Update on The Harlem Children's Zone organization

The Harlem Children’s Zone

www.hcz.org

The Harlem Children’s zone is an organization that is based in Harlem, New York. This organization has grown in many ways. The particular section that caught my attention is the baby college program. This program was adapted in 2000. They are well aware of the critical time of the first few years of life. This workshop is available for parents who have children within the 3 year old age range. This program is of interest to me because it serves children at a very critical time. Being that I am a kindergarten teacher, by the time the children get to me, some of them are still in need of basic learning and development skills. These skills can be reinforced in the early years. However, if parents aren’t aware of what is expected, the children will lack those imperative skills. The baby college provides parents with valuable information for their children.

I think it is a wonderful idea that all the parents who give birth at the neighborhood hospitals have the option to attend the baby college, free of charge. It is wonderful that it is an effort provided for the up and coming Harlem community. The Harlem community has re-vamped from being mainly a poverty stricken area. Even with the renovations and upward move to becoming a middle class area, there are still areas that are poverty stricken. The Harlem Children’s Zone can be credited for serving those who are poverty stricken or middle class. While viewing the site, I did not find any information that I deemed controversial. However, I thought it was relevant to my profession that 100 percent of the Harlem Gems(pre-schoolers) were pre-k ready. I was awed by this because it is so important for children to get the fundamental schooling needed which enhances school readiness. I am always amazed by the number of children entering Kindergarten that don’t colors, shapes, or  the alphabet.

The Harlem Children’s Zone is a non-profit organization that basically runs on donations and approved funding. I feel that the organization has proven to economists and others the importance of education, being with 0-3 year olds or for 3^rd graders(who by the had 83% either on or exceeding on the statewide math exam) I believe that receiving funding from outside sources and donations is not a problem considering that the organizations has made strides with the youth and the community.

My International Contacts

I was able to chat back and forth with Eric Asbury, an American teacher teaching in Dubai. Eric and I initially met via email contact. Due to his email account being checked periodically by his superior, he felt it would be safer to friend eachother on Facebook, and send messages. We introduced ourselves and from that point I asked Eric to tell me one thing that he misses about our culture, education wise. He explained to me that there is a total of 3 teachers in the classroom. That's a big difference from schools here, unless you are special education teacher.   He is the only American. He teaches 5th grade boys. One thing that he misses is the bond he is quickly able to make with the kids here. In Dubai, it's strictly teacher-student.
Eric also stated that when he is alone with the kids, which is rare, the children use profanity towards him. He has told his superiors about this behavior, and they support him, which is good. This week I asked him about the poverty/homeless demographic at his school. He informed me that the children in his class appear to be well taken care of. He asked one of his team members about the poverty rate, and he was told that poverty and homelessness is a sheltered issue in their area of Dubai.
Being able to converse with Eric once a week has been quite interesting. He is adapting to the culture in Dubai. I'm sure it was kind of hard, but he was intrigued by the experience. I have learned that education is not taken lightly there. The school also incorporates their muslim faith and traditions into the learning segment, which is why there are so many teachers in the room because Eric is not allowed to teach that. I look forward to our next conversation. Stay Tuned!

The Harlem Children's Zone Organization

The organization that I chose to sign up to is The Harlem Zone. In this week's newsletter, which was my first one, the organization was praising their president Geoffrey Canada. Geoffrey Canada received the National Freedom Award. Since 1991, the award honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the battlw for civil and human rights, and who have helped create opportunity for the disenfranchised both in the US and around the world. The organization is focused on the bettering the youth of today. The program also offers a baby college. The baby college is a nine week program for expectant parents and parents with a child up to three years old. I think this is a good idea. The workshops promote reading to children and verbal discipline over corporal punishment. The organization focuses on a variety of issues in the early childhood setting. Their objective is to build a safety net woven so tightly that children cannot slip through. What a wonderful objective/focus! Some of their porgrams include:

THE THREE YEAR OLD JOURNEY

The Three-Year-Old Journey works with parents of children who have won the HCZ Promise Academy charter school lottery. Held on Saturdays over several months, it teaches parents about their child's development, building language skills and parenting skills.

