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Early Childhood Interactive Forum › Planning and Implementation Grants › Implementation Grants Year 2009-2010
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Mid-Year Reports for Implementation 2009-2010 (Read 407 times)

Forum Administrator YaBB Administrator Posts: 88	Mid-Year Reports for Implementation 2009-2010 11/05/09 at 12:11:48 Please use this thread for Mid-Year Progress Reports for Implementation Grants. Use the "Reply" button to add your Mid-Year Implementation Grant Progress Report to this thread. Thanks!
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ejkern83

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Posts: 1

C-FC Preschool Options Committee
Reply #1 - 01/31/10 at 21:25:54

The C-FC Preschool Options Committee met in the early fall of the school year and set dates for all of our meetings, activity nights, and WI SEFEL training. On October 20th, we had a Fall Harvest that included: story telling, singing, dancing, pumpkin decorating, dinner and a discussion on safety for the parents. Attendance was 34 children and their parents. On December 1st we hosted a Holiday Festival that had a
Head Start staff member demonstrate and provide 'Homemade and Inexpensive Ways to have Family Fun', reading of holiday books, cookie decorating, dinner and socializing. Attendance was about 40 children.
We are having our next activity on February 4th, Friend Fest. There will be a meet and greet with our 4K-2 counselor with a discussion on childhood friendships, dinner, and friend themed activities for the children. Our committee will be hosting a WI SEFEL training coming up in Feb. and March also, along with a final family night in April.

« Last Edit: 01/31/10 at 22:58:04 by Forum Administrator »

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Cathy_Weis

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Posts: 5

Elmbrook School District
Reply #2 - 02/02/10 at 09:35:43

Quote from Forum Administrator on 11/05/09 at 12:11:48:

Please use this thread for Mid-Year Progress Reports for Implementation Grants.

Use the "Reply" button to add your Mid-Year Implementation Grant Progress Report to this thread.

Thanks!

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The Elmbrook School District began providing itinerant services in daycares this year. This option adds to our continuum of servies including: self-contained, self-contained with community preschool teacher and 4-6 peer models embedded into the classroom, 5K/EC combination, preschool itinerant, and playgroups.
Relationships have been the key to providing direct services within the daycare routine. In addition, progress has been slow, but steady in day care staff carryover of strategies and supplemental aides. Classroom design has recently been addressed with one daycare teacher, related to safety issues for an EC student. We take one step forward, and two back in working with daycare staff and directors. We currently serve 5 ECSE students in daycares. Two students receive EC/Sl/PT/OT, one receives EC/SL/OT(consult), and the other two are EC/SL. We are proud that we have been able to provide services to high need, signficantly developmentally delayed students completely in their natural environment!! These students spend 40 hours/week in daycare; this staff felt it was important to find a way to help them grow in that environment. That doesn't mean we don't eat, sleep, and breathe the complex issues that arise. It takes alot more work than if we were serving them in a self-contained program. Communication is essential!
One of our goals was to develop a relationship with the community library story hour. The needs of our kiddos to this point have not been such that this option is needed.
Playgroups also have not been needed. We continue to search for community playgroups that we could access if the need arises. We discontinued our ECSE based playgroup this year. I have begun to network with an organized group of home daycare providers. They might be a good resource for natural playgroup opportunities!
We have spent a great deal of time creating Professional Development opportunities for preschool and daycare staff. The ECSE Dept. joined forces with the District Wellness Committee. The Parent Network is a volunteer group who coordinates a wide variety of informational seminars for parents in the district. We were able to tap into their network of parents to help spread the word. Sessions were posted on the statewide registry and continuing education hours are available for preschool/daycare staff. Sessions are created that are of interest to families and teachers alike of preschoolers; with and without disabilities. Each session has information that is particularly directed at daycare/preschool staff who work with our EC students. The first topic, Motor and Language Development Birth-5 with Developmental Red Flags, had 50 participants. Twenty five were daycare/preschool providers. Upcoming topics will be: Nutrition, Play, Social-Emotional Development, Being Ready for 5K-What Does that Mean?
Work as a department to become more consistent in our ongoing assessment practices continues! We have also spent a great deal of time this year examining our IEPs, making them more consistent and parent friendly.

