The Main Library

We had a great field trip to the library on Friday. There is something hugely gratifying in the "hand-holding" I did, walking through the steps of the library card application process with mothers and grandmothers - acquiring cards for adults and children alike. We applied four cards were process on this very day - and about 7 were processed before hand. The other highlight was our story time with Librarian Tim Troy. Having a man's voice reading the story - and the wonderfully animated sounds he used to accompany the story - really captured the attention of even our youngest babies.

-Dawn Noelle

"I still have it!"

While visiting El Salvador this summer, I had the opportunity to implement some "Growing with Books" curriculum in the small town of Santa Marta, Cabañas. Here we are doing ball play - and the kids got to take home the beach balls. The next morning, when before our second and final class during the visit, one of the little ones said: "I still have the ball and I didn't even pop it¡" My last blog about the Bebé Payaso (see "Flashback!") project reminded me of this encounter as well. Whether it is a new board book, a homemade book project, or a donated beach ball, each item our students take home is a tangible reminder to be practicing at home what our families have learned in class.
-Dawn Noelle

Flashback!

As one of our new mother filled out a survey this past Wednesday at the Tenderloin Children's Playground Summer Pilot Program - she looked at me and asked if I had taught a class on Treat street. She must have been referring to the City College Tick Tock class (Child Observation). I thought she looked vaguely familiar, but the biggest surprise of all was that in her purse she was carrying one of the projects that we had made over a year ago - a little shape book called "Bebé Payaso". I was very proud of this project which I came up with for a Saturday event - and was able to use the leftover materials in my classes. It warms my heart to know that this book has been valuable enough to be carried around by the mother to occupy her daughter on outings for the past year or more. :)

-Dawn Noelle

At a loss...

Friday, our second day of the Tenderloin pilot summer program, brought our first vietnamese families - 4 out of 10. Being bilingual I have grown accustomed to being able to communicate with those who don't speak much English but this time felt at a loss in helping our families to fill out surveys and library card applications. The project, music and story time, however, seemed to transcend language barriers - switching back and forth between Spanish and English - I do wonder if this is going to be confusing for the children, but getting the books (all bilingual for this program) in their hands is definitely worth the effort.

-Dawn Noelle

Summer Program!

It is exciting to be a part of our pilot summer program at the Tenderloin Children's Playground and Recreation Center. We didn't get the final go ahead on use of this site until the last minute - but even with only two days to promote our class, we started out with 7 families (11 children under the age of 5). We'll be meeting Wednesdays and Fridays from 11am-12noon for four weeks (July 21 - August 13). In preparing for this class, I was very excited to find photo albums at SCRAP, as well as some green contact paper to cover them with - and our Reading Tree "Read" stickers. They look pretty sharp and are a great addition to distribute to families for storing the handouts they receive with each class. I was prepared for a bilingual class due to the diversity of the population in the Tenderloin, but was surprised to have mostly Spanish speaking families present. The staff at this site are great, especially Kay Rodrigues who helped me find all I needed to set up class and took care of putting things away when we were done. I'm looking forward to the next four weeks and hopefully a transition to a fall program with these families.

-Dawn Noelle

End of Semester

Last week was our last class for the semester. The weather cooperated so we were able to have our celebration at the park under a sunny sky. The children had fun playing outside and everyone brought food to share.

Since some of the children leave the program at the age of three, there were a few who were given a certificate of participation by the City College instructor that works with our program. It will be sad not to see their faces next semester and I hope I run into the families in the future. We have even made plans to meet up again in the park on Tuesday!

As for seeing familiar faces, I stayed a little bit later than I usually do last Tuesday and thought one of the mothers in the baby class looked familiar. I eventually started talking to her and did find out that she was the person I thought she might be. She had been in the first class I had ever taught in elementary school! I hope I get to reconnect with her again next semester.

-Laura Hecht

Preschool Information

Today’s turnout at the preschool information session was great! We even had a family of a 1 ½ year old show up and few others that did not need preschool information for various reasons. For those looking for a preschool, they had the chance to meet people from various centers and organizations and a chance to ask questions. For those few not necessarily looking for a preschool, it was still the time to play with their child and meet up with group since the classes have become an important weekly event.

-Laura Hecht