moving outside.

Scavenger Hunt: List 10

items for your children to find, such as an oak leaf, an acorn, a bird’s feather, a dandelion, and so forth. Allow the child who finds the most items to choose next week’s family fitness activity.

Ultimate Frisbee Com-

petition: Take your Fris-bee competition to a public park and it might just turn into a fun competition with other families. Playing Fris-bee involves running, jump-ing, diving, and throwing, all of which are great exercise and great fun.

Walk and Talk: Use fami-

ly walks to talk about your children’s favorite things, concerns, hopes, and dreams. Let younger kids push dolls in strollers, or encourage your children to walk your dog while they plan a new family activity.

Article taken from Homelife Maga-zine

Angie Messmer

Play It Out

Autumn is the perfect time for outdoor family activity. Making fitness a priority for your family is important, says fitness expert Dian Griesel. Children learn by example, and we need to do a better job of modeling healthy habits, she explains. “Yes, 25 percent of kids today are obese, but more horrifying is that adult obesity in the U.S. is nearing 70 percent,” Griesel reveals. “Everything starts at home.” Sport’s science and exercise physiology expert Ben Greenfield believes incorporating activity into your daily life is a good first step to reverse this trend. “If your child sees you getting home from work and crashing on the couch for two hours while you watch television, then they will do the same,” Greenfield says. “If they see you grab the dog and head out the door for a walk, they will be influenced by that instead.” It’s not as important to join a gym or install a home exer-cise room as it is to let your children observe you being ac-tive. Park at the far end of the grocery store lot and explain to your kids that you parked far from the door so you could gain the benefits of walking. Bike to a nearby park instead of driving there. Look for everyday ways to become more active.

M a k e E x e r c i s e F u n Getting children to become more physically active is as easy as playing pretend, Greenfield sug-gests. “Children have strong imaginations, especially younger kids,” Greenfield explains. “Pretending to be their favorite

animal, cartoon character, or superhero can help make fitness more fun.” For example, when he takes his children to the park, Greenfield encourages them to run by pretending to be race cars from their favorite cartoon. Suddenly, the task of running turns into a racing game that involves the entire family. Or, while playing tennis as a family, Greenfield tells his younger chil-dren to pretend they’re squirrels gathering nuts for the winter. With that, a mundane task of picking up stray tennis balls be-comes a fun fitness activity.

Get Moving

When the weather is nice like it is this time of year, encourage outdoor family fitness. Here are three ideas to get your crew

From The Early Childhood Administrator

I N S I D E

T H I S I S S U E :

From the

Health &

Nutrition

Specialist

2

Holiday’s,

Special Days,

& Events 2

From the

Family In-

volvement

Coordinator 3

From the

Education

Specialist 4

October: Fall

Walk & Talk 4

From the

ERSEA

Specialist 5

S O U T H E R N S E V E N

H E A D S T A R T /

E A R L Y H E A D S T A R T Parent Newsletter O C T O B E R , 2 0 1 2

P A G E 2

Holiday’s, Special Days, & Events

From The Health & Nutrition Specialist Hello everyone! Hope that you and your fam-ily are having a fantas-tic school year so far. I look forward to seeing you this month at our Parent Group Meet-ings. This month our focus is on Health & Nutrition and either myself, or Ms. Bobi Cavins, our Program Assistant will be at your meetings. We will

have a brief discussion concerning making meals on a budget and a small food demonstra-tion. I look forward to seeing you there!

Laura Duckworth

10—Columbus Day; Na-tional Angle Food Cake Day

11—National Sausage Pizza Day

12—Old Farmers Day

13—National Yorkshire Pudding Day; Bring Your Teddy Bear to Work or School Day

14—National Chocolate Covered Insects Day

15—National Grouch Day

16—National Boss’s Day; World Food Day

17—National Pasta Day

18—Alaska Day; National Chocolate Cupcake Day

19—National Seafood Bisque Day; Electricity Day

20—National Brandied Fruit Day

21—Reptile Awareness Day

22—National Nut Day

23—National Boston Cream Pie Day

24—National Bologna Day

25—National Greasy Foods Day

26—National Pumpkin Day

27—National Potato Day

28—National Chocolate Day

29—Oatmeal Day

30—National Candy Corn Day

31—Halloween/Harvest Day

October

1—World Smile Day; World Vegetarian Day

2—National Custodial Workers Day; Child Health Day

3—National Caramel Cus-tard Day; Fire Prevention Week

4—National Taco Day

5—National Apple Betty Day; Long Walk Day

6—National Noodle Day; National Storytelling Fes-tival

7—Bathtub Day

8—National Fluffernutter Day

9—National Children’s Day; Submarine/Hoagie/Hero/Grinder Day

P A R E N T N E W S L E T T E R

From The Family Involvement Coordinator P A G E 3

BE THERE ….BE THEIR DAD!!

