Beaver Creek School Celebrates New Preschool Complex

On Thursday, January 9^th, 2014 dozens of people from across Yavapai County gathered to celebrate the opening of the new W.O. Palmer Preschool Complex at Beaver Creek School. The new building, which contains two classrooms, will expand the Beaver Creek preschool so that every young child in the Rimrock community has the opportunity to participate in early childhood education. For Superintendent Karin Ward, this is a dream come true.

When Karin Ward began as Superintendent of Beaver Creek School in 2004, there was no preschool or child care center in the area. Ward believed passionately about early childhood education and its ability to give children a solid foundation for future success, so she dedicated herself to starting an early learning program in her school district.

Ward and her community began by opening a preschool for children with special needs. After that, Ward collaborated with Head Start to bring a Head Start program on the Beaver Creek School campus. Then, alongside the Head Start site, Ward opened an addition preschool program.

Preschool has had a powerful impact on entering kindergartens at Beaver Creek. “Our kindergarten teachers talk about the difference preschool has made,” said Ward. “When the children who have attended preschool enter kindergarten, they’re soaring.”

Ward didn’t stop there. She wanted to make sure that all young children in her school district had the opportunity to participate in early childhood education, so she began applying for grants to help the preschool expand.

In 2012, the school district was awarded a $100,000 grant from First Things First to help build a new preschool facility. Ward broke ground on the new building in January 2013, and the preschool opened its doors in late 2013. Now, between the Head Start and preschool, 64 children of the Rimrock community are enrolled in early childhood education.

 “It’s nice to see a community that understands the value of early childhood education,” said Yavapai Superintendent of Schools Tim Carter, speaking at the preschool complex opening event. “I’m looking forward to other communities in the county following Beaver Creek’s lead.”



Fallon, 4, attends Beaver Creek School

 

County Supervisor Tom Thurman also spoke at the event. Thurman, who recently adopted a 4-year old girl and enrolled her in child care, understands the invaluable benefits of early childhood education. “This works,” said Thurman, pointing at the new Beaver Creek preschool complex.



“Preschool will affect all aspects of my daughter’s future,” said Jennifer Ray, whose 4-year-old daughter Fallon attends the preschool. “Fallon is excited to go to school every day. She’s developing an eagerness to learn and to read. This program goes above and beyond.”

Superintendent Ward thanked the numerous collaborators that made the preschool possible, including First Things First, Head Start, and the Rimrock Community. “Getting to this point took layers and layers of time, conversations and collaboration,” said Ward. “We have done what we had set out to do, and the kids of Beaver Creek will benefit from this for years to come.”

 

Workshop Focuses on Early Roots of Bullying

On Wednesday, January 8^th at the Prescott YMCA, Parent Educator Wendy Watson, M.Ed. presented a workshop on the early roots of bullying behavior to a group of early childhood educators. The free workshop, which was organized by the Yavapai County Educational Service Agency, Community Counts, and funded by First Things First, focused on addressing aggressive behavior in children age 5 and under.

“Long-term aggressive behavior can very accurately be identified in children as early as age 3 and 4,” Watson said. “It takes a lot of energy to ‘turn the ship around’, but fortunately, behavior is especially changeable during the early years.”

Watson spoke about limiting children’s TV and media exposure as much as possible. “We know that 90% of a child’s brain develops before the age of five. The first five years are a critical period, and we need to protect children from witnessing repeated acts of aggression,” said Watson. “We have to be vigilant about the environment we’re creating for children and if we’re setting them up for aggressive behavior.”

Other than influence of media and TV images, Watson explained that aggressive behavior, such as biting, often stems from a young child’s inability to communicate what they want and need. She said that it is important for parents and caregivers to teach children the words to label and identify their feelings.

Watson presented a list of children’s books that can be used to teach kids about understanding and coping with their emotions. She also encouraged the group to have conversations with children as early as age 2 to help them label their emotions when they are feeling them, such as, “I see that you are sad because you lost your toy”, or “I can see that you are angry that he took your blanket.”

The stakes are high for today’s kindergarteners, so early educators and parents of young children have a big responsibility. “We can be so worried about teaching kids their colors, shapes and numbers that we may skip important lessons like developing empathy and sharing,” said Watson. Since critical social and behavioral skills, including self-esteem, focus and motivation, take root in the first five years, it is important that children are supported to develop these lifelong skills.

Madison Martinez, an early childhood educator at the Prescott YMCA, said that she was grateful for the practical information provided at the workshop. “It’s interesting to learn how to stop bullying at an early age so that we can prevent it before it happens,” Martinez said.

