Head Start Newsletter October 2024

10/9: Fire Prevention Activity (Firefighters visiting the classrooms)

10/14: Professional Day (No students)

10/14: Family Fun Day

10/27: Children's Day @ Bayview Park 12-5 pm

Children will gather data, explore a variety of materials used to care for pets, and create their own shelter or pet store. A study of pets also offers a meaningful way for children to use literacy, mathematics, arts, and technology to investigate and represent their understanding of important concepts related to physical development, science, and social studies.

Notice pets in your community. Be on the lookout for pets at dog parks, on walks, in cars, and in homes. Ask to visit friends’ and families’ interesting pets. Talk about the kinds of animals you and your child like. How does it make you feel to interact with a pet? If you have a pet at home, invite your child to help care for the animal. Together, feed the pet and fill water containers. Talk about what, how often, and how much your pet eats and drinks. Invite children to watch as you clean the pet’s habitat or to help you groom the pet. Take photos or make video recordings of your child interacting with and helping care for the pet. Look for books about pets at your local library, examine pet supplies at the grocery store, and watch how pets move and play. Invite your child to pretend to move or sound like different pets. Keep a tally of the pets you see each day. Look for pictures of pets on signs.

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library

Each month, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library mails a high quality, age-appropriate book to all registered children, addressed to them, at no cost to the child’s family. Countless parents have shared how excited their child is when their new book arrives each month. Many groups and individuals work hard behind the scenes to make that special moment possible for each child.

Parents must register at the link below:

https://imaginationlibrary.com

Chronic absence almost doubled from one out six to almost one out of three students during the Covid-19 pandemic. Every state in the country is experiencing this dramatic rise in too many students missing too much school. Emerging data reveals it remains stubbornly high.

Chronic absenteeism (missing 10% of school for any reason) is affecting students and families from every economic level, ethnicity and type of community: urban, suburban and rural. It makes it harder for students to develop literacy and math skills by third grade, achieve in middle school and graduate from high school. High levels of absenteeism also can harm student health and well-being as well as readiness for work and college.

Chronic absence doesn't just hurt the absent students. It impacts the learning environment, making it harder for teachers to teach and other students to learn. What’s more, chronic absence exacerbates existing inequities and opportunity gaps in our schools.

The persistently high chronic absence rates tell us that this problem will not simply go away on its own. Addressing this issue in the aftermath of the pandemic is a shared responsibility that requires all of us working together.

In this spirit, we challenge everyone to embrace a bold yet achievable goal: cut chronic absence rates from pandemic highs in half over the next five years. Making progress will require not just goals, but strategic actions, a long-term commitment, and a willingness to reassess and revise plans or approaches that are not effective.

Lead poisoning is caused by breathing or swallowing lead. Protecting children from exposure to lead is important to lifelong good health and school readiness.

Children under the age of 6 are at risk for lead poisoning because they are growing and developing so rapidly. Also, they tend to put their hands or other objects into their mouths. This can be a problem if whatever goes in the mouth is contaminated with lead dust.

Children at higher risk for lead exposure often have at least one of the following characteristics:

• They are members of racial or ethnic minority groups.
• Their families recently immigrated into the country.
• They have parents who are exposed to lead at work.
• They live in older, poorly maintained rental properties or areas with outdated plumbing.
• Their families are low-income.

How Lead Poisoning Hurts Children

Lead can affect almost every organ and system in a child’s body. Lead poisoning cannot be reversed or undone.

There is no safe blood lead level for children. A young child with lead poisoning may not develop new skills at the same speed as other children. Even low levels of lead in blood have been shown to affect a child’s intelligence quotient (IQ), attention span, and academic achievement. Low levels of lead in the blood of children can also result in:

• Anemia
• Behavior and learning problems
• Hearing problems
• Hyperactivity
• Attention deficit disorders as they get older
• Slowed physical growth

Preventing Lead Exposure

Head Start programs have a major role in preventing children’s exposure to lead. This includes preventing lead exposure in the Head Start facility and its water supply and working with the wider community to reduce lead exposure in other locations.