This month you will receive a pamphlet with suggestions for being an involved Dad. Also each of our Head Start Centers will be planning Male Involve-ment Activities especially for the Dads and Father Figures of our Head Start Children. Watch for the announcement of these spe-cial events and I hope you will plan to attend. I would also like to encourage you to stop in to your child’s classroom anytime and visit – eat a meal, join the children on the playground, or read to the class.

Below are some ideas about be-ing an involved Dad.

D—Do tell the child what he did wrong.

A—Accept what he did wrong without being nega-tive.

D—Do teach the child by explaining and modeling the correct behavior.

About being a good dad:

Be the man your son or daughter looks up to

Treat their mother the way you would like your mother to be treated

Teach your children honesty by being honest

Teach them to keep their promises by always keeping yours

Make time for each child separately

Teach them the kinds of things they will not learn in school

Encourage talking. Ask them about their day, their friends, their inter-ests. Tell them about your work, and if possi-ble, let them see you at work.

Be the kind of man you

would like to see your daughter marry

Remember:

Discipline does not mean punishment. It means to teach and pursue the be-havior that you expect.

Children need your affec-tion as much as they need food and clothing

Being a father is a big responsibility….that brings big rewards!!!!

Janice Taylor

P A G E 4

October: Fall Walk & Talk

From The Education Specialist Each month I will sub-mit a fun activity you can do at home with your child to promote School Readiness. This month the activity coordinates with

Southern Seven Head Start’s School Readi-ness Goal #10: Chil-dren will demonstrate their ability to gather information about the natural and physical

Other Ideas

Make "binoculars." Take two empty paper towel or toi-let paper tissue rolls. Tape the two rolls together, side by side. Attach a string to the rolls. Put the binoculars around your child's neck and ask, "What can you see?" Your child may want to use crayons or markers to decorate the binoculars.

When walking, ask your child, "How many ways can you walk?" Use the words "forwards, backwards, side-ways, giant or large steps, baby or little steps, fast steps, slow steps." Ask, "Can you hop

like a bunny? Can you waddle like a penguin? Can you jump like a frog? What else can we do?"

Related Books

Red Leaf Yellow Leaf by Lois Ehlert

Taking a Walk: A Book in Two Lan-guages / Caminando: Un Libry en Dos Len-guas by Rebeccas Emberly

I Went Walking by Sue Williams

Jonathon and His Mommy by Irene Smalls

As you walk around the neighborhood, choose a tree with col-orful leaves. Talk about the color of the leaves and ask, "What do you think will hap-

pen to the leaves as the weather gets colder?" Then watch this tree throughout the year to see what happens. Collect leaves, acorns, chestnuts, or seeds and put them in a gro-

cery bag. Turn a long strip of masking tape inside out and make a belt to stick the leaves on. When you get home you can glue or tape your new treas-ures on paper or card-board. Talk about how they are alike and how they are different.

P A R E N T N E W S L E T T E R

world and organize that information into knowledge and theo-ries.

Jennifer Parks

From The ERSEA Specialist P A G E 5

Enrollment News

Happy Fall! I have been out to many of the sites visiting and doing hearing/vision screenings, it seems like the children are settling nicely into their new routines. It is so nice to finally put faces with all of the names I have been seeing.

Just in case you didn’t know, Octo-ber is Head Start Awareness Month. I think Head Start is one of the best kept secrets, make sure to let all of your friends know about our pro-gram. We take applications year round, so it’s not too late for them to apply!

Attendance

Attendance for August was wonder-ful! I have highlighted the class-rooms below with at least 85% at-tendance rates. I hope this contin-ues throughout the year. Getting up and going to school every day is a great habit to learn early on in life. It will most definitely help in getting your child ready for kindergarten too. Congratulations, I hope every-one has a happy and healthy month!

Anna

Class A – 85%

Class B – 98%

Class C – 92%

Class D – 94%

Class E – 97%

Class F – 95%

Brookport

Class A – 93%

Cairo

Class A – 95%

Class B – 98%

Class C – 94%

Class D – 94%

Class E – 96%

Class G (EHS) – 90%

Class H (EHS) – 93%

Class I (EHS) – 94%

Egyptian

Class A – 92%

Goreville

Class A – 93%

Hardin County

Class A – 96%

Jonesboro

Class A – 94%

Metropolis

Class A – 92%

Class B – 88%

Class C – 91%

Class D - 97%

Class E – 94%

Class F – 94%

Class G – 99%

Class H – 92%

Mounds

Class A - 98%

Class B – 99%

Class D (EHS) - 97%

Class E (EHS) – 91%

Pope County

Class A – 93%

Rustic Campus

Class A – 92%

Class B – 97%

Class E (Daycare) – 90%

Vienna

Class A – 97%

Class B – 96%

Terri Stewart

Phone: 618-634-9340

Fax: 618-634-9394

Website: www.southern7.org

The mission of

Southern Seven Health Department is:

“To promote a safe and healthy envi-

ronment by providing preventive health

care, family support services, and child

development programs.”

Southern Seven Head Start/

Early Head Start

37 Rustic Campus Drive

Ullin, IL 62992