MAY 2015

Head Start Newsletter

for Parents of Preschool Children Northeast South Dakota Head Start Program, Inc. ~ 200 South Harrison Street, #1 Aberdeen, SD 57401

RECRUITMENT: Head Start is taking applications for the 2015-2016 Program year.

Children need to be 3 years old by September 1st. If you know of any interested families,

please have them contact the Family Services Coordinator in their area or call the Head

Start Office at 229-4506 or toll free at 1-888-734-8143 for an application.

Applications may also be obtained from our website at www.nesdhs.org. Click on the

Enrollment tab and go to income guidelines. From there you will be able to download the

2015-2016 Head Start Enrollment application.

Let’s do math!

Math is a very important part of life. We use math to set an alarm clock, buy groceries, keep score or time at a game, wallpaper a room, or wrap a present. We all need math in the world of computers and electronic communication. It is important to encourage children to think of themselves as mathematicians who can reason and solve problems. Here are some things you can do to encourage your children:

• Show your children that you like numbers. Play number games and think of math problems as puzzles to be solved.

• From the time your child is very young, count everything. When you empty a grocery bag, count the number of apples. Count the number of stairs to your home.

• Put things into groups. When you do laundry, separate items of clothing: all the socks in one pile, shirts in another, and pants in another. Divide the socks by colors and count the number of each. Draw pictures and graphs of clothes in the laundry: 4 red socks, 10 blue socks, and 12 white socks.

• Tell your children that anyone can learn math. Point out numbers in your child’s life: in terms of weight (pounds and ounces), measurements involving cooking, temperature and time.

• Help your children do math in their heads with lots of small numbers. Ask questions: “If I have four cups and I need seven altogether, how many more do I need?”

Rules That Can Work For You

Discipline Discipline is more than punishment for misbehavior. It is the means by which we teach our children good conduct now and for

the future. Every mistake a child makes can become an opportunity for new learning. Here are four rules that can guide you:

• Accentuate the positive. Let your child know you appreciate her doing things that are important to you. For example, thank her for helping you keep the house neat by picking up her toys and clothes. If she forgets, gently remind her that it makes your work harder when you have to do all the work yourself. And ask for her help.

Compliment her when she takes responsibility for herself in any way, even if her efforts are awkward. Point out the times she does things the way you have told her. For example, thank her when she asks for something instead of whining.

• Minimize the negative. Pay more attention to the things your youngster does well than to her mistakes. Without thinking, we often take for granted those behaviors of others that please us. Then we exaggerate out of proportion the things they do wrong. This approach can backfire because children tend to repeat those behaviors that get the most attention.

For example, the more you ask her to stop an annoying habit such as playing with her food, the more she may do it. Try ignoring it instead. Then, when you notice her eating neatly, compliment her. It won’t take long before you begin to see a change.

• Explain your expectations. Let your child know what you expect of her. Try to keep your expectations fair, reasonable, and sensible. Explain them to her. If she knows what you expect of her, it will be easier for her to please you and avoid your disapproval. You will prevent unnecessary misunderstandings and hurt feelings. For example, explain that you expect her to be in bed by a time that is acceptable to you. Let her know that she can lie in bed quietly for a short time before going to sleep. Offer to read or tell her a story. Or just talk with her during that time if she wishes.

Do explain that you will not want to spend the time with her if you have to remind her several times every night that it is time to go to bed. Let her know what you expect as well as what she can expect when she does not fulfill her part of the bargain.

• Be consistent. Decide what is important to you. Then, try to be consistent in your expectations and responses.

For example, suppose you set up a rule that you do not want your child playing on the living room sofa with her shoes on. Don’t let her do it one day when you are feeling good and then yell at her the next time because she’s getting on your nerves.

Try to remind her, gently but firmly, what you do not want her to do. Ask her to leave the living room until she can do as you ask. Thank her when she remembers to take off her shoes.

It’s not always easy to behave toward our children as we would want. Try to accept yourself as you are, and do the best you can.

No one can be kind, considerate, fair, patient and respectful all the time. Be as understanding of yourself as we have asked you to be

of your child.

Just by trying you will succeed. And your child will learn from your example.

Grandma Says Learning All the While

When I visited a preschool this week, I was reminded about how constant and profound is the learning of the early years.

The teacher was reading a story about sea turtles to the children. She emphasized the stunningly amazing fact that, after years spent at sea, adult sea turtles return to the beach where they were hatched to lay their eggs.

One little girl in the circle commented quietly, “I knew that.” She didn’t say it in a bragging way, or really to anyone else, but rather as a happy confirmation of her knowledge. And I thought, what a lucky child. Already in her short life some adult had read a book or had a conversation about one of the marvels of our world. She remembered that fact, tucked it away in her little brain, able to be pulled out at will, to fit into her knowledge.

Now wonder along with me at all that your little ones are learning, every hour and every day. Think about the astonishing process of learning in the early years, a process that combines maturation of the nervous system, experiences, language, memory, models, curiosity, motivation, and an individual child’s mental capacities.

By the time the average child goes off to kindergarten, he or she has already mastered control of the body. She has learned skills as varied as swinging from the top of the monkey bars, manipulating scissors and eating utensils, zipping a jacket, and tying shoelaces.

His or her language has developed from making cooing and then babbling sounds to a spoken vocabulary of nearly ten thousand words. This child can use sentences that follow the grammatical rules of language with such complexities as plurals and past tenses, all to be able to tell a great story or understand how to communicate with others. There is an astonishing period in language development, around age two or so, when a child hears a word one time and then later can use it in an appropriate context.

