Forum Administrator YaBB Administrator Posts: 88	End-of–year progress reports for Planning Grants 07/26/07 at 13:50:19   Please use this thread for End-of–year progress reports for Planning Grants.       Use the "reply" button to post your report to this thread.       Thanks!
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tsander YaBB Newbies Posts: 2

Iowa Grant Reply #1 - 04/28/08 at 14:48:09   Our Community Cares Committee met 5 times throughout this year. Our committe consisted of:  The Principal, School Psychologist, 4K Teacher, EC EEN Teacher, 2 Owner/Operators of Private Child Care Centers, 2 Stay at home Moms, and the Head Start Teacher.  We were able to talk openly about what was going well for preschool aged children within our district and the things that we needed to provide to make things better for the children and their families.  We prioritized our list and made arrangements for Paul Gasser to speak to our parents in the evening.  We truly felt that parents needed ideas when it came to discipline and LOVE and LOGIC!  We were able to provide this training with  this grant.  The grant paid for the meal, day care and Paul Gasser's fee.  We had such an overwhelming turn out that the school's PTC will be hosting another parenting class in May.    The other idea that  topped our list  was the importance of reading to your children.  The grant allowed us to purchase:  books for babies and 3 videos on the importance of reading to your baby.  The committe will present these videos and books to our local hospitals and give a presentation to the OB Department and ask them to hand out the books to all IG School District Mothers and to show the video to all new mom's in the hospital.  We have received wonderful feedback from this program and are eagar to continue this with commuinity donations.   This planning year has allowed us to open up the communication from all community organizations and resources.  What wonderful ideas can result from open and honest dialouge. We have decided to meet one time per quarter next year.  We have had such a good time learning from one another.  Tricia Sander

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smithju YaBB Newbies Posts: 2

Peshtigo School Dsitrict Reply #2 - 05/19/08 at 09:11:18   Through the year an Early Childhood Council was developed, including 4 daycares, Head Start, Licensed Family Daycare, parents, School nurse, Regular and Special Education Teachers, Administrator.  Many surveys and collaborating meetings were held the following months. After much discussion, and with approval of the Peshtigo School Board, it was decided to offer 4K for the following school year. Collabortion continued to make decisions where to place the programs. The Community preschool, daycares, teachers and especially the parents made the decision that the school was the best place for the 4K program. It had the space, the DPI certified teachers on staff and the resources. The local daycares, preschools, Head Start, do not have the space or type of facility, nor do they have DPI certified teachers, (they did not want to give up their  4K teacher) to put a program there. It also would not be Least Restricted for our children with disabilities. Others did not want to give up their faith based program that is integrated throughout their program. So it was the consenses to place it in the Elementary School. The District has very involved parents, in the classrooms and at school functions. The school will collaborate with the daycares, Head Start to provide tranportation/aide to assist getting the children to the school. Meetings were still held to develop the Curriculum, Staff/Student ratio, Transportation, etc. Many attended the state and regional professional events, workshops, conferences.  Including WECEC Conference, Preserving Early Childhood Collaborative Approches, McWilliams Routine Based Assesments Workshop, and visited 4K programs and other Professional workshops. By having a 4K program in the District in the 2008-09 school year over 50% EC students will be able to attend with their normal developing peers. It was dificult this year because all daycares/preschools/Head Start in our community had waiting lists. The grant helped us create opportunities for all the children in our Community. The Occupational Therapist inserviced Daycare teachers on Fine Motor Development and activities that could be done in their classroom. EC Teacher inservice on Autism. Love & Logic CD's were provided to daycares and Head Start for teachers to use for inservices. They are also in the school library in the Parent section to check out. Itinerant service were provided to Head Start through out the year for EC children placed in their program. Throughout the summer much more planning and development will continue.

