On occasion, I have observed day

care / early care education workers,

home visitors, home care providers, The Child’s Relationship with Caregivers

I N S I D E :

Fall Art 2

Fall Treats 2

Challenging Behaviors

3

Katie and Caylyn

3

Community Agency Profile

4

F A L L 2 0 1 5 An evidence-based Home Visiting Program

iGrow Rockford

A local Home Visiting

Collaborative of the Maternal

Infant Early Childhood Home

Visiting

Program (MIECHVP)

City of Rockford

Early Head Start,

La Voz Latina Resource Center,

Easter Seals Teen

Family Support Program and

Rockford Public Schools #205

Early Childhood Program

Color me“Fall” Remember those days when leaves were the centerpiece of your artwork? It was most fascinating to hunt for leaves, place them on wax paper; creatively arranging them, using as many shapes and colors possible. The magic of it all was to place another sheet of wax paper over the top and carefully ironing it (with supervision of course)! During fall, we made dozens of the wax paper leaf-art and placed them all over the house. What made it extra special was the “oohs, ahhs”, smiles and compliments received on each piece of art work. This motivated, encouraged and gave us the confidence to repeat the process all over again! Did you know that exposing young children to arts and craft activities encour-ages exploration, self-expression, imagination and creativity? It is the process of creating art where young children learn, along with the smiles and encour-agement from the end product. Art gets children excited, builds

self-confidence and boosts self-esteem!

On behalf of the Rockford iGrow Collaborative and the Home Visiting Team, get out the crayons, markers, paints and don’t forget the leaves! -CBoyd

Three year old Carter is enjoying his art

project with Parent Educator / Home Visitor

Samantha, from the Rockford Public Schools

Early Childhood Program.

WOW!! Fantastic job, Carter!!

Building strong foundations for families in our community

www.igrowrockford.org

PURPOSE OF THE IGROW

NEWSLETTER

To keep clients in-

formed about our com-munity’s Home Visiting Program.

To increase communi-

cation and awareness

with community agen-

cies, stakeholders, and

the community-at-

large.

To provide a venue for

information-sharing

between home visitors,

families, clients, advo-

cates and friends of

iGrow.

P A G E 2

And the leaves came tumbling down! Simple leaf-art activities to do with your child

Leafy Garlands (for windows)

Pull a good length of scotch tape across the table and simply

attach various collected leaves. Attach on window!

Crunched up Leaves 10-12 Leaves (dried out)

Paper with tree template

Glue

Place leaves in a zip-lock bag. Have your toddler crush them up. Using a bare tree template (google - bare tree template image), glue the leaf pieces to the tree, ground or wherever.

Watercolor Leaf

Have child trace a simple leaf pattern onto white construc-tion paper. Next, paint the white paper using watercolor

paints. When dry, cut the leaf out and mount on black paper.

Leaf Bracelet

Fall TREATS

Before going outside, wrap a piece of masking tape with the sticky side out around your child’s wrist. While outside,

have them add pieces of leaves and twigs to the tape for a

fall bracelet.

Apple Orchard Punch

1 (32 fl oz) bottle apple juice chilled 1 (12 fl oz) can frozen cranberry juice concentrate 1 cup orange juice 1 1/2 liters ginger ale 1 apple In large punch bowl, combine juices. Stir until dissolved, then slowly pour in ginger ale. Thinly slice the apple vertically, forming whole apple slices. Float apple slices on top of punch. Source: Allrecipes

Carmel Apple “Nachos”

2 apples 18 Kraft Caramels 2 tsp. water 1 cup Jet-Puffed miniature Marshmallows 1/4 cup Planters Dry Roasted Peanuts, chopped 2 Oreo Cookies, chopped (about 2 Tbsp.) Core apples. Slice apples. Arrange apples, with slices slightly over-lapping on plate. Microwave caramels and water in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1 1/2 min or until caramels are complete-ly melted, stirring every 30 sec. (Caramel mixture will be hot). Pour caramel mixture into measuring cup; driz-zle over apples. Top with remaining ingredients. Source: Kraft Recipes

Caramel Apple “Nachos”

Apple Orchard Punch

Source: Teaching Mama

Leafy Garlands

“Falling” in Love Again Katie and daughter Caylyn Katie has been in the Easter Seals Teen Support Program since she was pregnant with daughter Caylyn. Katie loves animals and recently got a new job at the Winnebago County Animal Ser-vices Department. “I am just so excited!”.

