Health Care for All Children in Missouri

Health care is a frequent topic of discussion these days, but many Missouri citizens are still unaware of options available to insure children from low income families.

You probably have children in your care who do not get routine medical care because their families cannot afford it.

Missouri Health Net provides medical coverage, including preventative care, emergency care, vision, and dental care to children from families who meet income guidelines. This coverage is available for infants, children, and youth.

Who Is Eligible ?
A child:
who is under 19 years of age;
who has or applies for a social security number
who lives in Missouri and intends to remain
who is a United States citizen or an eligible qualified non-citizen
whose parents cooperate with Child Support Enforcement (CSE) in the pursuit of medical support
whose countable family income meets the income guidelines

Assistance may even be available for families who need transportation to medical appointments.

For complete details, call 1-800-392-2161 or visit the MO Health Net website: www.dss.mo.gov/mhk.

No child should do without basic medical care because of low income. Please share information about MO Health Net with families in your program who may be in need of health care.

Written by Janet Robison, Training Coordinator

Lazy Days of Summer?

Does your child ever get to be lazy? Does your child ever have down time? Does your child get to do nothing, have no plans, or just plain waste time?

If not, maybe he/she needs this kind of time.

In today’s society, true down time is harder and harder to come by. Families are often over committed. Days in child care programs are often filled with scheduled activities and little opportunity for free play. Yet children, as well as adults, need time each day to relax and recover from daily activities.

It will take a conscious effort to incorporate time in each day for quiet, but the children will benefit, and it will make your life easier. You will have a happier and healthier child if his stress level is lowered.

Try some of these ideas below for a calming summer.

Have a day with no plans! Set no alarm clock, no goals for the day, no errands—just be.
Play board games
Turn off TV, don’t answer phones
Take a blanket outside—watch the clouds, listen to nature
Take a nap
Use no electronic devices—computer, IPOD, head phones, video games
Bring out the crayons, drawing paper, arts and crafts items
Read a book
Climb trees, wade in a creek, work in the garden
Cook a new food
Write a letter
Visit an elderly person
Stay in pajamas all day
Camp out in the back yard
Try origami

For other quiet activities, check out this website: http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/quiet_games_and_activities.htm

Written by Sarah Williams, Inclusion Specialist

Benefits of Developing a Professional Portfolio

A well organized professional portfolio can help you ace interviews and can document your ongoing professional growth.

Are you nervous about job interviews? A quality portfolio can help you feel prepared and help you clearly state your ideas and beliefs. An organized portfolio contains information that reflects your philosophy, goals, professional development, and experience. A portfolio can also help you find financing for new and expanding child care facilities.

What is a portfolio? It is a visual tool to help you document your beliefs, professional development, experience, involvement in the field, and classroom use of best practices. It can help you demonstrate a key point and help you stand out from other candidates.

A portfolio is not simply a photo album. While there should be photos in your portfolio, they should relate directly to a lesson plan or document in the portfolio. A portfolio also is not a scrapbook. Your portfolio should highlight your skills in a professional way. Keep in mind that interviewers may flip through your portfolio, rather than read it thoroughly from front to back.

What should you include in a portfolio?

You can include:
Table of contents
Resume
Statement of philosophy on early childhood care and education
Letters of reference
Records of workshops, seminars, and other professional development (Keep your certificates or get copies from your employer if they keep them)
List of professional memberships
Certificates of achievement for relevant volunteer work
Sample lesson plans
Photographs or samples of children’s work related directly to the featured lesson plans
Sample of letter to families or other forms of family communication
Examples of steps taken to guide a child’s behavior
Additional items to have available are:
Transcripts
Medical documents
Criminal history check
Other employment items as required by licensing

How do I organize the portfolio?
The first glimpse that someone gets of your portfolio is the cover. It should always be in good condition. Try using a three ring binder with insert panels for a self designed cover. Make sure the cover looks professional and that your name stands out clearly.

Some tips to aid in the development of a well-organized, creative, and highly effective portfolio are:
Insert all items into plastic sleeves (sheet protectors).
Divide the portfolio into sections — resume, philosophy, professional development, volunteer experience, classroom experience, and so on.
Use the section titles on the contents page.
Use a good quality resume paper for the cover insert, cover page, contents page, and section title pages.
Store extra copies of your resume, philosophy, and letters of reference in plastic sleeves behind the originals.
Support your sample lessons with photos of children engaging in the activity, samples of a child’s work, or words resulting from the experience.

Think of your portfolio as documentation of your professional growth and development. Keep it updated with new trainings you attend, new lessons you develop, and up to date information.

A carefully created portfolio will reflect who you are as a professional. It will help to clarify and reaffirm your beliefs, document your experience, and inspire you to try new things.