Families are an important line of defense against lead poisoning in their children. It’s important to share information with families to help them understand the dangers of lead exposure and how to prevent it.

Spanish

El envenenamiento por plomo es causado por respirar o tragar plomo. Proteger a los niños de la exposición al plomo es importante para una buena salud y preparación escolar durante toda la vida.

Los niños menores de 6 años corren el riesgo de envenenamiento por plomo porque están creciendo y desarrollándose muy rápidamente. Además, tienden a llevarse las manos u otros objetos a la boca. Esto puede ser un problema si lo que entra en la boca está contaminado con polvo de plomo.

Los niños con mayor riesgo de exposición al plomo a menudo tienen al menos una de las siguientes características:

Son miembros de grupos raciales o étnicos minoritarios.

Sus familias emigraron recientemente al país.

Tienen padres que están expuestos al plomo en el trabajo.

Viven en propiedades de alquiler más antiguas, mal mantenidas o áreas con plomería obsoleta.

Sus familias son de bajos ingresos.

Cómo el envenenamiento por plomo perjudica a los niños

El plomo puede afectar a casi todos los órganos y sistemas del cuerpo de un niño. El envenenamiento por plomo no se puede revertir ni deshacer.

No existe un nivel seguro de plomo en la sangre para los niños. Es posible que un niño pequeño con envenenamiento por plomo no desarrolle nuevas habilidades a la misma velocidad que otros niños. Se ha demostrado que incluso los niveles bajos de plomo en la sangre afectan el cociente intelectual (CI), la capacidad de atención y el rendimiento académico de un niño. Los niveles bajos de plomo en la sangre de los niños también pueden provocar:

Anemia

Problemas de comportamiento y aprendizaje

Problemas de audición

Hiperactividad

Trastornos por déficit de atención a medida que envejecen

Crecimiento físico lento

Prevención de la exposición al plomo

Los programas Head Start tienen un papel importante en la prevención de la exposición de los niños al plomo. Esto incluye prevenir la exposición al plomo en las instalaciones de Head Start y su suministro de agua, y trabajar con la comunidad en general para reducir la exposición al plomo en otros lugares.

Las familias son una línea de defensa importante contra el envenenamiento por plomo en sus hijos. Es importante compartir información con las familias para ayudarles a entender los peligros de la exposición al plomo y cómo prevenirla.

Creole

Plon anpwazonnen se respire oswa vale plon. Pwoteje timoun yo kont ekspoze a mennen enpòtan pou tout bon sante ak preparasyon pou tout lavi.

Timoun ki poko gen laj 6 lane yo nan risk pou plon anpwazonnen paske yo ap grandi ak devlope rapidman. Epitou, yo gen tandans mete men yo oswa lòt objè nan bouch yo. Sa a kapab yon pwoblèm si kèlkeswa sa ki ale nan bouch ki kontamine ak pousyè plon.

Timoun ki nan pi gwo risk pou ekspoze plon souvan gen omwen youn nan karakteristik sa yo:

Yo se manm gwoup minorite rasyal oswa etnik.

Dènyèman, fanmi yo te imigre nan peyi a.

Yo gen paran ki ekspoze a mennen nan travay.

Yo ap viv nan pi gran, mal konsève pwopriyete lokasyon oswa zòn ki gen plonbri demode.

Fanmi yo pa gen anpil revni.

Ki jan plon anpwazonnen timoun yo

Plon ka afekte prèske chak ògàn ak sistèm nan kò yon timoun. Pwazon plon pa ka ranvèse oswa defèt.