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Toni_Dakins YaBB Newbies Posts: 5

Burnett County Early Childhood Council Reply #3 - 06/05/08 at 15:26:31   We have had a busy year with our planning grant we actually did some implementation.  Along with our Early Childhood Interagency Council meeting once a month:   We sent members to the Early Childhood conference in September.   We had a Ages and Stages training for professionals that work with young children, including, daycare teachers, resource and referral, clinic nurse, Birth to 3, 4K teacher.     We did a county wide transition agreement between Birth to 3, Schools and Head Start.  We had one day meeting along with a follow-up conference call to make any necessary changes to complete the plan.     We are starting to work with a county newspaper to start a family and child development newspaper that would go out 2-3 times a year.   We want to do a county wide program  for professionals and families next year using the Strengthening Families materials.

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halverss YaBB Newbies Posts: 2

Prescott School District Reply #4 - 06/06/08 at 10:22:36   Prescott School District As expected, the School Board endorsed the 4K proposal at their February 20, 2008 meeting.  In March we then conducted two open houses for people to tour the various facilities. We sent 114 letters out to prospective parents and conducted two Information-Registration Night meetings.  104 families attended.  We were expecting about 80 students for next year, but now have 118 registered at our three centers. We have room for about 136!   In March, another team of people representing all three of our centers went to the PEC Conference.  This June our people will be in attendance at the WCCIP Conference in Milton to learn more about "Creative Curriculum."     Our 15-member 4K Planning Committee has met a lot since January. Sites and contracts have been established. Placement letters were sent out. Transportation issues took a lot of time and energy, but are coming along nicely. We will continue to meet this summer, as we need to do more work on establishing policies and developing curriculum.   This 4K Mini-Grant was clearly the catalyst, which got our school district started on pursuing the 4K Program--- a program I believe, that is long overdue. Right now, 4K is meeting with a great deal of community-wide support in Prescott.   Scott Halverson Malone Elementary School 505 N. Campbell Street Prescott, WI. 54021(715) 262-5463, Ext. 136

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Charlene_Lynum YaBB Newbies Posts: 3

Altoona School District Reply #5 - 06/11/08 at 12:33:16   Altoona School District End of Year Report   As the community partnerships and planning process have developed throughout the year a ripple effect has been created. Many more interested and knowledgeable community members have joined in the planning, and there is great momentum for providing a wider array of options for serving preschool children in least restrictive environments. Information has been gathered about the need for expanded service options and early education opportunities in the Altoona community through the use of an online survey and community dialogue sessions. The district provided release time and covered costs for committee and community partners to attend the Early Childhood Education and Care Conference, Preserving Early Childhood Conference, video conferences, Second Steps Training, and district leadership team meetings.     Now that the vision and commitment of members has become stronger and more defined, a number of collaborative planning sessions are scheduled in June 2008. For instance, Head Start staff are meeting with district staff to plan specifics for varying the service delivery models. Arrangements have been made for the Western Regional Collaboration Coach to facilitate a framework appraisal process with the team. Some members will visit a number of day care sites this summer. Many steps have already been taken. However, discussions and trainings are in the beginning stages with community daycare staff for offering a range of special education services that will be fully implemented for the 2009-10 school year. The first year planning grant has generated a great deal of interest in improving services and increasing access and options for all preschool-aged children. It has been a catalyst for developing collaborations with community partners and will be the foundation from which we continue to build a continuum of collaborative options for serving preschool children in least restrictive environments.

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Kaye_Yahn YaBB Newbies Posts: 3