Written by Jacki Turner, Data and Referral Specialist

Adapted from:
Priest, C. (2010). The benefits of developing a professional portfolio. Young Children, 65, 92-96.

Super Bubbles Solution

Blowing bubbles is a fun and inexpensive outdoor activity that will keep children occupied for hours on warm summer days. You can purchase large jugs of bubble solution, or try this recipe from SteveSpanglerScience.com to make bigger and better “Super Bubbles!”

1 cup distilled water (minerals in tap water can affect the quality of your bubbles)
1 Tablespoon plain dish soap (Steve recommends Dawn, but any regular dish soap with no added moisturizers or anti-bacterial qualities will work.)
1 teaspoon glycerin (available in the pharmacy area of your store)
Mix ingredients together, and let the solution sit for at least 24 hours at room temperature. Steve says letting the solution rest is the secret to super bubbles!

In addition to regular bubble wands, try dipping other items into your solution. Bend a wire coat hanger into a circle, square, or other shape (have children guess what the bubbles will look like from each shape). Use plastic tubes from the hardware store. Try a clean, new flyswatter. Use kitchen utensils like whisks, colanders, and slotted spoons. Cut up an old laundry basket, and let kids use the pieces to blow bubbles. Try using an old tennis racquet.

For a giant super bubble a child can stand inside, pour bubble solution into a small kiddie pool, have a child stand in the pool, then use a hula hoop to make a giant bubble around them.

Let children experiment with the science behind bubbles. What else can they use to make bubbles? Look at the colors reflected in the bubbles. Encourage children to catch the bubbles (Hint: A glove helps. The oil on our skin is what makes the bubbles pop.) See which objects make the biggest bubbles, or bubbles that last longest.

The key to science is asking questions, then coming up with ways to test different theories. Follow the children’s lead, and encourage them to try out their ideas.

Written by Janet Robison, Training Coordinator

Offering Parents and Providers Advice on Separation Anxiety

Parent-child separation puts stress on all members of the family. When adults feel comfortable about a new situation, they will be relaxed, and the child will respond accordingly.

When the parents have doubts and concerns, they communicate their uneasiness to their child, and the child will have a much harder adjustment period.

Children need to know ahead of time what it will be like in a new setting. The book Help for Teachers of Young Children by Gwen Snyder Kaltman gives some tips for working with children who are entering your child care setting, as well as tips for parents who are getting ready to send their children to school.

Parents should be offered help devising a smooth departure strategy after dropping a child off at child care or at school. They need to be cautioned about the downside of leaving without saying goodbye. Encourage parents to use reassuring words like, “Mommy will be back after nap time,” or ”When it gets dark out, Mommy will pick you up.”

Kaltman gives these additional tips for making drop off times successful:

Remember, saying “Mommy will be back soon” is open to different interpretations by the children. The adult “soon” is not even close to the child’s “soon” (which is usually less than 60 seconds).

Young children find comfort in routines. Do the same things each day at drop off time.

Help the child thoroughly wash his or her hands (which should be required each time a child/parent enters a center).

Do a puzzle together, or another short activity the child enjoys.

Read one book before leaving.

Wish the child well, and clap hands with “High Five!”

Develop a special hug or kiss routine. For example, try a kiss on each cheek and one on the nose.

Advise parents that, as they are leaving, they need to communicate to the child through their
words and their body language that they are confident the child will have a good day.

As teachers, we know that usually within five minutes after the parent is gone, the child settles in, plays with the other adults and children in the program, and becomes involved in the activities of the day. To help put the parents’ minds at ease, encourage them to stay for five minutes in another room or in a nearby hallway that is out of the child’s sight to wait until the child stops crying. Knowing that the child is content before a parent starts her day means a great deal.

Another way to ease parental anxiety is to videotape the child five minutes after the parent has left so they can see for themselves that the departure trauma is short lived.

Child care providers and teachers can become very attached to children in the years before the child enters school. The provider often is like a member of the family, and is someone the parents look to for advice.

Before the children start school in the fall, prepare a letter with helpful hints to ease the trauma of this big change. It could include the following suggestions for the parents:

• Use the new teacher’s name often at home in a positive way to show your confidence in the new setting. Even taking a picture of the new teacher with the child could be helpful so that the child could often look at the teacher before he/she starts school.
• Talk often about children the child knows who are also attending the new school.
• Talk often about school in general. For example, use common school words such as gym, snack, lunch time, cafeteria, and recess.
• Take your child to school for a visit to meet the children and the teachers.
• Tell your children where you will be and what you will be doing while they are in school.
• Let your child know that you will miss him/her. This is an honest emotion (but it should not be over dramatized).
• Do your very best to be on time picking the child up each day.
• Several weeks before school begins, change the sleeping schedule so that the child is going to bed earlier each evening and waking up about the time that school begins.
• All teachers who work with young children could benefit from reading Gwen Kaltman’s book, Help for Teachers of Young Children.. In addition to these tips on easing separation anxiety, it gives easy to follow tips for developing children’s social skills and creating positive teacher-family relationships.