Pa gen okenn nivo san ki an sekirite pou timoun. Yon jèn timoun ki gen pwazon pwazon ka pa devlope nouvo ladrès nan menm vitès ak lòt timoun. Menm nivo ki ba nan plon nan san yo te montre yo afekte site entèlijans yon timoun (IQ), span atansyon, ak siksè akademik. Nivo ki ba nan plon nan san timoun yo ka lakòz tou rezilta nan:

Anemi

Konpòtman ak pwoblèm aprantisaj

Pwoblèm tande

Ipèaktivite

Atansyon maladi defisi jan yo vin pi gran

Ralanti kwasans fizik

Anpeche Ekspozisyon plon

Pwogram Head Start yo gen yon gwo wòl nan anpeche ekspoze timoun yo mennen. Sa a gen ladan anpeche ekspoze plon nan etablisman an Tèt Kòmanse ak ekipman pou dlo li yo ak travay ak kominote a pi laj diminye ekspoze plon nan lòt kote.

Fanmi yo se yon liy enpòtan pou defans kont pwazon nan pitit yo. Li enpòtan pou pataje enfòmasyon ak fanmi yo pou ede yo konprann danje ki genyen nan ekspoze plon ak ki jan yo anpeche li.

Hi Parents! This month: Focus on Whole Fruits. Healthy eating is important at every age. Eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, protein foods, and dairy or fortified soy alternatives. When deciding what fruits to eat, choose options that are full of nutrients and limited in added sugars, saturated fat, and sodium. Start with these tips (See attachment)

¡Hola padres! Este mes: Enfócate en las frutas enteras. La alimentación saludable es importante a cualquier edad. Coma una variedad de frutas, verduras, granos, alimentos proteicos y lácteos o alternativas de soya fortificada. Al decidir qué frutas comer, elija opciones que estén llenas de nutrientes y limitadas en azúcares agregados, grasas saturadas y sodio. Comience con estos consejos (Ver archivo adjunto)

Hi Paran! Mwa sa a: Konsantre sou tout fwi. Manje an sante enpòtan nan chak laj. Manje yon varyete de fwi, legim, grenn, manje pwoteyin, ak letye oswa altènativ fòtifye. Lè w ap deside ki fwi yo manje, chwazi opsyon ki plen eleman nitritif ak limite nan sik te ajoute, grès satire, ak odyòm. Kòmanse ak konsèy sa yo (gade atachman)

Building Routines for Stability and Success

As we move into October, it’s the perfect time to reflect on how routines can help children feel safe, secure, and ready to learn. At Head Start, we’ve been emphasizing the importance of structure and consistency in our classrooms, and we encourage you to bring that same sense of routine into your homes.

The Power of Routines: For young children, routines provide a sense of stability and predictability. Knowing what comes next helps them feel in control and reduces anxiety. Whether it's a morning routine that gets everyone out the door on time or a bedtime routine that helps your child wind down, these predictable patterns can make a big difference.

Why Routines Matter for Children:

1. Emotional Security – Children thrive when they know what to expect. Routines give them a sense of comfort and control, which helps them manage emotions more effectively.
2. Building Independence – Simple routines, like brushing teeth or getting dressed, allow children to practice taking responsibility for themselves in small ways.
3. Supporting Learning – Routines at home can reinforce what children are learning in the classroom. Setting up regular reading times, for example, supports literacy development.

Creating Simple Routines at Home:

1. Morning Routines – Help your child start the day with positive energy. A consistent wake-up time, breakfast, and a fun goodbye ritual can set the tone for the day.
2. Mealtime Routines – Share meals together whenever possible. This creates opportunities for conversation and connection. Involve your child in setting the table or helping with simple tasks.
3. Bedtime Routines – A calm, predictable bedtime routine helps children settle into sleep. Reading a favorite book or singing a lullaby can become special moments of connection.

Director:

Mrs. Marla Russell

(305) 293-1400 Ext. 53320

Educational/ PD Manager:

Mrs. Jennifer Walker

(305) 296-5628 Ext. 53385

ERSEA & PFCE Manager:

Mrs. Ellen Masters

Ellen.Masters@keysschools.com

Health & Safety Manager, R.N.:

Mrs. Ashley Ravelo

(305) 296-5628 Ext. 65379

Disabilities & Mental Health Manager:

Mrs. Nichole Gelabert

(305) 453-1255 Ext.57335

Budget Manager:

Mrs. Denise Beerbower

(305) 293-1400 Ext.53388