GET READY FOR PRE-K

The Get Ready for Pre-K program brings in new Gems students before the start of the school year. The six-week summer session runs for extended hours during weekdays like the regular Gems program, helping children acclimate to the new schedule and readying them to start school in the fall.

HARLEM GEMS^®

Harlem Gems is an all-day pre-kindergarten program that gets children ready to enter kindergarten. Classes have a 4:1 child-to-adult ratio, teach English, Spanish and French, and run from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. HCZ runs three pre-kindergarten sites, serving 200 children.

As far as diversity, the newsletter did not go into depth about it, but throughout the website it is evident that the program changes to suite the needs of the community.  I am pleased with the work the Harlem Zone is doing for their community. I look forward to the next newsletter.

Childhood Organizations for EDUC 6162

I decided to contact the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The school that I reached out to is Ajoke International School. I sent an e-mail to Mrs. Bimbo Are. I basically introduced myself and informed her that I am a student at Walden seeking correspondance regarding issues and trends that are formulated in her country. I extended thanks and my sincere grattitude for her time. I also let her know that if she or one of her colleagues is unable to correspond with me over the course of 8 weeks to kindly send me an email stating so.
The newsletter that I subscribed to comes from the website www.hcz.org which is The Harlem Children's Zone. After perusing the site  I am exited to read about all of the iniatives and trends that take place in their schools. This should be a cool and informative assignment!

My Supports- Who loves ya babe?

When I think of the word support, I automatically connect it to the word help. I feel as though the two go hand in hand. I am blessed to have a great set of siblings as well as a nurturing father. We have each other's backs. When I need emotional support, I turn to my sisters and my fiance. When I need to feel that I am doing the right thing, but I still need encouragement, I turn to my family and my best friends. Life is all about support. I don't know what I would do if I was alone! I would not be able to function without some type of help!!! On a serious note, I am a big advocate for support in the work force. If I have an idea that I think is brilliant, but my team of co-workers thinks its whack, I am not going to go forth with it without their support and expertise. I have a family at work-we fuss and fight but in the end we always have each other's back. That's how we operate in my workplace. It is a good feeling to be supported because it shows that people really care about you enough to embrace whatever it is that you need. If I didn't have my support system, I would probably be in a mental facility. Oh- support is extended with my doctors as well. Not all doctors... care. Sad, but true. I finally found a doctor that tends to my needs and breaks things down for me in a way that I can understand. I recently had a medical issue that was concerning me. I didn't have to wait to get the results via email on the patient website. My doctor called me and we talked about it as if I were sitting in her office. Who knows a doc that consults without an appointment in 2013??? (Maybe you do, but that was a first for me)
I am currently facing the challenge of should I or should I not try to have a baby. I have reviewed all of Dr. Oz's shows on childbirth and age. I have consulted with my doctor. I have consulted with my fiance'(who really wants a child) I want a child, too. I'm just so afraid of the risk factors involved. My family is on my side 100%. Not one person that I have spoken to about this has said "No... you shouldn't get pregnant." It all boils down to my level of faith in God. I will have to have a procedure done in order to carry a baby into full term. I am terrified of having surgery because of what happened to my Mom. She went in for surgery, and was never the same afterwards. *tears* But... I know that I have a ton of people in my corner rooting for me all the way. If I didn't have them, I would not be going back and forth on the issue. I truly love my support system. We work things out together!

My Connections to Play- Ready, Set, Go!!!!

“Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury, play is a necessity.’

–Kay Redfield Jamison

“Play keeps us vital and alive. It gives us enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable. Without it, life just doesn’t taste good.”

-Lucia Capocchione

“We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing. “

-Charles Shaefer

                                            

When I was a little girl, my mother had to threaten my life in order for me to come in from outside for dinner and a bath. This usually happened during my summer break. I can recall helping my mother fill up a recycled milk jug full of water every night and putting it in the freezer so that me, my friends, and siblings could have a drink of water while outside. That was not as fun as turning on the water hose and drinking the water as it shot up in the air! Our neighbors would tattle on us for doing it, but it was worth it.

