By: Arthur O’Hara, MSW, Executive Director, R’Club Child Care

The first 5 years of life are a critical foundation for children’s early learning and lifelong development.

Although understanding of how the brain develops is still evolving, there is enough knowledge about how young children progress as a result of an explosive growth of the brain in the early years to declare emphatically that early experiences matter.

According to an executive summary prepared by Rhode Island KIDS COUNT (2005), “early experiences actually influence brain development, establishing the neural connections that provide the foundation for language, reasoning, problem solving, social skills, behavior and emotional health”.

As much as we know about and focus on children’s early learning, the oft forgotten part of the above, early learning endorsement, is . . . and lifelong development. What children learn in the early years, their first five, needs to be reinforced through accessible and available quality educational opportunities and before and after school programs. Accessibility and availability is an issue.

I wrote an article in 2008 about our endowment fund and its focus on scholarships for our programs. At that time, there were a little more than 1800 children in Pinellas County on the waiting list for subsidized child care. Today, that number is more than 3500 and growing, especially in the ranks of children from six to twelve years of age. The Early Learning Coalition of Pinellas, similar to many Coalitions around the state, lowered the age of eligibility to 8 years of age or the completion of 3rd grade. This action, is consistent with the School Readiness statute which targets children ages birth to 5 years and gives local coalitions the flexibility to serve older children.

This action by the ELC of Pinellas (effective with school year 2011-2012) made more than 600 R’Club children currently funded through ELC funds ineligible for support and sent us scurrying around to find funding so we could continue service for them. The group most affected by this action is the working poor, folks who are working very hard at low paying jobs (typically service industries) to support their families and just need some help making sure their children are safe before and after school in productive developmentally appropriate programs. Their children are some of the most at-risk children in terms of low academic performance, substance abuse, delinquency, and other social malaise.

You can help by making a contribution for our scholarship fund. We are able to secure a dollar for dollar match from a state trust fund, the Child Care Executive Partnership, and turn your $100 into $200. There is no other investment that returns such a great ROI than investing your charitable dollars in the life of a child and that has a 100% ROI and it is an excellent investment in the future for all of us.

Thank you and please feel free to call me at (727)578-5437 or email me at aohara@rclub.net if you would like more information about this scholarship program or R’Club in general.

Incorporating academics in afterschool gives students the ability to use a variety of strategies and learning styles to explore multiple subject areas. Students who struggle in language arts, for example, might enjoy the content more if it is presented in the context of a drama project or a song writing activity. Literacy skills are necessary for young people to decode sounds and words and then later to have the ability to read and learn across the curriculum.

When school lets out, learning is still fresh and students are ready to apply and extend their learning in exciting activities.

R’Club’s Alphabet Soup component offers literacy and reading activities that provide significant benefits to youth. Our featured activities are aligned with Florida Sunshine State Standards to assist in supporting the school day. These activities range from independent reading, chapter reading, language board games, researching topics of interest, journaling, pen pals, poetry writing, word games, acting out plays, collaborating on projects as well as homework help, tutoring and much more. These are activities that the time constraints and curricular pressures of busy school-day classes often do not permit.

Alphabet Soup incorporates various enrichment clubs, hands-on projects, and creative problem solving activities. These lessons are developed to allow students the chance to enhance reading strategies, and reinforce language skills. Research indicates that such activities can improve students’ achievement in reading and language arts and develop a love for reading that will ultimately become a lifelong hobby and increase their desire to learn. Perhaps most significantly, R’Club gives children a rare chance to read. Most children read only a few minutes a day. “Literacy is a product of having read a lot and your ability to do that depends on the time you have to invest,” says Marilyn Adams, author of Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning About Print.

R’Club staff receiving a special recognition for their milestones with R’Club Child Care.  Dorothy S. (bottom) is retiring after 25 years with the agency and Annette C. (top) is still smiling  after 30 years of service.  All R’Club employees were recognized for their hard work and dedication.

In the last newsletter you read an introduction to how R’Club has integrated Character Education practices with in our before and after school and preschool programs. In this addition, we would like to introduce you to the national advocate and leader in the character education movement, the Character Education Partnership (CEP).

CEP is based in Washington, DC and is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, nonsectarian coalition of organizations and individuals committed to fostering effective character education in our nation’s schools. CEP is an umbrella organization for character education, serving as the leading resource for people and organizations that are integrating character education into their schools and communities.

CEP’s membership includes the nation’s leading education organizations, and its board of directors is made up of corporate leaders and experts in the field of character education.

CEP’s National and State Schools of Character program offers K-12 public, private, and charter schools and districts across the U.S. a path to school improvement and excellence through high-quality character education.

R’Club is proud to be a partner with Pinellas County Schools in the pursuit of State and National Schools of Character Awards.

The following schools with R’Club programs have been awarded the National Schools of Character Award or the Promising Practices Award: Cross Bayou Elementary, Seminole Elementary, McMullen Booth Elementary and the Pinellas County Schools District.

Way to Go Pinellas County and R’Club!!!

Principle 1
Promote core ethical and performance values as the foundation of good character.