Hamilton School District Reply #6 - 06/20/08 at 10:05:37   The Pre-School Options Mini-Grant for the Hamilton School District provided a solid year of learning for its team. The team consisted of faculty members of kindergarten, teachers of Early Child programs, a speech pathologist, day care directors, district and building administrators, parents,  and a Birth-to-Three director. The team met five times, each time functioning as a Professional Learning Community (PLC).  We met our goal of reading the book, Consultation in Early Childhood Settings.  Each time, the planning team discussed the content and its applications for our district.  Also, at each of our meetings we had a guest speaker to assist us in learning more about how to better meet the needs of children with special needs.  Our guest speakers follow: a Birth to Three Administrator, A Director of Special Education from a neighboring district, and the Director of Early Childhood from CESA I. We had an outside facilitator guide us through developing a strategic plan for the 08-09 school year.  Team members attended Routine Based Interview workshops, IEP goal writing workshops, state Early Childhood Conference (WECEC), and an Early Childhood Community Collaboration Workshop.     Additionally, our Willow Springs Learning Center for four-year-old kindergarten and three and four-year-old Early Childhood classes, offered full inclusion at the four-year-old level.  At the three-year-old level, the two teachers involved used Friday mornings to visit day care centers within the school district boundaries that supported children with special needs children as well as visiting homes of children who attend special needs classes.     The strategic plan for the coming school year includes a variety of activities such as providing workshops on various topics for day care providers.  It also calls for the education of various stakeholders regarding the new look/format for programming of children with special needs.  The team will again function as a PLC by studying several books.  The team will also develop a resource center for materials to support parents and day care providers.  Lastly, the team will explore more options for children, their parents and teacher colleagues.   This past year has been instrumental in having the school district start to learn about pre-school options in a variety of ways, experiment with support for others outside of the classroom and school, learn more about day cares, current topics and more.  Our desire is to continue to function as a PLC and develop options that continue to more adeptly meet the needs of children with special needs and their parents.

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Sandra_Mountain YaBB Newbies Posts: 2

School District of Random Lake Reply #7 - 06/23/08 at 12:24:02   It was a busy and exciting year!  Our first year of 4K was a success.  As a start-up program, we focused on curriculum and parent communication.  To do this, visits were made to established 4K programs in the area, community relationships were forged between the district and county partners, and a reporting system (report cards) was developed.  With very few day-care providers within the district, we focused on developing a working partnership with the Sheboygan County Family Resource Center and were able to provide parenting workshops and had access to a wealth of resources.  In addition, the information sent and received form Sheboygan and Ozaukee County Birth to Three teams has become more efficient making transition more smooth.   As a result of our learning team action research project, we have moved to using the Ages and Stages questionnaire in both English and Spanish for students ages 3 – 5.   We are looking forward to our program growing and more closely reflecting the needs of our community.

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Cathy_Weis YaBB Newbies Posts: 5

Elmbrook School District Reply #8 - 06/24/08 at 10:35:50   During second semester, our team began to focus on life without the 4K pilot program. Full implementation will not take place in our district. We felt like we were back to square "1". We took a 1/2 day planning session to talk about the future of our ECSE program and the best way to move forward as a community. Three staff members attended the LINKS training in Sussex, brining the total number of staff who have been trained to 6.  In order to reach more staff members and interested community members, we would like to host a LINKS training in our district next fall. I attended the WMELS training in Jefferson. In addition to an excellent training, I met some great  teams.   They are all in a different place than we are, so it was great to connect with them. I would like to host a WMELS training in our area in the fall.   Site visits were made by almost all EC staff to either MIddleton or New Berlin. Some are more willing than others to move forward. Our wrap up for the year was a presentation by Cheri Sylla and Sue Albert for parents, community members and staff. It was a very spirited conversation about changes in law and how our district will serve students in the future. A follow up meeting was held with district parents with questions about next year. Looking back, we had our backs to the wall again with the year ending without firm plans. This caused confussion and anxiety for our parents. We need to do a better job communicating and working together with all community members. 4K was a huge success for the eight students who were integrated.  Not one single student was removed and taken back to self-contained programming. We hope the School Board will revisit this valuable program in the future. Plans for next year include playgroups, itinerant services in preschools/day cares, an EC and Speech/Language program housed at Children's Learning Center with typical peers being integrated. We will reduce the number of self-contained sections. An attempt to have another section of EC on the south end of the district failed. In addition, I will be serving as  Preschool Options Coordinator so that I can focus my attention on our future. I will be planning and implementing at least 4 community outreach programs to educate child care providers, parents and EC staff.

