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May 2019 Volume 1, Issue 3
City of Phoenix Head Start Birth to Five Program
Socialization at Alhambra Family Resource center By Araceli Rios
During socialization, parents have an opportunity to
support their child’s development by interacting with
their child(ren) one on one during play. Socialization
experiences address the needs of both children and
parents and build on goals addressed during the home
visit. School readiness in the home-based program takes
place in the context of the parent-child relationship.
Socialization supports the school readiness goal that
children will demonstrate self-regulation through re-
sponsibility for self and positive social interactions with
others. This relationship will provide the foundation
from which children will then be able to develop close,
trusting, and respectful relationships with peers and other
adults later in life. Socializations also address another
school readiness goal, which is to support parents and
families in promoting and participating in the everyday
learning of their children at home, school, and in their
community.
Parents are actively engaged with their children through-
out socializations. One recent example of this was a dad
sitting on the floor with his children looking through a
picture book about body parts. As they turned the pages,
the dad would help his children label pictures in the
book and then point to the same body part on the chil-
dren (ex: would see a picture of eyes, dad would label
“Ojos” and point to the picture, then would point to the
child’s eyes and say “Tus ojos”).
We were thrilled to have one of our families joined by
their AZEIP therapist. The therapist was able to ob-
serve the child in the social setting and give mom the
important strategies to use with her son when he’s
being introduced to new and unfamiliar settings as well
as interacting with unfamiliar people. The therapist
was able to demonstrate some strategies that aligned
with his strengths, reinforced practicing positive disci-
pline, all while promoting meaningful learning experi-
ences.
Our EHS
Home Based
Program was
privileged to recently collaborate with the National Center on
Early Childhood Development, Teaching and Learning in the
development of professional training video illustrating specific
aspects of effective home visiting practices, specifically sociali-
zation practices. We would like to acknowledge and thank our
families and staff for their engagement and participation.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Coaching Spotlight .................. 2
School Readiness Parent
Training ................................... 2
CCP Parent Testimony ........... 3
Perfect Attendance ................. 3
Attendance Counts .................. 3
Valley Metro Bus Ride ............ 4
Attendance Celebration ........... 4
Brain Nugget ........................... 5
Specialist Spotlight .................. 5
Attendance Works ................... 6
School Readiness Newsletter
Head Start defines school readiness as children possessing the skills, knowledge, & attitudes necessary for success in school and for later in life.
On February 22, the Early Head Start- Child Care Partnership Program conducted a School Readiness Training at Byron Bar-ry School. Janell Stringfellow presented to a total of 16 parents about the impact of early brain development, and how pro-grams like Early Head Start are preparing their young children for success in school.
Parents participated in a group activity that gave a visual example of what happens to a child’s brain when they are exposed to meaningful experiences at a young age. Parents remained engaged in conversation during the hour long training, and con-tinued to ask questions and provide commentary.
Door prizes were created by the caseworkers and raffled off at the end of the train-ing. Parents who attended gave great feedback, and will share what they learned at their next quarterly parent meeting with parents who were unable to attend.
COACHING SPOTLIGHT CORNER
SCHOOL READINESS TRAINING FOR PARENTS BY EARLY HEAD START-CHILD CARE PARTNERSHIP
The early years are important for the develop-
ment of fundamental gross-motor and manip-
ulative skills. It is also important as it is one of
our six school readiness goals. Children need to
explore and experiment with balls and similar
objects of various sizes and weights. Gross
motor manipulative skills involve giving force
to or receiving force from balls or similar ob-
jects.
A toddler picks up a large ball, lifts it over her
head, brings it forward again as fast as she can,
and then drops the ball in front of her. A pre-
schooler holds a whiffle ball in one hand,
moves the ball back along the side his head,
takes a step while moving his arm forward, and
propels the ball.
Both children are demonstrating their gross-
motor skills by attempting to throw a ball.
Gross motor skills also include catching,
bouncing, kicking and striking a ball. It is im-
portant to remember; children will learn to
throw an object before they learn to catch it.
Developing competence with basic ball skills
increases children’s potential for learning more
advanced skills such as those used for orga-
nized sports.
These skills may also have a positive effect on
self-concept and social skill development.
During exploration of ball skills children are
also learning about size, shape, and weight of
the ball or object. Gross motor exploration
while outdoors provides children with an op-
portunity to investigate and learn about mov-
ing, using their senses, discovering nature,
while building communication skills.
2
Perceptual, Motor and Physical Development
by Sherri Anthony
By Scarlett Kucera
“I want to express my appreciation to the Early Head Start Pro-
gram for the excellent work in caring for my son. The difference
you’re making in my life is immeasurable. I know my baby is in a
safe place, learning and having fun. Thank you for being a positive
impact on my baby’s life!”
PERFECT ATTENDANCE IN CHILD CARE
The Early Head Start- Child Care Partnership program has been focusing on the im-
portance of early school readiness skills by recognizing children with perfect attendance
with a certificate every month. One parent in particular has ensured her child has had
perfect attendance for the past four months. She has expressed to her caseworker that she
feels “her child’s education is so important so she sees to it that he is at school every day”
Mom received one of the new, updated perfect attendance certificates for the month of
January and was appreciative of the recognition.
BE A SCHOOL
READINESS
CORRESPONDENT
Want to share or highlight what is
happening in your community?
