Forum Administrator YaBB Administrator Posts: 88	End of Year Implementation Grants 2009-2010 11/05/09 at 12:08:14   Please use this thread for End-of-Year Progress Reports for Implementation Grants.           Use the "Reply" button to add your End-of Year Implementation Grant Progress Report to this thread.           Thanks!
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Judi_Ramsett YaBB Newbies Posts: 3

DeForest Area School District Reply #1 - 06/07/10 at 15:55:32   In our fifth year of the mini-grant we are pleased to announce that our district   will be planning 4k for the 2011-2012 school year. For the 2009-2010 we used our   grant to provide a training on the use of Board Maker for one area preschool   program who wanted a refresher course. We did a survey of the area   preschool/daycare providers to determine biggest area of need for a training   session. They requested information on developmentally appropriate activities,   classroom management and fine motor skills. We had about 12   teachers/directors/owners who attended the session in November. It was well   received by those in attendance. We were able to buy developmental posters,   fidgets and some adaptive equipment with the grant money as prizes and freebies   for those in attendance. In February, we planned a Library Story Hour for EC   families. We had about 35 in attendance. EC staff members facilitated with the   Librarian who read stories and planned a craft. We had pizza and cookies before   the program. As we provide more itinerant services in the community, our supply   of fidgets, adaptive equipment and sensory tools become more wide spread and put   to use by more children. We are looking forward to the 4K program and the   inclusive programming opportunities it will offer our EC students. Also, two EC   teachers were able to attend the Preserving Early Childhood Conference in October. Judi Ramsett, EC:SE Teacher DeForest Area School District

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menright YaBB Newbies Posts: 2

C.E.S.A. #1/Northshore ECSE Program Reply #2 - 06/08/10 at 16:53:06   At the end of this school year, the C.E.S.A. #1/Northshore ECSE Program has children included in three collaborative classrooms at three different sites.  Eight children are included with typical peers within two classrooms at St. Francis Children's Center,  and are supported by an early childhood special education teacher and a paraprofessional, as well as iterant speech/language, occupational therapy, and physical therapy support, as needed.   In March, two other children were included in a collaborative program at two different preschool/daycare settings with early childhood special education support for two half-days per week.  Other services (speech/language, occupational therapy, physical therapy) were either delivered within the classroom programming or on an individual basis outside of class.   For the two additional sites, collaboration was done between the special education teacher and the classroom teacher, usually either before or after the school day.  Two speech/language children were supported by an ECSE teacher in a playgroup at a daycare with typical peers to allow them opportunities to socialize with peers, and three children were given in-home and/or consultative support during the school year.  All of the North Shore districts also have four-year-old kindergartens.   As of 6/4/10,  there were also ten children who were suppported within two four -year-old kindergarten classes in three districts, one child supported in a five-year-old kindergarten, and fourteen children in twelve different daycare/preschool sites that received itinerant early childhood support.   A resource library is being established to provide resources for teachers to use in the collaborative classrooms and/or itinerant sites.  It will include books on collaboration, strategies to promote social development, strategies for behavior management, and sample materials (i.e. timers, visual schedules, "tool choice" boxes, etc.).  Collaboration between these three sites is expected to continue for next year.  However, pre-service time, as well as specific in-service time during the school year, is being planned to discuss issues related to collaboration that are of concern to the collaborating teachers.   A second goal of this grant was to provide workshops for childcare providers and parents on topics of concern.  Ten people from five different childcare facilities and one parent attended the CSEFEL workshop.  Everyone felt this information was very useful.  One workshop was conducted presenting this information to a group of childcare providers and parents in conjunction with CESA #1.  The parent that was involved in this training assisted in the presentation.  CSEFEL information was also shared with a number of other childcare providers.  A workshop for parents was also presented on strategies to promote language development at home.  Information was from the PACT training and included information from the Hanen program.  It was well received by the parents.  In both cases it was felt that there was too little time to adequately address these issues and/or to respond to the parents' questions.

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« Last Edit: 06/08/10 at 20:00:36 by Forum Administrator »     IP Logged

Karen_Henry YaBB Newbies Posts: 3

Altoona School District Reply #3 - 06/28/10 at 10:45:32   After Altoona School District implemented four year old kindergarten for the first year, it was evident that many improved outcomes were facilitated and solidified from the support of the implementation grant.  The communication between school district staff, the Altoona Children’s Council, the community, Head Start and three other community partners is truly collaborative in practice.  The range of service options that are less restrictive for preschoolers with disabilities has expanded, and another community 4K site is being added next year.   The funds from the implementation minigrant have been utilized to build our collaborative team, it’s capacity, and shared vision. The district Early Childhood Special Education Teacher and Speech/Language Pathologist have built relationships with these community partners, and have been driving forces with staff development, curriculum, assessment, and extending a collaborative problem solving model that is used K-8 in the district.   At the end of this school year, we celebrated some of our first year's accomplishments:   We had a 50% return rate for our Parent Satisfaction Survey, with many positive comments made about all three 4K sites.   50 people attended our end-of-the-year Family Picnic. Seven 4K staff- two Directors, two teachers, one assistant, the S/L Pathologist, and the 4K Coordinator attended the Preserving Early Childhood Conference, and several staff helped present at a session while there.   Three students were brought to the REACh collaborative process, and a binder with information about interventions that were tried was passed to the 5K Teachers. The 4K and 5K Teachers networked over meals about the CC.net 'Individual Child Profiles', and they collaboratively planned tentative 5K classes for next year.   The 4K Teachers decided to 'go for the Gold'-Teaching Strategies Gold- during the coming year, after using the Creative Curriculum and CC.net this year. The 4K Teachers asked to meet one last time-on the last day of school- "because we like each other".   .

