-800-462-1660 www.c2r2.org

MnTRECC 1-800-551-0969 www.mntrecc.net