Please share. We love to hear the
great things your community is
doing to promote school readiness
to the families and children we
serve .
A great way to get your infor-
mation added to the newsletter is
to email your newsletter submis-
sion and pictures to one of the
following emails:
3
By Scarlett Kucera
PARENT INVOLVEMENT AT ROOSEVELT
By Sheryl Carter
On January 18, at our Head Start parent meeting, the parents and I reviewed the
school readiness goals using the Time 1 data from Teaching Strategies Gold. Together
we charted the data onto the school readiness chart. A
parent who has attended trainings for school readi-
ness and is the current class representative was given
a school readiness mug for their participation.
VALLEY METRO BUS RIDE WITH DEER VALLEY HEAD START
On March 1, Booker T. Washington Head Start classroom four at the Boot, celebrated an
improvement in monthly attendance! Children with two or fewer absences for February
were allowed to invite their parents to join
them for a party in the classroom. Teacher
Amy and the thirteen students performed
songs for their family members. Then, the
whole group enjoyed a fun dance together and
popsicles. Parents were encouraged by the
teacher and caseworker to shoot for 100%
attendance for the month of March!
On January 31, the Sunrise Head Start three year old classroom went for a bus ride with Valley Metro around the block of our school. The children learned how to get the bus to stop, how to honk the horn, and they all were able to “drive” the bus anywhere they wanted.
Valley Metro sponsored this fun trip and it helped wrap up our unit on Transportation. The students were very excited to ride a city bus, as they had previous experience with a school bus.
If you are interested in coordinating this event. Helen Romesburg, the Transit Educa-tion Coordinator for Valley Metro, can be reached via email at [email protected]
We had a lot of parent participation with this event and the students enjoyed seeing famil-iar places as we drove past them. This is our third year of having the program come to our site and definitely not our last. Helen brings a punch-out bus and map for each of the stu-dents as a souvenir and she brings goodies for the teachers to use in the classroom.
This trip helped support School Readiness Goals, 2a: Children will form relationships with adults and 12b: Children will make con-nections, and Parent, Family, and Community Engagement.
ATTENDANCE CELEBRATION AT THE BOOT
4
By Debra Fischer
By Kevin Dancy
Make small books of family or classmate photos to share with each child frequently. This
helps a child feel connected to the key people in his world, strengthening a sense of security
and confidence.
Source: Boosting Brain Power, 52 Ways to Use What Science Tells Us ~Jill Stamn, PhD.
BRAIN NUGGET
5
M.A.N. C.A.V.E. INITIATIVE
It is the time of year for March Madness, the
kickoff for the new season of baseball, the NFL
Draft, and guess what else? The support of our
M.A.N. C.A.V.E (Men All Need to be Caring, Ac-
tive-Engaged, Vested and Encouraged) Initia-
tive!
This year’s M.A.N. C.A.V.E. focused not only on
school readiness for young children, but on the
social emotional well-being of fathers/male fig-
ures and their children. Our Man Cave Liaisons
stepped up to the plate and hit a home run with
implementing very meaningful training sessions
that encouraged males to learn the importance of
early literacy,
engaging in
physical ac-
tivities, posi-
tive disci-
pline, and
how effective
co-parenting
impacts the growth and development of their
child both in the classroom and at home.
Each session provided the males an opportunity
to share something special about their child, in-
teract and build relationships with other men,
learn about community resources, obtain activi-
ties and learn skills to increase their adult-child
bond.
This year, in partnership with Major League
Baseball Milwaukee Brewers and the Greater
Phoenix Urban League, M.A.N. C.A.V.E. hosted
an interactive field day with Birth to Five Fami-
lies and Minor League Players. Men received t -
shirts and the children received a swag bag filled
with a book and other materials!
The final event of the year is our Annual M.A.N.
C.A.V.E. Fatherhood Summit, which is an oppor-
tunity for men, fathers, mental health and health
organizations, social service agencies, Early
Childhood Programs, school district personnel
and anyone else who have a vested interest in
young children’s growth and development. Par-
ticipants
attend a day
and a half
event to
learn ways
to imple-
ment inno-
vative prac-
tices and
gain skills and strategies based on current trends
around male engagement.
We are very pleased that our initiative this year
has served over 900 men! This impact has
greatly influenced the academic and emotional
well-being of hundreds of children served by the
Head Start Birth to Five Program!
As we plan for next year, man up! We want our newly enrolled men to be caring, actively-engaged, vested, and encouraged to help build a strong foundation for their child to thrive in school and beyond during the 2019-2020 school year!
By Latrisha Centers
SPECIALIST SPOTLIGHT CORNER
CITY OF PHOENIX HEAD START BIRTH TO FIVE SCHOOL READINESS GOALS
On April 15, Caseworkers at Cactus Kids preschool created an
ATTENDANCE WORKS board in the main hallway of the Early
Head Start- Child Care Partnership Child Care Center. Casework-
ers are focusing on promoting higher attendance percentages by
acknowledging those with perfect attendance monthly on a “Wall
of Fame.” The board also includes a tip sheet from Attendance
Works on “Building the Habit of Good Attendance,” as well as the
monthly average daily attendance percentage of the site.
In March, Cactus Kids had 16 of their 72 enrolled children with perfect
attendance, and hope to have even more in April.
By Scarlett Kucera
ATTENDANCE BOARD AT CACTUS KIDS PRESCHOOL
