Long before COVID, Ord has proven to be a place of reinvention. Most recently, one of the town’s most pressing projects has been to address the childcare scarcity. Some of the women behind this effort are Loup Valley Childhood Initiative core leaders and Ord residents, Melani Flynn, Katie Walmsley, and Kristina Foth. Read more about how these women and their community work to create quality childcare.
Sixpence in Macy, Nebraska, and their community are a perfect example of a group of resilient people who pull together through the storm. The Shinga Zhinga Child Development Center serves the community. The Center is located on the UmonHon reservation and primarily serves teenage parents, community members, and high school staff members. Thanks to Sixpence, the program director Lacey Sateren, said she has witnessed remarkable developments throughout the past year, even during the height of the pandemic. Read some incredible achievements thanks to resilient families, Umonhon Nation Public Schools and Sixpence!
Many professionals, especially those who work in early childhood education and care, but also teachers of every age tend to shoulder a tremendous amount of responsibility. You walk into a classroom, make decisions, then hope that you did the right things. The truth is, no matter how skilled, every talented professional will occasionally feel alone or overwhelmed. These are the moments when the Early Childhood Professional Learning Series can help. Read more about early care providers Arlie Herrick and Dee Coble’s experiences in participating in the Series.
Nebraska childcare providers are making headlines. Today, we bring you a success story from Buffalo County’s Rooted in Relationships initiative and a provider named Rachel Pierce, the owner of Creative Kids Child Care. Today, Rachel will share the benefits and perks of being part of Rooted in Relationships (Rooted), which is one of the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation’s Early Childhood initiatives.
Alliance, Nebraska’s Sixpence is glad to share a story of a young family’s success. The family started off dealing with some struggles. The father had grappled with a drug addiction, had been incarcerated, and had a child from a previous marriage with whom he’d not had a relationship during her early years. How did his strength, resiliency, resolve, and a little help from Sixpence support him in his positive transformation? Read more.
From the recipient of Sixpence home visits to becoming a young mom, then a home visitor, read Yesenia’s uplifting story.
The former retail space that houses the Early Learning Academy (ELA) in Lexington, Nebraska, may seem like an unusual setting for innovation in early childhood education, but this preschool program that serves children 3 to 5 years old houses such proactive initiatives as an early intervention program for special needs students and a migrant community classroom to serve English language learners.
Four years ago, a frightened, pregnant 16-year-old walked through Fremont Sixpence’s doors. Lauren said that in addition to being scared, the young woman was disconnected from her relatives.
Read about how this young mother’s resolve and Fremont Sixpence helped her to push through difficulties and into her own triumphant light.
Most of us have probably sung the Song of Sixpence. It’s a strange little nursery rhyme, one with strikingly original opening lyrics we loved as children. Blackbirds fly out of a pie that is set before the king.
For a child to be heard and create his or her own melody in the world, we need to begin to support them early in life. From the ages of birth through three, a child’s brain is a fertile ground that establishes neural connections at a dizzying rate. Therefore, parents and caregivers can help set their children’s foundation up for the formation of these valuable connections. There are a few ways that Sixpence can help.
Read more to learn about Jamie Leach’s Sixpence takeaways.
Any well-meaning parent or caregiver may think that when they put a child in time out, the child’s negative reaction and acknowledgment of her misbehavior means she is well-aware of what she did wrong, has accepted her punishment, and has taken back her behavior. When lacking an alternative, we generally enact disciplinary measures that we have been raised with and know best, but Time-Outs aren’t always effective. As part of the Rooted, Jana and her team have attended trainings that teach them evidence-based, Pyramid Model strategies that help build relationships between the children and their caregivers while at the same time decreasing challenging behavior.