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RLENNON YaBB Newbies Posts: 2

De Pere School District Reply #9 - 07/07/08 at 11:59:26   End-of-Year Progress Report for IDEA Preschool Planning Mini-Grant De Pere School District    The De Pere EC Steering Committee was formed and met monthly, as a group of 14 members with diverse backgrounds (administration, Birth-3, private providers, Head Start, parents, regular and special education staff) with a unified interest in providing a community of support for young children with special education needs. From February through May 2008 we were able to complete our final session of a 3 part series on the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards for preschool and child care providers in the area. Following the positive feedback received from the attendees, we compiled and distributed an interest survey for future training workshops for the preschool and childcare staff in the community, with plans to offer a topic each semester.      Committee members attended and reported back on the Robin-McWilliams Workshop, Preserving EC Statewide Conference, Itinerant Teacher Workshop, and the Tools of the Mind: Self-Regulation Workshop. Other topics of discussion focused on our Child Development Days advertisement and information network with the childcare providers, common goals, interest in 4-K programming, and our ECSE brochure. The ECSE brochure was not completed in time for our Child Development Days, as originally planned. A final draft was submitted for approval in June. Our proposed activity to host a Ready, Set, Go training for families and community members was postponed from our original date of spring 2008 to winter 2008, when we actually have families making the transition from Birth to 3 programming.      During the second semester we started a play group, with a speech therapist and ECSE teacher facilitating social language opportunities for students with a speech and language disability, in out Learning Lab setting. It has been a successful addition to our continuum of services for young children with disabilities.    The formation of this EC Steering Committee has been an important addition to our community. It has been a successful first step to open the lines of communication between the agencies who are the stakeholders in providing quality services to young children and their families in De Pere. It has enabled these agencies to see how we share a common vision, realize the importance of each of our roles, and how we can work together cooperatively to support our young children with special needs.

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Jan_Voeks YaBB Newbies Posts: 1

Cambridge School District Reply #10 - 07/10/08 at 14:34:45   The district had several goals for the planning grant yer.  One was to develop an Early Childhood Advisory Planning Committee.  The second goal was to use the funds for staff to attend the statewide WECEC conference and also to attend other workshops and training sessions in order to gain information on providing itinerant services and on the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards. A third goal was to provide funds to visit an learn from other districts that have implemented a variety of pre-school placement and services delivery options.  A final goal was to have early childhood staff expand the provision of special education services to settings other than the self-contained early childhool setting.     By mid-way through the planning grant year the district had held one meeting of the Advisory Planning Committee (November, 2007) and planned to meet again to continue discussions.  In addition to sending two special education staff members to the statewide WECEC Conference in September, by mid-year all staff members who provide services to early childhood special education students had attended state sponsored workshops.  The topics of the 4 workshops attended were (1) Transition Planning That Benefits Everyone, (2) The Places We Go:  Itinerant Services in Wisconsin, (3) Considerations for Talking With Families and Other Partners About Child Outcomes and (4) Pre-School Interagency Agreements.  In addition, all Early Childhood students who were enrolled in Kindergarten were receiving at least half, if not all, of their special education services in the regular education setting.   During the second half of the planning grant year district early childhood staff attended two more training sessions.  One was on the topic of Routines Based Assessments and Writing Functional Objectives and the other was on the topic of Pre-School Options and IEP Writing.  In addition district staff made observational visits and held discussions with staff in several school districts in the area to gain information on 4K program implementation.  The latter visits and observations were tremendously helpful in allowing staff to gain insight into the various planning elements in implementing 4K programming as well as ideas on various pre-school options.  In addition early childhood continued to expand the opportunities to provide services in the regular education setting to the early childhood special education who were also enrolled in five-year-old Kindergarten programming

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Kathleen_Merlo YaBB Newbies Posts: 12

Burlington Area School District (BASD) Reply #11 - 07/14/08 at 11:14:39   End of the Year BASD Planning grant 07-08   Burlington has been able to purchase and lend resources to community settings, such as visual timers, sensory seating devices, a variety of books, interactive children’s books and phonological picture cards.  The Early Childhood staff also assisted in hosting and attended a Ready, Set, Go training through CESA 1 on February 19, 2008.  Expanded connection with the community settings has taken place through ongoing communication and services offered.

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