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(2) SOHS Newspaper Article (3) Drowning Prevention

(4) Parent Fun Night (5) Staff Birthdays/

Anniversaries

Mission Statement Southern Oregon Head Start prepares all children and their families for success in school and throughout life.

Meetings and Trainings July 22 —Monday Health Kick Offs @ Crater High

School 9:30-10:00 Fiscal Team Mtg, Office July 23 —Tuesday Health Kick Offs @ Crater High

School DUR Summer Family Conferences

Due Last Day of Service Duration July 24 —Wednesday Health Kick Offs @ La Clinica

Wellness Center 9:00-12:00 EHS Ctr Mgr Mtg, Blue

Conf Rm 1:00-2:00 Family Registration,

Library 1:00-3:30 Directors Mtg, Admin July 25 —Thursday Health Kick Offs @ La Clinica

Wellness Center 9:00-12:00 PFCE Dept Mtg, PFCE

Office July 26 —Friday Health Kick Offs @ PKV EHS Summer Family Conferences

Due Goal Tracking Sheets Due Shared Family Contacts Due 8:00-10:00 HS Ed Planning @ Cntrs 8:00-5:00 Mgmt Trng, HHS 10:30-12:00 EHS ED Plng @ Cntrs

July 29 —Monday Health Kick Offs @ PKV 9:30-10:00 Fiscal Team Mtg, Office July 30 —Tuesday Health Kick Offs @ PKV July 31 —Wednesday Health Kick Offs @ Real Life Church 1:00-3:30 Directors Mtg, Admin August 1 —Thursday Health Kick Offs @ Central High

School Return to Work Food Svs Sups, ABC 9:00-12:00 PFCE Dept Mtg, PFCE

Office August 2 —Friday Health Kick Offs @ Central High

School 8:00-10:00 HS Ed Planning @ Cntrs 9:00-10:30 EHS Ctr Mtg @ Cntrs 10:15-12:15 HS Ctr Mtg @ Cntrs 10:30-12:00 EHS ED Plng @ Cntrs

Weekly Memo Submissions Please send your PDFs, jpegs, and text to Nancy Helms or Ashley

Clayton by Wednesdays @ 12 pm.

Hello Everyone,

As we near mid-summer there continues to be lots happening:

Head Start duration has a couple of weeks left of service and will finish near the end of July while EHS services continue into early August.

Progress Early Learning Center is near completion and we anticipate opening for services in August.

We will have a Head Start class at Patrick Elementary School in collaboration with the central Point School District and work is being done to get that site ready for us.

The Alan Berlin A center renovation is getting underway.

The EHS Cave Junction renovation is getting underway.

Maintenance is working hard to take care of things they do annually as well as work in all the new projects.

Lots of planning is taking place for next year’s staff trainings from NEO to pre-service, to department trainings (education, PFCE, health, food service, disabilities and mental health).

The federal grant is being written to be submitted by the end of July.

Health Kickoffs will begin happening to welcome new children into our programs and ensure they are ready to start on day one.

A plan has been developed to ensure a smooth transition for the new executive director.

Those, and a million other little things, are happening to ensure a smooth end to this program year and a great start to next program year.

We hope you are having a wonderful July, wherever it finds you,

Michelle Dr. Michelle Homer-Anderson

Head Start Director

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This newspaper article was published on July 15, 2019 in the Medford Mail Tribune and has great information about our program!

Late Thursday morning in a Head Start classroom in Central Point, a circle of children learned where to find their heartbeat.

“Does he have a heart, do you think?” asked their teacher, before bringing small hands to each chest to feel for a beat.

After each repetition of the question, the chorus of small voices belted out an enthusiastic, “Yes,” prompting a smile from Nancy Nordyke, executive director of Southern Oregon’s chapter of the national program, as she watched from near the door.

After planned renovations at this and another Head Start campus in Cave Junction, Nordyke said, the number of children up to 5 years old who will spend their days in pre-kindergarten classrooms such as these will more than double.

As the state tries to inject new life into early learning opportunities for Oregon’s youngest children, at least two Southern Oregon organizations are planning to expand their offerings with the help of grant money funding building projects and extended programming. “It feels exciting and gratifying to be able to provide extended educational experiences for children to help them learn and thrive, and to better meet families needs for childcare,” Nordyke said. A $2.7 million grant that Southern Oregon

Head Start received from the national program in the spring will fund two different initiatives. About $1.4 million will go to renovations to create additional classroom space, enabling more pre-kindergarten children to experience educational environments in both Head Start and Early Head Start.

The other $1.3 million will extend the length of both the daily and yearly time that children are in the care of Head Start.

Kids in Southern Oregon Head Start classes will stay there for 6.5 hours beginning September through July 2020. Early Head Start, which caters to children up to 3 years old, will run eight hours a day from September through mid-August 2020.