Principle 2
Define “character” comprehensively to include thinking, feeling, and doing.

Principle 3
Use a comprehensive, intentional, and proactive approach to character development.

Principle 4
Create a caring community.

Principle 5
Provide students with opportunities for moral action.

Principle 6
Offer a meaningful and challenging academic curriculum that respects all learners, develops their character, and helps them succeed.

Principle 7
Foster students’ self-motivation.

Principle 8
Engage staff as an ethical learning community that shares responsibility and adheres to the same core values that guide students.

Principle 9
Foster shared leadership and long-range support of the initiative.

Principle 10
Engage families and community members as partners in the character-building effort.

Principle 11
Regularly assesses culture and climate, functioning of staff as character educators, and the extent to which students manifest good character.

HIIPY is a national model in-home early literacy and school readiness program that helps parents prepare their three, four and five year old children for success in school.

For more information on the HIPPY program, please click here

Our families experience the wonder of HIPPYland Prom as they set out on a colorful adventure to our August 2011 HIPPY graduation.

We let our imaginations lead the way as our eight-two (82) graduates and their families skipped down the rainbow path to receive their crowns and tiaras. To delight and entertain our families our HIPPY children had a great time doing the ABC Disco.

HIIPY is a national model in-home early literacy and school readiness program that helps parents prepare their three, four and five year old children for success in school.

For more information on HIPPY USA, please click here

During Seminole R’Club’s Lights On Afterschool celebration parents were asked to write a little note to share why R’Club is important to them. Enjoy a few of the responses below.

“My daughter gets the BEST care! R’Club and Miss Diane instill the values and character that we do at home and [my daughter] LOVES being here. There is always something fun going on.”“I know my child is in a safe and happy place where he has fun while I am at work.”

“The staff (especially Ms. Diane) is very understanding with the children, including my son who at times can be more than the norm to handle. She does a wonderful job at helping him through his issue by politely talking and helping him through his issue. She is wonderful. “

“It provides a safe environment that creates learning opportunities for my child when I can’t be there.”

“1. It’s on site which reassures me that my child will be safe while I work. 2. The fees are reasonable considering all the opportunities available. 3. My child enjoys play time with her classmates and others around the school.”

“It provides a safe environment for my two children right on the school’s grounds. I know they are taken care of and accounted for. I would be lost without R’Club. I am a single mom of two with no help elsewhere.”

“An inexpensive, reliable, fun way for [my daughter] to spend the afternoon where I do not have to worry about leaving work to pick her up.”

R’Club is important to me because…
During Lights On Afterschool celebrations at Walsingham and Southern Oak, parents, children, and staff were asked to write a little note to share why R’Club is important to them. Enjoy a few of the responses below as they were written by the children.

“R’Club is important to me because all the gropleters.” Sierra

“I love R’Club because it’s cool fun and I just love R’Club…Love Isabella”.

“R’Club is important to me because the RClub teachers are so nice to me and RClub is fun.” Brianna

“They take care ov us and they do roll call to make sure were all here and that were not lost.” Jordan

“I love R’Club it is important to me.” Kylan

“they are nice and they take care of RClub and the group leders help us and if we are hert.” Abigail

“It help the kids do there home work and it Awsome!” Davius

“it is cool and it fun and osem and I made lots of frend’s with lots of pepol like cade and I just like R’Club.” Cypher

Thursday, May 5, 2011-12
To Whom it may concern,
As a teacher for 25 years at Sutherland I would like to recognize the wonderful service this organization (R’Club) has provided for our children in our community. Regardless of the day or time that I walked through, activities were running smoothly and children were eagerly engaged. I am especially grateful for all the help and encouragement from Ms. Marilyn in the after school tutoring program which has improved the academics of our students here at Sutherland Elementary, many of those students were mine and made great gains.

Sincerely,
Mrs. Dapont, 4th Grade
Sutherland Elementary

A Parent from R’Club’s McMullen Booth program writes…
“Excellent staff and curriculum. Helped my child with a bully situation and I am pleased with the outcome so far. Fantastic communication and I feel my child is safe here! Keep up the good work?”

Before sports camp, Cameron didn’t always display the best of behaviors and choices. It was like all of a sudden he was able to learn and he was focusing on how to make the right or better choices by playing team sports. Being part of a team made him so very proud. He cared what his coaches, Mr. Carson and Mr. Steve thought about him and he became more aware of his behavior in all aspects of his life and daily routine. By the end of summer he cared how all people were viewing him. I believe the sports camp program, Mr. Craig, his fantastic coaches and other wonderful R’Club staff helped my child learn positive decision making by being part of the sports camp team.

I am a single parent working 2 jobs and I can’t afford for my children to sign-up at the local community center for baseball, football, soccer, basketball, etc. So as a parent, this summer sports camp program was not only a great opportunity for my child, but was ideal for our lives. I would be disappointed if it wasn’t available this coming summer and the following summers down the line. Not to mention how heart-broken by son would be if I had to tell him there was no more sports camp. Please continue the summer sports camp program. It is essential to my child and others like him. It has had an impact and influence on my son in the best possible way.

Christian J.
A Sports Camp Mom