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sdonahoe YaBB Moderator Posts: 18	Re: Mid-Year Reports for Implementation 2009-2010 Reply #3 - 02/02/10 at 20:09:48 Cathy, You all have been doing a lot of great work over there in Elmbrook. Thank you so much for all the details. I am impressed! Susan (Donahoe)
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mushj

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Posts: 2

Marshfield School District
Reply #4 - 02/09/10 at 15:42:22

The Marshfield School District has made wonderful strides in the past few months in providing a continuum of services for our 3-5 year-olds with special needs. Our early childhood-special ed team looks at each child as an individual-looking at their current strengths and weaknesses and other factors that may play a part in remediating their delay- to determine the best placement for services. We have two classrooms at an elementary school with 4 sessions of classes. The morning session is typically for our three year olds in need of services in a self-contained classroom and two afternoon sessions for our 4 year old students. On of the two sessions is integrated with 60% typically developing 4K students. We have one full time early childhood-special ed teacher and three speech therapists (equaling a little over a full time position) working in the community. Our community has fully embraced community options and it has been incredible to work with 4k teachers, childcare providers, in home providers, and private preschool programs. There is a real sense of team effort and collaboration to have each child work to their highest potential. The community teachers have been open to ideas to implement in their classroom and have seen the benefits for the entire class, not just the students with IEP's. The community options speech therapists and early childhood-spec. ed teacher are advocates for all of the sites providing services to the 3-5 year olds. The Child Success Binders have been provided and staff inserviced on the use of the binders at all of the sites in the community and more binders have been purchased with this years grant to provide to additional classrooms. This years grant money has also been used to attend workshops and conferences. We have learned so much from networking meeting with other districts. We are able to make community options work for Marshfield and continue to improve by taking ideas from the other districts. It has been a great resource. We continue to have administrative support which attributes to the success of the preschool options model. This grant has helped us empower the community teachers with the special ed. process, new techniques on working with all students, increasing collaboration between classroom services and community services. We have also developed a Preschool Options Committee. The committee consists of pediatricians, child care teachers and directors, a Head Start teacher, ec-se teacher, family resource center director, administrators, and speech therapists. Our mission is to learn more about each others roles so we can be advocates to those that need to be steered in the right direction and lessen the gap between professions that work with the same group of families and children. We meet about three to four times per year.

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Karen_Henry

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Posts: 3

Altoona Mid-Year Reports for Implementation 09-10
Reply #5 - 02/17/10 at 14:12:35

By implementing community-based 4 year old kindergarten this year, the Altoona School District has expanded the number of options IEP teams can consider as they discuss appropriate special education programming for 3-5 year olds with disabilities. We are now able to offer itinerant services at three 4K sites (we will have four sites next year) as part of our continuum of preschool options.

Communication, relationship-building, collaboration, and community input have been essential to building best-practice, least restrictive environments for preschool children with and without disabilities. Therefore, the district has helped facilitate numerous opportunities for networking:
4K teachers meet regularly with Early Childhood Special Education staff (teacher and speech/language pathologist).
A gathering for 4K and 5K teachers is being planned for March.
4K site directors and teachers are encouraged to attend pertinent conferences, and receive financial support for doing so. For example, one 4K site director attended the Wisconsin Early Childhood Education and Care Conference last October. Two 4K site directors, the ECSE Teacher/4K Coordinator, the Speech/Language Pathologist, and three 4K teachers (one from each of this year’s sites) will attend the Preserving Early Childhood Conference next month.
All 4K site directors, several district administrators, and a number of community members attend monthly meetings of the Altoona Children’s Council. The Council provides valued input, and 4K leadership via subcommittees. Members from this group have given reports to update and get sustained feedback from the district’s Education Planning Council, elementary teams, and the School Board.
Monthly 4K teachers’ meetings have been held, on topics such as: the ECERS, Second Step, data analysis using the CC.net assessment tool, developmentally appropriate curriculum for preschool/4K, the local prek- 8 REACh collaborative problem-solving process, behavioral supports, and social emotional development.
The 4K site directors have met monthly to establish collegial relations among them, build a shared sense of purpose, and develop cohesive, common core beliefs. They have revised our 4K partnership agreements, are working on a teacher evaluation tool, and will be revising the 4K Parent Handbook which they compiled last year.