They have also learned the thousands of conventions and niceties of behavior that seem important to the adults around them, and have figured out how to fit into their particular world. Even more than that, for understanding the world, their brains have categorized knowledge, so that they understand concepts such as:

• Colors (“My favorite color is green,” comments Matthew, as he works on a picture).

• Farm animals (Why else would it be so hilarious when Scotty adds an elephant to the singing of Old McDonald?)

• Words that should be sung instead of spoken.

Children are patient when others try to teach them things that may seem meaningless to them, tolerating the lessons about abstractions like letters and numbers. They are far more excited when they are learning something that catches their interest and imagination: “My cousins live in New Hampshire,” confides Merritt. “Did you know that they make maple syrup out of tree stuff? They cook it and cook it.” We sometimes use the phrase “lifelong learner” to refer to those individuals who keep alive the spirit of curiosity and adventure. But I guarantee that you will never again see humans learning so much, so quickly and effortlessly, as when you pay attention to your children’s daily accomplishments.

Developmental

The Importance of Make-Believe

Matthew grabs a big cardboard box and decided to go to the “store”. He pushes the box around the living room, looking for the “groceries” his family needs – a plastic cup, a newspaper and a toy – and drops them into the box. He pretends to pay for his purchases and then proudly tells his parents, “I bought our food”.

Make believe is a necessary facet of a child’s play. Pretending gives him a chance to:

Imitate adults to help him understand his environment;

Re-enact familiar situations, both good and bad, as a way of dealing with emotions;

Develop his imagination by creating fantasies, and

Learn about himself as an individual and how he fits into society.

When your child pretends, he isn’t receiving outside commands or controls – he’s in control. So he can take his every day, routine world and turn it into a magic place.

Your child will start by imitating you around the house and will progress through the years to more “dramatic acting” possibly even becoming the commander of a vital space mission to Mars!

Health Services Newsletter Family Style Meals Children establish eating habits as early as age 2! So it is important Head Start programs partner with families to build healthy eating habits early. One way to do this is to serve meals family-style. Family-style meals are a great way to introduce healthy foods, model healthy behaviors, and provide opportunities for nutrition education. Serving family-style meals means serving foods in dishes and eating together at the table. It is also an opportunity for children to have meaningful conversations with adults and develop social relationships. Head Start standards require all toddlers and preschool-age children and assigned classroom staff, including volunteers, eat together family-style and share the same menu to the extent possible. Children are encouraged to serve themselves or to serve themselves with an adult’s help. This newsletter discusses the importance of serving family-style meals in Head Start programs, how to serve family-style meals, and how to engage parents to serve family-style meals at home. Following are some reasons it is important to serve family-style meals in Head Start programs. Serving family-style meals:

s

tensils

e manners and learn appropriate meal time behavior

nd textures

Mealtime is an ideal opportunity to encourage healthy choices and provide nutrition education. The same skills children develop during free play and group time are utilized and practiced during mealtime. It is an opportunity to practice social skills, encourage healthy habits, and reinforce basic concept skills such as colors, shapes, grouping, etc. Health managers can support staff by participating in mealtime as well as providing training and strategies to make mealtime more successful. Possible strategies can include:

Practicing: Have children practice meal routines with pretend food during play time. Don’t forget to encourage sharing and table manners.

Building transitions: Teachers can plan a quiet activity before and after mealtime to help set the mood for a relaxed and manageable experience. Play soft music, stretch, sing a song.

Preparing for spills: Teachers can make mealtime less stressful by preparing for spills and support children in their own efforts to clean up after themselves. Teachers can serve food in multiple small serving containers instead of one large container to minimize waste and spills. Keep extra serving utensils handy.

Asking for help: Staff can join mealtime and help with challenging mealtime behavior or when introducing new routines. Health managers can demonstrate proper techniques and potential nutrition education opportunities.

Supporting Staff

How to Serve Meals Family Style in Head Start Serving family-style meals is more than having food on the table for children to serve themselves. To make the mealtime environment pleasant and positive, Head Start staff can:

Involve children: Ask children to help wash foods or set the table; bring food to the table; pour, pass, and serve food; and clean up after a meal. Some children may not be ready for some of these tasks or may need help. Start with easier tasks such as setting the table or passing bowls. Support children’s skill development by adding new and more challenging tasks when children are ready. Having more than one adult at a table with younger children or with children with special health care needs can help make sure all children get a chance to participate.

Model good mealtime behaviors: Sit at the table with children and eat the same foods. Modeling also includes demonstrating food safety (washing hands before meals), good table manners, using utensils, and trying new foods.

Allow children to choose whether to eat, what to eat, and how much to eat. To establish healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime, children need to feel in control of their eating. Provide healthy foods and encourage children to try new ones. Let children decide whether to eat, what to eat, and how much to eat.

Use the right equipment: Use child size serving bowls, plates, and utensils. Tables and chairs should be the right size for children to sit comfortably with their feet on the floor. It is important children eating together be at the same eye level with each other.

Make mealtime interesting. Use mealtimes as teaching opportunities by serving foods with a variety of shapes, colors, smells, tastes, and textures. Engage children by using pictures of foods or asking questions about foods’ shape, color, smell, taste, or texture to build language skills.

To everyone who helped make our entire school year a success – especially our Head Start parents for turning in In-Kind, attending parent meetings, working with your children and allowing Head Start to be a part of your lives.

THANK YOU to the Policy Council parents, Board members, and community people who helped with our program Self-Assessment. Please remember that we need Policy Council members to stay involved through next October when the 2015-2016 members are seated. Have a safe and happy summer. Continue to stay in touch and let us know if we can be of help to you. NORTHEAST SOUTH DAKOTA HEAD START STAFF