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Kathleen_Merlo YaBB Newbies Posts: 12

Burlington Area School District Reply #4 - 06/29/10 at 09:18:51   Burlington School District End of Year Report 2010   The Burlington Area School District staff within the Early Childhood program have expanded the communication and programming within community settings over the course of the past year.  Having materials including books on social/emotional development and the Vanderbilt site to share with the community settings we have made great gains in effective behavioral approaches to teaching skills rather than referring children without attempting strategies within the community setting.  This information along with other resources shared with the community settings in the area and the parents within each of the programs, carry over has improved greatly.  More community settings are willing and able to accommodate children with disabilities than in the past and are doing it well with minimal support and resources from the district.  Staff are able to share knowledge on a consistent basis while working within the community settings and with parents.  Reviewing handwriting without tears with staff and providing the resources for staff to follow through on this also has improved  typical child development and expectations.   The mini-grant funds have allowed the staff to expand and improve overall in regard to preschool options and given the collaboration between staff and parents, programming within the Burlington area has improved.

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Kathleen_Merlo YaBB Newbies Posts: 12

Waterford Special Education Cooperative Reply #5 - 06/29/10 at 09:26:52   Drought School End of the Year Report 6-28-10   The mini-grant utilized by the Drought School through the Waterford Special Education Cooperative was a successful year.  The funds through this grant allowed the Early Childhood staff to work cooperatively with all of the area day care and preschool staff, plus the parents of the students within the EC program.  Putting additional resources and knowledge into their hands allowed a stronger bond to develop and it strengthened the collaboration between all of the players. The Early Childhood staff ended the year by hosting two make and take events, the first was open to all area center staff and their parents and the second was focused on putting materials in the hands of the current parents of students enrolled in a program with an identified need.  The attendants of each of these programs found the information, the materials and the conversation were all very valuable.  The carry-over from these two events in particular have had long lasting effects.

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Cashton YaBB Newbies Posts: 4

Cashton End of Year Report Reply #6 - 07/05/10 at 14:55:16   The Cashton School District was able to implement playgroups this year for children through age five years old.  The playgroups included children with disabilities and those without.  Not only did the playgroups offer socialization opportunities for the children as well as developmentally appropriate activities but they also offered another setting for special education services to be delivered to children on a case-by-case basis.  The playgroups also benefited parents and caregivers in that they had the opportunity to talk with other adults about early childhood issues that they encountered. Through the grant the Cashton School District was also able to begin a parent resource library which addressed a variety of early childhood issues.  The lending library includes books, videos, pamphlets, and kids/family activites.   Staff also participated in professional development opportunities related to our grant goals and shared their knowledge with other staff and parents. In addition to the weekly playgroups the Cashton School District continued to collaborate with our preschool council and began a discussion with Head Start about the possbility of collaborating in order offer Cluster or socialization time as part of our 4K program rather than having families drive to the neighboring town 15 miles away for this Head Start requirement.

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Janet_Ollech YaBB Newbies Posts: 5

Mequon-Thiensville School District Reply #7 - 07/20/10 at 15:31:03   Mequon-Thiensville End of Year Report for 2009-10.  The Mequon-Thiensville School District accomplished all grant goals set for this year.  We completed the second year of our collaborative program with Range Line Preschool where eight district children with IEPs attend Range Line (as their district educational placement) with peers enrolled at the preschool.  One ECSE teacher and one paraprofessional from the Mequon district team-teach with preschool teachers at Range Line.  Grant dollars were used to pay for common planning/communication/evaluation time as well as some sensory materials for the classrooms (weighted stuffed lap toys and mats).  Other purchases included photo ink/paper and laminating film for making visual schedules and materials for social-emotional skills development.     Grant dollars funded three professional development/training opportunities for the staff at Range Line Preschool and all other  preschool and care providers in our community.  Topics covered were 1) Fine motor development and materials to foster skills (presented by OT on 1/19/10) 2) Overview of the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards (presented by staff from 4C-Milwaukee on 2/22/10 and attended by more that 30 community providers) 3) A two-day training co-hosted with CESA 1 on CSEFEL- the Social & Emotional Foundations for Early Learning.  This training was presented by Gaye Tylka and Jen Johnson from CESA 4 and held on two Saturdays (March 6th and May 1st, 2010).  It was great to get many more people familiar with the CSEFEL philosophy and introduce them to the many available resources!     We also put a good effort into starting an Early Childhood Council for Ozaukee County.  We met on three evenings (12/8/09, 2/24/10 and 4/14/10) and enjoyed a light dinner together.  All meetings were hosted in Mequon, but at different sites.  Our vision was to gather in different parts of the county, but we found that this might be too broad an area for a group to gather on a regular basis in the evening.  The best thing to come out of this effort was that people/professionals from non-public school service agencies attended all of the meetings!  We took this opportunity to have these people give information about their services.  At the second meeting, Ozaukee Family Services told about their variety of family support and parenting programs.  At the third meeting, the Birth-to-Three staff told about their referral/evaluation process and the child/family transition into public school services.  This meeting was held at the "Play Center" at the community center in Mequon and was a great was to share this great, family-friendly environment.  We hope to plan and expand use of the play center for play groups next year.  Ultimately it was decided that we will continue to meet as a Mequon-Thiensville community group and include (and add) the related service agencies who have shown great interest.  We will continue to meet around professional development issues and hopefully figure out a way to continue our "dinner" meetings.     Our district administrators, school board, and community members have been involved in on-going conversations about 4K.  It will be decided in the fall if 4K will be initiated in our district for the 2011-12 school year.  We look forward to additional opportunities for the ECSE students as this plan evolves!   Janet Ollech

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