Families have also had opportunities to network through participation in activities such as:
Parent Orientation
Family Learning Night
Family Resource Center for Eau Claire County activities
Potluck and Game Night
Sledding and treats
Potluck and Valentine Craft Night
An interactive workshop on ‘Facilitating Positive Behavior in Young Children’

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Janet_Ollech

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Posts: 5

Mequon-Thiensville
Reply #6 - 02/21/10 at 20:17:55

One goal for Mequon-Thiensville's implementation grant this year is to continue to improve the Collaborative EC Program which was initiated last year at Range Line Preschool. An ECSE teacher, a paraprofessional. and eight of our EC students attend school at this community preschool which is housed in a "repurposed" elementary school building. The district teacher, para and children teach and learn together with the preschool teachers at Range Line and kids from the community who are enrolled. The biggest challenge with working in a preschool/child care environment is finding common time with staff to communicate, plan, and evaluate how things are going. This has been a great setting, enhanced by having grant money to purchase curriculum and classroom materials, and offer training to the preschool staff. This service option offers a different level of support from self-contained or itinerant- an opportunity to be with community peers full time with support from EC staff.
Another goal for us this year is to (continue to) provide inservice training for our community partners at Range Line and all of our community preschool and child care providers. First semester we offered a presentation on "fine motor development and materials to foster skills" which was given by one of the OTs in a neighboring district. In February we will be hosting an evening overview of the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards- 30 people involved in EC services in our county/community plan to attend. Mequon-Thiensville will be helping to fund a CSEFEL training on March 6th that is being offered through CESA 1. Having our district and preschool teachers in the collaborative program attend this training together was part of our training goal. A good share of grant money will be used to make & purchase materials related to CEFEL and geared toward social-emotional development.

Finally, our third goal is to organize an Early Childhood Council for those professionals in Mequon-Thiensville and Ozaukee County who provide services for children & families of preschool age children. We plan to meet three times this year (December, February, and April). Unfortunately the weather was very snowy for our first dinner meeting and a few folks had to cancel, but we still had a good mix of agencies- school district, preschool & child care directors, County family services, community center director. Our second dinner meeting in February should also include B-3 and staff from neighboring school districts. Ozaukee Family Services will be describing the different services they offer to families. We will continue to brainstorm and expand our list of participants to work toward a sustaining EC Council.

« Last Edit: 02/22/10 at 10:36:36 by Forum Administrator »

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Cashton

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Posts: 4

Cashton School District Mid-Year Report
Reply #7 - 02/22/10 at 10:29:16

One of the goals of the Cashton School District this year was to offer play groups for 3 to 5 year olds for children with and without disabilities. We began offering weekly playgroups in September of this school year at the elementary school. We have had about 20 different families and 30 children participate so far with a majority of the children being 3 and 4 years old. Although the participation of families has varied somewhat we have a certain number of families that participate on a regular basis. The playgroup provides free play time for children along with some literacy activities. Parents interact with their children but also have time to talk about issues with other parents. We have been able to provide special education services to a few students through the playgroup and we have also been able to use the playgroup setting to help facilitate evaluations for children with potential special education needs.

Our preschool collaborate council has continued to meet this year to further discuss options for preschool children in our community. Through the council and our discussions we have moved toward collaborating with Head Start in our county to offer services through the 4K program in our school building.

Another goal that we have achieved through the grant is the expansion of our parent resource lending library. We have added materials on a range of preschool topics such as toileting, discipline, communication, literacy, social behaviors, preschool programs, and kindergarten readiness. We also have school bags of activities for families to check out and do with their children at home.

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Kathleen_Merlo

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Posts: 12

Burlington Area School District
Reply #8 - 02/23/10 at 09:39:10

Burlington Area School District: The Burlington EC programs continue to support in the community for Preschool Options. In our efforts through the grant to put materials in the hands of the day care and preschool settings, we developed and delivered through an evening event a "bag of tricks". This bag of tricks included materials and resources to carry over in the community locations based on the strategies that staff utilize with our students with special needs and just work for kids in general. The items included: move and sit cushions, adaptive scissors, visual timers, chewies, fidgets, and Handwriting Without Tears materials. An in depth workshop on the Handwriting Without Tears program was held last school year and a follow-up will be held in late March as well. The Read It Once Again preschool curriculum has also been purchased to add to the lending library. The curriculum includes 31 binders with a variety of ideas and activities based off a children's book such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? This curriculum has been utilized already by numerous community settings and our EC staff to enhance the programming.