Play was very important to me as a child. From kickball to dodge ball, to baseball- we made up the rules and had a great time. Sure we had arguments, cuts and scrapes from playing those games, but it was all in good fun. I also enjoyed indoor games. We played school, or monopoly, or operation or Go Fish. There was never a dull moment. My mother also gave us an Atari game for Christmas. She had to put us on a schedule in order to ensure that we continued to play outside. Now that I look back, I think the schedule was for her sanity. She was a house wife. and I'm sure that we would've gotten on her nerves if we stayed in the house all day. Besides, we were loud and rowdy when it came to play. It didn't matter if we were outside or not! :-) I loved my childhood. It was so carefree. I really enjoyed the moments when mommy came outside and played hide-and-seek, or monitored us as we ran through the sprinklers in bathing suits and swimming trunks. With all that going on, who needed a swimming pool?

I thought that once I began school, playtime was going to be over. Luckily for me it wasn’t. We worked and played in the classroom. We worked and played outside. I incorporate the same tactics in my classroom today. I work with kindergartners. It is almost impossible for me to keep my sanity if I don’t allow them playtime. Sure we work in groups doing hands on activities in centers. However, I believe that they deserve an unstructured break just as I do. We are studying rocks. For our outside time, the students took magnifying glasses from our science kit and searched for rocks. The project was a success. They even made up a game to see who could find the biggest, shiniest rocks. The person who did was simply ‘the winner’. I thought it was so cute. I just walked around observing and taking it all in. The whole time I was thinking to myself that they really listened in class and they’re applying what they’ve learned without much direction from me.

I have always been in favor of play. I believe that’s because I was given the freedom to learn and play at the same time. Kids deserve an opportunity to think for themselves without having an adult tell them what to do and how to do it. Hands on activities are an awesome asset to the classroom. It helps the children focus on what they’ve learned and apply it without having to use pencil and paper.  I hope that as I continue teaching I can stay with the Pre-K/K age group. They are the ones that have less paperwork while learning and can still enjoy the freedom of hands on engagement.

(Investigating rocks...ROCKS!)

RELATIONSHIP REFLECTION

"Cherish your human connections-Your relationships with friends and family."
-Joseph Brodsky
I love this quote. It is plain, simple and to the point. It also describes how I feel about my relationships. I love my family. They are the people that I'm stuck with, so I must love them, right? On a serious note, I am the youngest of nine children. Before my mother passed away a year ago today, my parents had been married for 56 years. My family is my foundation. They are the first people that I had a relationship with. Therefore, it is important to acknowledge them in every way. Below are pictures of the people  who are important to me:

These photos have captured the important and precious people in my life. My relationship with my parents, siblings, and friends are all different. There is one common bond that keeps the realtionship wheel rolling- I love them, and they love me. We support one another. We act as counselors. doctors, and lawyers. Our main goal is to make sure that we take care of one another. show support, and give tons of love! I feel that if I didn't have these people in my life, I would be alone and miserable. I would not be able to function because they are the glue that holds me together.
                                                   When I think about the relationship that I have with these people as it relates to my career in early childhood, I think of my parents. When I come across a child who is stubborn or defiant, I think of how my mother would handle it. What would she say? What would she do? I often look back on my childhood and realize that the relationships that I have built seem to fall in the catagory of long term. I look at my parents and their marriage life. I look at my siblings and thier relationships with husbands/wives. I also look at the work ethic of my father. He gained much respect from his co-workers because of his patience, dependability and endurance. That alone gained him life-long friendships. My mother never met a stranger. She would've talked to the wall if it responded back. I gained all of these characteristics because I was surrounded by the makings of them my entire life.
                                              Being that I come from a large family, we developed partnerships by working together. (Cleaning, cooking, playing, etc.) It was our responsibility just as much as our parents to keep our family organized and on track. This teamwork also hepled me make me a team player at work. I believe there is a solution to every problem. If we just work together, the problem can be solved and we can move on. I appreciate the relationships that I have with the wonderful people in my life. Loving and knowing them makes it easier to get along with others. My family is my life. In the end, they are all that I have!