Wendy Watson, M.Ed, talks to a group of child care providers at the Prescott YMCA

 

At the end of the workshop, participants were given the opportunity to discuss specific examples of aggressive behavior that they have encountered with the children in their care and identify ways to address these challenges.

Workshops on parenting and caring for young children like this one are regularly available across Yavapai County. For more information and to find an upcoming class near you, please visit ParentsAZ.org.

 

Media Wrap-Up: October 24-December 9

Prescott E-News: (The same article also appears in Prescott Valley E-News and Chino Valley E-News)
http://prescottenews.com/index.php/education/education-news/item/22683-best-gift-for-kids-under-6-simple-toys-quality-time-with-adults

Daily Courier:
http://dcourier.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=125722&SectionID=36&SubSectionID=1119&S=1

YCESA newsletters:
http://ycesa.com/files/Nov2013newsletter.pdf

http://www.ycesa.com/files/Dec%20%202013%20newsletter%20v.3.pdf

YRMC “Adopts” Families in Need for the Holidays

This month, the children of 44 families in the Quad-city area will be having a more joyful Christmas thanks to the generosity of several departments of the Yavapai Regional Medical Center.

YRMC is participating in “Adopt a Family for the Holidays”, a program that invites hospital departments to purchase gifts for the children of families participating in YRMC’s ‘Healthy Families’ program. Healthy Families is a free and voluntary home visiting program for families with children ages prenatal to five years old that is funded in part by First Things First. Through the program, families receive home visits every two weeks from a family support specialist, who partners with parents to boost the learning and development of their child through information, activities, developmental assessments and connection to other community resources. Healthy Families also holds monthly playgroups for families to come together, learn and have fun.

When YRMC CEO John Amos and YRMC COO Larry Burns heard about the “Adopt a Family for the Holidays” program from Healthy Families Director Lance Spears, they sent an email to every department of the hospital inviting them to participate. The response was huge.

“We’re so grateful to the staff of YRMC for bringing a joyous experience to the kids of forty-four families in our program,” said Spears.  “Many of the families we work with are struggling financially, and we’re seeing a great deal of need.”

The families ‘adopted’ by the program created holiday wish lists, which were provided- without mention of family names- to participating hospital departments. Most of these wish lists included things like warm children’s winter clothes, diapers, basic toys, and household necessities. One family, who has been unable to afford a vacuum cleaner, put one on their list. These gifts will be dropped off to families at their homes by their family support specialist.

“Without this generous help, there wouldn’t be holiday gifts for most of these kids,” said Spears.

Community members wishing to support the children enrolled in the Healthy Families program are invited to donate diapers and children’s books, which can be dropped off in the lobby of the YRMC East Campus. For more information about Healthy Families, please call Lance Spears at 771-5651 X 3945.

 

Families Celebrate Halloween, Learn about Oral Health at VVMC

On Tuesday, October 29^th, a bumble bee, a cat, a football player, a ninja turtle, a cowboy, a dinosaur and more than a dozen other little creatures could be seen parading the halls of the Verde Valley Medical Center, stopping by staff offices to ask for a treat.  The procession is a yearly Halloween tradition of Verde Valley Healthy Families and Parents as Teachers, which are both free home visitation programs for families with young children ages birth to five years. Both programs are funded by First Things First.

Through the programs, families with young kids partner with a family support specialist, who visits their home every two weeks and provides them information and activities to help their child grow and learn, assesses the development of their child, and connects them to other community resources.

“We love this program and tell our friends about it all the time,” said Stacey Adcox, who is enrolled in Parents as Teachers with her husband Adrian and their 18-month old son, Adrian.  “We learn activities we can do with him that are based on his stage of development.”

Every month, Verde Valley Healthy Families and Parents as Teachers hold a joint playgroup for their participating families to come together, learn and have fun. Each October, the playgroup is held at the Verde Valley Medical Center, where parents and kids don their Halloween costumes to trick or treat around the hospital offices. Besides giving out the traditional sweet treats, hospital staff also gave out oral health friendly items, such as bubbles and pencils.

4-year old Kyra practices good tooth brushing techniques

 on a set of giant teeth at the Halloween playgroup at VVMC.