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Kathleen_Merlo

YaBB Newbies

Posts: 12

Waterford Special Education Cooperative
Reply #9 - 02/23/10 at 09:53:51

Drought/Norway Raymond J7:
The Drought mini-grant is utilized by the Waterford Special Education Cooperative EC program in conjunction with the area preschools and day care settings. During the course of this school year we have hosted one evening event to share materials and information and have three additional events planned for the months ahead. A "bag of tricks", which includes a container for storage, move and sit cushion, adaptive scissors, fidgets, visual timer, chewies, and materials for basic Handwriting Without Tears introduction, was all presented to the area community providers for use in their settings. These are all materials used by staff in these settings on a regular basis and now can be used by the community staff as well. Future events include an in-depth presentation on how Handwriting Without Tears is utilized in the EC classrooms, a speech and language overview and a "make and take" session where community staff and parents are encouraged to attend and construct materials for their own use! We also have expanded our lending library by adding the Read It Once Again storybook curriculum. The 31 binders are each based off of one familiar children's book with a wide variety of ideas and activities to support learning in all areas of development. So far the year has been a great success building a greater connection with our community partners.

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albrechtc

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Posts: 2

Peshtigo School District
Reply #10 - 02/23/10 at 11:20:25

Peshtigo School District-
We are in the process of a lot here at Peshtigo. My grant was to secure some playground equipment for the school and community since our playground here is the one the community uses. However, without any adaptive equipment it makes it hard for us, the daycares and the community to use with our special needs population. We have found a new vendor for the equipment which was not planned due to the previous choice going out of business. Looks like we will be getting a full adaptive swing set and a few ground toys. We are in the process of finalizing these items and it is all so very exciting!!! Also, we allocated for some training and have since gone to one conference on developmentally appropriate curriculum and social emotional expectations in Madison and it was a great conference. We are excited and looking forward to social emotional/sensory support training within the next few months we are hoping. Can't wait until our equipment is up and running!!

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mjardine

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Posts: 1

Ashland School District
Reply #11 - 05/03/10 at 11:11:56

The Ashland School district had our preschool options personnel from the school meet with Arlene Wright for a day and discuss the students we had in EC as well as pending evaluations and talk about alternative to the placement they had, what might work better and how to do it. We formed tentative plans for students and discussed how to make the program better.

We have another meeting coming up to discuss how we can get OT and PT involved in more places than the school for students who need these services.

Ttrainings- School district sent school personnel and also paid for the Head Starts in our area to send people to the PBIS Positive Behavior Intervention System training held in Ashland. This program discussed how to change and improve the school-wide behavior system you presently had in place and make changes that could improve the overall school climate as well as individual students behavior. The representatives from Head Starts felt this was both an interesting and worthwhile workshop.

« Last Edit: 05/03/10 at 12:28:14 by Forum Administrator »

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menright

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Posts: 2

C.E.S.A. #1/Northshore ECSE Program
Reply #12 - 06/08/10 at 16:12:20

This year the C.E.S.A. #1/Northshore ECSE Program had no self-contained classrooms. At the end of last year, there were only two children from six districts who were returning to our classroom-based program. It was decided that the children would be included within a preschool program in the home district of those two children. However, the site of this inclusive program changed a few weeks before school started, and two additional children with IEPs moved into another district during the summer. Arrangements were made to include our classroom-based children in two preschool classrooms at St. Francis Children's Center, which also is the Birth-to-Three Center. Due to the sudden change of this collaborative program, details were still being worked out when school started, and there were only brief opportunities for collaborative discussions prior to the start of school. Collaborative discussions were held before school or during lunch, issues of concern were discussed, and resource materials were shared. Discussion participants at times included the following members: the regular education teachers, special education teachers, a speech/language therapist, agency administers, some district staff, and a CESA consultant. In January, three agency staff (two teachers and the principal) and two special education teachers attended the Creative Curriculum training with a follow-up in February. The purpose of providing this training to teachers was to assist the teachers in ways to structure the learning environment, so that it would be more productive for all children.

« Last Edit: 06/08/10 at 20:01:34 by Forum Administrator »

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Early Childhood Interactive Forum › Planning and Implementation Grants › Implementation Grants Year 2009-2010
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