Written by Pam Raffurty, Director

Source:
Kaltman, G. S. (2006) Help for teachers of young children. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

T.E.A.C.H. Missouri Scholarships

Are you interested in earning college credits towards a degree in Early Childhood Education?

Do you want to start classes this Fall 2010?

Would you like a scholarship to help pay for tuition and books plus other perks and a bonus?

Then NOW is the time to contact the T.E.A.C.H. MISSOURI Scholarship!! We have funding NOW for all those interested in starting college and working towards a CDA, Associate Degree or Bachelors Degree in Early Childhood Education.

Already in college and took classes in spring or summer 2010? Contact us about enrolling NOW and being credited for the classes you just completed.

If you are serious about your education, we want to help you NOW.

Who is eligible for the T.E.A.C.H. MISSOURI is a scholarship?
All teachers, directors, on site owners, assistants, group home and or family home child care professionals who:
Have a desire to earn college credit towards a National CDA Credential or an AA/AAS or BA/BS degree in early childhood care & education
Work 30 hours or more a week directly with the children 0 to 5 years old each day in a licensed child care
Are 18 years or older and have a GED or high school diploma
Make under $14.50/hr as a teacher or assistant or $16/hr as a director or owner

For more information and applications, visit our web site at
www.moccrrn.org/teach-mo.html NOW! Don’t delay, apply today!

Making it FUN!

How about planning some fun themed days this summer? Read on for some great ideas!

Before the Fourth of July, the children can help you make stars and stripes decorations. Weave red, white, and blue crepe paper through the fence and place streamers on the posts to blow in the wind. Cover cardboard stars with aluminum foil and hang from the ceiling indoors.

Plan a lunch outside serving picnic items. Put a few drops of red or blue food coloring in softened cream cheese and spread between slices of bread. Cut the sandwiches into a star shape with a cookie cutter. Serve blue lemonade (just a drop or two of blue food coloring) and of course, have cake or apple pie for dessert!

A 9x12 inch cake can be decorated by using candy red hots for stripes and silver balls for stars. Have children make paper flags using stars and dots which can be purchased at an office supple store. To make the red and white strips, they can stick the dots in rows. Just remember, that you can show them what our American flag looks like but let them be creative to make their own flags.

“Beach Day” is another fun theme day. Mix water with sand in the sandbox. Provide styrofoam cups and various empty cans and jars of all sizes. Pack the wet sand into the jars/cans and let the children come up with wonderful sand castles!

Next, place a sheet on the ground to represent the ocean. Put on some surfing music. While the music plays, the children can “surf back and forth across the ocean.” When the music stops, the surfers are “caught,” unless they are back on the beach (off of the sheet). Surfers must move continuously back and forth across the ocean, they can’t always stay close to the beach. If the surfer is caught, they wait on the beach, and whoever “surfs” the longest wins.

Sandy paintings can be made by placing sand in medium sized margarine containers. Mix a few tablespoons of tempera paint with the sand. Give each child a baby food jar and a spoon. Let them spoon the colored sand into layers inside the jar. The sand should come to the top of the jar. When the painting is finished, place a piece of cotton on top before putting the lid on. This will keep the sand from shifting when the jar is moved. For a finishing touch, cover the lid with aluminum foil or paint it with tempera paint.

Two fun variations of musical chairs can be played on hot summer days. The first variation is called Beach Blanket Bum. Place towels on the ground, side by side. Have one fewer towel than the number of children. Have the players walk around the towels to music and when the music stops, the last person to be laying on a towel is the “Beach Blanket Bum.”

On a really hot day, help the children play “Musical Icy Tubs”. Place dish tubs of icy water in a circle. Have one fewer tub than the number of children playing. When the beach music stops, they actually sit in the icy tub, and the person who does not get a tub can push the button to the CD player for the next round. Keep playing until the last person has to sit in the single tub. This is really fun on a day that you let them bring swimming suits.

Another idea for a Summer Splash Day is to have a wet sponge throw. Set up some empty cans and plastic bottles as targets. Soak some sponges in water. Have the children line up behind a marker and see if they can hit the targets.

Also try barefoot painting on a long strip of butcher paper.

Have a wash day and wash everything from doll clothes to swing sets, all outside, of course.

The theme days are limitless. A wonderful book that has these and many other themes like “Winter in July,” is the book Summer Sizzlers and Magic Mondays by Edna Wallace. These ideas work well for summer school-age programs as well.

Written by Pam Raffurty, Director

Source:
Wallace, E. (1994) Summer Sizzlers and Magic Mondays. Nashville, TN: School-Age Notes.