“Leaves” me breathless - Dealing with challenging behaviors

Does this sound familiar? He has a meltdown when you can’t understand his words

She says no when she means yes

He gets so angry that he might throw a toy

She cannot settle for a substitute (though the purple pajamas are in the wash, you offered the pink or polka-dot ones)

He acts out when frustrated

“I love the iGrow program. It’s helped me so much. I’ve improved so much, not only as a person, but as a mom as well. I’ve learned a lot of different ways to cope with different things and I have learned new ways of doing some things, and new activities to do with my daughter. Caylyn loves when the Home Visitor comes over and gets so excited.”

Katie and Caylyn

Page 3

Toddlers are realizing that they are separate individuals from their parents and caregivers. This means they are driven to assert themselves to communicate their likes and dislikes and to act independently (as much as they can)! At this state, toddlers do not understand logic and still have a hard time with waiting and self-control. They want what they want, when they want it. This is why you may be hearing things like “no” and “me do it” more than ever before. When you see challenging behavior, it usually means that your child can’t figure out how to express feelings in an acceptable way or doesn’t know how to get a need met .

What helps is when your child learn that your response shows a different, more constructive way to handle these feelings. The underlying simple truth is that children go through various developmental stages, and depending on character and temperament, they react differently when facing change or are upset. These strategies can help: 1. Stay calm. The calmer you are, the easier it will be for you to recognize the need and find the best way to

respond to it. 2. Give clear and positive instruction. Communicate your request clearly and positively. “Please keep the door

open” versus “Don’t close the door.” 3. Be consistent. Consistency is the key to shaping a new behavior and the most difficult for parents to adhere

to. Consistency makes a task predictable for children and gives them a sense of control. 4. Be aware of emotions. Acknowledge emotions. Send a message to children that we see and hear them. Label

emotions - use books such as ‘Today, I’m feeling Silly’ or ‘When Sophie Gets Angry’ to label emotions through pictures.

5. Set boundaries and be creative about it. Boundaries are not designed to limit children. Setting age-appropriate limits and providing structure helps children to feel less overwhelmed and more secure.

6. Replace words with actions. The underlying foundation of 1, 2, 3 Magic is to give three chances for your child to make a decision. Go to: www.123magic.com to learn about this technique.

7. No words, No action. Sometime it is necessary to teach children to make their own choices and learn to deal with the consequences later on.

8. Create a reward system. Catch your child in the right moment and reward positive behavior that needs to be acknowledged throughout the day. This builds the foundation of behavior modification.

Source: Zero to Three and The Parent’s Club

Community Agency Profile

Address Phone Fax Website Hours of Operation

Services Provided

The Literacy Council 982 N. Main St. Rockford, IL 61103 815-963-7323 815-963-7347 ww.theliteracycouncil.org Monday -Thursday, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Basic skills computer class - Mon. and Wed. 11:00 am to 1:00 pm for 4 weeks starting Nov. 2nd. Reading classes @ Beginners level - Tues. and Thurs. 9:00 -

12:00 noon and @ Intermediate level - Mon. and Wed. 9:00 - 12:00 noon (New sessions begins January).

One-on-one tutoring for reading or English as a Second lan-

guage (ESL) year round.

All classes are free! Call for additional information.

Periodically, the iGrow Newsletter will feature one or more agencies in the Rockford community that are available to assist families in time of need. These agencies provide many tools, resources and services from basic to complex. Many agencies offer more than one service and can often di-rect or refer families to other agencies in the community.

Winnebago County Health Department

Coordinated Intake and Referral

555 North Court Street

Rockford, IL 61103

Phone: 815-720-4000

If you would like additional information about IGROW, or placed on our newsletter mailing list, please contact Coordinated Inta ke at: 815-720-4000 or email us at: igrow@wchd.org. Prior editions of iGrow Newsletters can be found at: wchd.org- Select Maternal and Child Health / iGrow Home Visiting Program.

Newsletter Editor:

C Boyd, WCHD-Community Systems Development Coord.

Contributing Editor:

J. Barker, WCHD– ACA In-Person Counselor Coord.

Contributors to this issue:

S. Beverly, Rockford Public Schools Early Childhood Program

D. Manalli, Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago

Rockford Region

This program was made possible by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010

which authorizes the creation of the Maternal Infant Early Childhood Education Home Visiting

(MIECHV) Program. Winnebago County Health Department serves as the lead agency. The

program is carried out in conjunction with four home visiting partnering agencies (listed below),

in addition to the Governor’s Office of Early Childhood Development, IL Department of Human

Services, and the State of Illinois.

iGrow Rockford Collaborative - Home Visiting Agencies

Easter Seals Metropolitan

Chicago - Rockford Region

815-965-5069 x 1233

City of Rockford Early Head Start

779--348-7169

Rockford Public Schools District# 205

Early Childhood Program

815-967-8030

LaVoz Latina Resource Center

815-965-5784