“When you have a longer day, it can be more relaxed, you don’t have as many transitions,” Nordyke said. “And you have opportunities to work with children on projects that take longer and take a number of days to complete.”

In downtown Medford, Kid Time Children’s Museum, also flush with grant funding, is beginning to transform the Medford Carnegie Library building into the Children’s Museum of Southern Oregon.

“Early childhood (learning) is a challenge in this area,” said Sunny Spicer, executive director. “Parents are really in need of that, and we’ll be able to do a lot more in this area.”

A $100,000 grant from the Oregon Community Foundation will help fund the renovation to equip the space to not only provide early learning, but also family mentoring, parenting education and other activities Kid Time provides to both members and non-members.

Spicer said the move from Central Avenue to the Carnegie building will expand Kid Time’s preschool capacity by 25% — about 26 additional children.

(Article continued on next page)

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(Article continued from previous page) Down the line, after adding an additional building to the property, the organization plans to establish its

first programs for infants and toddlers. As far as care options go, Spicer said, “this area is an infant and toddler desert.” Kid Time leadership is also excited about gaining an outdoor area for children through the move, she said.

They’ll be able to play in sites that will include a nurse log and a ranger station, all protected by a new fence sectioning the museum property off from Alba Park and Oakdale Avenue.

Children who receive early childhood education tend to have higher achievement throughout their K-12 education, with research including reports from the RAND Corporation pointing to better outcomes not only academically, but also behaviorally and economically.

Oregon’s Early Learning Council emphasized these benefits in this year’s Raise Up Oregon plan, published in February. The strategy includes boosting resources not only in educational programs, but also paid family leave and housing supports.

The Oregon Student Success Act budgeted $400 million in new funding for early learning in the next biennium.

Britt Zimmerman, Kid Time’s director of education, mentioned how increasing access to early education is also a way to address the problem of disruptive behaviors, which show up even in the youngest-grade classrooms.

The nonprofit has added a behavioral support specialist and is looking at including a mental health specialist on staff next year, she said.

“Our students really need it,” Zimmerman said. “If we can support them now and we can meet them when they’re 3, we can do this work then, and we

can do it with not just the child, but with the whole family.

Reach Mail Tribune reporter Kaylee Tornay at ktornay@rosebudmedia.com or 541-776-4497. Follow her on Twitter @ka_tornay. To see the original article, please click this link: https://mailtribune.com/news/top-stories/local-early-learning-expands

Drowning Prevention - By Laurie Hester, Safety Compliance Manager

Ashland and Phoenix-Talent Head Start families enjoyed a lovely Ashland evening outdoors where

children could be seen running on the grass through sprinklers, enjoying an art activity, and taking a break

to eat sandwiches and watermelon. Ashland staff did a wonderful job setting up a shade structure, a

sandwich and fruit buffet, and providing areas for parents to gather as they watched children play. They

even set up a tropical themed photo space for some fun picture taking. I so enjoyed observing the

interactions between staff and families. I paused to reflect on the reason I have stayed in this field for so

long. Observing relationships between staff and families and experiencing relationships with Early

Childhood Educators continue to keep my cup full and my spirit grateful.

Terra Ucar, the new EHS Parent, Family & Community Engagement Supervisor invited me to provide

water safety information to parents during their water themed final parent meeting. Staff helped me set

up outdoors and out of the breeze so my presentation boards would hold up well. I engaged with several parents and children about water

safety and drowning prevention. I brought three different sizes of Coast Guard Certified Life Vests that children were eager to try on. I

emphasized the importance of wearing a life vest when in lakes, rivers, or the ocean, (and pools for weak swimmers) regardless of swimming

ability.

With three fatal drownings in Jackson County so far this summer, I can’t emphasize enough the important role a $35.00 life vest plays in

keeping yourself and loved ones safe. Drowning is quick (less than 2 minutes) and silent and there are no second chances. Be smart, be safe,

and live without regret…………….wear a life vest, making it a normal part of your fun when enjoying natural bodies of water.

Laurie teaches safety!

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Parent Meeting Has Great Turn Out! Sent in by Kimberly Thompson, TA—ASH

I wanted to share another awesome Parent

Meeting here in Ashland. We had combined

Phoenix/Talent and our Ashland Center for the

last Parent Meeting of the year. We had Laurie

Hester going over swimming safety (see previous

page), teacher Anna Jordan’s fish-making table

and information about coral reefs, our fishing

station, sprinkler fun and treasure hunt. At the

very end we gave out fun incentives for our

families (see Terra Ucar middle bottom picture!).

Not to mention we had our yummy food. Always a

great family turn out, out here in Ashland.

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