 

Verde Valley Healthy Families recently received a grant from Delta Dental, which gave them the ability to bring dental health information, activities and materials to their family playgroups. This year, Dr. Mitzi of Cottonwood Children’s Dentistry also donated toothbrushes so that every child could bring one home with their Halloween treats. “We’re grateful to both Cottonwood Children’s Dentistry and Delta Dental because they have enabled us to educate families on early oral care,” said Susan Lacher, Director of Verde Valley Healthy Families. At the Halloween playgroup, families learned important dental health tips, including cleaning teeth every day, limiting sugar, and making sure their children have regular dental checkups beginning at age 1.

For more information on Verde Valley Healthy Families, a program of Verde Valley Medical Center, please call (928)-639-6566. For more information about Parents as Teachers, a program of Arizona’s Children Association, please call 1-888-771-3425 X 2026.  

 

Local Consortium Focuses on Kindergarten Readiness

What are the skills that children need to be successful in kindergarten? It is this question that led dozens of educators to come together at Yavapai County’s first Early Childhood Education Consortium (ECEC) for a much-needed discussion about the transition from the preschool years to kindergarten.

The consortium was held on Saturday, November 2^nd at the Mariposa building of Prescott College, and was attended by preschool directors, child care providers, kindergarten teachers, and other education professionals from across the Quad-city area. The event, sponsored in part by First Things First, was organized by Prescott College student Sheila Atwater and Prescott College Faculty member Wendy Watson with the help of several other local education experts: Gena Hahn, Micaela Janowski, Vickey LaMotte, and Dr. Vicky Young. 

The stakes are high for today’s kindergarteners, and it is critical that early educators of young children- including parents, infant care providers, child care providers and preschool teachers- are on the same page. The focus of the consortium was to get pre-K professionals and kindergarten teachers talking about the skills and dispositions kids need to be ready for kindergarten, and to create a list of these things to share with the public.

“Pre-k and kindergarten teachers rarely have the opportunity to come together to meet and converse about bettering the education of the young children in our community,” said Prescott College student Sheila Atwater. “By holding this event, we wanted to do something meaningful for education.”

“School readiness is not just about the child, it’s about ready schools and a community ready to support them,” said Wendy Watson, speaking at the consortium. Watson also said that the definition of kindergarten readiness often differs from school to school. “The same child with the same strengths and needs can be considered ready for kindergarten at one school, but considered not ready at another,” said. “That’s why it’s important to get this conversation going.”

The discussion, which was facilitated by Lori Deutsch of FAST consulting, yielded some exciting results. Participants were able to create a broad list of cognitive, behavioral and social skills that all kindergarteners need to succeed, which include the ability to pay attention and focus, the ability to take turns and share with others, basic letter recognition, and confidence.

When more children enter kindergarten prepared to learn, everyone benefits, and the Early Childhood Education Consortium was the first part of a continuing discussion about school readiness. Consortium organizers hope that this project will expand and grow to other parts of the county and the state, ensuring that more kids in Arizona enter kindergarten ready to succeed.

For more information about the Early Childhood Consortium or to be put on the mailing list for future events, please contact Wendy Watson at wwatson@prescott.edu.

 

Free Parenting Classes Work to Strengthen Family Relationships

When Sedona residents Sandra Papas and David Collin learned about the free parenting education classes available in their community, they jumped at the opportunity. To them, it was a no-brainer. It wasn’t that their family was having any issue in particular; they just wanted to gain more knowledge, tips and tools to strengthen their relationship with their two daughters. “We signed up to gain more skills, have some fun and reduce the stress in our family,” said David.

Now, the couple attends “Becoming a Love and Logic Parent”, a class taught by parent educator Sandi Cheney. Classes like these are made available across Yavapai County to parents and caregivers of young children ages birth to five years through a grant from First Things First.

“Becoming a Love and Logic Parent” meets once a week for a span of six weeks and includes free child care. Through the class, parents learn about child development and a variety of parenting skills, including simple communication tools and effective, low-stress discipline techniques.  The class is not about telling parents what to do; it’s about giving parents a whole toolbox of ideas. It’s up to them to choose what works best for their family.

“I feel like I’m learning a new language,” said David. “In stressful moments, getting mad and yelling doesn’t get your goal accomplished. This has really helped me to step back in those moments and think of what I can say and do.”

“This has been helpful to us, and I think it can be helpful to any parent,” said Sandra. “It gives us additional skills, ideas and choices.”



Sandra Papas and David Collin  meet with Parent Educator Sandi Cheney

their “Becoming a Love and Logic Parent” class at the Sedona YMCA.

 

Parents and caregivers can learn about the parenting class opportunities available across Yavapai County by visiting ParentsAZ.org, where they can find a calendar of upcoming classes. For more information about parenting education or to ask about a class near you, please call (928)-708-0100.